Jewish Families of Kolbuszowa, Poland

Location of Kolbuszowa

Kolbuszowa is a small town in south-eastern Poland, with 9,190 inhabitants (02.06.2009). Situated among the forests of Sandomierz Wilderness in the Subcarpathian Voivodship, it is the capital of Kolbuszowa County and belongs to historic Lesser Poland, near its border with another historic region Red Ruthenia. The name of the town comes from the land owner Kolbusz. It appeared for the first time in 1503 in place where Poręby Wielkie used to exist.

The official name of the town before being declared a city (it was a village and before that a mere hamlet) was Kolbuszowa. The spelling changed at different times:

• in 1513 it was Colbuschowa
  
• in 1565 it was Kolbussowa
  
• from 1581 onwards it was Kolbuszowa and so it has remained to this day.
  

In 1536 Kolbuszowa was being mentioned together with Verynia, as a single blooming, successful village. In 1581 it had over 600 inhabitants.

In a nutshell

The city was located at a great crossroads leading across the country's borders: on one side was the "Cracow Road' which passed Tarnow and Krseszow in the direction of Ruthenia, and on the other side--the "Madyar Road" which stretched from Sandomierz through Rzeszow and Dukla to Hungary.

Before ww1, Kolbuszowa was situated in Galicia and was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after the war becoming part of Poland. A thriving and vibrant Jewish Community had their homes in a great number of small villages (known as shtetls) and towns in the south eastern section of Poland.

• With travel limited to the horse and cart, marriages were often local affairs with families originating from the same or nearby towns or villages.
• Master-craftsmen produced 'violins, the famous "'Kolbuszowa violins'" that became a household word in the whole region and beyond due to the superlative and artistic carpentry.
• Before the war Kolbuszowa had been a prime example of Jewish shtetl life in Poland, however by 1945 almost all traces of these communities had disappeared, the inhabitants brutally murdered by the Nazis and their Polish sympathisers.

The horror builds

In 1941 the Germans established a ghetto and interned 2500 people in Kolbuszowa. Very few Jews fled in advance of their arrival, being warned against flight by the refugees who after traversing hundreds of miles on foot were caught by the enemy. Jews were forbidden to pray on the High Holy Days; whatever men were discovered participating in a service (in a private home) were dragged off to hard labor still wrapped in the tallis.

The work was extremely hard, moving by hand 240 pound boxes of food from the bet midrash to the synagogue. Those who were very sick and weak were butted by the Germans with their guns and forced bleeding and near collapse, to carry the heavy boxes with their failing bodies. The German army and police required 150-200 Jewish workers daily. This precipitated in the creation of the "'Judenrat'" (Jewish Council), a bleak chapter in the period of the Nazi conquest.

• Hunger became widespread. Formerly wealthy people now begged for a morsel of food, and many gathered up potato peelings for cooking as a soup. At this time the Judenrat opened a public kitchen where for a small payment many obtained their main or only meal of the day, bean soup or potatoes. Children received also a slice of black bread and what passed for milk in those days.

On March 12, 1942 the district experienced the first expulsion of Jews. This was inflicted on the town of Mielec whose population numbered 8,000. They remained in their own homes and conducted their business to the envy of the other towns. With only a day’s notice to leave the city they were gathered as commanded at the railroad station, loaded down with heavy bundles, where without warning some 1,800 of the children and the aged were shot down. The others were taken to the neighborhood of Lublin.

The transports originating in Rzeszow were sent to Belzec the location of an extermination camp. They were brought in crowded freight cars like cattle, all standing pressed together. In the stifling heat, deprived of air and water, many, especially children, died on the way. Escapees were immediately shot by the Germans.

The Holocaust cut short the lives of thousands of men, women and children who called this small section of Poland home. None of these unfortunate people could have conceived that this was an official government program minutely calculated in every detail, a satanic, German death machine.

