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Lublin
Jewish Life in Lublin Before the Holocaust
 Jewish Life in Lublin
During the Holocaust
 Jewish Life in Lublin After
the Holocaust
Pages of Testimony
Jewish Life in Lublin Before the Holocaust
Historical Background
Lublin is the largest city in Eastern Poland, located in the Lublin district on the Bystrzyca River. Jews have comprised a sizeable part of the
city's population since the early 15th century. In an 1806 census, 72% of Lublin’s residents were Jews, whereas at the outbreak
of World War II in 1939, Jews comprised just over a third (35.1%) of the population in Lublin.
Historically, Lublin was an important center for Jewish religious activity. The Maharshal synagogue, Lublin’s oldest and most illustrious,
was built in 1566. In the 16th century the “Council of Four Lands,” the central institution of Jewish autonomy in Poland,
began operating in the city, continuing until 1680. This "governing body" greatly enhanced Lublin’s prestige in the eyes of Polish and
European Jewry, making it one of the major Jewish centers in Eastern Europe. Among its most famous rabbis was Shalom Shakna ben Yosef,
founder of a yeshiva (religious study center) in Lublin where the great halakhists (codifiers of Jewish law) of Poland studied,
including Rabbi Moshe Isserles (the “Rema”), and Rabbi Shlomo ben Yehiel Luria (the “Maharshal”). In the 16th century the Shahor
(Schwartz) family and Kalonymus ben Mordekhai Yaffe set up important printing presses, turning the city into a renowned publication center.
Hassidic Judaism began to take hold in Lublin in the second half of the 18th century, particularly after Yaacov Yitzhak
Horwitz (The “Seer of Lublin,” 1745-1815) settled there, crowning the dynastic heads of Dinow and Belz Hassidism, among others.
Lublin was also a center of commerce for Jews, despite numerous restrictions, heavy taxation and occasional violence against Jews.
In the second half of the 19th century, as Poles moved outside the city walls, the old city of Lublin became almost exclusively
populated by Jews. Most Jews at that time were shopkeepers and peddlers, though many earned their livelihoods in the grain, hides, brush
bristles and lumber trades.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Lublin boasted an active Jewish community, operating a
90-bed hospital, an old age home and an orphanage, as well as numerous charitable organizations and mutual-aid societies. In the late
19th century, 800 boys and 100 girls studied in 43 private hadarim (Jewish schools). In 1897-98, two Hebrew schools
were opened, and in 1913 a Yavneh school for Jewish students began to operate in Lublin. Zionist activity also increased in Lublin at this time.
At the outbreak of World War I, the Russians gave free reign to pillage Jewish property in Lublin, under false allegations of treason.
The economy of the city grounded to a halt. In July 1915, with the retreat of the Russians and the entry of the Austrians, economic and
communal life resumed. Violence against Jews continued, and in 1919 they were victimized by rampaging mobs, resulting in three deaths
and considerable damage to Jewish property.
In 1921 the Jewish population of Lublin numbered 37,337, roughly 40% of the overall population. Small Jewish factories manufactured
mostly clothing and food products. Jews maintained a virtual monopoly in the leather industry, and they also ran a distillery, beer brewery,
brickyards, flourmills, and a large tobacco plant. Non-Jewish merchants and tradesmen created exclusive guilds to shun Jews away from their
professions. This source of provocation would often spark riots against Jews, calling to deport them from the city.
Zionist activity intensified in Lublin after World War I. For example, Hashomer Hatzair was the most prominent of several Zionist
youth groups; the Tarbut Hebrew schools held a central position in education, along with the religious-Zionist Yavneh
school and the ultra-Orthodox Beit Yaakov school for girls. The most famous yeshiva was Hakhmei Lublin, founded
by Rabbi Meir Shapira, recruiting some of the most important Jewish thinkers of the time while offering social sciences and sciences equal to
those of the best schools in the country. Rabbi Shapira instituted the Daf Yomi (daily page) program—a system still popular today,
allotting a pre-assigned page of Talmud for study each day. Chava Goldmintz, who was born in Lublin in 1925 and remained in the city through
1942, describes her religious life as a young girl before World War II:
“[Our home] was a religious Jewish home. Mother with a wig, father with beard. A warm house, lots of light. Passover was impressive.
[..] Father would wear a white kittel (traditional Jewish garment) and mother would just glow. We had a seder dinner with all the
children around the table, we’d have guests.[..] I went to an integrated state Polish school. Despite my family’s observance, we would walk to
school on Shabbat. We would only bring our reading books, though, as it’s forbidden to write on Shabbat. My friends at school
were both Christian and Jewish. [..] At home we spoke Yiddish, while the children would speak amongst themselves in Polish.”
