Remember Jewish Krasnystaw

Pronunciation: Kraz-niss-tav

HISTORY OF JEWISH KRASNYSTAW

In 1394, Krasnystaw was granted the status of town, gaining economic advantages, including the right to set up a weekly market and three fairs a year. Rapid growth was due mainly to trade connections with Danzig (Gdansk), which took place over the Wieprz River, which spills into the Wisla River. Through the river, the town became a station for barges loaded with grain, wood, and commercial goods. In 1569 there were 339 wood houses.

Krasnystaw is a city in southeast Poland, with a population of 19,615. The town is 30 km. southwest of Chelm and 31 km. north of Zamosc. It's also 52 km. SE of Lublin. The first mention of Krasnystaw Jews is in 1548. Howeverm Jewish merchants were visiting the town before that, in the 15th century.

From the beginning, the Krasnystaw Jewish community was struck with antisemitism in town. From 1554 to 1862 there was a ban on Jewish settlement there. It wasn't until 1862 that bans on Jewish residency were removed from the town. Still, some Jews managed to reside there. In 1827, 11 Jews are recorded as living in the town. By 1857, the number grew to 151 Jews out of around 3,500 total residents (or four percent). Out of 4,750 residents in 1897, 25 percent -- or 1,176 -- were Jewish.

Eighty percent of the local trade was produced by the Jewish community. By 1921, the community had around 8,500 residents, including 1,754 Jews. In 1917, of 24 councilors on the Krasnystaw town council, 3 Jews were among them: Chaim Bergerman, Icek Hochman and Judka Rozenblat.

CULTURAL AND POLITICAL ACTIVITY

There was an active Zionist movement in town, and many Jews in town supported the Agudat Israel organization, led by Abram Szok. The Agudath Israel board included: Chaim Apozdawer, Abram Baum, Bencjan Halpern, Lipa Rajchman, Hersz Sztamer, Jakub Tregier, Abus Warman, Mendel Warszmiler. Lipa Rajchman was also on the town council at various points. The Josef Trumpeldor Association of Jewish Scouts had 54 members.

The Labor Bund in town was run by Abram Zygielbaum. The Communist Party of Poland, managed by Ruchla Frydman, a dressmaker, also had a branch in Krasnystaw.

Officials within the Jewish community in 1930 included: Rabbi Naftali Czerwon; cantor B. Frachter; schochets Majer Apozdawer and Jakob Langman; grave-digger L. Fogelfus; janitor J. Blumsztajn; secretary B. Buchbleter; school employee J. Sztunsajgier; synagogue sextons M. Puterman and J. Sztundajgier.

SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

In town, a Merchant Loan Bank was operated by Szmul Perelmuter. A Mercantile Credit Bank led by Icek Zygelszyper was opened in 1926. The Bruder Hilf Charity Association, which provided financial support in the form of interest-free and short-term loans, had 25 members.

The I. L. Perec library, which gathered about 500 Jewish and Hebrew books, operated in Krasnystaw. Its founders were Mendel Rajchman and Mosze Prechter. Hadasa Fajersztajn, who also helped with Zionist activity among Jewish girls, ran the library.

JEWISH EDUCATION

In 1913, five cheders, attended by 98 students, operated in the town. The first cheder, created in 1889, was managed by L. Guterman and had 23 students. Other cheders were operated by U. Goldman, who provided education to 22 boys; and P. B. Turobiner, who had 18 pupils. In 1892, F. Ajnwojnier formed another, fourth, cheder with 23 students. The fifth cheder was established in the year 1904; its owner was M. Berger and it had 23 students. In 1932, there were six cheders in Krasnystaw attended by 73 Jewish boys. Other Jewish children attended a state public school. From 1921 to 1930, 319 students, including 79 children of Jewish origin (24.76% of all students), attended Primary School No. 1 in Krasnystaw. Between the years 1930-1939, the school had 326 students (67 -- 18.51% of Jewish descent).

COMMERCE AND TRADE IN KRASNYSTAW

Toward the end of 1917, the Association of Jewish Tailors and Shoemakers, which had 40 craftsmen, was formed in Krasnystaw.

