Sosnowiec

Things would get turbulent. In 1903, during Rosh ha-Shana celebrations by the riverside, Polish workers threw rocks at local Jews. The police intervened, but no serious harm was done. In July of 1911, another group burst into the synagogue filled with praying Jews. They had been told a Catholic girl had been kidnapped.

Germans entered the town on September 4, 1939 and murdered 30 Jews in the first organized executions. On September 9, they burnt down the synagogue at Dekerta Street. ‘Dulag’ transit camp was created for those, who would later be deported to labor camps, and surrounded with barbed wire. Zwilag camp was intended for families of Jewish workers who were in hiding to avoid deportations. In 1942, a ghetto for young Jewish workers was created in the city’s district of Środula. Those who were too weak or too old were placed in Modrzejów and Old Sosnowiec ghettos. On the night of July 31, the ghetto was liquidated; that night, around 400 of its residents died fighting or trying to escape, over 10,000 others were deported. Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) fought despite virtually no chances for victory. Those who remained were forced to clean up the bodies and were then sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. On January 15, 1944, the last transport headed out of Sosnowiec. Those who came back after the war were survivors of the camps and the people who had been resettled to USSR. In June 1945, there were 2719 of them altogether, but no one settled down for good. They would continue westward or head to Palestine.

Staszic students divided themselves into smaller groups and spent hours collecting information that they then attempted to consolidate and catalogue. They changed the route and reconsidered the concept of the tour. They ran a test tour, then another one; the former with Forum’s educators, the latter with board members of AMTRA company from Sosnowiec, including Mark Sheron for the U.S.. Students spoke in English, presented riddles and asked trick questions. What was here? And there? What do you know and what don’t you know? Mark Sheron was moved, and the students proud that everything went smoothly.

photo: Beata Godlewska, Anna Maculewicz

After final changes to the route, invitations could be sent out to those invited for the tour. Hummus was made, kipahs cut out and presents prepared – in the form of souvenirs donated by the town hall.

On November 17, 2011, a group of tour participants from various local schools gathered at Ćwieka Square. At the very beginning – as it should be – tour organizers gave their guests a historical overview of Jewish presence in Sosnowiec, mentioning the most important and the most interesting facts. The group then headed to the building at 10 Sadowa Street which used to house dr Liberman’s Jewish co-educational secondary school. Then on to the former seat of the local Maccabi branch – a sports association that had over 300 members before the war, with cycling, boxing and skiing sections, among others.

And then to Targowa Street, where Władysław Szpilman’s former house still stands. Young guides talked about the composer’s life and works – “There’s no happiness without love”, for example. While in the Warsaw ghetto, Szpilman occasionally played the piano in Café Capri and other small concert venues, when this was still allowed. In 1942, Szpilman lost his whole family; it was then he stopped playing the piano altogether. A Jewish policeman saved him from being deported to Treblinka death camp, while Wehrmacht captain Wilm Hosenfeld – who later died in Soviet camp and was posthumously awarded the title of Righteous Among Nations – saved him from starvation.

Later on the group headed to Dekerta Street, where the Great Synagogue once stood and a marketplace was located until recently; a new shopping pavilion will be built on the site. Staszic students described what particular life stages of a religious Jew are like and asked if anyone sees any similarities to that of a religious Catholic.

Next was Modrzejewska Street, inhabited by Jewish residents before the war, with many Jewish-owned shops, enterprises, prayer houses and organizations having their addresses there. At number 31 was Nordyja Sports and Gymnastics Association, where you could play ping pong, among others. A few doors down was the office of Association of Jewish Women for Financial Support of the Poor led by Frajdla Wiśnic, with around 100 members. The women helped young mothers, children the poor and the sick. The adress: 23 Modrzejowska Street. At number 22: a prayer house, with a library and a Talmud Torah school. At number 21 was Izaak Markowicz’s pastry shop, and at number 11 – Sonenstein Tolf’s teahouse, which shared the address with Mizrahi beit midrash.

Number 16 was the address of wine, vodka and tobacco depot. The house at number 10 was where you could once buy wool, and at number 6 you would shop for suspenders, ties and hats. At number 2 you’d shop for shoes and to top it all off, you would head to number 4 – for jewelry.

In the City Information Center, high school students organized a screening of a film for their tour guests and exhibited excerpts of Pulitzer-winning graphic novel Maus. The film was to give a rough idea how Sosnowiec might have looked before World War II, and the graphic novel was meant to evoke reflections and stir the audience’s imagination. Each tour participant was asked to fill out a survey, was treated to a meal and received a small souvenir.

And then back to the route, leading to a plaque commemorating – in four languages – what was once an orphanage and a hospital (at 7 Odrodzenia Street and next door at no. 9). Both buildings still stand. A former hospital at no.9 is now a Medical Center; however, the building of the orphanage stands abandoned.

The group finished the tour at the Jewish cemetery on Gospodarcza Street, devastated during the war and pillaged afterwards. Some of the headstones were used to pave one of the local roads, some were sold to local stone masons in the 1950s. Traditional matzevot now stand next to obelisks and spectacular tombs. Inscriptions are a mix of Hebrew, Polish and German. There is concrete and sand, light-colored marble and dark granite. There are also symbolic graves to victims of World War II and the Shoah, but also graves of those who had been murdered in early September 1939. Next to the entrance – a monument commemorating Jews of Zagłębie. The cemetery still functions.

After finishing the tour and the whole project, School of Dialogue participants organized an exhibition in their school depicting Jewish Sosnowiec before World War II. They presented photographs, drawings, and quotes in hopes that these would help others see and understand more. They also contacted a local newspaper (Dziennik Zachodni) that later ran an article on the students and their project. The students also documented the whole project in an elegant school chronicle.

During the official School of Dialogue Gala Israeli ambassador to Poland at the time, Zvi Rav Ner, told students: “You’re the avant-garde.” Second year students from political science class at High School no.b4 in Sosnowiec received an honorable mention.

photo: Beata Godlewska, Anna Maculewicz

To read more about Sosnowiec visit Virtual Shtetl:

School of Dialogue program in Sosnowiec was made possible by the support from AMTRA LTD.

In appreciation to Friends of the Forum for supporting the School of Dialogue educational program.