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Coordinates: 50°11′N 19°05′E / 50.19°N 19.08°E / 50.19; 19.08
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The city, located on the pre-war Polish-German border, was taken over by the Germans on the first day of the [[invasion of Poland]].<ref name=KCh14>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA14#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.14.]</ref> Arrests and beatings among more prominent Jews began the next morning. On 9 September 1939 the Great Synagogue in Sosnowiec was burned.<ref name=KCh15>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA15#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.15.]</ref> Local Jews were being evicted from better homes and terrorized on the streets. Jewish businesses were plundered by individual soldiers and closed by the Nazis pending confiscation proceedings. Shootings and first mass executions followed soon afterwards. Forced relocations into crowded tenements slowly created a ghetto.<ref name=Namyslo/><ref name=KCh14/><ref name=KCh16>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA16#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.16.]</ref>
The city, located on the pre-war Polish-German border, was taken over by the Germans on the first day of the [[invasion of Poland]].<ref name=KCh14>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA14#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.14.]</ref> Arrests and beatings among more prominent Jews began the next morning. On 9 September 1939 the Great Synagogue in Sosnowiec was burned.<ref name=KCh15>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA15#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.15.]</ref> Local Jews were being evicted from better homes and terrorized on the streets. Jewish businesses were plundered by individual soldiers and closed by the Nazis pending confiscation proceedings. Shootings and first mass executions followed soon afterwards. Forced relocations into crowded tenements slowly created a ghetto.<ref name=Namyslo/><ref name=KCh14/><ref name=KCh16>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA16#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.16.]</ref>


[[Judenrat]] and the [[Jewish Ghetto Police|Jewish police]] were soon established on German orders; the head of the Sosnowiec Judenrat was [[Moshe Merin]] (Mojżesz Merin in Polish).<ref name=KCh20>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA20#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.20.]</ref><ref name="TS2012"/> Food rationing was introduced. The Jews were prohibited from buying anything outside their own community. In the first months of 1940 the ''Zentrale der Jüdischen Ältestenräte in Oberschlesien'' (Central Office of the Jewish Councils of Elders in Upper Silesia), headed by Merin, was created in Sosnowiec, representing about 45 communities. For a time, Merin became infamous as the dictator of the Jews of the [[Zagłębie Dąbrowskie|Zaglebie]] region, with the power of life and death over local Jews.<ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA22#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.22.]</ref> A labour camp was established for the Jews deported to Sosnowiec from Czechoslovakia to work at the factory of the Shine brothers. Numerous [[Forced labor in Germany during World War II|forced labour facilities]] were established for the locals; making uniforms, underwear, corsets, bags, leather handbags, and military boots.<ref name=Namyslo/><ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA30#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, pp.28-30.]</ref> In 1940 some 2,592 German war profiteers arrived in the city. By 1942, their number rose to 10,749 settlers, constituting 10% of the general population.<ref name="sosnowiec-5"/>
[[Judenrat]] and the [[Jewish Ghetto Police|Jewish police]] were soon established on German orders; the head of the Sosnowiec Judenrat was [[Moshe Merin]] (Mojżesz Merin in Polish).<ref name=KCh20>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA20#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.20.]</ref> Food rationing was introduced. The Jews were prohibited from buying anything outside their own community. In the first months of 1940 the ''Zentrale der Jüdischen Ältestenräte in Oberschlesien'' (Central Office of the Jewish Councils of Elders in Upper Silesia), headed by Merin, was created in Sosnowiec, representing about 45 communities. For a time, Merin became infamous as the dictator of the Jews of the [[Zagłębie Dąbrowskie|Zaglebie]] region, with the power of life and death over local Jews.<ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA22#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.22.]</ref> A labour camp was established for the Jews deported to Sosnowiec from Czechoslovakia to work at the factory of the Shine brothers. Numerous [[Forced labor in Germany during World War II|forced labour facilities]] were established for the locals; making uniforms, underwear, corsets, bags, leather handbags, and military boots.<ref name=Namyslo/><ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA30#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, pp.28-30.]</ref> In 1940 some 2,592 German war profiteers arrived in the city. By 1942, their number rose to 10,749 settlers, constituting 10% of the general population.<ref name="sosnowiec-5"/>