A bookstore, situated at Cerkiewny Square and owned by Chil Szolson, operated in Krasnystaw from 1906. There were two typographic houses in the town; one was owned by Szolson and the other by Rafal Kasner.

Some of the town residents are noted for their occupations: Feldman had a board yard; Cung -- bottling plants; Kozak -- a mill; Stucajger -- a shop with leather and tailor's products, Karp -- a fishing tackle shop; Rajchman -- a shoe shop for the elites; Pinker and Goldstein -- bakeries. Lewkowicz owned a tailor's shop; Zontag -- a photographer's workshop; Zunger sold sweets and drinks; Merenstein opened a grocery shop with alcohol; Fleszer traded in knick-knacks; Halpern had a textile shop; Mandeltort had a photographer's workshop. The wealthiest residents were those who ran mills. Szymon Lejba owned a steam mill where he employed 11 workers. Milcia Cypkiewicz opened a fashion school in 1913, and Bencion Kepfisz opened a wicker workshop.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

Prayer houses were operated by Szul Knobel, Lejb Feldman, and Berek Zalcman.

NEARBY JEWISH COMMUNITIES

Villages near Krasnystaw also had a Jewish population in 1939: Borowica (10 Jews), Krasniczyn (500 Jews), Lopiennik Gorny (unknown number of Jews), Nielisz (20 Jews), Stara Wies (10 Jewish families), Tarzymiechy (unknown number of Jews), and Zakrecie (unknown number of Jews). The Krasnystaw Jewish population in 1939 was 2,200. Additional information is available about several nearby rural Jewish communities, as follows:

- Gorzkow: In 1921, Gorzkow had a population of 434 Jews. In 1939, the number was likely between 500 and 800. Jewish settlement took place in the 19th century. There was a Bet ha-Midrash (religious school) and a shochet (ritual slaughterer), who ruled on religious matters and taught the children. At the beginning of 1940, a Judenrat was established in town that included Izrael Edelsztajn (chairman), Chaim Kajzman (vice-chairman), Josef Kajzman, Leib Goldstein, Zindel Honigman (a hero of the Holocaust), Mattias Orland, Szlomo Cymerman, Daniel Wasser, Ajzyk Farber, and Meir Merensztajn. In the spring of 1940, and again at the beginning of 1942, Jews from Gorzkow were sent to slave labor at Belzec, which was at that time still a labor camp. Young men from the village were also sent to slave labor at Trawniki. In May or November of 1942, the Germans assembled the Jews of Gorzkow and the nearby villages in the market square, and they were marched 12 km. to the Izbica transit ghetto -- the assembly point for all the Jews of the area. In the autumn of 1942, and the start of 1943, all the inhabitants of the Izbica ghetto were sent to the gas chambers at Belzec death camp.

- Siennica Rozanna: In 1939, there were approximately 150 Jews in Siennica Rozanna. In March or April of 1942, 272 Jews from Siennica Rozanna were sent to the gas chambers at Belzec. In March and April of 1942, thousands of Jews from the Tarnogora area (many had been deported to the area from Germany or Czechoslovakia) were expelled to the gas chambers at Belzec Death Camp. The Jewish communities in these villages were eliminated.

- Tarnogora: The Jewish population in Tarnogora in 1939 was between 100 and 200. In 1743, Jews were forbidden to settle in Tarnogora and in Izbica, and very few managed to circumvent the prohibition. In 1759 one Jewish family was settled in Tarnogora, and towards the end of the 18th century only 5 Jewish families were living there. Even after 1862, when the prohibition was cancelled altogether in Poland, few Jews settled in Tarnogora because opportunities for earning a wage were sparse. In the 1930s, antisemitic propaganda intensified in Tarnogora when Jews were attacked in the streets and Jewish peddlers passing through villages with their wares feared for their lives.

KRASNYSTAW DURING THE HOLOCAUST

There were approximately 2,200 Jews living in Krasnystaw when the war broke out, which represented 20% of the town's total population.

