USHMM Finding

Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce (CKŻP). Prezydium i Sekretariat (Sygn. 303/I) Central Committee of the Jews in Poland (CKŻP). The Presidium and Secretariat RG-15.246 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, DC 20024-2126 Tel. (202) 479-9717 e-mail: [email protected] Descriptive summary Title: Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce (CKŻP). Prezydium i Sekretariat (Sygn. 303/I) Central Committee of the Jews in Poland (CKŻP).The Presidium and Secretariat Dates: 1944-1950 Accession number: 2012.279 Creator: Centralny Komitet Żydów Polskich. Prezydium i Sekretariat. Extent: 39,309 digital files Repository: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, DC 20024-2126 Languages: Polish, Yiddish, English, French, Hebrew, Spanish, German, Russian, and Italian. Scope and content of collection Contains reports, name lists, minutes of sessions, domestic and foreign correspondence, e.g. with the American Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC) and World Jewish Congress, personal files of the staff and others, records relating to pogroms of Jewish people in Kielce and other places, religious matters, graveyards, and exhumations, newspaper clippings, and documentation of various commissions of the Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce (CKŻP): the Centralna Komisja Międzypartyjna, Centralna Komisja Mieszana, Komisja Mieszkaniowa, Centralna Frakcja Polskiej Partii Robotniczej (PPR), Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza (PZPR), Związek Walki Młodych, Związek Zawodowy Pracowników Instytucji Społecznych, as well as other documents and photographs of the CKŻP staff. Administrative Information Restrictions on access: No restrictions on access. Restrictions on reproduction and use: Publication or copying of more than several documents for a third party requires the permission of the Żydowski Instytut Historyczny imienia Emanuela Ringelbluma. Preferred citation: Preferred citation for USHMM archival collections; consult the USHMM website for guidance. Acquisition information: From the Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. Emanuela Ringelbluma (ŻIH), Sygn. 303/I. Records created by the Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce (CKŻP), and 1950 transferred to the ŻIH Archives. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received t Existence and location of originals: Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. Emanuela Ringelbluma Processing history: Processed by Aleksandra Borecka, 2012 Historical note The Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce, CKŻP (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) was the most prominent official Jewish institution in Poland following the Holocaust. CKŻP attended to the needs of Jews from fall 1944 until 1950. It sponsored a variety of Indexing terms Centralny Komitet Żydów Polskich. Prezydium i Sekretariat. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. World Jewish Congress. Jews--Poland--History--20th century. Pogroms--Poland--Kielce--History--20th century. Antisemitism--Poland--History--20th century. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland. Reports. Minutes. Correspondence. Photographs. Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.) INVENTORY AND GUIDE FOLLOWS Archive of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute Tadeusz Epsztein Inventory of the Archive of the Presiding Office and Secretariat of the Central Committee of Jews in Poland 1945-1950 Call No 303\I Warsaw 2011 Content 1. Preface .........................................................................3 2. Abbreviations..........................................................8 3. Review of the content of the inventory ................................9 4. Inventory...................................................................9 5. Annexes – personal indexes to the archival units................40 6. Personal index (comprehensive).............................................72 7. Geographical index................................................104 Preface There were different organization units that used to perform managerial and administrative tasks under the names of the Presiding Office and Secretariat. The most important was the Presiding Office as a collective body grouping members of the main board of the Committee and controlling its activity in general. Considering that no documents from the initial months of the Temporary Committee of Jews in Poland (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) survived, we do not exactly know when the first Presiding Office was brought into being. We cannot exclude that no sooner that in early 1945, during the plenary assembly of (Central Committee of Jews in Poland), i.e. on February 2, 1945 in Lublin. Then, the following persons were elected among the (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) members: Dr. Emil Sommerstein (Chairman), dr