Note: The information for this blog was gathered from my notes during the tour in Krynki with Cecylia Bach-Szczawińska and through information on her Facebook page. Text and photos by Alex Brouhard except where noted.
We recently visited the cities of Łódź and Warsaw, both of which had significant Jewish populations before the war. Hundreds of thousands of Jews from each of these cities were killed in gas chambers at Auschwitz, Chełmno, and Treblinka. The history of Łódź and Warsaw is known by many, and both cities have resources that continue to tell the stories of the Jews who lived, worked, contributed to the community, and were murdered in the Holocaust.
For example, when we were in Warsaw we visited the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. It provides a great history of Jewish life in Poland all the way back to the Middle Ages, and highlights the rich history of Jewish life in Poland. It also shows the change in attitudes about Jews throughout Polish history leading up to the various pogroms that took place in Polish cities and across Europe at the turn of the 20th century.
The Act of the Warsaw Confederation passed by the nobility at the Sejm in 1573 ruled "that the peace be kept between people of different faith and liturgy". This Act was the most tolerant of its kind in Europe at he time. (Source: The POLIN Museum)
We also visited the Łódź Jewish Cemetery. Although it’s in need of significant cleanup efforts, it’s still funded with a small museum and is visited by many each year.
The Łódź Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish Cemeteries in the world with around 200,000 marked graves, as well as mass graves of victims of the Łódź Ghetto and the Holocaust.
Most recently we visited Krynki, a small town in the east on the border with Belarus. I had never heard of Krynki before our visit, and it’s so small that a passerby might miss it if they weren't paying attention. If you googled the town, you might find that it has the largest roundabout in Poland and the second largest in the world (only behind Paris), with 12 streets departing from it. You might also discover that Krynki has a natural, flowing spring that provides some of the best water in Europe, reputed to have healing properties.
Jews began living in Krynki in the 17th century when they were invited in order to boost trade and manufacturing. From there, the Jewish population continued to grow. By the late 19th century, almost 8,000 Jews lived in Krynki, many of whom worked in the tanneries that supplied much of Europe with tanned leather.
The town had three synagogues and a yeshiva. However, due to economic issues and antisemitism, Jews began emigrating from Krynki to Palestine and the United States. At the beginning of WWII, the Soviets occupied the town. Jewish residents initially welcomed the Red Army, at least it wasn’t the Nazis. But as the Soviets imposed their rule, factories were nationalized, and private businesses were liquidated. The wealthy, the social elite, and the business owners, both Jews and non-Jews, were arrested and deported to Siberia.
The Great Synagogue in Krynki, built in 1754. Photo from: https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/krynki/kry122.html
Life in Krynki was difficult, but the saying among Jews during the war was, “German conquest means certain death, whereas Soviet rule is life imprisonment.”
It worsened for the Jews when the German army captured Krynki in June 1941. In December, they created a Jewish ghetto that occupied more than half the city. At its peak, more than 5,000 people were imprisoned in the ghetto. They faced food shortages, severe overcrowding, and harassment. Walls were torn down inside the Great Synagogue and it was turned into a German tank repair shop.
The liquidation of the ghetto began in November 1942. The ghetto inmates, men, women, and children, were deported to the Nazi transit camp in Kiełbasin and then sent to the Treblinka extermination camp.
By 1943, no Jews were left in Krynki. Today, there are still no Jews living in Krynki. All that remains are the ruins of the Great Synagogue, the abandoned Slonim Synagogue, the Kavkaz Synagogue, which now houses the Cultural Center, and a neglected Jewish cemetery. Remnants of mezuzah nail holes on door frames are also still visible.
All that remains of the Great Synagogue.
The Jentes Beth Midras Synagogue, built in the second have of the 19th century.
Navigating through the Jewish Cemetery.
A fading headstone. During the Second World War, a large number of gravestones were used for the construction of dairy building.
Unlike Łódź or Warsaw, the memory of the Jews who once lived in Krynki is preserved not by museums, books, or movies, but by a woman named Cecylia Bach-Szczawińska. Cecylia, a longtime resident and historian of Krynki, was our tour guide during our visit. She doesn’t give many tours, as Krynki doesn’t get many visitors.
Today, Krynki is home to around 2,500 people. Here's a quote from Cecylia about what Krynki was like before the war:
"The city is deserted; there are no young people here. It is the people who determine the development of the town. Until World War II, Krynki was a significant economic center, influenced by the tanning industry. There were libraries, amateur theaters (Jewish and at the primary school), sports associations and clubs, and several schools, including one teaching crafts. There were six restaurants and bars around the market square, and dozens of shops and craft workshops in the city. Before the war, on market day, dozens of carts would arrive at the square; it was noisy and colorful. Today, the Thursday markets, for which Krynki has been famous since the 16th century, consist of only a few stalls."
You can read the full interview with Cecylia here. Cecylia has a Facebook fan page with over 2,600 followers, which she updates regularly. It’s full of history and valuable information. She’s done a fantastic job documenting and preserving the history of this eastern Polish town. My concern is that Cecylia, who is in her mid-60s, may be the last and only historian concerned with the history of Krynki. I also worry that there are many other towns scattered around Poland just like Krynki. As time goes on will the history be lost? How many other small towns, with rich Jewish histories are in need of their own Cecylia?
All we can do is continue to learn and share the history of places like Krynki to keep their memory alive.