PRZASNYSZ COUNTY
PRZ,ASNYSZ
Date unknown, Warsaw ghetto, author unknown, account of the Jewish
community of Przasnysz. Fate of Przasnysz Jews from the outbreak of war
to the resettlement of 500 Jewish families in December 1939, destruction
of Jewish property at the beginning of the war, course of the resettlement.
[1] Prashnits¹⁷²² (Przasnysz) is a county seat about 30 km from Prussia’s eastern
border. More than 500 Jewish families lived there. The inhabitants of the
town had been hard-pressed during the world war,¹⁷²³ when the two opposing
armies had waged heavy, bitter battles around the town for 10 months.
The population had fled and the houses had been reduced to rubble. So the
population was more apprehensive about the outbreak of war than in other
places, and each person sought to find a refuge for the members of his household
in good time or, at the very least, to rescue some possessions by sending
them away. Eight days before the war broke out, people had already begun
sending away objects of value and business merchandise. However, the starosta
threatened harsh punishment for any attempt to send anything away from the
town. A wealthy Jew who was caught despatching some merchandise was
imprisoned for 24 hours, and the goods were returned to him only after strenuous
intercession. The population was anxious and frightened.
On Friday 1 September when the war broke out, the post office was evacuated.
The burmistrz and many inhabitants of Chorzele,¹⁷²⁴ a shtetl 2 km from
the border, fled in a state of panic. [2] Polish troops burned the bridge and the
1722 Name of the town used by the Jews.
1723 i.e. WWI.
1724 Chorzele (Przasnysz County). The Jews settled there by the end of the 18th century. In 1931 there were 949 Jews, 31 per cent of the town population. Starting in late 1939, the Jewish residents were gradually resettled to ghettos in the Warsaw District. In December 1941 the remaining ones were resettled to Maków Mazowiecki, and from there, on 18 November 1942, to the ghetto in Mława. See Doc. 129.
