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This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families from the town of Trzebinia, Poland, also known as Chaben, Chubin, Treshebin, Trzebinia Miasteczko, Trzebinia Miasto, Chabin, Chebinya, Tshebin.
Yad Vashem - Story of Trezbinia
Introduction
"Just 19 kilometers from Auschwitz… we knew about Auschwitz, but we didn’t know then, in our time, that they burnt people there, that it was a crematorium... they said there was a camp there… but nobody knew… it was so close, and so far..."
(Pinchas Tzimerman)
On the eve of WWII, about 1,500 Jews lived in Trzebinia, a community bubbling with Chassidic life and Torah learning, Zionism and a pioneering spirit, political parties and youth movements. On 29 May 1942 (13 Sivan 5702), the deportation of the Jews of Trzebinia began. That day, SS and German police forces surrounded the ghetto, and a selection was carried out. The young and healthy were sent to work in factories in the nearby town of Chrzanów and forced labor camps within the Reich borders. A week later, those who remained were sent to Auschwitz, where they were murdered in the gas chambers on their arrival.
After the war, only 270 Jews from Trzebinia remained alive.
This is the story of the community of Trzebinia.
Overview
Trzebinia is a town in Chrzanów County, Lesser Poland, Poland with an Orlen oil refinery and a major rail junction of the Kraków - Katowice line, with connections to Oświęcim and Spytkowice. The town became part of Lesser Poland Voivodeship after being part of Katowice Voivodeship (1975–1998). With population of 20,175 (Dec. 31, 2010),
The town lies in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, 269 to 407 m (883 to 1,335 ft) above sea level and is an important industrial center, a rail and road hub, and lies at a junction of the A4 Motorway and National Road Nr. 79. The distance to John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice is 30 kilometres (19 miles).
History
The history of Trzebinia dates back to the late Middle Ages. In 1325, the settlement already had a church, which was mentioned in 1470 by Jan Długosz. Until the early 15th century, Trzebinia was a royal village, then it passed into the hands of local noble families. At that time, zinc and lead deposits were discovered here. Trzebinia, however, still remained a village, or rather a mining settlement, which from 1569 until 1802 belonged to the Schilhra Trzebiński family, Abdank coat of arms.
- Until the Partitions of Poland Trzebinia belonged to Kraków Voivodeship. In 1772 it was annexed by the Austrian Empire, as part of Galicia, where it remained until late autumn of 1918 (also, in 1815 - 1846, Trzebinia was part of the Free City of Kraków). In the 19th century the area of Trzebinia went through the period of industrialization. In 1804-1843, five coal mines, two zinc mills and a glass factory were opened here.
- On September 6, 1817, the village received its town charter, and in the second half of the 19th century, further coal mines were opened here, as well as a calamine mine. In the early 20th century, Trzebinia had oil refinery, power plant, and cement mill. In 1903, the Salvatorians settled here, who in 1908 began construction of a church.
- On September 1, 1939, Trzebinia was bombed by the Luftwaffe and directly annexed into the Third Reich; the border with the General Government was a few kilometers east, near Dulowa. On 5 September 1939 during the German Invasion of Poland, Wehrmacht soldiers mass murdered 97 people in the town.
- In August 1944, the German Trzebinia subcamp was one of the largest of the Auschwitz III-Monowitz concentration camp and provided forced labor for a nearby oil refinery. On September 7, 1944, the refinery at Trzebinia was bombed by Allied air force, and on January 23, 1945, the Germans retreated.
During the Second World War the village known as Arthurgrube, later renamed Siersza Wodna (and now incorporated into Trzebinia) was the base for a working party (E565) of British and other Commonwealth prisoners of war, under the administration of Stalag VIIIB/344 at Łambinowice (then known as Lamsdorf) in Poland. Their work was in a coal mine, and their living accommodation was in wooden huts by the river. More Lamsdorf prisoners of war transferred in January 1944 from Ottmachau in Upper Silesia to an Auschwitz detachment at the Trzebinia oil refinery. All 45 members of the detachment were from Commonwealth countries. A document at the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau confirming arrival of POW Work Detachment E738 at Trzebinia is dated 25 February 1944. In January 1945, as the Soviet armies resumed their offensive and advanced from the east, the prisoners were marched westward in the so-called Long March or Death March. Many of them died from the bitter cold and exhaustion. The lucky ones got far enough to the west to be liberated by the allied armies after some four months of travelling on foot in appalling conditions.
