Kozienice, a Significant Jewish Community – 85 Years Since Its Destruction

Kozienice (Yiddish: Kuznitz), which became famous for its chassidic court and holy rebbes, was a predominantly Jewish city on the eve of the Holocaust.

Jews in the Kozienice Ghetto, Poland, in 1940

The Jewish community lived in Kozienice for about 400 years. The two main industries were tourism (as many Jews visited the Kozienice holy chassidic court and the grave of the Maggid of Kozienice – the founder of Kozienice chassidism) and shoemaking. There were about 5,000 Jews in the city before World War II.

In the 19th century, the Jewish community of Kozienice had a huge influence on the city. Among the well-known families were the Eidenbaum, Bornstein, Citron, Fishman, Friedman, Goldstein, Grossman, Hofstein, Horowitz, Rothenberg, Tannenbaum and Wohlbergier families, along with many others.

During the invasion of Poland in September 1939 (Elul 5769), the Germans forced 2,000 Jews into a small synagogue, where many of them died of suffocation. The Germans established a ghetto in the fall of 1940 on an area of ​​only three blocks, out of 15 in the city. A Judenrat was established by the Germans, but most prominent Jews refused to serve in it.

In October 1939, the Germans burned down a synagogue in the city, and murdered Jews who tried to remove the Torah scrolls from it. At the same time, various decrees were imposed on the city’s Jews, their property was confiscated, and some were sent to labour camps.

The syngogue in Kozienice in 1939

The Story of Dr. Gonshor

This story took place in Kozienice at the beginning of 5700 (1939), eighty-five years ago.

Dr. Gonshor was an apostate Jew, who had distance himself from Judaism all his life. Even when he reached the top, and began serving as deputy governor of the district, he alienated himself from the Jews and did not see himself as one of them. He was certainly never seen in a synagogue nor observing any Jewish ceremonies.

Dr. Gonshor was well-liked by Polish society, who saw him as one of them. They never imagined that he was actually a Jew who had converted to Christianity. However, the Nazis, organized as only they could be, knew where every person was from and what their roots were. They immediately discovered that Dr. Gonshor was Jewish.

In the first days of the German occupation, at the beginning of 5700 (1939), the Germans caught the doctor on a city street and arrested him.

His Polish friends tried to intervene on his behalf, but to no avail.

The Germans then ran Dr. Gonshor through the streets of Kozienice and shouted at him: “Confess that you are a Jew!” And the doctor did not confess. His mouth was sealed, and he was brutally beaten. Even after he was all bruised and beaten, he did not open his mouth.

Dr. Gonshor did not give the Germans what they wanted to hear.

The Nazis brought a Torah scroll and told Dr. Gonshor to burn it.

The wicked ones stood, smiling and filled with delight, expecting to see Dr. Gonshor carry out their instruction.

But the apostate Dr. Gonchar did not respond.

The wicked men began to beat him, and the Poles, the gentile friends of Gonshor, cried out in his defense and pleaded with the Germans: “Leave him alone! He is one of us!”

And the Germans continued to beat him, savagely and sadistically. “We know better!” they roared, “he is a Jew!”

Dr. Gonshor could not handle the beatings. He collapsed and lost consciousness.

Nazis abusing a Jew

The Poles, Gonshor’s admirers and friends, carried him home.

The famous teacher Pesia Srzeszewska (Szereszewski), a Holocaust survivor and former teacher at the Bais Yaakov school in Kozienice, stated:

I was with Dr. Gonshor in his last moments.

I stood above him and helped him. As I straightened the pillow under his head, I heard him mutter:

“I also learned once…”

“My mother’s name was Rachel…”

“My mother would be proud of me now…”

Dr. Gonshor then closed his eyes and passed away.

He died while sanctifying the Name of G-d, as the teacher Szereszewski testified. The Jewish spark in him, which had been almost completely extinguished, finally rekindled, and when the spark was rekindled, the Jew who had drifted so far away during his lifetime was honoured to sanctify the Name of Heaven.

(Sources: Sefer Kuznitz, Wikipedia)