The Nazis captured Krasnystaw on September 14, 1939. A ghetto was established and the 1,690 Jews living in Krasnystaw as well as some Jews from Germany and Czechoslovakia, were forced into the ghetto in August 1940. The ghetto had 2,000 prisoners in 1942, including Jews from Grodziec, Rzgow, and Skulsk that had been sent there on March 9, 1941. The Krasnystaw Judenrat was established at the beginning of 1940. Judenrat members consisted of: Lipe Bloch, Issachar Rozenbojm, Alter Katz, David Zylbercan, Lipa Reichman, and Avigdor Feldman. Michael Szolson, a prominent leader of the Krasnystaw community who also was on the Judenrat, was among the first Jews deported and murdered at Sobibor after Judenrat chairman Lipe Bloch and him got into a dispute. His date of death is May 15, 1942. Most members of the Jewish police were friends or relatives of Judenrat members. The Jewish police included Bencion Rosenblatt, Moshe Szmaragd, Josef Zylbercan, and Zanwel Mittelman.

Near the Borek Forest, the Nazis operated a labor camp which housed Jews deported from Czechoslovakia to Krasnystaw. Almost all of them were executed there. In May of 1942, almost 3,000 residents of Turobin, Poland were relocated to Krasnystaw and subsequently taken to the Sobibor Death Camp.

On April 12, 1942, as many as 600 Jews living in Krasnystaw ghetto were expelled to Izbica together with Jews from nearby communities, such as Siennica Rozana, Rybczeice, and Krasniczyn.

On April 16, 1942, Salomon Griffen, head of the JSS in Fajslawice, reported the 220 Jews in his municipality, half of them employed at a German estate, were unscathed by the deportation, which had impacted on Jews in every town and settlement in the Kreis and in the neighboring Lopiennik Gorny and Rybczewice municipalities. The deportees were probably marched directly to the Izbica railway station and then sent to be gassed at the Belzec death camp.

On June 18, 1942, Michal Szolsohn's deputy reported to JSS leaders in Krakow that no Jews that no Jews remained in Krasniczyn, Wysokie, and Rudnik -- or in the Lopiennik, Rybczewice, and Zakrzew municipalities. Jews in Krasnystaw were employed mainly in clearing possessions from the ghetto. Some of the clearing squad was sent to the Trawniki labor camp, probably in late August 1942. Also in August of 1942, some Jewish agricultural workers in Krasnystaw were sent to the Sobibor death camp.

In October 1942 the Germans transferred remaining Krasnystaw Jews to the Izbica ghetto. Jews in the Izbica transit ghetto were typically shot on the spot or relocated to Belzec's gas chambers.

NAZI PERPETRATORS

Nazis in Krasnystaw included: Kurt Engels, Ludwig Klemm, Wilhelm Geisenhof, Hartmut Gerstenhauer, Claus Harms, Aleksander Hodun (Chodon), Fritz Kalich, Jozef Mach, Gustav Menzel, Teodor Piele, Rudolf Rieger, Adolf Schmidt, unknown Schevior, Johann Scheuerer, Karl Schwarzer, Claus Volkmann and Henning von Winterfeld.

Local Polish collaborators included Jan Bernat, Jozef Grochecki, Feliks Jeramek, Damazy Kondracki, Jan Kotula, Stanislaw Mikula, Jan Sysa, Stanislaw Sysa, Franciszek Szestowicki, Wladyslaw Szpotowski, Leon Szymanski, Franciszek Wiacek, Edward Wrona, Jan Wrona and Stanislaw Wrona.

WHAT REMAINS

In 1941, the synagogue at 3 Czyste Street was destroyed. The Jewish cemetery on Rejowiecka Street, founded around 1890, still has between five and ten visible grave stones. There is no memorial marker and it is overgrown with vegetation.

Around 40 Jews out of 2,200 from Krasnystaw survived the Holocaust.

Zachor - We Remember. Please review the site content below.

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[Surnames and Researchers] [History] [Education & Culture]
[Organizations and Associations] [Wikipedia - Krasnystaw]
[Holocaust] [Borek Forest Labor Camp] [Jewish cemetery]
[List of Martyrs (incomplete) from the Yizkor Book]
[Cemetery] [Synagogue] [Notable Residents]
[Family Research in Southeast Poland]
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LINKS

- Join the Krasnystaw group on Facebook!


