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Końskie, Poland 51°12' N 20°25' E 77 miles South South West of Warszawa (Warsaw), Poland. Some directories place the town in the Radom collection depending on the era.
Końskie [Polish], Kinsk [Yiddish], Kon'ske [Russian], Kansk, Kintsk, Konsk, Konski, Kuntsk
Much information about the residents and family connections of Konskie is available here: https://www.crarg.org/
Additional Reading: http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol1_00240.html
Complete town description and many Jewish names and photographs: http://www.sztetl.org.pl
Researchers may find many people connected to Konskie at http://www.familysearch.org. Actual civil records are filed under Kielce.
The Jewish Genealogical Society International Jewish Cemetery Project offers details here: http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/poland/konskie.html KONSKIE: świętokrzyskie (Yiddish: Kinsk)
Adam Penkalla wrote in his book "Jewish Traces in the Rregion Kielce and Radom that the Końskie Jewish cemetery was established probably in the 17th century outside built-up areas in the NW part of the village at the junction of ulic Staszica and Wjazdowej. The cemetery had two buildings. In the early 20th century, the cemetery area was expanded until in 1925 the size was 2 hectares. Like other Jewish cemeteries, this cemetery was destroyed during the WWII and Nazis also executed Jews and Poles here, including prisoners from ul. Jatkowej. The German occupiers forced the Jews to dig up tombstones that were used for construction work of among other things, the construction of pig fattening facilities and Modliszewicach spire. Documents held in the Jewish Historical Institute/E. Ringelblum in Warsaw, in the 1990s state that part the Soviets sold gravestones, probably to one of the inhabitants of Kazanów village. Even today, in Końskie and in nearby town buildings walls can be found constructed with matzevot fragments. Pictures of these buildings can be seen at Polin - Heritage of Polish Jews. The authorities closed the cemetery officially in 1965. Part of the land contains buildings. As a result of the devastation no trace of graves is visible. Pre-war images can be seen in archival photos, from the exposition called the House of Memory and Tradition Earth Konecki. In 2008, employees of the Board of Cemeteries secured a black granite gravestone from the former Jewish cemetery in very good condition. Its Hebrew inscription says: "Buried the blessed and beloved, a man of good heart and pure soul, respected, respected and devout son of Jacob Szraga Eliezer ha-Levi Lewin. He died on 2 Adar 691. Let his soul be bound in crown of life eternal "(2 Adar 5691 - 19 February 1931). photos. [May 2009]
US Comm. POCE000297
Konskie is located in Kielce at 51°12 20°25, 131 km from Warsaw. Cemetery: on Wyjazdowa St. Present population is 5,000-25,000 with no Jews.
Town: Burmistrz Miasta Konskie, 26-200 Konskie ul.Parzantow, tel. 32-49. Regional: region Konsewator Zabythov, ul. IX Wiekov Kielc 3, Kielce, tel. 45634. The earliest Jewish community was 17th century. 1921 Jewish population was 5037. The cemetery was established in the 17th century with last Orthodox or Conservative Jewish burial in 1943. The isolated suburban flat land has no sign or marker, no wall, fence, or gate. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all. Before WWII and now it was about 2 ha. No gravestones are visible. There are no mass graves or structures. Municipality owns site used for agriculture. Adjacent properties are agricultural and storage. Private Jewish visitors visit rarely. The cemetery was vandalized during WWII. There is no maintenance, no care. Vandalism and incompatible proposed development are slight threats. Security, weather erosion and vegetation are moderate threats. Pollution and nearby development (i.e the storage) are serious threats.
Dr. Adam Penkalla, deceased, who visited the site, completed survey. [date?1990s]The Jewish Cemetery is well described, with photos, at this site: http://www.kirkuty.xip.pl/konskie.htm
This modern day web site offers history of Jewish presence in the town, with photos, here: http://www.konskie.org.pl/2011/11/zaginiony-nowy-swiat-konskie-szko...
Jewish Gen Family Finder JGFF offers a long list of present day researchers interested in the town and last names. Here: http://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/
Jewish Records Indexing here: https://jri-poland.org/town/konskie.htm has extensive records and indexed microfilms for this town that are filed in the Kielce district. Coordinators Stanley Diamond, Steven Skorka. Town Project leader Gideon Carmi.
Holocaust Records available at https://yvng.yadvashem.org offer a large collection of people connected to Konskie who perished in the Holocaust. Individual names with birthdates back to 1850 are on this list. Using Page of Testimony sources is a valid and important research tool. Submitters of Pages of Testimony may be searched themselves, another rich source of contacts and family members from post WW2 era. Total names in a typical Konskie Yad Vashem search; approximately 17,000.