Source: Yad Vashem Archives 0.3/11397
In the following testimony, Yosef Achtman recalls a Jewish school that existed in Lublin before World War II. A common point of debate
was on the nature of education – Orthodox education was still prevalent, but in the early 20th century secular subjects,
alongside or instead of religious studies, were introduced. Achtman notes:
“Not everyone knows this, or not everyone remembers, but in the Jewish neighborhood a school had already existed for 45 years, in which Russian,
mathematics and Hebrew were taught. They would sing Hatikva (future national anthem of Israel) [softly] so the Russians would not notice.”
Source: Y. Achtman, “Jewish Lublin,” in Blumenthal, N. & Kozhan, M. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora.
(Jerusalem-Tel Aviv: The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora Publications, 1957) p. 260. [Hebrew] |
In the following testimony, Mendel Levinboim recalls the role that Jewish merchants played in the Jewish welfare system in Lublin:
“It’s important to commend the activity of the Jewish merchants who were gathered by the [Jewish] “Lodz Bank.” [...] They would gather in
an inner room at the Kril coffee house, and I happened to be there several times to see their important work up close. For any case in which
one of their fellow Jews experienced a calamity, or was arrested, or was struggling under the tax burden – they would all get together to assist the
person in distress. His views and opinions did not matter, and they’d all receive equal treatment – whether they were Orthodox or secular, Zionists
or not – all shades and affiliations were the same to them.”
Source: M. Levinboim, “Jewish Merchants,” in Blumenthal, N. & Kozhan, M. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora.
(Jerusalem-Tel Aviv: The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora Publications, 1957) pp. 539-540. [Hebrew] |
M. Lerman recalls the similar activity of Jewish bankers:
“Jewish banks did not exist for profit, they were welfare institutions whose sole purpose was the greater good. This was a necessity of
the times, due to the especially difficult financial situation of the Jews of Lublin, who were often being persecuted and always in need of assistance.”
Source: M. Lerman, “Banks,” in Blumenthal, N. & Kozhan, M. (eds.), The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora.
(Jerusalem-Tel Aviv: The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora Publications, 1957) p. 541. [Hebrew]
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A thriving Jewish press existed in Lublin after World War I. The main daily newspaper was the Lubliner Tagblatt,
although various political parties published weekly or monthly journals of their own. In 1937 an amateur Yiddish theater, the Lubliner
Yiddishe Dramatische Studie, was founded.
On the eve of World War II the Jews of Lublin numbered 42,830, comprising 35% of the overall population. By the end of the war, only
some 230 of these Jews had survived within German-occupied territory.
Prewar Photographs
- A group of Jewish children, Lublin, Poland
- Two views of the city, Lublin, Poland
- A group photograph and a street scene, Lublin, Poland
- Children studying with their teacher and excerpts from the local press, Lublin, Poland
- A class photograph, Lublin, Poland
- Hassidic Jews, Lublin, Poland
Jewish Life in Lublin During the Holocaust
Historical Background
Lublin was of great strategic importance for the Nazis, as it bordered the Soviet Union to the east. The region also contained many
farmlands, a main source of food and supplies for the future German offensive into Russia.
Hitler and
Himmler planned to populate Lublin with Germans, annexing it into the expanded Nazi empire. They also planned to deport all Polish
Jews, as well as Jews from other areas, to Lublin. This program, known as the Nisko or Lublin Plan, was eventually abandoned, but by
February 1940 some 6,300 Jews had been brought to the city. Despite already severe conditions, the Jewish community absorbed these deportees.
The Germans entered Lublin on September 18, 1939, and immediately began persecuting the city's Jews: many were sent away for
forced labor, physical attacks were commonplace, and Jewish property was confiscated. In November 1939 Jews were forced to wear a yellow
Jewish badge, later changed to a white armband with a Star of David. Their movement was restricted, and those living on the
city's main street were evicted from their homes. This is how Chava Goldmintz describes the beginning of the German occupation:
“On September 1 [1939], there was a bombing raid. It was a Saturday. They bombed City Hall, bombed the PKO (the central Polish bank)
[..] and on September 18 the Germans entered.
Q: What do you remember from that day?
A: Many victims. A queue had formed to receive bread, and the Germans entered and killed everyone in the line. Jews, everyone -
anyone standing in line. That was the first step made by the Germans in the city. Then the aktionen (deportations) started.
They would grab people walking in the street and put them in a camp. There was a military base there. They would gather thousands and
then demand ransom from the Jewish community.”