Town of Krasnystaw:

An account of Gorzkow during the Holocaust
Izbica near Krasnystaw
Krasnystaw eGroup
Photos of Krasnystaw Today
Nattie Adelsberg Testimony: Krasnystaw deportation

Families of Krasnystaw:

Fuks family
Szok family
Zigelboim family

Majdan Tatarski Ghetto Victims (Lublin) from Krasnystaw and Gorzkow:

Chaja Rojza Cynamon
Hudla(?) Mirla Cynamon
Ita Fleszler
Chaim Handelsman
Moszek Lejba Lejwand
Czarna Marder
Icek Messinger
Estera Messynger
Chana Bergajzen Nirenberg
Matys Szulman
(source:Brama Grodzka - Teatr NN)

Rabbis of Krasnystaw:

- Josef Malowertaw, 1860
- (unknown) Wienhab
- Yosef Reznik, cantor
- Rafael Rozenzwajg, cantor
- Avraham Rojtsztejn

Survivors of Gorzkow:

- Judel (Judka) Goldsztejn
- Brucha Betty Honigman
- Zyndel Honigman
- Moshe Merensztajn
- Frida Sztuden (Shtuden)
- Hershel Zimmerman (Harold Werner)

Survivors of Krasnystaw:
(includes people from Zolkiewka)

- Necha Zycer Adelsberg
- Moshe Adelsberg
- Eliyahu Adelsberg
- Nuchem Norman Adelsberg
- Szloma Berger
- Golde Fingerhut Blustein
- Ber "Dov" Freiberg
- Mayer Drescher
- Leibel Leon Feldhendler
- Szymon Frydlinski
- Maria Binder Greber
- Fajwel Hershman
- Josef Hershman
- Moshe Hochman
- Samuel Kac
- Michael Kanner
- Felik Kestelman
- Jafa Klocman
- Esther Knobel Tuzman
- Aniela Knobl
- Jakub Knobl
- Lejzor Korenfeld (went to Israel)
- Maria Kozlowska
- Bernard Kratz
- Samuel Kratz
- Giselle Kurz
- Kate Langer
- Raquel Lew de Latarowski
- Sala Lehrman
- Samuel Lerer
- Itzhak Lichtman
- Annette Lotersztajn
- Bernard Page
- Rafael Pelc
- Icek Rochman
- Marja Schneidmesser
- Irving Schock (Szok)
- Simon Stemer
- Tadeusz Sterngast
- David Stundzeiger (video testimony)
- Berek Szarf
- David Szarf (Scharf)
- Usher Szok
- Yitzchak Szok
- Mila Szterenzys
- Josef Wagner
- Shalom Weitz (Wajc)
- Pola Eisenstein Zacman (or Zalcman)
- Czeslaw Zalewski
- Menachem Zinger
- Hershel Zycer
- Reuven Zygielbaum

Notable Residents:

- Melvin Dresher
- Avoth Yeshurun
- Abraham Zygielbaum
- Szmul Zygielbojm

Notable Descendants:

- Jesse Eisenberg, American actor
- Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, American entrepreneur

Righteous Gentiles:

- Jan Osiewicz hid the Knobel family of three
- Karol Olecha hid the Honigman family of four at Wielkopole

Genealogy:

- Krasnystaw During the Holocaust
- Jewish Records Indexing Poland - Krasnystaw
- Jewish Vital Records in the Polish State Archives
- Pinkas Hakehillot Polin: Gorzkow
- Pinkas Hakehillot Polin: Krasnystaw

Remember Your Family:

Central Judaica Database - Museum of History of Polish Jews
Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors on Facebook
Guide to the YIVO Archives
Holocaust News/Events from Generations of the Shoah Int'l
Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database
JewishGen Family Finder
JewishGen Holocaust Database
JRI-Poland: Search for Your Family
Museum of History of Polish Jews Introduction
Yad Vashem: Search for Your Family
Yad Vashem: Submit Names of Your Family Members
Yad Vashem Requests Photos of Shoah Survivors and Families


CONTACTS

U.S.: LublinJewish@gmail.com

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