The Victims from Ciechanow

By: Yaakov Rosenfeld

At this time, 85 years ago, the disaster in the well-known Jewish town of Ciechanow, began to unfold.

For 300 years, Ciechanow was a typical Jewish town, where warm and pleasant Jewish life, a life of Torah and Chasidism, thrived within the walls of its old, pleasant, and beloved homes.

On the night of September 3rd-4th, 1939, the Nazi German army captured Ciechanow. Its name was changed to Zichenau, and it became the capital of the Zichenau district, which was annexed to the Third Reich. An SS unit was stationed in the city. The demolition of Jewish homes and the synagogue soon began, and a ghetto was established in the city. The end of the community was at the end of 1942, when some of its Jews were sent to another ghetto and another part was sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp.

Eighty-five years have passed since the sun set in Ciechanow, and only two hundred of its two thousand inhabitants survived (most of whom were in the Soviet Union during the war).

In memory of this magical and holy community, I present testimonies about several figures from the town, and these words will serve as a candle in memory of the victims, the beloved and the pleasant, who in life and in death they were never deviated from the proper ways.

May the memory of the victims from Ciechanow be preserved in our hearts forever.

1

The Dayan (rabbinical judge), Rabbi Ephraim Perlmutter, and his Rebbetzin, May G-d Avenge their Blood

Rabbi Ephraim was a third generation dayan. His elder, Rabbi Nachman, served in the lifetime of Rabbi Avraham of Ciechanow, followed by his son, Rabbi Yosef (Yossele). Both of them were known throughout the world as geniuses, faithful shepherds of their congregation, and their names were carried to eternal glory even by the survivors of the city, after its destruction.

On the eve of World War II, the holy genius Rabbi Ephraim Perlmutter z”l served as a dayan. He was a rare combination of an authoritative and revered dayan, great in Torah and a diligent student, with a radiant face and great love for all Jews that shone from between his eyes.

Rabbi Ephraim was a warm and passionate Gerrer chasid. He was accepted in the Rebbe’s (the Imrei Emet) home and in his sacred court, and he was loved by everyone in the town. Everyone looked at him with admiration and always awaited his words. His sympathy crossed communities and committees, chassidim and mitnagdim (opponents of chassidism) frequently surrounded him and drank in his words with thirst; his halachic (Jewish law) answers were full of “soul.” He always brought young people and students from all walks of life closer, and they saw themselves as his distinguished students. His image, always with a sweet smile, was loved and appreciated by all.

He would grieve for the pain of his community and rejoice wholeheartedly in their joy.

At the outbreak of war, his face darkened. He saw the poverty of his people, of his tribe, and then, at the height of his leadership and power, his pure and compassionate heart was forced to beat with the broken hearts of thousands of community members whose noose was tightening around them and who faced terrible decrees.

His face, the face of an angel, was adorned with a magnificent beard, and he did not, G-d forbid, cut off even a single hair from his “Dikna Kadisha” (Aramaic: “holy beard”). Rabbi Ephraim would go around with his face covered by a handkerchief, so that his beard would not be visible to the wicked ones.

Once, Rabbi Binyamin Apel’s father saw him wrapped in a cloth over his head, and was horrified and said to him: “Is this the reward for keeping Torah?” The Rabbi replied: “This is not the time to complain or lament.”

“Now we need to prepare.”

“Prepare for the commandment of sanctifying G-d, ‘with all your heart and with all your soul,’ and as the Sages said – ‘even if it costs you your life.'”

One day the Nazis captured him and beat him.

One of the wicked men asked him: “Where is your Master of the World, who will come to help you now?”

And the rabbi, while his face was downwards, his eyes look upwards. He did not pay attention to the mockery. They saw a wonderful devotion in him at that moment. He was preparing to give up his life in purity.

And his wife, the rebbetzin, when she learned that her revered rabbi husband was sentenced to death, ran with all her might to the officer and asked to die with her husband. The murderers responded to her plea, and together they brought these victims out to die, this in front of the members of his community, who were forced to watch, and their hearts were torn.

According to the Page of Testimony at Yad Vashem, the rabbi was the father of four children. At least one granddaughter survived, and she gave the testimony (Faiga Tzipora z”l, who passed away in Sivan [spring] 5772).

