In the synagogue there was a hand-carved wooden Torah ark, which took up
almost the entire eastern wall, and other antiques, such as hand-hammered
brass tablets, a gold-embroidered ark curtain and ark cover, which, according
to tradition, were a gift to the kehillah from the Persians, a large brass chandelier
dating back to Old Polish times, as well as a number of ritual objects
and antiques. In the anteroom there was the old kuna,⁷⁵³ said to have been
used to punish Jews who committed religious transgressions. At the time, the
antiques were designated for the Jerusalem university. According to a legend
current among the Jews, the synagogue had been blessed by the local rabbis
of old, such as the Midrash Rechovah,⁷⁵⁴ Feivel of Gritsa,⁷⁵⁵ etc., so that fire
might have no power over it. Indeed, despite a number of big fires in the last
decades, the synagogue had remained intact.
On Monday, 4 September 1939, refugees from Płock and the surrounding
area arrived from the other side of the Vistula, and the town was virtually
inundated by the homeless, who were accommodated by the kehillah.
A soup kitchen for the refugees was set up by the local rabbi and the rabbis
of Rypin and Płock.
On Saturday, 9 September, the first bombing took place, claiming several
victims. It’s worth mentioning [2] that throughout the military operations, no
Polish troops were stationed in the town. For Rosh Hashanah, minyanim were
organised in every few houses to prevent people gathering in large groups.
On Friday, 15 September, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the town was
bombed for the second time, for about 6 hours non-stop. An entire Jewish residential quarter in the town centre was destroyed. A large number of Jews
were killed, among them the Rotblit family, who had come from the Land
of Israel to visit their parents. Mrs Sheyne Blume Wolman was burnt alive,
buried up to the waist in the rubble of her collapsing home. When it proved
impossible to free her, she said goodbye to her husband and her only son, who
had to leave the place at her demand in order not to die with her. On Shabbat
Teshuvah, the rabbis enjoined the Jewish population⁷⁵⁶ to dig out the bodies
753 (Polish) shackle; a medieval shackling iron placed around the neck or wrist of the transgressor, by which he was attached and exposed to public opprobrium.
754 Spelling uncertain, person not identified.
755 Shraga Feivel Danziger of Gritsa (Grójec) (d. 1848), founder of the Aleksander (Aleksandrów) Hasidic dynasty.
756 i.e. despite the prohibition of work on the Sabbath.
