Remember Jewish Izbica

Pronunciation: Eez-beetz-a Lubelskie

HISTORY OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Izbica is a town in Krasnystaw County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is 8 miles south of Krasnystaw and 37 miles southeast of the regional capital Lublin. The current population is 1,933.

Jews in Izbica established a kehilla in 1775. Under threat of imprisonment, Jews were forbidden to cross the bridge leading from Izbica to Tarnogora. This was due to demands by Christians who saw Jews as threats to their business ventures. There were 407 inhabitants in Izbica in 1827, all Jewish. In 1860, 1,450 people lived in Izbica, and by 1870 the number had increased to 1,800 inhabitants -- all Jewish. In 1897, 3,019 Jews in Izbica made up 95% of the whole population. In 1921, Izbica had 3,085 residents, including 2,862 Jews. In 1939, Izbica had about 6,000 inhabitants including 5,098 Jews. The Jewish residents ran 166 craftsmen workshops, of which 108 were tailor shops.

The town grew rapidly, most notably after 1835 when the new route from Lublin to Zamosc was established through Izbica. Soon the town became an important local centre of trade and crafts outclassing the neighboring town of Tarnogora after the removal of the Jews. Izbica remains even today the only town in Poland without a parish church. Many Izbica Jews did not speak Polish and the town remained provincial and poor. In the 19th century, tzadik Rabbi Josef Mordechaj Leiner settled in town and an independent Hasidic community grew around him. In the interwar period, R' Zwi Rabinowicz established another Hasidic manor house in Izbica. Rabbi Izrael "Isser" Landau was the last rabbi of Izbica before the outbreak of World War II.

The first references to a synagogue in Izbica date back to the late 18th century, when Eliezer was the rabbi and the town had a wooden synagogue. It was located close to the town center — north of the market square near the road linking Lublin with Zamość. In the mid-1800s, a brick syagngoeu was built, but it burned down in 1879. It was quickly reconstructed. It survived until April 1943, when the Germans destroyed it during the liquidation of the Izbica ghetto. After the war, its ruins were demolished by the local population.

The synagogue in Izbica was a large, 2-story building divided into sections for men and women. The ground floor, for men, had rectangular windows. The second floor, with arched windows, was for women. In Izbica, during the interwar period, there was a ritual bathhouse (mikveh) that was built before 1918. Its location is unknown. A private house of prayer belonging to Mordka Josef Lejzor existed in Izbica, established in 1921. The daily attendance at this house of prayer was estimated at 40 to 50 people. Other houses of prayer that existed in Izbica, pre-war, included: Moszek Wajsman (daily attendance 20-25), Shaya Rozenbaum and Moszek Szulman (daily attendance 25-30), Jachwit Ruderman (daily attendance 10-20), Shiya Adler (daily attendance 10-15 people), Hana Sznajder (daily attendance 10-12), Szlama Tuchman (daily attendance 10-12).

IZBICA — LOCAL POPULATION DURING THE SHOAH

The pre-war Jewish population of Izbica was 4,500. From the start of the Nazi occupation, Jews were forced to perform heavy labour in the town. The slave labor tasks included street cleaning, brick works/building, and agricultural works. After the Nazi invasion in the fall of 1939, local Jews were used as laborers to construct an airport in Zamosc.

In 1941, the Nazis created a ghetto in Izbica — situated in the building used by the fire brigade, behind the railroad track. It was surrounded by barbed wire fencing, and thus there was no way of escaping the ghetto. The local Jewish population was murdered at Majdanek, Belzec, Sobibor or in slave labor in the Izbica ghetto. Members of the Judenrat in Izbica included: Abram Blatt, Tanchem Cwekin, Froim Kutner, Jacob Neumann, Rafael Sznajdmessier, Hersz Tau, and Szymon Szwarc. According to Holocaust survivor Tomasz Blatt, a pre-war resident of Izbica: “The S.S. appeared in the Judenrat building and presented an ultimatum: Everyone under 15 and over 55 must show up at the market square or they will be shot. German and Austrian Jews, staying in Izbica at that time, became totally disoriented due to their ingrained typical German orderliness, respect and submission to the authorities. Polish Jews assessed the situation more realistically and tried to evade their tragic fate. They understood that ‘displacement’ meant certain death and made desperate attempts to hide. On the other hand, German Jews, despite all the warnings, did not imagine that they could show disobedience and fail to carry out the orders of the authorities. They showed up at the assembly point in no time.”

According to witness Jan Karski, “The camp barracks could accommodate about half of the prisoners. The remainder had no other choice than to stay outdoors. The smell of human excrement, sweat, filth and decay permeated the air." Later on, the slave labor tasks for those who remained included collecting and organizing the property left behind by the Jews who had been sent to the death camps. During the Shoah, Izbica was constantly overcrowded. The town did not have a sewage system — only public wells in the market square. Many of the homes also lacked electricity. As a result of overpopulation, hunger, and poor sanitation, diseases such as typhus began to spread rapidly.