Source: Yad Vashem Archives 0.3/11397 |
Francisca Mandelbaum, who lived in Lublin prior to the war, recalls:
“On the first day of the Germans’ entry, maybe an hour after they came, I could see Jews running with their hands up, under
German orders, through my apartment window. [The Germans] entered at 7 a.m., and by 11 a.m. soldiers had entered homes,
ransacked them, opened closets and taken anything they thought valuable or desirable. Even a wallet with some small change
wasn’t too insignificant for them to take. [..] My neighbor had a ring forced off her finger [..] Those who did the looting were
soldiers. The
Gestapo came only later, some 2-3 weeks, and immediately “went to work.” They had lists and took hostages from among the
Jews, the rich or those of high standing in the community.”
Source: ZIH Archives M.49.E, #1295 |
On November 9, 1939, Odilo Globocnik became the chief of police and head of the
SS in the Lublin district. From 1942 he was put in charge of the destruction of the Jews in the
Generalgouvernement within the framework of the "
Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.” Francisca Mandelbaum was employed in a local Jewish hospital during this time. She states:
“Every day, we would receive several victims of harsh physical abuse by the Germans. People would often arrive with broken limbs,
heads and faces smashed, so that it was hard to recognize them [..] On the streets, Jews were ordered to bow to the Germans. Every
violation of this was severely punished. We had, in the hospital, a doctor named Tenenbaum, a man of 70 who was shortsighted. He was
beaten on several occasions, because he did not see a passing German and so did not bow. He was once even pulled off a carriage and
slapped. Searches, evictions and embezzlement were daily occurrences. They did not even respect the hospital, and would periodically
break in and take anything they wanted – sheets, blankets etc.”
Source: ZIH Archives M.49.E, #1295 |
In October 1939 the Nazis issued a general decree that all Jewish men aged 14-60, and women aged 15-60,
have to report for forced labor detail. The age was later reduced to 12 and 13. Hundreds of Lublin’s Jews were forced to construct
a labor camp in the city, as well as several more which were constructed in and around the city during the course of the war.
Francisca Mandelbaum recalls:
“Almost immediately after entering, the Germans began recruiting Jews for work [...] One day in early December, they gathered all male
Jews aged 16 to 65 at 8 a.m. at the square on Lipova Street. If someone dared arrive one minute late, he was severely beaten. The
tension was tremendous. Women were not granted access to the area, but because they were so fearful for their loved ones, they
tried to get near and were chased and beaten by the Gestapo.
[The men] were arranged by profession. Doctors were ordered to the courtyard of one of the houses and forced to march in circles
all day. In the evening, around 5 o’clock, they released everyone but the craftsmen. A few days later they too were released, but
they were forced to report daily to the workshops on Lipova Street.”
Source: ZIH Archives M.49.E, #1295 |
Winter 1939-40 was harsh, with temperatures dropping to -30°F and serious shortages of food, clothing,
coal, and firewood. Some 10,000 Jews required communal assistance, in addition to the 5,000 refugees from surrounding towns.
Many died of hunger or disease.
In January 1940 the Germans instituted a 24-member
Judenrat (Jewish council) in Lublin, headed by Mark Alten, a lawyer and former officer in the Austrian army. The
Judenrat set up welfare institutions, soup kitchens, health services, and orphanages. When the Germans began
arresting Jews for forced labor, the Judenrat was also ordered to provide lists of Jews for forced labor or deportation to camps.
Nachman Koren, a senior teacher at the time, describes the difficulties in setting and maintaining schools in Lublin:
“Some two weeks after the Germans entered, [we] applied for a license to open a Jewish school. We conducted lessons in the
hall at the old Tarbut school [...]
This arrangement was short-lived [...] After the Germans began arresting Polish teachers [in November 1939] they began destroying
all the high schools. One day two SS men showed up at the gymnasium hall and ordered all the pupils sent home. They sarcastically said,
“From now on, we’ll educate the Jewish youth.” We’d soon know the meaning of this “education.” All public schooling was immediately shut down.
[...] We began searching for ways to get around the orders. Covert education had begun. There were some 100 teachers in Lublin, and most
organized secret classes, taught in private homes. Each class had some 10 pupils, mostly from nearby homes, of fitting age and level. The location
of these classes would change from time to time, to make them difficult to track down. The children felt very strongly against the oppressive orders.
They were aware they were part of an act of defiance, and studied with glee. With thumping hearts, they would study and also keep watch, lest
the yell of an SS man be heard.”
Source: N. Koren, “The Troubles of Education and Suffering of the Children in the Ghetto,” in Blumenthal, N. & Kozhan, M. (eds.),
The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora. (Jerusalem-Tel Aviv: The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora Publications, 1957) p. 725.
