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Tarnów, situated in Eastern Galicia and second only to Cracow in size, is where I was born.

I love Tarnów, even though after the First World War, a group of acquaintances from that time, anti-Semites and masked Russo-files, caused me to be detained for an entire eight days without being charged. This could be attributed to a vengeance because I had the courage to defend an innocent convicted Jew from Radomyśl Wielki, a town near Tarnów.

I love Tarnów because I am bound to this city by so many tragic and joyous memories; because I was born in Tarnów; because I spent my childhood and youth there, and because I lived there, without interruption, for nearly two-thirds of my life to-date. It goes without saying that prior to that time I didn't contribute a single brick to the construction and development of the city, other than in connection with Jewish Tarnów.

Therefore I was determined to write an introduction to the Tarnow Yizkor book in the form of several of my observations. This book, initiated by the surviving Tarnów Jewish community which endured the ravages of war and now has been dispersed across the globe, serves as a tribute to our 25,000 martyrs, ruthlessly slaughtered by Hitler's henchmen. Within its pages, our goal was to immortalize not only the memories of those lost but also the vibrant life and contributions of the Tarnów Jewish community. Additionally, we aimed to showcase the collaborative efforts of Tarnów's Jewish and Christian inhabitants in the city's construction and development.

As one of the oldest of those who remained alive, I know the city very well. I remember how it looked, not just on the eve of the Second World War, but also before, now seventy years ago. Even now that cloudy khol hamoed day of Sukkot remains in my memory when, as a three-year-old child, my mother z”l, lead me away from the narrow Chyszower Street where we lived, to Kaczkowski Street. In that neighborhood, there stood the cheder of the renowned scholar, Rabbi Itzchele, and she enrolled me there.

At that time Tarnów was sparsely populated and barely built up. At that point only the marketplace (known as “the Rynek”)

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was considered to be the actual city. The surrounding streets, Wałowa and Bernardinska, the additional streets of the future Tarnów, were considered to be part of the suburbs.

There were four such suburbs: a) Zabłocie on the south side; b) Pogwizdów on the north side; c) Grabówka on the east side; d) Strusina on the west side.

If the number of Jewish inhabitants of the suburbs Strusina and Pogwizdów approached the total number of Poles, then in the remaining suburbs the situation was completely different: in Grabówka the population was approximately 80% Jews and 20% Christians; in Strusina – 10% Jews and the remaining population – Poles.

During my childhood my parents lived in the Strusina district. They maintained friendly relations with their Christian neighbors and I too had many friends among the Polish children and often visited their homes. There I frequently listened in on the conversations of the older Poles and once I heard one of them lament: — It's terrible how every day Tarnów becomes Jewified.

As a rather young child at the time, I didn't yet understand the actual point of such words. Only later, as I got older, did I grasp the meaning of “Tarnów is becoming Jewified,” which meant — animosity from the Christian population with the growth in the number of Jewish inhabitants in Tarnów.

I would like to make an effort to demonstrate in an objective manner, that the Polish population had unjustly lamented the speedy increase of the Jews in town, because actually thanks to that particular growth, Tarnów developed in the commercial, cultural, and political arenas.

On the basis of the historical writings of reliable historians, as well as on the basis of what older residents have recounted, one can establish that already in the second half of the previous (19^th) century in Tarnów, on the basis of inhabitants and on the basis of houses, it was a small, poor village. In the years after 1880, when Jews began to settle in greater numbers, did Tarnów develop an entirely different appearance.

Thanks to the intense work, entrepreneurial spirit, and zeal of Tarnów Jews, the empty streets and the wooden houses disappeared from two major streets, Krakowska and Wałowa. Similar changes occurred later on the smaller streets in Tarnow, where small wooden houses were replaced by brick one- and two-story houses. They stand as an indication of the Jewish contribution to building construction. On the day the Second World War started, between 90 and 95 percent of the houses on the following streets were Jewish: Krakowska, Wałowa, Bernadynska, Brodzińskiego, Goldhammer, Nowa, Szpitalna, Koszarowa,

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Breite, Burek (not to mention the other streets such as: Wekslarka, and Lwowska (also known as Lemberger).