Pre-war residents of Izbica included the following persons, all of whom are identified via Yad Vashem photographs: Chaim Ajler, Rivka Altman, Henech Anach, Sima Anach, Noach Begleibter, Avraham Bergman, Yacov Bialovitz, Yehoshua Bialovitz (also listed as Garber), Avraham Brinker, Raizel Blank, Sane Blatt, Yerachmiel Blat, Avraham Brinker, Pivel Dreksler, Yehoshua Erlich, Hersh Pelc, Paula Pelc, Moshe Flinkier, Shlomo Fluk, Joijna Frank, Asher Fridman, Yakov Fridman, Shmuel Fruchtkoifer, Israel Goldberg, Yosele & Chanale Goldberg, Hendel Grin, Ester Grin, Sarah Grin, Nechama Gold, Ruchla Harman, Chaim Hecht, Moshe Honik, Faige Ickowicz, Leitshe Ickowicz, Meir Ickowicz, Shaul Itzkovitz, Shmuel Ickowicz, Libe Kamien, Hene Katz, Shlomo Klarman, Mendel Kornfeld, Yeshayahu Korenfeld, Yosel Kremerman, Avraham Leichter, Israel Leichter, Beila Leist, Hersh Leist, Malka Leist, Yacov Leist, Yosef Lerer, Yosef Lerner, Sarah Licht, Shlomo Mandel, Dina Mintz, Berl Nodel, Brucha Orlach, Aryeh Perel, Leibel Plug (or Flug), Asher Puterman, Yerachamiel Puterman, Hadassa Reichenstein, Chaya Roisman, Gerszon Rojsman, Ruchla Rojsman, Shlomo Rosen, Avraham Rosenberg, Yishayahu Rosenberg, Akiwa Rosenkranz, Brontshe Rosenkranz, Miriam Rosenkranz, Avraham Rotker, Etel Rotker, Shaul Scharf, Yachtshe Scharf, Shmuel Sharpstein, Itche Schmuelis, Baruch Solanko, Israel Szifman, Hersh Tzveren, Moshe Tuchman, Tzirel Wasserman, Moshe & Malka Weic (Wajc), Mendel Weinstock, Yosel Weintraub, Ester Wertman, Nechama Wertman, Chaim Wortman, and Rachel Wortman. All were murdered in the Holocaust.

IZBICA — TRANSIT GHETTO

Izbica became a key Nazi transit point to transport prisoners from one location to another due to its locale on train routes. Eventually, it became the largest transit ghetto in the Lublin district. Transports of Jews from Lublin, Lodz, Czestochowa, Glowno, Konin and Kolo were sent to Izbica. After that, Jews from Czechloslovakia, Moravia, Germany, and Austria arrived. From March to May 1942, approximately 12,000 to 14,000 Jews from Europe were transported to Izbica. Among the Jews were highly qualified specialists: engineers, doctors, economists including the vice president of Prague, Austrian army generals and professors. From March until June, 1942, around 17,000 Jews from abroad were deported to Izbica transit camp. Most of them were elderly or women and children. In many instances, young men still capable of working were selected from these transports in Lublin and sent to the Majdanek Concentration Camp.

Among the known transports to Izbica were:

-- 2,083 Jews from Theresienstadt on March 11 and March 17, 1942;
-- ~2,000 Jews from Germany on March 13 and March 19, 1942;
-- 1,000 Jews from Koblenz, Germany on March 25, 1942;
-- 1,008 Jews from Germany on March 27, 1942;
-- 208 Jews from Germany (Wurzburg and Kitzingen) on March 24, 1942;
-- 1,000 Jews from Vienna on April 9, 1942;
-- 29 Jews from Luxembourg on April 23, 1942;
-- 1,570 Jews from Germany on April 22 and April 26, 1942;
-- ~1,000 Jews from Theresienstadt on April 27, 1942;
-- 800 Jews from Germany on April 28, 1942;
-- 1,000 Jews from Koblenz, Germany on May 3, 1942
-- unknown number of Jews from Frankfurt, Germany on May 8, 1942
-- 2,007 Jews from Vienna on May 12 and May 15, 1942;
-- ~750 Jews from Germany on May 24, 1942;
-- 2,052 Jews from Slovakia (Spisska, Nova Ves, Poprad) on May 29-30, 1942;
-- 1,001 Jews from Vienna on June 5, 1942;
-- 1,003 Jews from Germany on June 13, 1942;
-- 2,013 Jews from Germany on June 15, 1942

According to testimonies and literature, the first two deportations from Izbica (on March 24, 1942 and April 8, 1942) were sent to Belzec Death Camp. Most of these victims were Polish Jews. They were deported due to the S.S. requiring space for deportees from western countries. The transport of May 14-15, 1942, which consisted of German/Czech Jews, went to Sobibor Death Camp and Majdanek Death Camp.

