Rudnik Jewish Community 

 

 

 

Rudnik Jewish Community - children

 

 

 

Objects and documents of Jewish families

 

The collection can be seen on Sundays from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. in Rudnik nad Sanem, 25 Mickiewicza Street.

 

It is possible to visit the Memorial Hall of Rudnik Jewish Community on weekdays after prior contact by e-mail: Ten adres pocztowy jest chroniony przed spamowaniem. Aby go zobaczyć, konieczne jest włączenie w przeglądarce obsługi JavaScript. or by phone: 602 749 972 (in Polish) or 600 816 066 (in English). 

Chaim Halberstam (called Diwrej Chaim) was born in 1793 in Tarnogród and died  on April 19 1876 r. in Nowy Sącz. After graduation, he was a rabbi in Rudnik on San, and from 1830 a tzzadik (Hassidic spiritual leader) in Nowy Sącz. He was the founder of the Hassidic Dynasty in Nowy Sącz and progenitor of the dynasties in Bobowa, Grybów, Gorlice, Żmigród and Klausenburg, Romania.(source: https://www.loebtree.com/halberstam.html)

 

Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, the oldest son of Chaim Halberstam, was born 1813 in Tarnogród and died on December 19 1898 in Sieniawia. He was a rabbi in Rudnik on San until 1848. Afterwards, he was a rabbi in Rozdol, Sieniawa and Stropków (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yechezkel_Shraga_Halberstam)

 

Baruch Halberstam, son of Chaim Halberstam, was born in 1829 and died in 1906. He was a  rabbi in Rudnik on San between 1860 and 1867, and then a rabbi in Gorlice (source: https://www.geni.com/people/Baruch-Halberstam-of-Gorlitz-s-5/335300029820014117)

 

Jakub Izaak Horowitz was a rabbi in Rudnik on San from 1883 (source: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/miejscowosci/r/146-rudnik-nad-sanem/99-historia-spolecznosci/137962-historia-spolecznosci)

 

Zvi Hersh Halberstam, son of Baruch Halberstam, was born in 1851 and died in 1918. He was a rabbi in Rudnik on San between 1897 and 1906 (source: https://www.geni.com/people/R-Zvi-Hirsch-Halberstam-Admur-Ridnik/6000000001851436852)

 

Jehuda Halberstam, son of Zvi Hersh Halberstam, grandson of Baruch Halberstam, great-grandson of Chaim Halberstam, was born on January 10 1905 in Rudnik on San and died on April 18 1994 in Netanya. He was known as the genius from Rudnik and was a rabbi in Klausenburg, Romania. He was deported with family to Auschwitz  and then to Dachau  Muldorf, survived. His wife and 10 children were murdered in Auschwitz (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekusiel_Yehudah_Halberstam)

 

Aryeh Lejb Teitelbaum was born in 1857 and died in 1920. He was a rabbi in Rudnik on San (source: https://www.geni.com/people/R-Aryey-Lieb-Teitelbaum-A-B-DKrzeszow-Ridnik/6000000001854898294)

 

Benjamin Halberstam was born in 1891 and died in 1961. He was a rabbi in Rudnik on San (source: https://kevarim.com/rebbe-benyamin-halberstam-teitelbaum-liphshitz/ https://www.geni.com/people/Benyamin-Halberstam/6000000002048500117)

 

The collections in the Memorial Hall of Rudnik Jewish Community have been acquired and collected by the "Save from Oblivion" Foundation since 2019, including photographs from the "Mimoza" photographic studio run before the Second World War by Stanisława Skoczylasówna and obtained from the descendants of Rudnik Jewish families, as well as from the current residents of Rudnik nad Sanem. In addition to photographs, the Memorial Hall of Rudnik Jewish Community exhibits books, documents and objects of religious worship and everyday use from the Rudnik area. The Foundation also collects documents, books and objects from other towns in eastern and southern Poland. Worth noting, the collections of the Memorial Hall of Rudnik Jewish Community are among the richest in the region.

The identification of people from the photographs taken by Stanisława Skoczylasówna was carried out by Barbara Tutka and Joanna Chowaniec. Significant help in identification was provided by: the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Perets Zucker, Leon Juli and other descendants of Jewish families. Work on collecting collections is still ongoing and the collection is systematically growing. The "Save from Oblivion" Foundation counts on help in identifying unrecognized people in the photos and asks the descendants of Rudnik Jews for the possibility of sharing family photos.

In the autumn of 2022, the collections were digitized with financial resources as part of the project: "Rudniczanie Wyznania Mojżeszowego – dawni mieszkańcy Rudnika nad Sanem" obtained in the competition of the Regional Institute Foundation for local initiatives for the creation of social archives. Barbara Tutka, Piotr Tutka, Joanna Chowaniec (volunteer) and Mariusz Małek (archiving of collections on the Foundation's website) took part in the project on behalf of the Foundation. The Partners of the Foundation in the project were: the Association of Graduates and Friends of the High School in Rudnik nad Sanem, the Scout Association "SKAUFORT", the Society of Lovers of the Rudnik Land named after priest Franciszek Nicałek, the Municipal Cultural Center in Rudnik nad Sanem and the John Paul II Public Primary School No. 1 in Rudnik nad Sanem. 

The Memorial Hall of Rudnik Jewish Community is maintained from the Foundation's own resources.

Jews lived in Rudnik nad Sanem from the second half of the sixteenth century to the Second World War. They have significantly contributed to the development of crafts and trade, including wickerwork. Before the First World War, 1200 Jews lived in the city, and before the Second World War about 805 (about 27% of the total population of Rudnik nad Sanem).

In the interwar period, Jews had two synagogues (one brick and one wooden), a religious school Cheder, a religious school for girls Bet Yaakov, a bathhouse (mikveh), two cemeteries (kirkuts) from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  The following organizations were active as well: a branch of the Central Union of Jewish Craftsmen, an organization of Jewish workers Histadrut, Zionist organizations: Mizrachi, Hechaluc, Poalej Zion, youth organizations: Hashomer Hatzair and the scout union Akiba, Hatchiya Association and Perets Social and Cultural Association. In addition, there were: Hatchija library, Makabi football team (Maccabi) and the Jewish Cyclists' Club. The Jewish community in terms of material situation was diverse. The town square was inhabited by middle-income and wealthy Jewish families, while the streets adjacent to the market (e.g. Wałowa, Kasowa) were inhabited by poorer families.  

On the thirteenth of September 1939. The Germans entered Rudnik nad Sanem, burned synagogue, mikveh, Cheder, several Jewish houses and murdered several dozen Jews. The remaining Jews were deported across the San River to the Soviet zone. In 1940, the Germans destroyed tombstones (matzevahs) from two Jewish cemeteries. The Germans used the destroyed matzevahs to pave the roads. 

Some of the Jews deported to the Soviet zone later died of hunger and disease in Russia and Kazakhstan. After the German aggression against Russia in 1941, some of the Jews of Rudnik were murdered in Lwów, Stanisławów, Brzeżany and other cities of today's western Ukraine. Those who remained were murdered in the vicinity of Rudnik (in Ulanów, Krzeszów, Jarocin) and in the death camp in Bełżec or on the way to Bełżec. Jews from Rudnik, who emigrated in the interwar period to Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, were deported to various ghettos in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Latvia, from where they were sent to concentration camps in Auschwitz, Majdanek, Stutthof (Sztutowo), Kulmhof am Nehr (Chełmno nad Nerem) and Dachau. Those who have survived the war emigrated to Israel, the United States, France and Australia.