Abraham Berman (vice- Chairman), Marek Bitter (vice-Chairman), Dr. Szlomo Herszenhorn (vice-Chairman), Paweł Zelicki (Sekretary General), Mordka Zonsztajn (Treasurer), Icchak Cukierman1. Its composition was subject to numerous changes, however some of the persons were the members until 1950. In the 2nd half of 1946 there were following members of the Presiding Office: dr Emil Sommerstein, dr Abraham Berman, Marek Bitter, Salo Fiszgrund, eng. Abram Rozenmann, Professor Józef Sack, Hersz Smolar, and Julian Łazebnik assumed the post of the Sekretary General2. The members of the Presiding Office used to be elected among the (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) staff. At the beginning of February 1945, there were 15 people who represented diverse organizations and Polishitical parties: Polish Labor Party, Poalej Syjon merged with the CS Democratic Zionists Ichud, Poalej Syjon (the leftist wing), Bund, Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB), Hechaluc Pioner, Haszomer Hacair and the Union of Jewish Partisans. The members of the Presiding Office used to meet at least once a month for session, in which the essential resolutions conc. the activity of the Committee, were made. One can say that that body assumed the role of quasi parliament of (Central Committee of Jews in Poland), as all decisions were taken in a democratic procedure in the result of voting of all members of the Presiding Office, whereas the Secretariat functioned as the Committee executive. Initially it was divided into two units: the Secretary General office chaired by the Secretary General of (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) with the help of the (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) Director and the Secretariat itself. The Secretary General used to take direct care of the current entire activity of the Committee. This function was performed in the years of 1945-1950 by different persons. Julian Lazebnik, who was a successor of Paweł Zelicki, (fall 1946) held that office the longest time and was the Secretary till the liquidation of (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) in 1950. He had Secretariat was his disposal, i.e. a broad administration and office unit dealing with current correspondence 1 Presiding Office, units 315, number of pages. 4; already in the report for 1945, new people anumber of pageseared in the Presiding Office: Gustaw Alef and Józef Sack (members of the Presiding Office), but Cukierman wasn’t there anymore, see WOiK, unit 14, number of pages 2. 2 Zarys działalności Komitetu Żydów w Polsce za okres od 1 stycznia do 30 czerwca 1946 r., Warsaw 1947, p 6. and collection of files (archives). Entire current correspondence of (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) was registered in the journal of correspondence of the Secretariat. Letters sent from the Committee were segned by a Secretary General. During the full growth of (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) in 1946 there were some dozen people working there (14)3. Józef Teszner was the secretary office manager till February 1950, several months later he was replaced by A. Truskier for several months. Polishitical changes in Polishand after 1948 affected also (Central Committee of Jews in Poland), then the Committee tried to remove some of Polishitical activists, e.g. Adolf Berman. An Executive Office, which took over the duties of the Presiding Office was set up in slightly changed composition. A new organigram of (Central Committee of Jews in Poland) set up on the turn of 1949, one unit under the name of Presiding Office remained but its task was different – it was to be an office to serve the Secretary General of (Central Committee of Jews in Poland)4. In practice however, the name of a Secretariat survived, as an office for the Secretary General while the Presiding Office didn’t existed any more as separate unit of the Committee in 1950. The Archive of the Presiding Office and Secretariat and the Principles of the Files Arrangement. Current files collected in the secretary office of the TKŻP, then in CKŻP were the origin of the Presiding Office and Secretariat. Unfortunately the files from initial months of the TKŻP and CKŻP existence didn’t survive in the JHI Archives. We don’t even know if the complete archive existing initially had been incorporated to the rest of files relocated on the occasion of the transfer of the Committee premises from Lublin to Warsaw or left in Lublin. At any rate, the Mayor part of documentation concerning the CKŻP activity comes from spring 1945 when the Committee already worked in Warsaw. The only exception were the minutes from sessions of the Presiding Office which survived in full set since the beginning of 1945 – two months preceding the relocation to Warsaw. Detailed fate of the documets files of TKŻP and CKŻP since the origin of the Committee through its relocation to

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