2

Five Chassidic Avreichim (Married Yeshiva Students), May G-d Avenge their Blood

After the Nazi occupation, terrible terror reigned throughout the town, and hangings and executions were occasionally carried out in front of the townspeople who were forced to watch the events. According to testimonies, children were forced to look at their fathers hanging from the gallows, and they were forbidden to cry. The evildoers would stare into the eyes of the tender children to see if tears would flow from them, and woe to them, the children, if they cried, even silently.

One day, five Hasidic avreichim were caught in the cemetery burying Torah scrolls. They did this to prevent the Torahs from being desecrated by the impure, which sadly happened frequently in places of Nazi occupation. As punishment, the avreichim were forced to destroy tombstones in the cemetery, and only then was the order issued for all the Jews to gather, to gather around the gallows, and the avreichim were hung and died in sanctification of the Name of G-d in front of the Jews of Ciechanow. May G-d avenge their blood.

The Talmud Torah school building in Ciechanow with administrators and students

3

Rabbi Avraham Aharon Kelman, May G-d Avenge his Blood

The Yizkor book of the Ciechanow community describes the wonderful life that prevailed in the town on Shabbat and holidays. Here is a brief description: On Shabbat and holidays, the Jews of Ciechanow dressed differently than on weekdays. But Rabbi Yosseleh (the dayan, Rabbi Yosef Perlmutter) went out into the street with the following plea:

“Jews, the Sabbath has come, light candles… Light…”

There was a commotion and panic; “Rebbe Yosseleh geit! Rebbe Yosseleh geit! (Rabbi Yosef is leaving already!)” A whisper was heard in the streets and markets.

The Jews hurriedly cleared the customers from the shops, and soon filled the synagogues and study halls, the prayer hourses, and shtiebels (small prayer and study halls).

The Jewish street would be filled with the tunes of the “Lecha Dodi Li’kraat Kallah” song, prayers and melodies… The Jews continued to hum songs and melodies even on their way home after the service, and then songs and hymns would emanate from all the houses and the sound would be melodious and captivating.

Even at the beginning of the Nazi occupation, exactly eighty-five years ago, the victims from Ciechanow continued to observe Shabbat and sanctify it with all their heart, soul, and strength, and this is a faithful testimony from a Holocaust survivor (Sefer Ciechanow, pg. 305):

In early 1940, a German Gestapo man brutally murdered one of the Jews of Ciechanow: Rabbi Avraham Aharon Kelman, who was a devout Jew. Before the war, he was the overseer of the Talmud Torah and was active in the field of education (he also served as the director of the small Beit Avraham Yeshiva named after the late Rabbi Avraham of Ciechanow. The list of institutions in the town mentions the “Beit Avraham Yeshiva headed by Rabbi Avraham Aharon Kalman.” Y.R.). Avraham Aharon Kelman centralized all the teachers in the town, and under his supervision all the children of the town, rich and poor alike, studied. He also took care to provide for the needs of the poor passing through the city, by providing them with food and lodging. He ensured, as well, that prisoners in jail received kosher food and spiritual sustenance (such as books and more). In the first year of the occupation, 1940, early one Shabbat morning, Avraham Aharon left his house wearing the chasidic silk kapoteh (robe) for Shabbat and the velvet hat, as he had always been accustomed to wearing. As Avraham Aharon opened the door towards Harokchim Street, to see if it was safe to go out into the street, a Gestapo man suddenly appeared in front of him. The evil one called out to him and Rabbi Avraham Aharon fled in panic to his apartment, but the man ran after him and shot him near the entrance to his house, and so they brought him to the Jewish cemetery, dressed in his Shabbat clothes.

4

Rosa from Ciechanow, May G-d Avenge her Blood

In the series of articles on the Sonderkommando Uprising (October 7th, 1944), I briefly mentioned the group of women, workers at the Union Factory, who selflessly provided explosives using a certain powder they took from the factory and gave it in generous quantities to the underground. On this occasion, we will mention the name of one of the selfless workers at Union, the young woman, Rosa Robota from Ciechanow, may G-d avenge her blood. She was greatly involved in underground work, and when she was caught, she kept her mouth shut and with incredible courage, withstood, revealing nothing about her friends or the underground members. With her head held high, she went out to be hung, in the month of Tevet 5705 (January 1945), just three weeks before the liberation of the camp. May her soul be bound in the bonds of life, along with the millions of martyrs of our people, slaughtered and burned during the years of wrath.

Concentrating the Jews in the fortress in Ciechanow in preparation for their deportation to extermination