Bodzentyn

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Bodzentyn and surroundings
The city centre
The communal organization
A Beitar Group
Some Jewish families

Note: Bodzentyn.net has received authorization to display the photos that may be seen at this website. They may not be copied by any other part without permission from the rightful owner.

Bodzentyn and surroundings

Bodzentyn remains as rural as ever with hills, ups and downs, and truly beautiful surroundings. © Ewa Wymark, 2008.

This map of the city centre of Bodzentyn was worked out in 1931.
© The Archives in Kielce, Poland.

Note: In the near future there will be a map on www.bodzentyn.net on which you may read about places and houses connected to the Jewish Community.

The city centre

This is Bodzentyn and its city centre, the so called lower plaza in the year of 1931. Further on straight forward you will find the upper plaza, there on the far left hand side was the Lower Grade School, the Cinema, the Fire Station, and the Apothecary (which is in fact still there). On the far end of the street straight ahead you may see the Church.
© The Archives in Kielce, Poland.

The communal organization

These men were once part of the Jewish Community in Bodzentyn. Here they may be seen during a discussion on the forthcoming war. The people in the photograph have been identified as follows (from the left): Icek Szafir, and next to him; the Rabbi of Bodzentyn (most probably Herszka Szwarc, or in a different spelling Henry Schwartz), Meir Grossman (also called Morris Grossman), Nus’n Szachter (who was initially the head of the Jewish Committee, Bodzentyn, in the beginning of the Nazi occupation of Poland). The last two have not been identified. However, it seems likely that all of the men on this picture were involved in the Jewish communal organization of Bodzentyn at the time of WWII. The Jewish Committee was headed by the former secretary Samuel Wajntraub (Shmiel Weintraub) in 1942; thus he may well be one of the two to the right. © Yad Vashem. www.yadvashem.org

A Beitar Group

These men and women are some young people from the Jewish Community in Bodzentyn, depicted on this photo in 1935. It seems as if the photo was taken at the ruins of the ancient castle in Bodzentyn. The first on the right is Menachem Weinstok (said to have been the assistant of Menachem Begin, the first Likud Prime Minister of Israel in 1977). The young people were all members of a so called Beitar Group. Tamar Szafir is the second girl from the right side. The third woman on the right is Sara Zilbershtein, then follows Devora Orbach and Rivka Grossman (the man in the middle has not been identified); next to the gentleman is Rivka Zilberberg, then Sara Reichmann and Sara Reizel Obender. It is common knowledge that the members of Beitar groups played important roles in the fight against the British during the Mandate, and in the creation of Israel.
© Yad Vashem. www.yadvashem.org

Notes on the back of the photo:

Some Jewish families

Beresh Szafir (Hil Berek Szafir), born in 1870, with his wife and their children. © In private possession of a relative to the family.

From the left: Meir Ejnesman (or Mayer Ejnesman) and two of his sons; Noach Ejnesman and Szlama Ejnesman. © In private possession of a relative to the family.

Chana Ejnesman, the wife of Meir Ejnesman, with their daughter Leah Ejnesman. Chana and Meir had seven children. They were Rachel, Szlama, Sara, Rywka, Noach, Chaim and Leah. Sara and Rachel immigrated to Canada and thus survived the Holocaust. © In private possession of a relative to the family.

One of the teachers in the Jewish cheder was Abram Israel Szafir, born on 05/09/1877 in Bodzentyn. © Yad Vachem www.yadvashem.org

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