Jewish history

Religious Development

Żelechów Hasidic Dynasty

• Grand Rabbi Shie Usher Rabinowicz (1814–1862), first Żelechów Rebbe until 1862.
  • Grand Rabbi Moishe Goldberg (1832-1901), second Żelechów Rebbe from 1862 to 1901.
    • Grand Rabbi Shie Duvid Goldberg (1869-1920), third Żelechów Rebbe from 1901 to 1920.
      • Grand Rabbi Avrum Shulim Goldberg (1890-1942), fourth and last Żelechów Rebbe from 1920 to 1942.

The First Russian Revolution

First World War

Emigration

Number of Żelechów Jews living outside of Poland in 1939

Country	Number of people
France	162
USA	140
Colombia	124
Palestine	92
Argentina	57
Costa Rica	56
Brazil	37
Denmark	18
Canada	15
Australia	15
Aruba	10
Venezuela	9
Panama	8
Cuba	7
Mexico	6
Curacao	5
Bolivia	5
Luxembourg	4
Germany	4
Trinidad	3

Renowned Yiddish writers

Itshe Mayer Wajsenberg (1881-1938)

Further information: Isaac Meir Weissenberg

Itshe Mayer Wajsenberg was born in 1881 in Żelechów to a poor family. He received his education in the Chayder. From his early years, he was a worker. Until the age of 25, he occupied himself with different trades in Warsaw and Lodz. In 1904, he published his first stories in I.L. Peretz's library. In 1906, he published "A Shteytl" (A Town), as a response to Shulem Asz's story "The Shteytl", in which Wajsenberg portrayed the Jewish revolutionary movement in Żelechów. During the First World War, he released the "Yiddishe Zamlbicher" (Yiddish Anthologies), in which he grouped many beginners. In 1923, he visited Ukraine and the United States. Later, when he returned to Poland, he released a few magazines, such as "Der Shtrum" (The Current), "Inzer Hofening" (Our Hope), and others. He later received the first award for literature by the Jewish Community in Warsaw. His works were translated into Polish, Russian, German, English, French, Spanish, and other languages. He also translated "One Thousand and One Nights" into Yiddish. He died in August 1938 in Legionowo, near Warsaw, where he laid sick of tuberculosis. He was buried in the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery next to Hersh Duvid Nomberg.

Chil Lerer (1899-1943)

Chil Lerer was born on December 24th, 1899 in Mrozy. In his early childhood, he moved with his parents to his mother's birth town, Żelechów. He studied in both the traditional Jewish Chayder and Shtibl. During the First World War, Lerer took Hebrew lessons that later helped him publish his first literary work, translating Hayim Nahman Bialik's "El HaTzipor" into Yiddish. At the age of sixteen, his father found him a bride, but instead of becoming a kept son-in-law and later opening a store, he abandons the match and starts studying German, Polish and Russian literature. He tried different occupations and did countless trips to Warsaw, where his intensive literary work began. He brought his first Yiddish poem "Tilim Gezangen" (Pslams songs) to Itshe Mayer Wajsenberg, who called him "The New Tagore" and befriended him. He remained in Warsaw since. He hungered at the beginning but sustained himself by working as an accountant of some stores. His poems started to be published then in the Warsaw Yiddish newspapers. By the age of 39, he had managed to publish four books: "Shul in Duvid" (Saul and David) in 1931, "Shtilkayt in Shtirem" (Quiet and Stormy) in 1932, "Brinems in Feld" (Wells in the Field) in 1933, and "Mayn Haym" (My Home) in 1938. Right after the Germans had entered Warsaw, Chil Lerer worked as officer in the "Evidence Department", later as a furrier and other jobs. He was offered the opportunity to save his life by living on the Arian side, but he refused. He also published in the underground press of the Warsaw Ghetto and some of his poems can be found in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. In the winter of 1943, he was brought to the Umschlagplatz, from where he was deported to the Treblinka extermination camp.