Trzebina is home to the Siersza Power Station and a large oil refinery, Rafineria Trzebinia, which belongs to PKN Orlen. In 1957-1958 Mining Company Trzebionka was founded, and in 1962, Siersza II Power Plant began operating.Until 1975, the town remained in Kraków Voivodeship. In 1961, the settlement of Wodna was incorporated into Trzebinia, and in 1969, after joining with the settlement of Siersza, the town was named Trzebinia-Siersza. In 1977, the name was changed to Trzebinia. The name Siersza Wodna survives as the name of a freight railway station.
Before the Holocaust
Jews first settled in Trzebinia at the end of the 17th century. Towards the end of the 18th century, about a dozen Jewish families were living in the town, under the auspices of the Jewish community in Olkusz.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the Jewish community of Trzebinia was subordinate to the community of Chrzanów. In the second half of the 19th century, with the development of mines and industry in the area, the Jewish community began to grow until the whole town was almost entirely Jewish. Until 1914, the town mayor was Jewish. The Jews of Trzebinia supported themselves mainly through small commerce and crafts, as well as by providing resources to local industries.
Religious Life
In the interwar period, Trzebinia served as the cultural and spiritual center for the entire region. It had four synagogues, a Bikur Cholim society (for helping the sick), a burial society, a charitable society, a women’s association, a cheder (religious primary school), yeshivot (Talmudic academies) and shteiblech (prayer houses).
The Bobover Rebbe, Rabbi Ben Zion bar Shlomo Halberstam, resided in Trzebinia from 1932-1937. In 1923 the “Trzebiner Gaon,” Rabbi Dov-Berish Weidenfeld, was elected town rabbi, where he established the “Kochav Miyaakov” Yeshiva. Among Rabbi Dov-Berish’s disciples was Rabbi Akiva Bar Yehezkiel Gross, who received his rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Weidenfeld and established the “Keter Torah” Yeshiva in the town. 
The first Zionist circle was established in Trzebinia in 1912. Money was collected to launch a library of 1,500 books, as well as evening classes in Hebrew and Jewish studies. The clubhouse of the “General Zionists,” “Haatid,” was very active in the interwar period. It housed the library, twice-weekly lectures and theatrical shows. Other active Zionist youth groups also operated in Trzebinia, including Hashomer Hatzair, Hechalutz, Beitar and Hanoar Haivri – which later gave rise to Hanoar Hatzioni and Akiva.
It is important to note that since the large majority of the town’s male residents were students in the Kochav Miyaakov Yeshiva, they made up most of the Zionist youth group members and organizers.
Economic Life
In 1847, Trzebinia was connected to the Vienna-Kraków railway line, and became part of Galicia. This marked the beginning of the development of the town. As the years passed, a lead-casting factory, coal mine, cement factory, oil refinery and other industries were established in the area.
In the second half of the 19th century, most of the Jews lived in the center of the town, making a living in trade and craft, and as storeowners. The various branches of the service industry were also mostly owned by Jews, making it impossible to hire a wagon-driver on the Sabbath or buy bread on Passover. Local Christians complained to the authorities about the situation, resulting in 11 Jewish wagon-drivers being fined 80 crowns each. In addition, two of the wagon-drivers were forced to hire non-Jews on Sabbath days to operate the wagons. Any baker that refused to bake bread over Passover was also fined.
During the interwar period, and especially in the 1920s, the Jewish community found itself economically stagnant. The Jews of Trzebinia were centered around the market place, and continued to deal in small business, crafts and peddling in the surrounding villages: only one family worked in agriculture. During that time, the “Joint” (Joint Distribution Committee – JDC) helped the community of Trzebinia by renovating the bathhouse and building a clinic for the Bikur Cholim society. The Joint also assisted the local charity association, to which ex-Trzebinia residents living in the United States would donate year after year.
