/A/ THIS ISSUE... BUSKO ZDRÔJ: WHERE MY FATHER VACATIONED IN THE 1920s bySeligA. Taubenblatl 3 STOPNICA: From Pinkas HaKehilloi translated by Manuel Silver 6 MEMORIAL ANNIVERSARY FOR A JEWISH TOWN IN POLAND, from Der Onheib by Alek Silver translated by Mark Froimowitz 9 THE LAST DAYS OF STOPNICA from Kartki z przeszlosci ruchu ludowego w bylym powiecie stopnickim by Franciszek Faliszewski Special interest Qrouf translated by Halina Brown 11 STOPNICA -1929 BUSINESS DIRECTORY transcribed by Warren Blatt 13 ajournât RADOM ARCHIVES CATALOGS EXCERPTS: • Archiwum Panstwowe w Radomiu (Kisiel) • Akta dotyczace Zydôw w radomskim Archiwum Panstwowym (Penkalla) 5, *3%m6cr 2 translated by Gordon McDaniel 15 2001 FROM THE WIERZBNIK YIZKOR BOOK: Sefer Wierzbnik-Starachowice The Last Impressions of My Home Town by Abe Zukerman translated by Vivian Glass Felsen 26 pi&fisftaf quarter^ EXTRACT DATA IN THIS ISSUE 29 cohering tfie (5u6e™ia§ of • PRZEDBÔRZ MARRIAGES 1855-1886 and Q^a by Dolores Lee Ring 30 • RADOM BIRTHS 1842-1844 by Florence Weingram 63 GLOSSARY, PRONUNCIATION GUIDE 68 as they existed 1867-1917 ...but first a word from your editor 2 Kieke-Radom SIG Journal Volume 5, Number 2 Spring 2001 ... but first a word from our editor In this issue, we have another selection of varied articles relating to Jewish life in the former Kielce and Radom Gubernias. 3peciof interest Qroup The focus of several pieces in this issue is the town of Stopnica ("Stabnitz", in Yiddish), in southeastern Kielce gubernia. There has been no Yizkor Book published for Stopnica, and no ISSN No. 1092-8006 extant vital records before 1875. But we have pulled together several diverse articles, translated from Hebrew, Yiddish, and is published 4 times a yea* by the Polish. The first is a translation of the Stopnica entry from Yad Vashem's Hebrew-language Pinkas HaKehillot, "Encyclopaedia KIELCE-RADOM of Jewish Communities". We again thank Yad Vashem for Special Interest Group (SIG) granting permission to translate and publish these excerpts, which began with the entry for Piriczôw in our last issue. c/o Mark Froiihowitz . 90 Eastbourne Road Other items about Stopnica are Alek Silver's "Memorial Newton Centre, MA 02459-1206 Anniversary for a Jewish Town in Poland", translated from the email: [email protected]. Yiddish magazine Der Onheib by our coordinator Mark Froimowitz; a recollection of the extermination of the Jews of Annual subscription rates (U.S. funds): Stopnica as told by a Polish witness; and a transcription of the U.S.A.: $26.00 1929 Business Directory entries for Stopnica. ' Canada: $30.00 Elsewhere: $38.00 We also continue our translated excerpts from two guides to • Subscriptions and changes of address the holdings of the Polish State Archives branch in Radom. In this should-be sent to the above. issue, we provide translations of the descriptions of two Radom gubernia administration collections - the records of the Application to Mail at Periodicals provincial-level government. These inventories reference specific Postage Rates is Pending at Boston, MA. documents concerning the Jews in towns throughout the region - including some in towns for which there are no vital records. The KIELCE-RADOM SIG is a non-profit, informal world-wide Also in this issue is an excerpt from the Wierzbnik- body of individuals interested in Jewish Starachowice Yizkor Book, published in Tel Aviv in 1973. Abe genealogical research from Kielce and Zuckerman gives us "The Last Impressions of My Home Town", Radom, two gubernias in the Kingdom translated from the Yiddish by Vivian Glass Felsen. And to lead of Poland as defined by the boundaries off the issue, Sy Taubenblatt describes his recent visit to Busko- as they existed from 1867-1917. Zdrôj, 10 miles west of Stopnica. ADVISORY GROUP: The extracts of Jewish vital records from LDS microfilms in this issue include the largest set of marriages we've published to Warren Blatt, Editor date: over 1,000 marriages from Przedbôrz, covering 1855-1886, Mark Froimowitz, Coordinator extracted by Dolores Lee Ring, thus completing our extracts of all the Jewish marriage records of Przedbôrz microfilmed by the VISIT OUR WEB PAGE LDS. We also welcome a new extractor, Florence Weingram, www.jewishgen.org/krsig who presents the births in the city of Radom for 1842-1844. All matters relating to research and There are still no extracts for "new" towns in this issue; both editorial articles should be directed to: are for towns where we have previously published extracts. This is the second consecutive issue in which we have had to do this, Warren Blatt, Editor and this trend is likely to continue, until someone comes forward 8 Bishops Forest Drive to do extracts for other