Shloyme Brański (1902-1955)

Shloyme Brański (a.k.a. Salomón Brainsky) was born in Żelechów in 1902. He grew up in a very religious Hasidic home but later in his late adolescence, he becomes active in the Poalei-Zion movement and eventually immigrates to Palestine in 1925. After three years, he returns to Poland, where he marries Chane-Malke Lerer, the sister of the famous writer Chil Lerer. His brother-in-law and friend was the one who pushed him to start writing and even showed his drafts to Itshe Mayer Wajsenberg. In 1934, Brański immigrates to South America and settles in Bogotá, Colombia. There he publishes in 1945 his famous work in Spanish "Gentes en la Noria", and only one year later comes the original in Yiddish, "Mentshn in Shpan" (People in Harness). In 1951, he published the novel "Ven Findamentn Trayslen Zich" (When the foundations shake). By then he had also finished writing a semi-autobiographical novel called "Mentshn fin Żelechów" (People from Żelechów), but he dies in 1955 and his book is only published in 1961 by his fellow townsman and friend Shimen Guberek.

The Second World War

On Friday, September 1st, 1939, a squadron of German airplanes flew through the town. On the same evening, refugees started arriving from Warsaw and Otwock. On the next morning, Jews started coming to Żelechów from Dęblin and Ryki, which had been heavily bombed. The refugees were organized in private houses, in the Basmedresh, in Hasidic Shtiblech, in the Ezras-Choylim, and other places. On September 12th, German light tanks entered Żelechów, firing intensively, despite of the fact that no one resisted them. They ordered everyone to gather in the square in front of the fire station where they ordered to hand in their weapons and announced a curfew starting from 20:00. That same night the Germans tricked the Jews by starting a fire in one of the Jewish houses, for which many of the Jews came out of their houses to help extinguish the fire, and were arrested. On the evening of September 14th, the Germans came to the marketplace with wagons and broke into the Jewish stores that were pointed out by several Poles, and sacked them. On the next morning, September 15th, which was the second day of Roysh Hashune, some German officers entered the synagogue and took out all the Jews that were praying there. They threw grenades inside the synagogue and it caught on fire. Motl Justman managed to save some Torah scrolls, but the Germans caught Chaim Felhendler, a hunchback, and threw him into the fire. On Monday, September 18th, a few thousand men were gathered outside Ordęga's Palace and taken by foot until Ostrów Mazowiecki, through Stoczek Łukowski, Siedlce, and Węgrów. On the way, those that weren't able to keep up were shot dead. That same night, all the German soldiers in Żelechów disappeared. After a few days, the Jews from Ostrów Mazowiecki returned, after being freed by the Germans, who retreated westward. Soon the news arrived in town that the Soviet Union had already taken Western Ukraine and Western Belarus and wanted to reach the Vistula, meaning that the Russian army would soon enter Żelechów. On September 28th, Polish militants, who had returned to town, took out the Żelechów rabbi into the marketplace and threatened to shoot him if a certain amount of cigarettes and money wasn't given to them. Eventually, the ultimatum was met and the rabbi was released unharmed. By then, the Red Army was already in Łuków, and its arrival was expected in Żelechów for October 2nd, but it never took place. The Soviets retreated according to the new German-Soviet Frontier Treaty and on October 4th, the Germans were back in town.

The Germans began hunting Jews for labor and cleaning work. A Jewish delegation led by Srulke Fajnzylber was able to get consent so no Jews would be caught for labor, but instead, they determined a precise location, where each day, a certain number of Jews would appear, according to a list, and the Germans would take them to labor from there. This system worked for one or two days until the Germans went back into seizing people in the street. On a Friday of October 1939, the Germans brought two trucks to the marketplace and started to load them with Jews. When they were fully packed, the Germans demanded 30,000 zlotych in order to release the Jews. It took a few hours until the town's rich Jews got the amount together and the detainees were released. On a Tuesday, at the end of October 1939, a German soldier was shot. The gendarmerie immediately stood thousands of Jews in lines in the marketplace in order to shoot them as revenge. However, soon they found out that the murderer had been a Polish peasant and no Jews were killed.

Following the orders issued on November 28,1939 by Hans Frank, the head of the General Government, a Judenrat was also created in Żelechów. It consisted of 12 individuals: Srul-Mordche Engel as president, Shulim Finkielsztajn as vicepresident, Yitzhek Bromberg as treasurer, and 9 members: Chaim-Duvid Altman, Duvid Keselbrener, Moishe Wajsleder, Maks Feldhauz, Gershen Hochgelernter, Itshe-Godl Wańcjer, Shloyme Goldsztajn, Gedale Kijewski and Velvl Szpryngier.