A large collection of data for Jewish History, and specific towns and residents, photos, descriptive material is available at the Beit Hatfutsoth site here: https://dbs.bh.org.il/ . As of 2020 this site has been rebuilt and transformed into a wondrous and immense collection of data easily accessible in English called the ANU Museum of the Jewish People. Link: https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il /
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia See also: Końskie, Subcarpathian Voivodeship Końskie
Voivodeship Świętokrzyskie County Końskie County Gmina Gmina Końskie Established 11th century Population 19,962 in 2013
Website http://www.umkonskie.pl Końskie is a town in central Poland with 20,328 inhabitants in 2008, situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Kielce Voivodeship (1975–1998). Most of the town labour force was employed in the local foundry (Koneckie Zakłady Odlewnicze) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since 1997 the town has developed into a major trade centre for small business. Historically, Końskie belongs to the province of Lesser Poland, and since its foundation, until 1795 (see Partitions of Poland), it was part of Lesser Poland's Sandomierz Voivodeship.
History Romanesque tympanum above the south side door of the Gothic St. Nicholas & St. Adalbert parish church The oldest settlement which is now Końskie dates back to the 11th century. The burial ground from this period was discovered in the north part of the town in 1925. Końskie was mentioned in historical sources in 1124 for the first time, with Prandota of Prandocin (the progenitor of Odrowąż family) recorded as the owner of the settlement. For the next few centuries the settlement was owned by the Odrowąż family. Iwo Odrowąż, the bishop of Kraków, founded a parish and built a church dedicated to St. Nicholas in years 1220-1224. The church was torn down in the 15th century and a new Gothic one was built in its place in the years 1492-1520. Some elements of the older Romanesque church were saved in the new one (e.g. the Romanesque tympanum, pictured). Końskie received city rights from King August III Sas on December 30, 1748.
World War II Końskie was briefly visited by Adolf Hitler on September 10, 1939 while on the way to Kielce after landing on an airfield nearby. His car cavalcade visited the headquarters of General Walther von Reichenau at the local mansion. Hitler was followed by director Leni Riefenstahl who came a day later, ordered to film the Nazi German victory over Poland. Reportedly, she fainted when witnessing the random killing of two dozen Jews summoned to dig graves on September 12, 1939. Końskie was the centre of Polish underground resistance during World War II, with battles fought by the Armia Krajowa under Major Henryk Dobrzański ("Hubal") in the nearby forests which the German army feared to enter. The town was taken over by the partisans for a few hours on the night of September 1, 1943, with a number of Gestapo agents assassinated. The Nazis retaliated by executing civilians including Jews.
Jewish history of Końskie The first mention to the Jewish community in Końskie dates back to the 16th century. The pre World War II Jewish population of Końskie (known as Koinsk during the Russian occupation or Kinsk in Yiddish – קינצק / קינסק among the Jews) comprised 60.6% of the total population of the town or about 6,500 persons in September 1939. After the Nazi German invasion of Poland, a Ghetto was established in 1940 and closed off in the spring of 1941. The complete eradication of the Jewish population of Końskie took place on November 3–9, 1942, when all men, women and children were loaded onto Holocaust trains to Treblinka II and gassed to death. Approximately 600 Jews were murdered by the Nazis on the way to the camp. In the subsequent January 1943 "Aktion" in the Konskie Ghetto, remaining Jews were ferreted out from attics and other hiding places and murdered.[5] Koinsk appears under the name Bociany as the setting for Chava Rosenfarb's Yiddish language novel of the same name. Bociany was published in English in the author's own translation by Syracuse University Press 2000. The translation won the John Glassco Award for Literary Translation in 2000. The Koinsk Organization of Israel ("Ha'Ayarah She'Li: Sefer Ha'Zikaron Le'Yehudei Konskiyah, Hebrew, 2001) commemorates the tragic death of the Jews of Konskie every year at The Diaspora Museum close to the 25th of the Jewish month of Cheshvan.
From Pinkas Hakehillot Polin: Konskie
"The first rabbi known by name who served in Konskie in the 1820s (his name is recorded in 1827) was R. Yekutiel, a disciple of the Seer of Lublin [Ya'akov Yitzhak of Lublin, d. 1815]. Following him were R. Mendel (about 1829) and R. Joshua of Kinsk [Konskie]. For a short time in the second half of the 19th century, R. Moses Yehiel Halevi Stashevski was rabbi. A distinguished figure of the circle of rabbis and Admorim [heads of Hasidic dynasties] was R. Pinhas Rabinowitz, the great-grandson of the Jew from Przysucha [Ya'akov Yitzhak, the 'Yehudi,' d. 1814]. His presence brought a multitude of both local and visiting Hasidim and he forecast the possibility of the coming of the Messiah at any moment. After his death in 1901, his sons carried on the tradition of the dynasty, and one of them, R. Nathan David, headed the court in Konskie. Close to 1896, R. Yoav Joshua Weingarten, one of the greatest authorities in Jewish law [Halakha] assumed the rabbinate. Previously, he served in Lutomiersk and Gostynin. His decisions in Jewish law are gathered in the work Helkat Yoav on the four parts of the Shulhan Arukh. R. Yoav Joshua died in 1922."