And with that let's not try to explain the phenomenon, that Jews possessed money and therefore they built buildings. Anyone who is familiar with relationships in Poland knows that among the Poles there were also significant numbers of wealthy people. It's sufficient to be reminded that Prince Sanguszko had a larger fortune than the majority of Tarnów's wealthy Jewish individuals combined. Not only that, but the rich Poles deposited their money in the bank or lent it to Jews at a high interest rate, or hid significant sums abroad instead of investing and developing their own city.

Thanks to the Jews Tarnów also developed into an important commercial and industrial center in a relatively short time. The economic conditions of the city were markedly improved. The newly-developed enterprises and businesses, 95% of which were established by Jews, brought into the city's coffers large sums for salaries and other expenses, giving employment to several thousand Jewish as well as non-Jewish workers and employees. I want to take this opportunity to recall just several important names of Tarnów Jews who, at various times, established and led large trade and industry establishments, so that I won't be suspected of “talking through my hat” (i.e. speaking without knowledge or understanding).

Here are a few of them:

Artur Szancer – Built the first steam-mill in Tarnów; a member of trade union organizations, a city council member and a philanthropist.

Berish Wittmeyer, Dovid Fast, and Abraham David – Founders of a large and the only chicory factory in western Galicia;

The same Abraham David (father-in-law of the distinguished scholar and writer Mordecai David Brandstaedter) was also the 'father' of Tarnów's tanning industry, founded the first oil factory in the city, which was later run by M.D. Brandstaedter and his two sons;

Yakov Lichtblau – Built the first candle and soap factory, later run by his two sons, Chaim-Hersh and Wolf;

Dovid Goldman and Emil Brach – established two large steam factories for firing bricks and ceramic tile;

Isaac Sapir and Meir Ekstein – founders of a nail factory and brick firing factory;

Bernard Berkelhamer and Yosef Hodes – built the first factory for shoemakers' lasts in Tarnów, which, after the First World War, was taken over by Yeshayahu Silverfenig, in his youth a well-known industrialist, who became renowned thanks to his generosity and support of poor Jewish and non-Jewish inhabitants; Henrik

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Hollander and Meir Lev – Founders of sawmills;

The company Marmer and Klopholtz – Built a steam factory in Tarnów for wood-wool;

Asher Schwanenfeld —builder of a spirit and liquor factory which was taken over after his death by his sons: Engineer Leon, Shaul, and Solomon. They enlarged the factory, and after establishing the state-sanctioned spirit monopoly, their refinery was one of the three largest enterprises in all of Galicia;

Raisel Rubin (Balamut) – Renowned philanthropist who was the first in Tarnów to establish garment manufacturing, which in later years grew to be one of the most important businesses in town and provided employment to more than a thousand Jewish and non-Jewish needle-workers, male and female. This is also due to the entrepreneurial spirit of renowned garment companies such as: Wurtzel and Daar, Simcha Keller and Son, Weltsh and Beller, Yosef Katz and Son, Bruin Brothers, A. Y. Kasher, Dovid Zitranenbaum. Yisroel Hochner and Lazar Hochner developed the undergarment factory; Meir Zilberstein, Herman Klein and the company Kinberg and Weiss founded factories in Tarnów for felt hats that were exported to the Balkan countries.

Over time, Tarnów took on an honored position in commercial circles thanks to entrepreneurs such as: Yoel Spiegel, Torn and Bashgah, Avigdor Feivel, the Brothers Mantel, Katz and Fleisher, Moshe Fries and Yisroel Beller (manufacturing line), Yitzhak Kapelner and Mendel Hatzboim (textile materials), Ephraim Edelstein, Avraham Leder, Yosef Schiff, Sroel Pharsheys, Shachna Anisfeld, Zins and Erlid, the brothers Ofner and Edward Shwager (iron line), Yitzchak Brandsteter and son, Chaim Singer and son, Yosef Singer (pearl and gem export), Aharon Sapir (wood expert), Gimpel Shnuftabak, Feivel Blazer, Mechel Felber and Yosef Schmerz (wholesale leather business). Hersh Wittmeyer, Loizer Boim, Moshe Konegizer and Avraham Sapir (grocery merchandise), Gutman Greenfeld and Gutman Zamer (wholesale trade of flour and grain chaff), Moshe Rubin. Shlomo Leon, Durst and Rubin and Yisroel Polter (export of eggs and butter).