On Passover Eve (April 1st, 1942), Żelechów received the first news of the so-called "evacuations", from Lublin, which had already started on March 17th. Survivors told how the Jewish population was ordered to report to a designated place, where people were shot in masses, mostly women, children and the elderly. About one thousand were taken to a torture camp located between Lublin and Majdan Tatarski. The rest of the Lublin Jews were put in trucks and taken to an unknown destination (Belzec). There was no news from those that were sent away, and no one knew what happened to them.

On May 7th, 1942, the ghettos in Dęblin and Ryki (26 km from Żelechów) were liquidated. The few Jewish refugees that managed to escape and arrived in Żelechów, told the same story. The Żelechów Jews, understanding that their turn would come very soon, began preparing themselves: People exchanged money for gold and hid it inside walls or buried it. Some put their valuables or merchandise in tin barrels and buried them. Others sold their merchandise for cheap to the Poles or simply gave them their belongings, so the Germans wouldn't take it. Many gave their belongings to Polish acquaintances to keep it safe for them.

Six weeks after the liquidation of the ghetto in Ryki (mid-June 1942), two Germans came up to the Judenrat and informed them that all the Jews from Żelechów will be evacuated, except for the Judenrat and some craftsmen that would remain in town. The news quickly spread and when the Jews stormed the Judenrat, demanding them to dissuade the Germans from the evacuation, these went to the commander of the gendarmerie. He telephoned the District Chief, who indicated that there was no order to evacuate Żelechów, and that those two Germans who said so, were simple operators who wanted to entertain themselves with it.

Partisan groups

The region of Garwolin, Łuków, and Żelechów was, from the autumn of 1942 until the arrival of the Red Army, in the summer of 1944, a scene of vigorous adventures for small units of Jewish partisans. Serafim Aleksiejew, a private from the 55th Division of the Red Army, that escaped in March of 1942 from a prisoner's march, became the main character of the Soviet partisans in the above-mentioned region. In the southern end of this area, a Soviet officer that escaped from German imprisonment, Mikolaj Paramonow (a.k.a. Dąbrowski), developed a quite intensive activity. The terrain didn't allow the existence of a bigger partisan unit here, therefore, the Russians operated here in small groups, and only for more important fighting activities, they unified temporarily under the leadership of Aleksiejew or Paramonow.

The Jewish Underground in Żelechów got in contact, very soon, with Aleksiejew, offering help to the Soviet partisans. Single Jews joined this group, as well as other Soviet groups, even before the liquidation of the Żelechów Ghetto. However, the mass escapes to the forests and the planning of partisan operations on a bigger scale began only with the deportations to extermination camps. Among the escapees were the members of that organization that stood in contact with Aleksiejew. A group of a few dozen individuals, headed by Jozef Mlynowski, joined his unit. Besides Mlynowski's group, several other Jewish independent groups concentrated in the thin forests of this region. The biggest one among them was the one led by Shmilke Oszlak. The others were headed by Antek Żelichowicz, Hersh Rochman, Froim Abe and Mayer-Shulim Lewinson. The groups numbered around ten or a few dozens of friends, very poor in weapons. At a later stage, Jews that escaped from the labor camps in Adamów and Dęblin also joined, and soon the total number of Jewish fighters in this area reached more than a hundred. There were also dozens of non-fighters with the partisans, protected by them, among them several of the families of the fighters.

By the end of 1942, the unit of Aleksiejew together with the Jewish and Russian groups bound to him, appeared under the name "Armia Ludowa" (People's Army) as a unit named after Jan Kiliński. Consequently, a small number of Poles, members of PPR, also joined these units.

The most frequent operations were of economic nature to obtain sustenance for the fighters and the Jews hiding in the area. A series of attacks were carried out against the police stations in the villages of Kłoczew, Jarczew, Mysłów, and Ciechomin. Oszlak's men, together with Paramonow's unit, took part in the attack on the labor camp for Polish youth (called "Junaków" Camp) next to the train station of Gołąb, on June 4th,1943. The German guard fell completely, the camp barracks were set on fire and the "Junaków" were freed. The Jewish and Russian partisans carried out two operations to destroy railroad lines and bridges, one on September 26th, 1943, and another one a few weeks later, on November 10th. Around the same time, the partisans attacked near Leopoldów's station, a train that transported Polish prisoners to Auschwitz. The freed prisoners fled in every direction, and only a few joined the partisans.

