On the night of February 20-21, 1941, the Germans began to deport Jews from Płock. On the morning of February 21, the Jewish population was concentrated on Kwiatka Street and between the synagogue and Bielska Street: “… since 4 in the morning, there was light […]
The Arbajter family lived in Płock at 3 Kwiatka Street in the tenement house of Mendel Jakub Perelgryc and his wife Hinda Małka nee Radzik. Hersz Icek Arbajter (1889-1942), son of Mordka and Chaja Hinda nee Żwirek, was a tailor by profession. His wife was […]
Sunday, March 1, 2020, marks the 79th anniversary of the last deportation of Jews from the Płock ghetto. On this day, the Nobiscum Foundation invites you to the Art Gallery of Płock for the premiere of its third publication – the book entitled “Tema. Memories of the time of Holocaust”, which is a record of conversations between Tema Lichtenstein and her grandson, Joshua Newman, as well as an audiovisual presentation of the project “Remembrance. Płock 1939”, being the result of six-month research aimed at commemorating all Jewish citizens of Płock living in town at the beginning of World War II. Special photographs for the presentation were made by Among Scratches. The premiere will be accompanied by a concert entitled “Zachor” performed by Płock-based artist 3kropki.
The book “Tema. Memories of the time of Holocaust “:
In 2020, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. On this occasion, the Nobiscum Foundation publishes the book “Tema. Memories of the time of Holocaust”, which is a special record of the testimony of Tema Lichtenstein – a witness to German crimes who survived the Holocaust.
Tema Lichtenstein (1918–2008) was born in Warsaw, since the early 1930s her family lived in Płock. Tema’s father, Jakub Zylbersztajn, ran a carpentry workshop here in the house at 27 Kolegialna Street, where his family lived until the beginning of September 1940. Zylbersztajn presented his furniture, highly valued by the Płock clientele, at the “Art of Płock” exhibition in 1932. After graduating from school (she was a graduate of the Jewish Middle School of Humanities), until the outbreak of war, Tema worked as a clerk. The outbreak of World War II irrevocably changed the life of the Zylbersztajn family. At the end of 1940, Tema, together with her parents and sister Fela, found herself in the Płock ghetto. In February 1941, the Zylbersztajns were deported to the ghetto in Jadów, and from there to Starachowice and Bodzentyn. The parents of Tema, Jakub and Frajda were then deported to the labor camp in Radom, and later to Auschwitz. Jakub then went to Dachau, Frajda to Bergen-Belsen. Tema and Fela worked in an ammunition factory in Starachowice. There they met Jan Ciok from the nearby village of Wąchock, who helped young women escape and find shelter in the home of Teofil Nowak from the village of Bronkowice. Teofil Nowak and his family helped Fela recover from typhus and arranged documents that enabled her to work in Germany. Tema stayed with Teofil Nowak until the end of the war, taking care of his house and his son. Teofil’s sister Helena Senderska was also involved in helping Tema and Fela. On November 21, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Ciok, Teofil Nowak and Helena Senderska as Righteous Among the Nations. After returning to Płock, shortly after liberation, Tema became involved in a relationship with Dawid Lichtenstein – a friend from the time before the war, a watchmaker. They left for Germany, then to Sweden, where they got married, and in 1951 emigrated to the United States.
The publication of Tema’s testimony, in the form of an interview she gave her grandson Joshua Newman in 1994, is an attempt to preserve the war experience of one of the Jewish families associated with Płock, at the same time the experience of a Jewish citizen of Płock, who throughout her whole life carried tragic memories that she could not share with anyone outside the family. As Joshua Newman points out in the introduction to the interview, after the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”, his film crew recorded a part of Tema’s testimony for the archive that the director created, but many of the episodes that were discussed during her conversation with her grandson have never been preserved on archival tapes, due to the understandable difficulty she had discussing such difficult experience with strangers.
The Nobiscum Foundation has published the book as part of its paid public benefit activity. The book will be available for sale starting from the day of its premiere.