On the basis of the official books and documents of the Chamber of Commerce there wasn't a single profession in town (with rare exceptions) where Jews didn't represent between 50% and 90%, while in boot production, glass, and fur it was a full 100%.

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By the efforts of Tarnów Jews, the first credit cooperatives were founded in the city: “Accounting Corporation for Trade and Industry,” “Accounting Corporation,” and “Tarnów Bank Corporation,” which offered the opportunity for Jewish Tarnów businessmen to obtain credit at a low interest rate. In addition to this, charitable institutions and associations were developed by Tarnów Jews to support the poor population. These establishments were a model for the non-Jewish population which, based on this example, undertook specific steps to help their needy people.

There was a high level of participation by the Jewish population of Tarnów in the effort to improve the sanitary and health conditions in the city. Thanks to the substantial help of the Maschler family, a Jewish hospital and nursing home were built, which were later donated to the community. These are some of the medical experts who worked in the Jewish hospital: Dr. Leon Shitzer, Mrs. Dr. Bloch-Mertz and Dr. Eugeniush Sheifer, and it was furnished with the newest equipment and x-ray machinery, as well as a specialized operating room and delivery room. This was all available to the entire Tarnów population, Jews as well as Poles, as well as to the neighboring area (just to emphasize that even the municipal hospital and the public health establishment did not have this level of facilities.)

Also on the cultural level Tarnów Jews evidenced great accomplishments. With their own initiative they established and maintained an entire network of cultural associations and institutions, active in all areas of art, literature, and society, by arranging public presentations, theater productions and musical evenings. The excellent musicians S. Bav and Oyber established a music school in Tarnów. It was established and by their applying their own initiative, they maintained a reading salon and library, available to the entire population of Tarnów. This library contained more than 10,000 books on all subjects: literature, art, science, in the Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish and German languages.

By their own efforts a general Hebrew School and high school for Jewish children was established for children whose parents were unable or didn't wish to send their children to the general municipal school. The general academic level of the Hebrew school in Tarnów was so high that four years into its existence the Polish school authorities gave the Hebrew school permission to function as a public school.

In the medical and legal professions as well, Tarnów Jews were strongly represented and contributed greatly to the improvement and significance of these domains, demonstrated by the emergence of luminaries

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such as Dr. Eliyahu Goldhamer, Esq, recognized not just in Tarnów, but also in Vienna as an excellent defense lawyer with extensive knowledge of criminal law; Dr. Leon Shitzer, with his broad medical knowledge, high level of education, both very beloved by the entire population in Tarnów and environs.

Thanks to Jews such as Dr. Leon Kellner (died in the year 1929 in Vienna) who was the Austrian court councilor and university professor of English – or Steffan Oyber, Professor of the Dresden Municipal Conservatory until Hitler's government (he now lives in New York and is world-renowned as a cello musician) – Tarnów became renowned in the larger world and brought the city a great deal of respect and visibility.

In the Tarnów city government, for many years the position of vice-mayor was occupied by Jews: Dr. Eliyahu Goldhamer, thereafter – Yulyush Zilbiger and finally – Dr. Herman Mitz who served as the last Jewish vice-mayor of Tarnow. Dr. Adolf Ringelheim for a time was vice marshal of the Tarnów District. In their municipal activities the above-mentioned Jews were outstanding in terms of earnestness, honesty, accuracy, and objectivity, serving the entire population.

On the whole, Tarnów Jews were not fanatically religious people; they were loyal to the faith of their parents and held to all the rules of the Torah, even when this was associated with great material loss (particularly in upholding the Sabbath as a day of rest). And more than once we were witnesses when judges and priests pointed out those Poles who didn't uphold the Sunday rest, pointing out the observant Jews and called for others to take them as an example. Moreover it's not a surprise that Tarnów Jewry raised their own funds and established a synagogue, one of the oldest in Poland, known as “the Old Shul” or Old Synagogue on Zydowska Street. When the number of Jews in the city had significantly increased, a new synagogue was necessary. With great effort and labor the grand New Synagogue was constructed on Nowa Street with an external appearance and internal design that impressed everyone. The synagogue's dome was nearly as high as the cathedral and it could be seen at a great distance beyond the city – a message to every faithful Jew as they approached Tarnów, that here is a city where Jews are not ashamed of their Jewishness, but rather that they wish in a respectful manner to indicate that this synagogue, the embodiment of their faith, is as tall and has the same value and the same respect as the cross on the cathedral, the symbol of the Christian religion.