The partisans fulfilled an important role in supplying help to hiding Jews. For the peasants that hid them, the peasants organized financial aid, which came mainly from loots. In addition to it, the partisans promised them the necessary protection, by punishing the traitors that turned in the hiding Jews and even jeopardized the owners of the hideouts. In the persistent battles that took place in the lapse of two years (from 1942 to 1944), the Jewish partisan movement in the Żelechów region degraded. The majority of the fighters fell. At the end of April 1943, Jozef Mlynowski fell in battle. On October 20th, 1943, began an anti-partisan operation that lasted two days and was mainly aimed at Oszlak's unit that camped in the Gułów forests. While breaking through the German lines, several Jewish fighters fell and Shmilke Oszlak was seriously wounded. In order not to fall into the hands of the Germans, he committed suicide with one shot. At the end of 1944, the German gendarmerie managed, due to the report of a local peasant, to surprise the group commanded by Hersh Rochman. Eight fighters fell in battle, their commander among them.

The Jews suffered many losses like those brought by the Germans, in battles with the local groups of the Armia Krajowa. Their main task was to disturb the Jewish partisans from carrying out the "collection of quotas" from the locals. The first big encounter took place on July 26th,1943, where five Jews were killed. A second serious battle broke out in September, where three more fell. The attacks of the AK against the Jews multiplied at the beginning of 1944. More and more frequently they led the Germans to the bunkers of the Jewish fighters in the forests. The partisans tried to find and catch the guilty ones and pay them back. It concluded with a big tragedy in the beginning of April 1944, where commander Yankl Rochman encountered an AK platoon with better manpower and gear. All the Jewish fighters, which numbered 17, fell in the battle between the uneven forces.

Due to the increased activity of the AK, Aleksiejew decided to move his forces eastward and unite with the Soviet units led by Colonel Iwan Banow, in the region of Bialystok. After his departure, the Jewish groups didn't conduct any other activities. The Jewish partisans spent the months of May and June of 1944 in bunkers, operating only for self-defense in cases where their bunkers were discovered, or when they felt at risk of being discovered. Out of more than 100 Jewish partisans that fought in the Żelechów region, only 18 survived.

Survivors

Righteous Among the Nations

Kołodziejek and Zwoliński Families

After the liquidation of the Żelechów ghetto, sisters Syma and Chuma Zysman hid for three weeks in a stable. When the owner of the stable asked them to leave, they went to the village of Nowe Zadybie, where Władysław Kołodziejek, a Polish farmer they knew, lived. Kołodziejek told them to stay in a cellar he had prepared for a rich Jew who never came. The farmer didn't ask anything from them. However, since he had eight children and now two more mouths to feed, the sisters sent a letter to one of their late father's friends, Stanisław Zwoliński, the town pharmacist, and asked him for help, to make it easier for the farmer to sustain them. Without hesitation, the pharmacist started sending Kołodziejek 100 złoty every month. In May 1943, with Zwoliński's help, the Zysman sisters were able to bring their sister-in-law, Gitl Zysman, who was hiding in a nearby village, to Kołodziejek's cellar. For her, the pharmacist now added more money to the monthly payment he gave the farmer. The three women stayed there until September 1944, when the Russian army had already liberated the area and Zwoliński told them it was safe to come back to Żelechów. They didn't stay long in town. They went to Łódź and then to Munich. In 1946, Syma left for Israel and was followed one year later by her sister Chuma. Gitl, on the other hand, went to Colombia and later to Trinidad. They all kept in contact with Kołodziejek. They sent him money and packages and they brought him to Israel in January 1962. On his way back to Poland, he was taken to the Vatican and got an audience with the Pope. In February 1966, the Zysman sisters nominated their saviors, but it was only on May 15th, 1983, that Yad Vashem recognized Władysław Kołodziejek(1898-1967) and his wife Zofia(1898-1983), and Stanisław Zwoliński(1882-1957) as Righteous Among the Nations.

