Jewish Heritage Report
Vol. I, No. 2 / Summer 1997
Destruction of Ilza Synagogue?
Member’s Letter: SYNAGOGUE DESTRUCTION IN ILZA (POLAND)?
Photo:
Demolition of building in Ilza, Poland. Was this a synagogue? © Betty
Proviser Starkman 1997
Ilza, Poland, located south of Radom in the Kielce region, is the
ancestral home of part of my family and I have documented them there to
1789. I first visited Ilza in 1987 and the synagogue was at that time a
theater. Upon my arrival on July 18, 1996, I discovered the synagogue in
the process of destruction. I complained to the local mayor, who said it
was out of his domain. To the best of my knowledge, it is contrary to Polish
law to destroy Jewish communal property. I went to the Jewish Historical
Society in Warsaw the following day and lodged a complaint. Several months
later I received a letter from the Jewish Historical Society stating that
they are not sure that it was ever a synagogue (according to Polish authorities).
The Poles claim that even if it was a synagogue, it was in a terrible state
of repair. This, of course, was not the case during by 1987 visit. They
were supposed to contact me again, however, I have never heard from anyone
regarding the matter. I guess at this point, it really does not matter,
since the old little synagogue is gone. Also gone is the cemetery. You
will see me in the photo saying Kaddish both in the non-existent cemetery
and the destroyed synagogue. For a fact, I know it was a synagogue since
my father had his Bar Mitzvah there in 1915 and the famous Rabbi Shapira
led the community there. I also own the writings from the inside of the
synagogue Mazzuzah which was given to my uncle following World War II.
Betty Proviser Starkman
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Editor's Response
ISJM contacted Eleonora Bergman, Deputy Director of the Jewish Historical
Institute in Warsaw about Ms. Starkman’s letter and received the following
information: "According to Marek Figiel, regional conservator of monuments,
the synagogue building was dismantled during the 1940s when the war was
over. On the same site another structure was built partially on the old
foundations, to serve as a cinema. Because of its poor condition and danger
of collapse, it was decided to dismantle the building. In his office he
has the survey of the building of 1984 and the measured drawing of the
plan of the first floor. The work of 1996 was also documented." According
to Dr. Adam Penkalla, an expert on Jewish sites in that part of Poland,
part of the cinema was perhaps adopted from the synagogue. Mr. Adam Bednarczyk,
a local historian from Ilza apparently has a photograph of a fragment of
the old synagogue in his collection. During the dismantling of the synagogue
he found a sandstone desk (bimah?) with a Hebrew inscription. This is now
in the local museum. Dr. Bergman adds, "I went to Ilza approximately
two months ago with the regional conservator of monuments and I saw the
ruins of the former synagogue. It was confirmed, however, by the conservator,
that the building now being dismantled, which served as a cinema for many
years, was not a transformed synagogue, but just built on the same site.
There was an addition to the building which was a pre-war part, which could
have been a heder. Perhaps the Pripetchuk which Ms. Starkman mentioned
[in a separate letter] was in that room? To the best of my knowledge, that
type of stove was never built in synagogues, except in rooms of apartments
adopted as prayer rooms." |
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Updated: 24-Jul-98