[Hebrew] |
In Spring 1941 the Germans ordered the establishment of a new ghetto in Lublin—much smaller than the already
existing Jewish ghetto. In preparation, they “thinned” out the city's Jewish population by deporting an estimated 12,000-15,000 Jews
to nearby towns. The ghetto housed over 34,000 Jews in cramped conditions. Jews were forbidden to engage in trade, visit doctors,
use public transportation, or go to places of entertainment. All Jewish businesses were impounded. Ida Rappaport-Glikstein describes
life in Lublin at that time:
“The Jews lived in horrid conditions, under siege, with no heating: it was difficult just to get a loaf of bread. People in the ghetto
lived life by the hour. Groups of Germans would come, stand on a corner street and watch these poor decrepit people, and all the
while take photographs. Mobs crowded the streets, children would trade sweets and cigarettes. Jewish policemen, with their colorful
hats would direct the traffic. Occasionally, a notorious German sentry would come with his attack dogs and everyone would flee.
[...] Trading foodstuffs was strictly forbidden, but smuggling thrived. All in the ghetto who had any money would buy smuggled food.
[...] People would not take off their clothing for months at a time, sleeping in their garments, since nighttime raids were frequent.
Every house had a secret hiding place, and many of them were kept secret with ingenious contraptions: fake hollowed-out heaters,
double walls, hidden clothes closets etc. Every house had someone on the lookout, to announce when danger was near. Still, the
Germans knew how to get the victims out of their hiding places. Every day the women would come to Germans, begging for the release
of their husbands, children, brothers, parents.”
Source: I. Rappaport-Glikstein, “The Ghettos of Lublin and Majdan Tatarski,” in Blumenthal, N. & Kozhan, M. (eds.),
The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora. (Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv, The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora Publications,
1957) pp. 691-692. [Hebrew] |
The deportation of Lublin’s Jews to the
Belzec extermination camp began on March 17, 1942. Up to 1,400 Jews were deported daily. This ongoing deportation
ended on April 20 after some 30,000 Jews had been deported to their deaths. The 4,000 remaining Jews were moved to a
Lublin suburb. Over the next few months, they were subjected to periodic selektionen, and by October, 3,800 Jews
had been deported to the nearby concentration camp and extermination center at
Majdanek. In July 1944 all but a very few of the remaining Jews in Lublin were murdered by the Germans. The city was liberated
by the Soviet Red Army that same month.
Photographs: Lublin During the Holocaust
- Deportation of Jews to the ghetto, Lublin, Poland
- An elderly man and a woman in a ghetto street, Lublin, Poland, 10.03.1941
- A water-bearer in the ghetto, Lublin, Poland, March 10, 1941
- People gathering in the street before deportation, Lublin, Poland
- A group of Polish and Jewish partisans in the Yanov forest, Lublin, Poland
- Round-up of Jews in the town square for deportation, Lublin, Poland
- Interior of the old synagogue, Lublin, Poland
Jewish Life in Lublin After the Holocaust
Lublin was liberated by the Red Army on July 24, 1944. Jewish refugees began entering the city almost immediately after liberation.
According to the census compiled on August 8, 1944, approximately 300 Jews remained in the city. Fifteen of them were former Lubliners.
In November 1944 the Central Committee of Polish Jews was set up to assist the refugees, which by 1946 numbered 6,662. The survivors
were mostly malnourished, sick and destitute. They were badly in need of food, clothing and shelter, which the Polish government and Jewish
aid organizations could only partially supply. For most of the refugees, the situation did not improve until mid-1946, at which time low-level
economic activity had resumed. Avraham Sadeh, who fought in the Soviet and Polish Armies, recalls returning to Lublin after liberation:
“After extensive wanderings and a rapid advance on the front, we reached the city of Lublin. This was already after the destruction…It was
terrible to see the city, a city of ghosts, with no Jews…In Lublin, it was terrible to see the Jewish street. I knew that there was a Jewish quarter
in Lublin, but when I got there, I couldn’t find any trace of Jewish life…I remembered that there was a main road down there, and then a turn,
and then the Jewish quarter should be down there. I looked for it, but I didn’t find it [...] The entire Jewish quarter had been wiped out.”
Source: Yad Vashem Archives O.3/3975 (Hebrew) |
Postwar Photographs
Pages of Testimony
Pages of Testimony serve as symbolic gravestones, providing a unique memorial for victims of the Holocaust.
The following are five Pages of Testimony that were submitted to Yad Vashem, in memory of individuals from the Lublin area who were
murdered during the Holocaust:
Page of Testimony for Rosa Taich
Page of Testimony for David Garden
Page of Testimony for Sara Goldbaum
Page of Testimony for Ester Wurman
Page of Testimony for Sarah Rubin
You might want to print these Pages and take them with you on your journey to Poland. When you visit Lublin,
you can read the names and stories that are recorded on these Pages of Testimony.
For more Pages of Testimony, search the
Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names.
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