Lasota Family

On April 12, 1992, Yad Vashem recognized Stefan Lasota(1909-1987) and his wife Władysława(1915-2004), as Righteous Among the Nations.

Błażejczyk Family

On February 23, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Genowefa Wiśnicka née Błażejczyk(1930), daughter of Stanisław Błażejczyk(1891-1974), as Righteous Among the Nations.

Turek and Sokół Families

On September 28th, 1942, Edward Turek met with the Popowski and Boruchowicz families, with whom he had business in Żelechów, and when they asked him to save them from the upcoming "relocation", he promised he would take them out of the ghetto that night. Both families decided to first send their oldest daughters, Hinde and Dvoyre Popowska, and Rifke and Sure Wajnberg. Edward took them to his village, Wilczyska, and convinced his sister Julianna and her husband Władysław Sokół, to keep them for a few days hidden in the attic of their cowshed. On the night of September 30th, Edward managed to bring the Popowski's oldest son, Laybl, who had been sent for forced labor in Wilczyska, to his sister's cowshed. The Jews then asked Sokół to make them a hideout, and with Turek's help, they started to build a cellar under the house. They dug secretly at night and after a few days, the five Jews moved into the cellar. Soon afterward, Turek was also able to bring Fayge Popowska, her daughter Malke and her husband's aunt Dvoyre Jontef – who had been hiding with another farmer in Wilczyska – to Sokół's. On the night of October 17th, 1942, the Boruchowicz sisters – Foygl, Tirtze, Sure, Perl with her two sons Shulim and Avrum Wajnberg, Gitl with her son Berl Szyfman, and their niece Sure-Hinde Boruchowicz – were able to sneak out of the attic where they had been hiding since the liquidation of the Żelechów ghetto, and after getting in contact with Edward Turek, he brought them to join the group at his sister's. Around that time (November 1942), these families managed to bribe the Polish guards from the labor camp in Wilga to extricate their men from there. In that way, Moishe Boruchowicz, his son Hershl, Moishe Szyfman, Chaim Wajnberg and his brother Symche, Chil Popowski, his sons Moishe and Nusn, Hershl Winograd and his brother Moishe, made their way into Sokół's cellar. The Jews there now numbered 27 and since there wasn't enough room for all of them, Edward convinced his brother Władysław Turek to also make a cellar in his house. Thus Moishe Boruchowicz, his children Berl, Hershl and Sure-Hinde, his sisters Foygl, Tirtze, Sure, Gitl with her husband Moishe Szyfman and their son Berl, and Symche Wajnberg moved to the new cellar. Dvoyre Popowska, her boyfriend Hershl Winograd, his brother Moishe Winograd, her brothers Nusn and Moishe Popowski, and their great-aunt Dvoyre Jontef, also left Sokół's and went to the Sobolew ghetto. Consequently, eleven Jews remained with Władysław Sokół and eleven with Władysław Turek. In April 1943, Chil Popowski died of tuberculosis inside Sokół's cellar. After that, Dvoyre Popowska and her boyfriend Hershl Winograd, who had decided last minute not to go to the Sobolew ghetto and instead were hidden by Stefan Majek in the village Stryj, returned to Sokół. Edward Turek, their savior, visited both cellars very often. He brought them news and gave them hope to survive. The people in the cellars were fed once a day, mostly a potato broth with a piece of bread. In September 1943, Władysław Turek told the Jews in his cellar, that the place had been tipped off and that they had to leave. They hid in the Wilczyska cemetery where their situation was so unbearable that they sent the women and children to stay with the farmer Filipek in the village of Baczków, where they were found on the night of September 12th, 1943, by a group (11 men) of the Armia Krajowa and shot dead. In February 1944, Noyech Winograd, his daughter Chana, her boyfriend Eli Rojzenkind and his cousin Munish Rojzenkind, arrived at Sokół's cellar after their host had begged them to leave. Chana, Eli and Munish stayed only one day and then went back to their previous host. Before dawn on June 14th, 1944, Eli and Munish Rojzenkind returned. That day, an armed group (17 men) of the Armia Krajowa surrounded Sokół's house, asking him to turn in the Jews he was hiding. When Sokół denied hiding Jews, the AK threatened to burn his house, so Sokół turned to the Jews and told them to come out, reassuring them that the Polish men only wanted to take their weapons. When Laybl Popowski came out of the cellar, he shot and wounded Bialecki, the leader of the AK group. The Poles killed Laybl, as well as Noyech Winograd and his son Hershl. Eli and Munish Rojzenkind tried to escape but Eli was shot dead. Tirtze Boruchowicz and her niece Rifke Wajnberg were returning from visiting the other cellar when they noticed the AK men. They were also shot as they tried to run away. Eventually, the AK men had to leave since their leader's condition worsened. After they had buried the dead, the surviving nine Jews left the house and hid in cornfields. A few days later, Munish Rojzenkind managed to convince Sokół to make a new hideout in the barn for Fayge Popowska and her daughters Hinde and Malke. The three women remained there until July 7th, 1944, when the Germans found them and together with Władysław Sokół, were taken to the gendarmerie in Żelechów, where they were shot 3 days later. Two weeks later, the Russian army liberated the area, and of the 32 Jews that Edward Turek had tried to save during the previous two years, only 13 had survived. The Boruchowicz and Wajnberg families moved to Costa Rica, Moishe Szyfman to Colombia, Munish Rojzenkind to Germany, Dvoyre Popowska and Chana Winograd to Australia. On March 27th, 2017, Yad Vashem recognized Edward Turek (1903-1945), his sister Julianna(1898-1977), her husband Władysław Sokół (1894-1944) and their sons Zdzisław and Jan (1926-1969), as Righteous Among the Nations.