The elderly, women, children, and many men as well were sent to the Sobibor Death Camp or the Belzec Death Camps, both located in the Lublin district, not far from Izbica. At the time, no one was aware that these death camps existed. Often German or Czech Jews who spoke German fluently were members of the Judenrat and Jewish police in the ghettos. In Izbica, the local Gestapo chief had his own private Jewish police squad, recruited from Czech Jews. Especially in Izbica, Jewish police from western countries selected mainly Polish Jews for deportations.

Another 4,000 Jews from areas near Izbica and from the Zamosc Ghetto were sent to Izbica transit camp in 1942. According to testimony, the S.S. killed around 2,000 Jewish victims in the course of Izbica's last execution. It took place at the local Jewish cemetery (which had already been destroyed) in November of 1942. On November 2, 1942, a Ukrainian unit of S.S. men from Trawniki and the Police in navy blue from Izbica surrounded the village. In the next few days, the remaining Jews were sent to Belzec and Sobibor. Several thousand Jews had been rounded up in the fire station, from where they were chased in groups to the Jewish cemetery and executed there. It is estimated that around 4,000 victims were murdered and buried in pits at the Izbica Jewish cemetery.

The transit ghetto was closed down, but a ghetto for the remaining Jews was created. The Nazis took the last Jews from Izbica to Sobibor in April of 1943. The final liquidation of the ghetto took place on the 28th of April 1943, when the last two hundred Jews were sent to Sobibor. Jan Karski, a courier who witnessed the atrocities of the Holocaust after arriving in the transit ghetto disguised as a guard, tells the following story: "Usually, they stayed in the camp for no more than four days. Soon afterwards, they were herded into the railroad cars only to face their death. During the whole time spent in the camp, they were barely given anything to eat so they had to rely on their own provisions. The camp barracks could accommodate about half of the prisoners. The remainder had no other choice than to stay outdoors. The smell of human excrement, sweat, filth and decay permeated the air."

The two main Nazis in Izbica were Kurt Engels and Ludwig Klem (also spelled Klimt, Klemp, Klempt). Engels committed suicide in 1958. The fate of Ludwig Klem is not known.

SLAVE LABORERS IN IZBICA — PARTIAL LISTING

A list of 40 names of men and women who worked from May 1942 to September/October 1942 as agricultural workers on a manor house estate near Izbica is available. This estate produced agricultural products for the Germans. All workers listed below perished in September or October of 1942 in Belzec or Sobibor. Nearly all of these workers were from Bavaria, but four were from Nurnberg and one was from Fuerth.

Im Garten sind beschaeftigt: (working in the garden):
1) Gustav Gerst 2) Justin Gerst 3) Jonathan Haumann 4) Henry Loewy 5) Adolf Horwitz 6) Walter Oettinger
7) Bernhard Baumann 8) Jacob Sondhelm 9) Ludwig Strauss 10) Max Rothschild 11) Jakob Ehrenberg
12) Elisabeth Freund 13) Dorothea Freund 14) Elisabeth Korte 15) Berta von Rueling (from Austria)
16) Margarete Plank-Schreib 17) Julius Muhr 18) Oskar Taussig 19) Heinrich Jochberger 20) Josef Eltzbacher

Wiesenkolonne (in the field):
1) Siegmund Schlossberger 2) Fritz Steinhardt 3) Siegfried Loewi 4) Alfred Loewi 5) Alfred Epstein
6) Herbert Rindsberg 7) Schi Schoenfeld 8) Arnold Ferber 9) Moritz Schmitt 10) Sally Lindt
11) Philipp Heuman 12) Herbert Sohn from Berlin

Traktorfuehrer (tractor driver):
1) Leo Weis 2) Max Fleischmann 3) Leopold Haller

Pferdestall (Horse stable): 1) Rudolf Schmidt

Muehle (mill): 1) Siegfried Platt 2) Nathan David

Kueche (kitchen) :
1) Blanka Neumann 2) Paula Schmitt 3) Gertrude Treibel

Schneider (tailor): 1) David Siegmund

Please review the site content below. Zachor - We Remember.
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[History] [The Izbica Ghetto] [Cemetery] [Synagogue]
[Wikipedia - Izbica] [Accounts & Memories]
[Toivi Blatt Testimony: Izbica to Belzec Transport]
[Sobibor Uprising Survivors — Izbica] [Family Research in Southeast Poland]
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