Photos of Klodawa

[Observer]

Hi Joel


I think you are correct, unfortunately.

all the best

Observer

[robhouse]

Hi,

Just to clarify some earlier errors I made... So when I published my article Aaron Kozminski Reconsidered, I suggested that it was likely that Aaron witnessed these pogroms in 1881. Further research suggests that there were not in fact pogroms in Klodawa. I have been having a hard time figuring out where exactly pogroms did take place.

I believe there were riots in Warsaw in December 1881, but again, I do not think there were any specific incidents in Klodawa. In fact, I do not think there were any pograms anywhere in "Congress Poland". There were pograms apparently in Lublin district.

However, the Jews who left Russia in vast numbers at this time were under general oppression, and anti-semitism was strongly felt, probably, all over the region. Also, I am sure the jewish residents (of Klodawa and elsewhere) were aware of the pogroms. A polish historian friend wrote me that : "Nevertheless, many Polish people were convinced that Jews should be expelled. They "warned" the Jews, that "the Russians will come and murder them", as they did in Odessa and other places before." ... "The Jews on Polish territories, governed by Russia, were so afraid and terrorized by the pogroms in Russia in 1881, that it could be the major impulse for them to leave the country. They didn't wait until the next progrom would happen - in their own city..."

There were other reasons for the emigration of course... the economic situation for Jews in Russia was terrible and getting worse. Also there was the law forcing Jews into the military... according to Fishman youths as young as 12 were subject to conscription.

------------------

One more photo... this is a photo I found on the web of the "shul" in Klodawa.

The caption reads: "This is a photo of the shul in Klodawa. This is where our ancestors celebrated their holidays, weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, etc.... Sadly, this is where the Germans came in on the holiest of days, Yom Kippur 1939, and removed all the townspeople from the building. They then removed all the Torahs, and prayer books and burned them. According to Paula Kempinski in her interview with Rabbi Brooks Susman in April 2007, after the Germans invaded and occupied the town, they stabled their horses in the building."

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Observer,
I am almost sure it was Poznam the TV documentary was citing-it was horrific-.Poor souls.

[robhouse]

I think it is possible (if not probable) that Aaron still had relatives in Klodawa region by the time of WWII. But I believe all his immediate family moved out of there by the 1890s. His father died in 1874. His mother Golda was in London by the 1890s, and all his brothers and sisters I believe emigrated.

Woolf, Isaac and Matilda came to London. Pessa apparently died young. And Aaron's other 2 sisters, Blimbe and Hinde, I believe emigrated to the US, where they were later known as Bertha Held and Helen Singer.

So he may have had cousins there, or uncles and aunts and other distant relatives, but none of his immediate family was there.

Rob H

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Rob,
-from The Times London History Atlas:"In 1881,the assassination of Tsar Alexander 11 gave rise to anti-semitic pogroms in Russia and Poland.Vast numbers of Jews fled westward,hoping to move to North America.Many settled instead in the East End......"
The passage you have written above ,underneath the picture of the shul in Klodawa, is sadder than words can express- .

[Observer]

Poor souls indeed Natalie/ may they rest in peace

all the best

Observer

[Chris]

Thanks to Rob for posting these photos. It's fascinating to get an idea of what Klodawa is like today.

Regarding the Holocaust, according to the International Jewish Cemetery Project website, the Jewish population of Klodawa in 1939 was 1350. A search for those from Klodawa in the Yad Vashem database of Shoah Victims returns "more than 1000 Results". (1000 is the maximum number of results that can be displayed.)

[Suzi]

Excellent stuff Rob!- Seriously thought provoking!

Cheers

Suzi x

[Sam Flynn]

So he may have had cousins there, or uncles and aunts and other distant relatives, but none of his immediate family was there

There seem to be no Kłodawa "Kosminskis" (or variants thereof) listed on the Yad Vashem lists. However, there's quite a large number of "Kozminskis" listed in the Łódź Ghetto, which was the usual destination for Jews deported from Kłodawa, Kalisz and other towns in the Warthegau.

[Robert]

Great pics, Rob. Just out of curiosity, I searched the 91 census for people specifically from Klodawa (of course there may have been people from there who gave a neighbouring or more general place of origin - I was just looking for Klodawa). There was only one family, living in Black Lion Yard. Obviously I don't know if the Kosminskis knew them.

Robert

[Mike Covell]

These pics are fantastic. What was on the censored image on the train platform?

[Chris]

Great pics, Rob. Just out of curiosity, I searched the 91 census for people specifically from Klodawa (of course there may have been people from there who gave a neighbouring or more general place of origin - I was just looking for Klodawa). There was only one family, living in Black Lion Yard. Obviously I don't know if the Kosminskis knew them.

Just out of curiosity, what was the surname?

[Robert]

Chris, it was "Stuinkel" (?).

[Chris]

Chris, it was "Stuinkel" (?).

Thanks. It doesn't ring any bells.

[Observer]

Quasimodo does Chris!

Sorry I couldn't resist, I beg your forgivness

all the best

Observer