Majek Family

On the night of September 29th, 1942, the night before the liquidation of the Żelechów ghetto, Eli Rojzenkind and his girlfriend Chana Winograd spirited themselves out of the ghetto and made their way to the village of Stryj, where Stefan Majek, Eli's Polish acquaintance, lived. Stefan hid them for three days until the Germans were tipped off and came looking for them. The Germans didn't find them, but by then the entire village knew that they were hiding with Stefan, so he took them to his uncle Franciszek Majek, who lived in the colony Lipinów. Eli's first cousin, Munish Rojzenkind, joined them and Franciszek hid the three of them in a cellar below his barn. A month later, they managed to bring Chana's father, Noyech Winograd, and her two brothers from the labor camp in Wilga, but there wasn't enough room for the brothers, so they hid with Władysław Sokół in Wilczyska. And so, only the four of them remained. They would pay Stefan for food, and he gave the money to his uncle. In February 1944, a German soldier was found dead in Stryj and the Germans began carrying out raids, so Franciszek told them to have mercy on his four children and begged them to leave. Then the four of them left the cellar and went to Sokół in Wilczyska. The villagers saw them arriving and a commotion broke out, but Edward Turek persuaded them not to inform the gendarmerie, by promising that the Jews were already gone. On that same night, Eli, Munish and Chana left Sokół's hideout, leaving her father there. After unsuccessfully trying to find shelter in a few places, they went back to Franciszek Majek. He allowed them on condition that they would not bring Chana's father with them. Stefan Majek came and visited them every Sunday at midnight and brought them news. It was spring of 1944 when he told them that the Russians were close, so he asked Eli and Munish to go to Żelechów, and bring more money for food. On the night of June 13th, 1944, Eli and Munish went to Żelechów together with Chana's brother, to ask for money from a Polish family with whom they had left all their belongings. On the way back, they stopped at Sokół's to drop Chana's brother off. While they were there, a group of the Armia Krajowa surrounded the house. Eli and Munish tried to escape, but Eli was shot and Munish had to return alone to the cellar of Franciszek Majek. Three days later, Chana and Munish were joined by Dvoyre Popowska, who had also escaped from Sokół's. The three remained in Franciszek Majek's cellar until they were liberated by the Russians in late July 1944. They returned to Żelechów for a few months, moved to Łódź and then to Germany. Munish remained there, while Chana and Dvoyre immigrated to Australia in 1947. On March 27, 2017, Yad Vashem recognized Franciszek Majek(1903-1981) and his wife Bronislawa(1906-1985), as Righteous Among the Nations. However, to date, no ceremony has taken place since no immediate family members have been found.

Gugała Family

Landsmanshaftn

References

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