Józef Kwiatek was born on January 22, 1874 in Płock, in a large Jewish family. His father Fiszel, son of Efroim Kwiatek (1792-1875) and Sura née Kagan, traded in colonial goods. Józef’s mother was Hinda née Prussak. Józef had six siblings – brothers Symcha (born […]
In 1816, in Kutno Mordka Lindeman (Linderman) (born ca. 1791), son of the trader Berek and Bluma (daughter of Chaim), married Perel Fux (born ca. 1792), the daughter of the baker Szyja and Małka (daughter of Jonasz). In 1817 their son Chaim was born, and […]
One of the families associated with the former Szeroka Street (currently Józefa Kwiatka St.) was the Berliner family. Beniamin Berliner was born in 1829 in Płock as the son of Hersz and Maria. He was a tailor by profession (like his parents). In 1851 he married Krajndla Topaz (born in 1832), daughter of Beniamin and Jeres. Beniamin and Krajndla Berliner had 6 children: sons Szulim (born in 1857), Majer (born in 1866) and Icek Jankef (born in 1868) and daughters Symcha (born in 1861), Sura (born in 1872) and Masha ( born in 1874). The Berliners lived in a tenement house at 36 Szeroka Street, which was owned by Hersz Szlezyngier. Symcha Berliner married Abram Izaak Klejn, who came from Kalisz (ca. 1857-1887) and was the son of Lejb and Frajda. Their son Izrael was born in 1886. In the early 1890s, the Berliner family emigrated to England. After the death of Abram Izaak, Symcha married Abraham Fass, who came from Płock and was a cotton porter. The family lived in Liverpool. Symcha Berliner died in 1925. Izrael Klejn (Cyril Keene) married Miriam Blumenthal (1885-1963). He died in Reading, Berkshire, on January 4, 1942.
Photographs courtesy of Sue Easter. Thank you!
On September 19, a board exhibition entitled Józef Kwiatek and his street which the Nobiscum Foundation has realized in connection with the 145th anniversary of birth of Józef Kwiatek (1874-1910), will be opened at the P Gallery in the Płock City Hall. The exhibition was […]
World War II brought the extermination of the Jews of Płock. In February and March 1941, the Nazi occupants deported about 10,000 Jews from Płock and nearby towns to German concentration camps. From around 9,000 of Jewish people living in Płock before the outbreak of […]
In 1841, property with the mortgage number 37 at Grodzka Street was purchased from Anna Kłobuszewska nee Zawidzka and Teofila Białkowska née Kłobuszewska by Samuel Majeran. In the years 1841-1842 Majeran erected a brick tenement house on the square. Since 1873, the owner of the property was a merchant from Lipno, Lewin Zeman (born in 1849), son of Jakub and Cyrla née Majeran. From 1876, a store operated here with local, Viennese, Hamburg and Berlin furniture, mirrors in gilded, mahogany and nut frames as well as living room and bedroom furniture. Zeman also opened a sewing machine store with American and German equipment and a workshop where upholsterers brought by the owner from Warsaw and abroad performed all upholstery works for the needs of the store and customer orders. The tenement also housed a jewellery store by F. Grünbaum, offering diamond, gold and silver products from French and English factories.
In the building, together with his family, lived Mieczysław Goldberg (1868-1907) – son of Szlama Lejb and Enta Julia née Dancygier, journalist, playwright, poet, art critic, essayist, and socialist activist. From 1894, Goldberg was active in the French workers’ movement. He founded the magazines “Le Courrier Social” and “Sur le Trimard”. He was the author of “Lettres à Alexis. Histoire sentimentale d’une pensée” (1904), “Prométhée repentant, tragédie en trois actes” (1905), “Fleurs et Cendres. Impressions d’Italie” (1906), “L’Esprit dialectique” (1907). His friends included Antoine Bourdelle, Camille Claudel, Henri Matisse and Auguste Rodin.
In 1885, the property was purchased by a trader from Dobrzyń – Lesser Byszofswerder (born in 1834). In 1911 the property was bought by Syne Praszkier, and in 1923 Józef Praszkier as well as Icek and Gitla Lidzbarscy. At 11 Grodzka Street, the seat of the Association of Jewish Evening Courses in Płock, co-founded by Becalel Okolica – co-organizer of the Płock department of the “Poalej Syjon-Lewica” party, chairman of the Trade Union of Tailors and Transporters in Płock. Alfred Blay’s cotton shop and Salomon Epsztajn’s shoe shop operated here as well.
My grandfather, Izydor Wajcman (born 1867), came from a large Jewish family associated with Wyszogród. He was the son of Szmul Jochim (1841-1892), son of Zelik Lewek (born 1794) and Ryfka née Eben (born 1796), and Estera Sura née Albert (1837-1901), daughter of Mosiek Albert […]
On August 18, 1920, the Bolshevik army attacked Płock. Until August 19, the city’s civilian population, including women and children, heroically defended themselves on the barricades along with the army, preventing soldiers of Bolshevik Russia from gaining the bridgehead and crossing the Vistula. In the […]
Hechaluc began its activity in Płock in 1923. Its founders were A. Kowalski, F. Fliderblum and M. Kenigsberg. Szymon Margulin, Mojżesz Zander and A. Lejbgot were also part of the board of the organization. The organization’s goal was to emigrate its members to Eretz Israel. Despite the fact that orthodox communities in Płock opposed the newly formed group, the number of its members increased from year to year, and the local branch of Hechaluc became a center of various Zionist activities.
While the Hechaluc organization consisted of young people over the age of 18 who were preparing to travel to Eretz Israel, younger boys and girls were members of its sister organization Hechaluc Hatzair. The organization prepared young people for their future lives as pioneers and focused on cultural activities. In the 1930s, many young boys and girls left the city for Eretz Israel, where most of them lived as pioneers, often in kibbutzim.
Young pioneers from Płock who never reached Israel were murdered, like many others, by the Nazis during World War II.
Bibliography: Plotzk. A History of an Ancient Jewish Community in Poland, ed. E. Eisenberg, Tel-Aviv 1967
The branch of the Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party Poale Zion was founded in Płock in 1904. After the Russian Revolution in 1905, the activity of Poale Zion was banned by tsarist police, and the members of the organization went underground. It was only after […]