The brief facts and examples mentioned above strikingly illustrate how Tarnów Jews, bestially murdered by the Hitlerian hangmen, participated in the development and growth of the city. Also from this standpoint, this Yizkor book must fulfill an important task.

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I once read in a book the following thought: “Courage is the virtue of the young, hope — the millions for the poor.”

It absolutely required a good deal of courage, in the most difficult circumstances, without the least prospect of having at one's disposal historical material and financial resources, to put out a Yizkor book which would encompass the history and extermination of Tarnów Jewry. And specifically Dr. Abraham Komet, a child of Tarnów, and actually not very young, found a wave of courage in himself, actually well before the young people, and in the most difficult personal circumstances, when, as a refugee, he and his wife, came back from the Soviet Union to the devastated Polish soil, without a cent to his soul, in very difficult material conditions and in spiritual depression, immediately began pondering by what means it could be accomplished to depict the awful horrors of Tarnów Jews.

After even more difficult and lengthy efforts he was able to achieve a certain success in collecting and discovering various archival materials. After several years of intensive work by Dr. A. Komet, which not only raised the idea of placing a monument to the decimated Tarnów Jewry in the cemetery, he also served as the head of the editorial committee and solely wrote approximately 75% of the book, now published as the Yizkor book of Tarnów Jewry.

He is truly deserving of sincere and profound gratitude for the noble initiative and selfless work. In the name of the Tarnów Jewish landsmanshaft (fraternal societies) which distribute this Yizkor book, I permit myself in this way to express the fullest recognition and a heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Abraham Komet.

And finally —since I don't belong to the very poor and although I don't own the “million” — I have the greatest hope that:

1. there won't be a single solitary Jew who originates from Tarnów, or whose parents had a connection to Tarnów, in whose home this book will not be found;
2. that this Yizkor book will be translated into other languages. and especially into Hebrew (if Providence allows, within my lifetime);
3. that the Tarnów townspeople who have helped me up until this moment in shared activity for the sake of Tarnów Jewry, will do everything so that my hopes, expressed above, will be realized.

Dr. Shmuel Shpan

Haifa, August 1954

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While still refugees in Russia, we already had heard much about the terrible mass destruction of Polish Jewry. However, we did not yet know the entire truth. Each of us still lived with the hope that when we returned to Tarnow we would meet a living relative, a friend, or even an acquaintance. We longed for our home and for the exuberant and strong Jewish life that had existed in Tarnow before the war.

On the repatriation trains from Russia, on the way back to Poland, we still hadn't lost the belief that the work of reconstruction would be waiting for us in old Tarnow, that the Jewish community awaited, that the remnants of Jewish schools, Jewish libraries, and all the other Jewish communal, social and philanthropic institutions still existed. We knew that a terrible storm had passed over Tarnow, but thought that the last spark of hope had still not been extinguished, that the storm had only damaged the branches, and that the trunk remained.

We believed this…

In Tarnow, however, we encountered total devastation. We found not a single survivor, nor had anyone escaped (Joshua 8:22). The Jewish quarter was a pile of rubble. Only in the Jewish cemetery did we find a few frightened and starving people who had managed to hide themselves in bunkers and hiding places among the toppled tombstones.

This is what Tarnow looked like in mid-1946, a terrible nightmarish graveyard, where mass murders had been carried out. In such a graveyard no one had yet managed to rebuild a life. And our first thought was to escape as quickly as possible, flee from the destruction and the town drenched in the blood of our nearest and dearest.