Project “Remembrance. Płock 1939”:
From around 9,000 of Jewish people living in Płock before the outbreak of World War II, only a few survived. When talking about these dark times, we use numbers, often forgetting that specific people are behind them. Men, women and children. Every now and then important, necessary and smart projects arise in the public space that motivate us to take on new challenges. Inspired by the initiative of Dariusz Popiela “People, not numbers” and the project of the Grodzka Gate – NN Theater Center – “Lublin. 43,000”, the Nobiscum Foundation implemented the project “Remembrance. Płock 1939”, the goal of which is to commemorate all Jewish residents of the town of Płock, who perished in the Holocaust and information about whom can be found in archival documents from the World War II period. The results of this huge research , conducted by Gabriela Nowak-Dąbrowska, vice president of the Nobiscum Foundation, will be published at the beginning of March 2020 on the JewishPlock.eu website run by the foundation. Before this happens, we will present those results on 1 March in a multimedia form, which, apart from the names of the Płock Jews, will be based on photographs specially created for this purpose by Among Scratches.
jewishplock.eu/en/remembrance-plock-1939/
www.facebook.com/AmongScratches/
3kropki:
A solo project of Krzysztof Piotrowski from Płock, guitarist of the band Schrottersburg. During the premiere, the artist will play music specially prepared for the occasion entitled “Zachor”, inspired by the history of the local Jewish community and dedicated to Jews from Płock who perished in the Holocaust.
www.facebook.com/3kropki-113179249233215/
At the beginning of the 19th century, the square with a brick house on the property marked with mortgage number 283 belonged to a carpenter Jan Franciszek Frahm (around 1768-1813) from Hamburg. As he had no children, after his death the property was inherited in […]
This Monday, 27 January 2020, marks the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Answering the annual appeal of the Shalom Foundation, let us join the “Light of Remembrance” action that day. Let’s light candles in our windows in Płock at 6 p.m. as a sign of commemoration […]
The tenement house at 26 Sienkiewicza Street in Płock, in which the Private Upper Secondary Art School is currently located, belonged to the Altberg family before the war. Here, on March 15, 1938, Paulina Altberg, née Golde, daughter of Benjamin and Liba Rechla née Goldsztejn, who was a well-known charity activist, died. Paulina’s daughter – Emma, was an outstanding pianist, harpsichordist, music educator and publicist.
Emma Altberg was born on January 14, 1889. She was an outstanding pianist, harpsichordist, music teacher and publicist. She studied social sciences and philosophy in Switzerland, from 1909 she studied piano at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. After graduating in 1913, she continued her education at one-year master course for extremely talented graduates. During the interwar period, she lived in Warsaw, where she conducted her pedagogical and journalistic activities. She gave private lessons and led music courses organized by the Workers Association of Children’s Friends. She was a co-founder of the Association of Early Music Lovers and the editor of “Ekspress Poranny” (“Morning Express”). After the outbreak of World War II, she left for Vilnius, where she took the position of a teacher at the Mieczysław Karłowicz Conservatory. After the Germans entered the city, she was forced to escape. She spent the occupation period with her sister, hiding in Rohaczów region. In the last year of the war, she returned to Vilnius. After the liberation of the city, she worked at the Vilnius State Conservatory as the head of the special piano class. She then moved to Łódź, where from September 1945 she taught piano and music programs at the People’s Music Institute. A year later she was employed at the State High School of Music, and in 1948 she took up the post of professor of piano at the State Music University. In 1956 she was awarded the title of associate professor. She was a lively journalistic and scientific activist. Her articles were printed in “Poradnik Muzyczny” (“Music Guide”), “Ruch Muzyczny” (“Music Movement”) and the quarterly “Muzyka” (“Music”), among others. She developed many valuable textbooks for learning music, including “Czytanki muzyczne” (“Musical readings”), which are used even today as material of the obligatory curriculum. She published a book entitled “Polscy pianiści” (“Polish pianists”). She was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
You can read more about Emma Altberg in the article by Małgorzata Łyczakowska (in Polish only): http://www.amuz.lodz.pl/dmdocuments/notes-muzyczny-2016-2/157-180–notes-muzyczny-2-6-2016.pdf
About the Iwanowski family, who helped Emma Altberg hide during the war: https://sprawiedliwi.org.pl/en/stories-of-rescue/story-iwanowski-family
In 1857, Chaim Rafał Kempner (ca. 1817-1870) opened a large bookshop in Płock, where a reading room and a library also operated. The bookstore, which was located at Grodzka Street, recommended all the book novelties, in all branches of science, as well as romance, novels […]
Nachum Sokołow was born on 1 January 1859 in Wyszogród, as the son of Szmul Josek (born in 1827, son of Icek and Gitla Chaja née Bresler) and Mariem Gitla (born in 1830, daughter of Szmul and Itta Smrodynia aka Kohn). He spent his childhood […]
