GĄBIN
After 1940, Warsaw ghetto, author(s) unknown, “ גאָמבין ” [Gąbin]. Three
accounts (a), (b), (c) of the situation of Jews from the outbreak of war
till March 1940: burning of synagogues and surrounding Jewish houses
(21 September 1939), arrests, including Poles (11 November 1939), rape and
murder of Reyzl Goldman, aged 14 (31 December 1939), levy.
(a)
[1] Gąbin⁷⁴⁰, Gostynin County, Warsaw voivodship
The town of Gąbin has six thousand residents, 50 per cent of them Jews.
Because of the newly-built Warsaw–Lądek⁷⁴¹ motorway, it found itself on the
march route of the German army, which, after taking Płock, was advancing
on the capital via Sochaczew. As if it were a military fortress, it was attacked
in the first days of September 1939 by German aeroplanes, battered with highexplosive and incendiary bombs and subjected to machine-gun fire when the
planes were flying low. 75 per cent of the houses fell victim to the destructive
bombs, mainly in the Jewish centre (Pierackiego Square, Narutowicza
Street). Several hundred people met their death under the ruins, among them
100 Jews, mostly refugees from neighbouring towns (Płock, Sierpc, Rypin),
who had sought a safe haven from the German invasion. Until mid-September,
Gąbin was the target of direct or indirect air raids. On Sunday, 17 September, in
the afternoon, the Germans entered the town. The first few days went by
quietly for the Jews.
On Thursday, 21 September, the Germans ordered all men aged 16 to 65
to assemble in Piłsudskiego Square at 10 a.m. All exits from the square were
blocked by the military, and machine guns were pointed at the gathered men.
Until 4 p.m. that day, two groups of men, Jews and Poles, stood opposite each
740 Approximately 2,300 Jews lived in Gąbin before the outbreak of the war. The ghetto was established in August 1941, bordering on Kilińskiego, Poprzeczna, Cmentarna, and Suchy Pień Streets. In early 1942, 2,150 people lived in the ghetto. In March 1942, 500 men were sent to the Konin-Czarnków labour camp. Between 12 and 14 April 1942 the ghetto residents were deported to Chełmno/Kulmhof and murdered.
741 Lądek (Konin County).