The economic condition of the Jewish community improved slightly with the establishment of the court of the Bobover Rebbe in the town, from 1932-1937. Thousands of his followers streamed to his court, mostly on the Sabbath and festival days. Many of the town’s residents, including those who lived there during those years, made their livelihood through their proximity to the court of the Rebbe. In 1931, Trzebinia was officially recognized as a city. 
During the Holocaust
In the early days of the occupation, the Germans broke into the Jewish stores and apartments, robbing them of their possessions. Members of the “Volksdeutsche” (ethnic Germans living in Poland) and Polish mobs joined in these lootings. At the end of 1939 and the beginning of 1940, Jewish-owned factories were confiscated, and the Jews in Trzebinia were put to hard labor. The demand on the community to provide workers’ clothing grew daily. The men were involved mainly in drainage and road-paving work, and the women worked in German factories in the town – both were subjected to constant abuse.
In October 1939, the Jews of Trzebinia were ordered to wear armbands bearing the Star of David. These were later changed to yellow patches. The community was also subjected to a curfew from 6pm until 5am. At the beginning of 1940 a Judenrat (“Council of Elders”) was established with 15 members, subordinate to the central Judenrat of Sosnowiec. Heading the Trzebinia Judenrat was Yissachar Mandelbaum.
Further decrees increased the burden borne by the Jews of Trzebinia: they were forced to hand over their valuables and household possessions to the Germans; travel outside the town was limited; and more. Punishments for not obeying the decrees were severe. As a result, a number of youths left the town in 1940, aiming to cross the San River eastwards, towards the Soviet boundary. Those who succeeded found it difficult to find work and shelter, and a few were exiled to far-flung regions of the Soviet Union.
At the end of 1940 and during the first half of 1941, the Germans began to seize Jewish men for forced labor camps. One group was sent to a labor camp near the Soviet border, where they were put to work building fortifications in advance of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. News of the terrible conditions and the high death rate prevailing at the camps aroused tremendous fear in the Trzebinia community. The Jews of the town desperately searched for work in the local factories in order to avoid deportation to the camps.
In the summer of 1940, some 1,100 Jews were living in Trzebinia. In 1941, the Jews were ordered to concentrate their homes into a few streets, which turned into the ghetto. The ghetto included Krakowska, Ochronkowa and Piłsudski Streets. At first the ghetto was open, but departure from its boundaries was gradually restricted. Among other institutions, a soup kitchen was set up, and despite the decrees and the dire economic conditions, the Jewish community made sure that the children continued to receive some form of education. Groups teaching a range of occupations were also secretly organized.
During the war, groups of refugees from Rybnik, Oswiecim and Pszczyna came to Trzebinia. Most of the Jews in the ghetto worked in German factories for 70 marks a month. In order to survive, they sold the rest of their possessions to local Poles. The Germans allowed a few of the Jewish grocers in the ghetto to continue to sell food in exchange for coupons. In June 1942 the ghetto was liquidated and the Jewish community of Trzebinia was wiped out.
The Liquidation
On 29 May 1942 (13 Sivan 5702) the deportation of the Jews of Trzebinia began. SS units and German police surrounded the ghetto. All the entrances to the town were blocked in order to prevent the Jews from fleeing. The Jews then underwent a selection in the market square, dividing them into three groups: young men and women were sent to labor camps in Germany; a second group was transported to Chrzanów to work in the factories vital for German arms production; and the rest were sent to their immediate deaths in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. 
Those destined for deportation to Auschwitz were held in the Trzebinia municipal gas factory. The environment was appalling. There was almost no food or water, and horrific sanitary conditions. After more than a week, on 7 June 1942 (22 Nisan), they were sent to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. The others, as mentioned, were sent to work in Chrzanów and work camps in Germany. Here they suffered hard labor and starvation, disease and abuse. Most of them did not survive to witness liberation.