The history of the Flatau family in Płock dates back to the times of the Duchy of Warsaw, when Joachim (Nochem) Judas, a merchant from the Grand Duchy of Poznań, came to Płock from the town of Gołancz. In the Jewish civil registry documents of the town of Płock from 1814, on March 28, a marriage certificate was recorded of Joachim Judasz (born in the 18th century, died in 1865), who shortly after took the surname ‘Flatau,’ with Prywa nee Klejn, a native resident of Płock. After the death of Prywa (1826), Joachim Flatau got married to Berta (Brana) nee Nyrenberg, a resident of Dobrzyń nad Wisłą. They had seven children who, after reaching adulthood, left Płock and went to Toruń, then to Berlin (Dorota Kaliszer nee Flatau), Mława (Anna Kuroszkin nee Flatau), Vienna (Julian), London (Józef), Warsaw, later Radom (Maria Ciemierzyńska), Kalisz (Ludwik). Justyna Bogusławska nee Flatau stayed in Płock. In the early 1960s, Ludwik returned to Płock (born in 1831, died in 1895) with his wife Anna (Chinda) nee Heyman, a resident of Kalisz. The young couple lived in the property no. 321 at Kolegialna Street, purchased by Ludwik’s parents in 1834 and inseparably connected with the history of the Flatau family. This property had been the subject of a family conflict for several years, after the death of Joachim in 1865. By judgement of the Civil Court in Płock in 1868, property no. 321 was divided and auctioned. Berta Flatau was the first to buy it (through an intermediary) and later Ludwik, who had previously renounced his father’s estate, bought it from her for the same price, keeping the property for his family. Ludwik continued family traditions. In 1868 he was included in the 1st guild of merchants. Within a few years, as a grain merchant and banker, he became one of the wealthiest citizens of Płock. His enterprise named “Dom Handlowo-Bankowy Ludwik Flatau” [“Ludwik Flatau’s Trade and Banking Company”] was known not only in the Płock Governorate, but throughout the Polish Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the Prussian Kingdom, etc. Ludwik Flatau had a very good opinion as an entrepreneur in Toruń. The authorities of this city, important from the perspective of trade, agreed in 1873 that Ludwik Flatau together with his sons could obtain the transfer papers and passport of the Prussian Kingdom, crucial for him and his family. He lived in Płock on the basis of a passport and ran his business here. In 1875, the Flatau couple were the parents of four sons:
– Roman (Szlama) born on April 30, 1876, died in 1933 at Taverny in France;
– Edward (Nuchem Ermołaj), born on December 30, 1868, died June 7, 1932 in Warsaw; [Edward’s biogram can be found here: https://jewishplock.eu/en/edward-flatau-en/ ]
– Julian (Juda), born on May 20, 1870, died May 23, 1935 in Poznań;
– Henryk (Chaim), born on May 20, 1870, he died near Rabka in 1943.
as well as daughter Helena (Chaja) Kruszewska nee Flatau, born on October 24, 1875, d. in 1951.
Parents showed great concern with the education of their children, especially sons, who after graduating from the Junior High School in Płock (Roman and Edward with medals, Julian and Henry probably also, but the school documents from those years were not preserved) went to study abroad (Edward graduated with honors from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Moscow, Julian from the Faculty of Chemistry, there as well). Edward and Julian also received doctoral degrees in Moscow. In 1893 Edward went to Berlin and there, with other scholars, he conducted research in the field of neurology. The result was the discovery (at the beginning of 1897) of the law of the eccentric arrangement of long fibers in the spinal cord, which he presented at the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin. During this time, he also developed the Atlas of the Human Brain, and in 1912 published a book entitled Migraine. The Flatau children were constantly travelling (Warsaw, Berlin, Zurich, Moscow, Płock). They were returning to their family home less and less often (Helena and Edward settled in Warsaw, Edward was removed from the books of Płock residents in December 1908). Roman settled in Odessa for several years, Julian circled between Moscow and Odessa, where he married Fanny Landau. Only Henryk, an engineer, stayed in Płock and was the representative of the family company under the name of “Ludwik Flatau” and a member of the Management Committee of the Flatau Jewish Home for the Elderly and Disabled, which Anna founded after the death of her husband (in 1890) [you can read more about the initiative here: https://jewishplock.eu/en/13a-zdunska-street/ ]. Henryk Flatau was the last to leave Płock in 1907. He sold the family property (currently the Wedding Palace of Płock) at Kolegialna Street to a friend of the family (who later became his father-in-law), Jakub Neumark.
Written by Krystyna Grochowska-Iwańska on the basis of an article submitted to the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, the printed chapters in the book: Edward Flatau i jego kometa by Piotr J. Flatau, source information comes from the State Archives in Płock supplemented with documents shared with the author by Piotr Flatau.
On December 27 1868 Edward Flatau, one of the greatest Polish doctors and the most prominent scholars, was born in Płock. Edward was the son of banker Ludwik Flatau and Anna nee Heyman. In 1886 he graduated from Płock Secondary School with a gold medal […]