But in the depths of our souls a thought burrowed suggesting that not the slightest trace will remain of the 500-year-old Tarnow Jewish community. The memory of the efforts and achievements of the previous generations will be erased, their dreams and hopes gone, their victories and defeats in the struggle for a better tomorrow lost. The persistent question did not subside even for a single minute: what is this? Will the old, magnificent Jewish community be soon forgotten? The clearing out of the ruins of the former Jewish quarter, threatened to destroy the mass graves of the Hitler death factory, and our question remained,

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will the memory of the tortured Jewish population of Tarnow also disappear?

The answer appeared. It was clear to me that a memorial must be established in the form of a Yizkor book dedicated to the blessed memory of the people of Tarnow. I felt that this sacred obligation rests with me, the last chairman of the Jewish community of Tarnow.

The thought was born, but how does one carry it out? In all of Tarnow there wasn't a scrap of paper remaining to tell the story of the former Jewish life. The records of the community, of societies, schools, political organizations, cultural and social institutions, Jewish newspapers, the local activist leaders–everything was destroyed during the Hitler deluge. Only in one place did I discover documents, in the post-war synagogue which was organized after liberation in one of the halls of Soldinger's Hotel on Goldhammer Street. There in a corner, lay individual abandoned pages of old holy Jewish books, the only remnant of 25,000 Tarnow Jews.

Consequently, I began searching for material for the Yizkor Book at the cemetery, in court decisions, and in Polish libraries, until I uncovered a precious treasure in the library in Jagiellonian University of Krakow: eleven complete (full year) bound volumes of “Tygodnik Zydowzki” (“The Jewish Weekly” – “Yiddish Vokhnblatt”), which appeared in Tarnow from the year 1928 as the publication of the local Zionist organization. There I also found issues of the Krakow “Nowy Dzienik” (“The New Day”) and other materials which led me to additional sources about Tarnow Jewry. Only after I amassed a collection of historical material, could I take on the role of bearing witness, and looked deeply into the documents.

It was difficult to organize the stack of material, because my task was not only to describe the martyrdom of Tarnow Jewry, but also to immortalize the lives of Tarnow Jewry from its earliest years on. My aspiration was to make this Yizkor book a written monument, one inscribed with golden lettering which would be a tribute to Jewish enterprise in Tarnow and the struggle of Tarnow Jews for human rights and workers' rights. I wanted the monument to bear witness to the contribution of Tarnow Jews to the treasured Jewish and general culture. The book would describe how the Jewish community participated in Polish accomplishments as well as Tarnow Jewry's Zionistic efforts and contributions to the building of our own home in the Land of Israel. My intention was that our Yizkor book should reflect all the manifestations of Tarnow Jewish life, from all strata and circles, from each organizational and social activity. But simultaneously I came

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to understand that “I must gather the strength to meet the challenge” because it was clear to me, that I lacked the skill and experience to utilize historical materials and to write historical studies.

Now, after completing the entire work, I ask for the indulgence of professional historians into whose domain I have intruded, because without a doubt, and in no sense of the word could I be considered an authentic historian…

They may consider, as mitigating circumstances, the fact that my only motive was – to immortalize the memory of what to me is the precious Jewry of Tarnow. I worked on this Yizkor book in the manner dictated to me by my heart and my judgment. I began this sacred work in 1946 while still in Krakow, continuing it in Paris in 1948 and (after a long hiatus) finally completing it in Israel, thanks to the help of a group of friends from the editorial committee, who, in difficult periods, supplied me with courage and stamina to complete the book.

I also owe much gratitude for the suggestions and help of capable commentators such as A. Wolf Jasny, and in particular – my friends Daniel Leibel and David Shtokfish, who did not spare any effort or exertion in translating into Yiddish the majority of the material in the book, which had not been written in Yiddish. I wish here to express thanks and recognition. And if here or there an error slipped into the text, they are not to be held responsible.

Finally I would also like to express my thanks to all those who furnished me with information, documents, books, and photographs. A special thanks to those writers who, with their works, helped to enrich this Yizkor book.

I have, with the best intention and strength, carried out an important assignment to immortalize the once magnificent Jewish community of Tarnow. Not only Tarnow Jews will find material in this book about their town and the Jews who once lived there, but also future historians and scholars, who seeking material about the obliterated Jewish life in Poland, will be able to have a modest witness in this book.

– Dr. Avraham Chomet
Editor, Tarnow Yizkor book

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