After its incorporation into the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, the small settlement was a royal property later ceded to magnates, remaining a noble estate until the Partitions of Poland. However, it only started to develop more dynamically after it became one of the stops on the railway line connecting Warsaw and Petersburg (1862), first gaining popularity as a summer resort near Warsaw and transforming into an industrial settlement in the 1890s. Wołomin was once again granted town rights in 1919, after Poland regained independence.

The beginnings of Jewish settlement in Wołomin date back to the very end of the 19th century. Jewish industrialists played a significant role in the development of the town by founding new enterprises and creating workplaces. At the turn of the century, Wołomin boasted numerous Jewish-owned factories and production plants, including the “Wołomin” Glassworks founded by Szlomo Kohn, Arthur Landau’s textile factory, Jacob Leib Dajczegwand’s walking sticks factory, and Michał Kon and Szymon Donde’s agricultural tools factory. These examples notwithstanding, most Wołomin Jews were simple blue-collar workers or petty traders and craftsmen. They constituted a diverse social group, not only in terms of wealth. Internal divisions along the lines of morality, religion or politics were also visible in the community. They found their reflection on the political scene, with great popularity enjoyed both by the local Zionists and by the conservative milieu, influenced by the Hasidim from Góra Kalwaria (Ger) and the Agudath party. Before World War II, Wołomin was home to Tzaddik Eliezer Shlomo, associated with the Hasidic dynasty founded by Ezekiel, son of Tzvi Hirsh Taub.

In the first census in reborn Poland, carried out in 1921, over 3,000 inhabitants of Wołomin declared Jewish origin or Jewish faith. The community was largely based in the centre of the town, residing at the streets Warszawska, Wileńska, Przechodnia, and 11 Listopada. At the time, the share of Jews in the total population of Wołomin amounted to 49%. This number was gradually decreasing, though at the end of the 1930s Jewish people still made up about 20% of the 18,000-strong population of the town. In the interwar period, one synagogue and two houses of prayer operated in Wołomin. There were also numerous Jewish associations and organisations, such as the I.L. Peretz Library or the Maccabi sports club. The Jewish community was also represented in the local self-government – in the 1934 elections to the Municipal Council, Jews gained five out of all 24 seats.

The Wehrmacht invaded Wołomin soon after the outbreak of World War II, in mid-September 1939. The Germans immediately started to persecute the local Jewish population. In the autumn of the following year, a ghetto was established in the so-called Sosnówka district, in the vicinity of today’s “Huragan” Stadium (it included the area along the railway tracks from Wilsona Street to Wspólna Street in Kobyłka; it was delimited by the road from Kobyłka to Wołomin and by the streets Wiejska, Glinka, and Cementowa). Its population comprised ca. 2,700 people (a large group of Wołomin Jews had earlier escaped to the territory occupied by the Soviets), including displaced people from nearby smaller towns. Forced labour regime was imposed in the district. Administrative matters were handled by the Judenrat (Jewish Council). Initially, the Wołomin Ghetto was not fully isolated from the town, allowing its inhabitants to retain contacts with their non-Jewish neighbours. With time, however, the Germans cut the local Jews off from the outside world, which led to a drastic deterioration of living conditions in the ghetto. The Jewish quarter was liquidated in October 1942. Most of its prisoners were transported to Radzymin and from there to the extermination camp in Treblinka. Between 400 and 600 people were killed on the spot in Wołomin itself, including many of the elderly and sick. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave near Janusza Korsaka Street which still remains unmarked. In 1943, a forced labour camp operated in the town. Its prisoners were employed in the local glassworks. Only a handful of Jews returned to Wołomin after the war. A branch of the Jewish Committee was formed in the town, with 53 people registered with it. Most of the Survivors probably left Poland in the following years.

The year 2018 saw the foundation of the Social Committee for the Construction of a Memorial Grove (Polish: Społeczny Komitet Budowy Gaju Pamięci). The goal of the organisation was to duly commemorate of the Jewish community of Wołomin. The initiative was approved by the municipal councillors and design works on the grove commenced. It came to occupy a square at the intersection of Korsaka Street and Wilsona Street, near the “Huragan” Stadium (the former site of the ghetto). It has the form of a birch park with three stone benches and a plinth made of light sandstone adorned with a poem by Jerzy Ficowski. The grove was opened in June 2019.

The Description

The Jewish cemetery in Wołomin is located in the eastern part of the town, in today’s Andersa Street (former Ślepa Street). It originally covered an area of 0.55 ha. The exact date of its establishment is unknown, but it was most likely opened at the beginning of the 20th century. The cemetery has been out of use since 1942. It was formally closed by a resolution of the provincial administrative authorities in 1964. It has since remained unattended. Until the 1970s, the cemetery was fenced and individual tombstones stood on its premises. The cemetery grounds were later levelled. Reports from the 1990s mention several cases of children finding human bones while playing in the area. No tombstones have been preserved at the cemetery, neither is the site marked with any monument or information board.

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.