Ever since the ghetto was established, numerous deportation actions were organized by the Germans with the help of the Judenrat and [[Moshe Merin|Merin]], selecting healthy men for [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|slave labor at the camps]].<ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA32#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.32.]</ref> Large transfers of Jews took part in May (1,500) and June 1942 (2,000).<ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA38#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.38.]</ref> Around October 1942 - January 1943 the ghetto was moved to the [[Środula]] district.<ref name=Namyslo/><ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA46#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.46.]</ref> Środula also bordered the site of the [[Będzin Ghetto]]. At this point about 13,000 Jews still lived in Sosnowiec. The creation of the Sosnowiec ghetto ended on 10 March 1943, when it was finally closed off from the outside world.
Ever since the ghetto was established, numerous deportation actions were organized by the Germans with the help of the Judenrat and [[Moshe Merin|Merin]], selecting healthy men for [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|slave labor at the camps]].<ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA32#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.32.]</ref> Large transfers of Jews took part in May (1,500) and June 1942 (2,000).<ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA38#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.38.]</ref> Around October 1942 - January 1943 the ghetto was moved to the [[Środula]] district.<ref name=Namyslo/><ref>Charmatz 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NiliLVuj5aQC&lpg=PA46&dq=%22Sosnowiec%20Ghetto%22&lr=&pg=PA46#v=snippet&q=%22Sosnowiec%22%20ghetto&f=false Google Print, p.46.]</ref> Środula also bordered the site of the [[Będzin Ghetto]]. At this point about 13,000 Jews still lived in Sosnowiec. The creation of the Sosnowiec ghetto ended on 10 March 1943, when it was finally closed off from the outside world.

Revision as of 09:34, 22 November 2018

The Sosnowiec Ghetto
Ghetto in Sosnowiec
Deportation of Jews from the Sosnowiec Ghetto.
Sosnowiec
Sosnowiec
Sosnowiec location north of Auschwitz during the Holocaust in Poland
Sosnowiec Ghetto is located in Poland
Sosnowiec Ghetto
Sosnowiec Ghetto
Location of Sosnowiec in Poland today
LocationSosnowiec, German-occupied Poland
50°11′N 19°05′E / 50.19°N 19.08°E / 50.19; 19.08
Incident typeImprisonment, forced labor, starvation, transit to extermination camps
OrganizationsSchutzstaffel (SS)
CampAuschwitz
Victims35,000 Polish Jews

The Sosnowiec Ghetto (German: Ghetto von Sosnowitz) was a World War II ghetto set up by Nazi German authorities for Polish Jews in the Środula district of Sosnowiec in the Province of Upper Silesia. During the Holocaust in occupied Poland, most inmates, estimated at over 35,000 Jewish men, women and children were deported to Auschwitz death camp aboard Holocaust trains following roundups lasting from June until August 1943.[1] The Ghetto was liquidated during an uprising, a final act of defiance of its Underground Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) made up of youth. Most of the Jewish fighters perished.

The Sosnowiec Ghetto formed a single administrative unit with the Będzin Ghetto,[2] because both cities are a part of the same metropolitan area in the Dąbrowa Basin. Prior to deportations, the Jews from the two ghettos shared the "Farma" vegetable garden allocated to Zionist youth by the Judenrat.[3]

Further information: Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland

History

Before the war, there were about 30,000 Jews in Sosnowiec, making up about 20% of the town's population.[4] Over the next two years the Germans resettled thousands of Jews from smaller towns to Sosnowiec, temporarily increasing the size of the local Jewish community to 45,000.[4] By late 1942, Będzin and nearby Sosnowiec (which bordered Będzin), became the only two cities in the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie region that were still inhabited by Jews.[5]

The city, located on the pre-war Polish-German border, was taken over by the Germans on the first day of the invasion of Poland.[6] Arrests and beatings among more prominent Jews began the next morning. On 9 September 1939 the Great Synagogue in Sosnowiec was burned.[7] Local Jews were being evicted from better homes and terrorized on the streets. Jewish businesses were plundered by individual soldiers and closed by the Nazis pending confiscation proceedings. Shootings and first mass executions followed soon afterwards. Forced relocations into crowded tenements slowly created a ghetto.[5][6][8]

Judenrat and the Jewish police were soon established on German orders; the head of the Sosnowiec Judenrat was Moshe Merin (Mojżesz Merin in Polish).[9] Food rationing was introduced. The Jews were prohibited from buying anything outside their own community. In the first months of 1940 the Zentrale der Jüdischen Ältestenräte in Oberschlesien (Central Office of the Jewish Councils of Elders in Upper Silesia), headed by Merin, was created in Sosnowiec, representing about 45 communities. For a time, Merin became infamous as the dictator of the Jews of the Zaglebie region, with the power of life and death over local Jews.[10] A labour camp was established for the Jews deported to Sosnowiec from Czechoslovakia to work at the factory of the Shine brothers. Numerous forced labour facilities were established for the locals; making uniforms, underwear, corsets, bags, leather handbags, and military boots.[5][11] In 1940 some 2,592 German war profiteers arrived in the city. By 1942, their number rose to 10,749 settlers, constituting 10% of the general population.[12]

Ever since the ghetto was established, numerous deportation actions were organized by the Germans with the help of the Judenrat and Merin, selecting healthy men for slave labor at the camps.[13] Large transfers of Jews took part in May (1,500) and June 1942 (2,000).[14] Around October 1942 - January 1943 the ghetto was moved to the Środula district.[5][15] Środula also bordered the site of the Będzin Ghetto. At this point about 13,000 Jews still lived in Sosnowiec. The creation of the Sosnowiec ghetto ended on 10 March 1943, when it was finally closed off from the outside world.