The Rabbis of Kolbuszowa

1. Rabbi Yeshayah Rubin
2. Rabbi Yitzhak Apta Dynasty
3. Rabbi Josef Of Kolbuszowa Apta Dynasty
4. Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel Admore of Apta - Rabbi of Apt (Opatow)
5. Rabbi Yakkele - son of Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz
6. Rabbi Yehiel Rubin - grandson of Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz
7. Reb Yaakov Horowitz- son of Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz
8. Reb Hilisz Rubin
9. Reb Avram-Aaron Teitelbaum
10. Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Teitelbaum - (author of Yetev Lev)
11. Reb Wolf Kreizman of Rzeszow (acted as rabbi)
12. Rabbu Yossef - served from 1782-1785
13. Hiel-Shyje's - son of Yehoshua Weinman
14. Reb Lazer - Rabbi of Glogow

Families from Kolbuszowa

1. Anderman - Leon Dr
2. Anfang - Yossef -Hayyim
3. Auschhisiger - Shalom
4. Auchhisiger - Kiva
5. Beck - Leib
6. Berle - Moshe - Yossef
7. Bilfeld - Mendl
8. Blitzer - Mateus
9. Binstock - Moshe
10. Birenbaum - Kalman
11. Birenfeld - Aaron
12. Birnbaum - David
13. Bryk - Salomon
14. Dershowitz - Osher
15. Ehaus - Dr
16. Elbaum - Shlomo
17. Feingold - Moshe
18. Feld - Avraham
19. Fenichel - Moshe
20. Feuer - Boaz
21. Feuer - Benjamin
22. Feuer - Israel
23. Feuer - Yudel
24. Geldzeiler - Yossef
25. Gerstel - David
26. Gerstel - Leon
27. Gewirtz - Hersch
28. Ginsberg - Hendl
29. Glants - Levi
30. Goldklang - Chaskiel
31. Groshaus - Chune
32. Haar - Don
33. Hoffert - Israel
34. Insel - Sara
35. Januszewski - Mayor
36. Kanner - David
37. Kinstlich - Hersh
38. Kirschenbaum - Yaakov
39. Kleinhaus - Dr
40. Kleinman - Hirsch
41. Krulik - Zissele
42. Kurtz - Moshe
43. Lampell - Leib
44. Lampbell- Motl
45. Landau - Moshe
46. Landau - Herzl
47. Leidner - David
48. Leistner - Kivche
49. Lishe - Szaja-David
50. Mayer - Leizer
51. Mund - Henryk
52. Neiman - Yohanan
53. Notowitz - Shya
54. Notowitz - Szyja
55. Nussbaum - Moshe
56. Nussbaum - Pinnie
57. Nussbaum - Shlomo
58. Nussbaum - Yosef
59. Nussbaum - Yossel
60. Orgel - Majer
61. Plafker - Naftali
62. Rapaport - Paszek
63. Rapaport - Yancze
64. Rapoport - Hayyim
65. Rapoport - Pinnie
66. Rapoport - Psachya
67. Reich - Pinchas
68. Rosenbaum - Bynim
69. Rosenbaum - Moshe
70. Rosenfeld- Shmuel
71. Rubin - Simcha and Lisha
72. Saleschutz - Itsche
73. Saleschutz - Leibush
74. Sher - Shulem
75. Scherr - David
76. Schmidt - Kiva
77. Shapiro - Moshe
78. Shul - Mendl
79. Silber - Sanel
80. Silber - Hirch - Yaakov
81. Silber - Zelig
82. Silber - Izaak
83. Spielman - Lajser
84. Streiter - Aaron - Szyja
85. Tentzer - David
86. Tiefenbrun - Berish
87. Trompeter - Itchele
88. Tropp-Moshe
89. Ullan - Esther
90. Unger - Hirsch
91. Unger - Mendl
92. Wachtel -
93. Wagshall - Tzipa
94. Wakspress - Melech
95. Waldman - Leibush
96. Weinstein - Reuven
97. Weiss - Shmuel
98. Weiss - Psachja
99. Weissman - Szyja
100. Winter - Reuben