Sosnowiec, Poland

Members of the Boys were born in Sosnowiec in Poland.

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

Members of the Boys were held in Nazi labour and concentration camps and used as slave labourers. They had also survived World War II in hiding or as lone children.

^{Sosnowiec, Poland in 1921.}

Sosnowiec is an industrial city in southern Poland, not far from the mining town of Katowice. The first Jews settled in the city in the 19th century.

Background

In 1939, about 30,000 Jews lived in Sosnowiec, 20% of the town’s population. Jews were represented in all social classes and active in civic and commercial life as well as in the professions. There was a lively cultural and religious life in Sosnowiec, as well as a strong Zionist movement. In 1926, Jewish merchants created the Merchant Bank, which supported Zionist organisations.

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The Story of the Boys’ Families: The Grzrmot Family

World War II

Sosnowiec which was close to the Polish-German border was occupied within days of the German invasion in September 1939. The Great Synagogue was burned down a week later.

A ghetto was established in March 1943. Many Jews from the surrounding area were brought into the ghetto which was linked to the ghetto in neighbouring Będzin. As an industrial city Sosnowiec played an important part in the German war effort and the Jews in the ghetto were used as forced labourers.

The vast majority of the Jews held in the ghetto, approximately 35,000 people were deported to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in the summer of 1943.

Although there had been considerable antisemitism before the war and a bomb at been placed in the Jewish owned Hotel Bristol, some local Poles notably offered assistance to Jewish families and among those hidden was Rosa Turek, who came to the UK as part of the first group of the Boys.

As the ghetto was being liquidated the Jewish underground staged an uprising. Most of the 400 Jewish fighters perished.

Present-day

After the war about 700 of the city’s Jews returned but were met with considerable antisemitism. Many survivors from further east settled after the war in the parts of Silesia that had been incorporated into the new Polish state, as there were empty properties that had belonged to the expelled German community.

As Zionist youth movements had played a major role in pre-war Jewish politics and as most survivors were young people, it is not surprising that Sosnowiec became a centre where young survivors gathered before leaving Poland to travel illegally to the British controlled Palestine Mandate.

Visiting Sosnowiec

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Getting there Katowice is the closest airport. There are direct trains.

What to See

Great Synagogue (Dekerta Street) The sysnagogue was blown up by the Nazis in September 1939. Today, a covered marketplace stands in its place, with no physical ruins remaining.
Jewish Cemetery (Gospodarcza St) Established in 1893 during a cholera epidemic, it remains an active burial ground managed by the Jewish Community in Katowice. It contains roughly 350–500 tombstones, including a monument to Holocaust victims.
Jewish School A former Jewish school building is located on Wawel Street.