Thousands of Jews were deported from Sosnowiec to Auschwitz in June 1943 during the major deportation action extending to nearby Będzin.[16] The Ghetto was liquidated two months later in August, whereas almost all remaining Jews were also deported to Auschwitz.[17] A few hundred Jews remained in the Środula ghetto, which was liquidated in January 1944.[17]

The uprising

Frumka Płotnicka, age 29, led the uprising in the Będzin Ghetto adjacent to Sosnowiec

There had been considerable underground activity among the Jews in Sosnowiec and Będzin Ghetto nearby, organized by the youth organizations Ha-No'ar ha-Ziyyoni, Gordonia, and Ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir. During the final major deportation push in August 1943, the Jewish Combat Organization (Polish: Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB) in Będzin and Sosnowiec staged an uprising against the Germans.[5][18] The uprising, which began on 3 August 1943, was led by Cwi (Tzvi) Brandes, Frumka Płotnicka, and the Kożuch brothers. It was the final act of defiance of the local population with no chance of success. Most of the young Jewish fighters perished (400 killed in action),[12] fighting the overwhelming German forces.[19] The last Holocaust transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau with Jews forced to bury the dead, left Sosnowiec on 15 January 1944.[12]

Resistance of the ghetto inhabitants is commemorated by one of the streets in Sosnowiec, bearing the name "Street of the Ghetto Heroes" (Ul. Bohaterów Getta).

Holocaust rescue

The Catholic convent of Carmelite Nuns led by Mother Teresa Kierocińska aided the Jews in the Ghetto and hiding. Kierocińska was awarded a medal of the Righteous 46 years after her death. She was declared "heroic in virtue" by Pope Francis in 2013. The Carmelite Sisters run an orphanage at the monastery. They delivered free bread to Jews in hiding, send food parcels to Auschwitz, and rescued Jewish children by hiding them under false names among the Christian orphans. The convent was frequently inspected by the Gestapo on suspicion of illegal activities.[20]

Notes

  1. ^ H.E.A.R.T (2007). "Fourth Deportation: Sunday 1 August 1943". The Extermination of the Jews of Sosnowiec, Bendzin and Vicinity: 2nd June 1945. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  2. ^ Dawid Fischer. "The Ghetto of Sosnowiec (Srodula)". Holocaust Testimonies. PolishJews.org. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  3. ^ "Jewish youth at the "Farma" collective". Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on December 10, 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2016 – via Internet Archive. The "Farma" was a plot of land between Bedzin and Sosnowiec that was allocated to the local Zionist youth movements by the Jewish Council for the growing of vegetables. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.28.
  5. ^ a b c d e Aleksandra Namysło, Stanisław Bubin (28 July 2006), Rozmowa z dr Aleksandrą Namysło, historykiem z Oddziału Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Katowicach, Dziennik Zachodni via Internet Archive Template:Pl icon.
  6. ^ a b Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.14.
  7. ^ Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.15.
  8. ^ Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.16.
  9. ^ Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.20.
  10. ^ Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.22.
  11. ^ Charmatz 2003, Google Print, pp.28-30.
  12. ^ a b c "Jewish history of Sosnowiec". Virtual Shtetl. 21 January 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.32.
  14. ^ Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.38.
  15. ^ Charmatz 2003, Google Print, p.46.
  16. ^ Michael Fleming (2014). Auschwitz, the Allies and Censorship of the Holocaust. Cambridge University Press. p. 184. ISBN 1107062799.
  17. ^ a b Charmatz, Google Print, p.53.
  18. ^ Abraham J. Edelheit, A World in Turmoil: An Integrated Chronology of the Holocaust and World War II, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991, ISBN 0-313-28218-8, Google Print, p.284.
  19. ^ "Jewish history of Będzin". Virtual Shtetl. page 9 of 10. Retrieved 18 January 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  20. ^ Polish Righteous (2016). "Kierocińska Janina". Archiwum Matki Teresy Kierocińskiej w Sosnowcu, Dokumenty i wspomnienia świadków życia M. Teresy Kierocińskiej. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

References

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