8 December 1939, Piotrków Trybunalski, Council of Elders of the Piotrków
Jewish Community. Report on the activity from September to December
1939: kitchens, orphanage, housing committee, medical care, emigration,
aid to refugees, budget, etc., including statistics.
[1] Council of Elders 8 December 1939
of the Piotrków Jewish Community
To the specially appointed trustee
of the National Socialist Social Welfare
in Piotrków
Concerning Jewish aid activity
Before the war, the town of Piotrków numbered up to 52,000 residents.
Economically, Piotrków is among the poorest and most debt-ridden towns
in Poland. Industry in our town is at the lowest level. The town is completely
backward, economically. Not a single new industrial enterprise has been established in the town in the past 25 years. The number of unemployed in the town is normally 25 per cent of the population (some 4,000 families).
The Jews in Piotrków constitute nearly 25 per cent of the general population.
Economically, the Jews are the poorest section of the population, that
consists mainly of small traders and artisans who have worked and traded
exclusively with the surrounding population. The Jews did not have state jobs.
Among the Jewish population, there has been a large mass of pauperised elements who have been dependent on support from social welfare.
At the present moment, poverty among the Jewish population has greatly
increased due to the consequences of war. (The burning of houses, homeless
people from the surrounding area.) Some groups of the Jewish population,
such as butchers for example (67 families), have completely lost
their work.
Due to the great need, the Council of Elders of the Jewish community in
Piotrków is at present facing much greater need of social welfare.
Prior to the war, the administration of the Jewish community did not
provide any independent social support. The Jewish community confined itself
exclusively to subsidising private philanthropic institutions concerned with