towns. There are still nearly 40 towns in Waltham,MA 02452-8801 the Kielce-Radom region for which we have not published any e-mail: [email protected] extracts. I sincerely hope that records from those towns, as well as other material, will appear in future pages of our Journal... but only you can make that happen. ©2001. all material this issue — Warren Blatt Spring 2001 Kielce-Radom SIG Journal Volume 5, Number 2 Busko Zdrôj: Where My Father Vacationed in the 1920's by Selig A. (Sy) Taubenblatt In October/November 2000, following my retirement, after a long career with the US Government and the private sector, I visited Poland for the first time. The purpose of my visit to Poland was to see where my parents and grandparents lived pre World War II and during the war. I also gathered information about the history of my family to be included in a book that I am writing on the subject. My father, Jacob Herz Taubenblatt (known as Jack) was born in Staszow where he and his family lived for many years. My dad came to the United States in 1932, but most of his immediate family perished in the Holocaust. My mother, Mollie Flaum Taubenblatt, was born in Szczucin, A few days later, ORBIS called and which for many years was part of Galicia, a recommended the Marconi Resort. ORBIS said it province in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. My was the best of its kind in Busko Zdrôj. I asked mother came to the United States in 1916, but that ORBIS fax a flyer on the resort and so they traveled back and forth to Poland a number of did. As I looked at the picture of the Marconi, it times. In addition to these two cities, my seemed very familiar. I immediately went to a ancestors born in the 19th century came from box of photos that my dad had left which were other cities which today is south-central Poland, taken when he was a young man. I found including Nowy Korczyn, Piriczôw, Chmielnik, numerous pictures of my dad in Busko Zdrôj at Stopnica, and Polaniec. These cities at different the Marconi Resort. The photos were dated 1928 times in Polish history were located in the Kielce, and 1929. It was an awesome feeling to know that Sandomierz, Pinczôw and Stopnica districts. I would be traveling to Busko Zdrôj and would be staying at the Marconi, the same resort where my In preparing for my trip to south-central dad stayed in the late 1920s. Poland it was necessary to find a central point—a city and hotel—in the area where I could stay, and In preparing for my trip to Poland, I did from there visit the various cities mentioned some reading about Busko Zdrôj and its history.1 above. I recalled that in my many discussions The city is located very central to Pinczôw, with my dad through the years, he mentioned Chmielnik, Stopnica, and Staszow, which are Busko Zdrôj, a resort city close to Staszow. I accessible by a short automobile drive from Busko consulted a map and found that Busko Zdrôj was Zdrôj. The Marconi borders the Swietokrzyskie very central to the various cities where my Mountains and the Miechowska Upland in the ancestors came from—no more than 15-25 miles Valley of the Nida River. It is located in a resort radius. I called ORBIS, the Polish travel agency park within these boundaries. The history of in New York, and asked that they recommend a Busko Zdrôj dates back to the middle of the 12th hotel where I could stay during my travels through century and its establishment is connected with south-central Poland. I asked ORBIS to find a hotel where some of its guests are likely to speak English and where I could find transportation to 1 See <www.busko-zdroj.com>, and Pamiqtki i visit the various shtetls in that area. Zabytki Kultuty Zydowskiej w Polsce [Monuments of Remembrance and Relics of the Jewish Culture in Poland] by Przemyslaw Burchard (Warszawa: Reprint Publishing House, 1990), page 136. Kielce-Radom SIG Journal Volume 5, Number 2 Spring 2001 Knight Derslaw and his brother Bishop Witus who about 60 miles. The roads were reasonably good, brought a female Norbertine Convent to a not much traffic and most of the countryside was shepherd's settlement in 1180-1185. The convent populated with forestland and farms, mostly was given a land property and was established in private ownership, many farms growing potatoes 1287 as the property of the Catholic Church. In used in the production of vodka. It was a sunny, that year, Prince Leszek Czarny granted Busko mild fall day when I arrived in Busko Zdrôj at the Zdrôj civil rights. Marconi Resort. We drove through the City of Busko Zdrôj and were able to observe both old and new buildings and commercial enterprises. For many centuries Busko Zdrôj was known for the medicinal qualities of its mineral water.