This is a translation of:
Pinkas HaKehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland
Volume VII (Lublin Region)
pages 382-384
Pinkas HaKehillot is published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

POLANIEC

Yiddish pronunciation: Plontch; Plantz. 

Population statistics: 

General History

Plontch is situated in a valley, on the banks of the river Czarna, close to an ancient fortress. According to tradition the town was originally established near where the Vistula^[i] empties into the sea[ii], but due to excessive flooding, was moved to its current location.

In 1264 King Boleslav the Shy[iii] granted the rights to create a city.

In 1507 King Zygmund I [iv] gave the townspeople permission to hold a weekly market and three annual fairs.

In the first half of the 16^th century,  light industry began, and shops opened: tailors, woodworkers, metalworkers, carpenters, shoemakers, etc. Two flour mills were built. There was also a municipal bath-house and a poorhouse.  Prosperity continued until the middle of the century and abruptly ended with the Swedish War[v] and other wars and the ensuing suffering. The Swedes caused much damage to the city and practically ended its sustenance, also the population decreased.

In 1564, shortly before the invasion, there were 287 houses in Plontch, and by 1663 the number dwindled to 100.

With the third Partition of Poland[vi] in 1795, Plontch was incorporated within the Russian border, and after a few years went under Austrian control. During the years 1807-1813 it was included in the Warsaw Kingdom[vii].  In 1815 it became part of Congress Poland[viii].

The people of Plontch were active in the Polish Rebellion of 1863[ix], and, as a punishment for their role, the Russian rulers cancelled its status as a city in 1869.

Similarly, in the period between the two world wars, when Plontch was part of Independent Poland, it remained a small village.

Plontch was captured by the Germans in September, 1939 and under the occupation the population decreased.

Jewish History

According to local tradition, Jews settled in Plontch as early as the 14^th century, under the reign of King Kazimierz Wielki (The Great).[x]  However, it is only mentioned in historical records beginning in 1647 - in the Privileges document of Wladislav the Fourth[xi].

In 1652, King Jan Kazamierz[xii] approved the rights of the Jews of Plontch. These rights were also ratified by King Jan Sobieski in 1676,  King August III[xiii] in 1738, and Stanislaw August Poniatowski[xiv] in 1765.

According to the privileges granted in 1647, Jews were granted permanent ownership of the houses they had purchased earlier to live in. The Jews also received permission to build a synagogue, under the condition that it could not be taller than the synagogue in Szydlow. They also approved ownership of a tract of land to be used as a Jewish cemetery. Jews also received permission to deal in cattle and liquor and to engage in various trades, but they were only allowed to sell products to Jews (locally or far away). They were also all lowed to slaughter cattle and poultry according to the religious “Shechitah” laws; to dig wells; and to build a bath-house to service the community.

In this document of privileges the Jews also were given certain responsibilities: taxes; and “gifts” - 12 kilograms of candle wax,  to be given to the king’s representative. And for each Jewish resident of Plontch, a gold piece to the town treasury and 15 Groshen to the treasury of the king.

In 1755, during the period of the Council Of The Four Lands[xv], an agreement was signed between the Va’ad of Galil-Kharkov-Kuzmir (Kazimierz) and the community of Plontch regarding the annual tax requirement: 3 gold pieces per person for everyone above the age of one.

The 18^th and 19^th centuries were prosperous years for the Jews of Plontch. Most were small traders and laborers - tailors, carpenters, shoemakers, and some owned orchards. The produce was of good quality and sold well outside the city. There were also bakeries well-known for their products, especially challot for Shabbat.

In 1823 the Russian authorities forbade new Jewish settlement in Plontch because of its proximity to the border; this ruling was nullified by the Czar in 1862.

Toward the end of 19^th century the Jews played a major role in the economic development of the town and most were well off.  At that time the synagogue was renovated. The synagogue was well-known because of its design and architecture. The town had a Beis Medrash, and shtibels belonging to the Trisker Chasidim. Jewish children learned in traditional Jewish ‘cheders’.

In the mid-19^th century the community established a Talmud Torah. In addition, new, private, ‘cheders’ were opened.

Well-known Rabbis lived in the town:

• Rabbi Yechiel Michel, author of Emek Bracha
   

• Rabbi Shmuel Shmelka
   

• Rabbi Avraham Elchanan, author of Birkat Avraham (student of the “Chozeh” of Lublin)
   

• The Admor Rabbi Avraham Chaim Horowitz (1850-1919). He was the son of Rabbi Moshe Horowitz of Rozvadow. He was expelled from the town because of his Austrian citizenship and went to Radomysl.
   

• His grandson Rabbi Moshe Horowitz succeeded him but died at a young age
   

• The last rabbi was Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen Rappoport. Although he had been in the town earlier (since 1910), he originally served as the Av Bet Din.

At the end of World War I, with the re-establishment of the Republic of Poland, Plontch returned to the Republic from having been under Russian rule.  Jews suffered more than others from the general economic depression; and anti-Semitism was on the rise. Anti-Semites campaigned to take over Jewish businesses.

In the late 1930’s the Polish Government also participated in the anti-Semitism, by limiting Shechitah and collecting high taxes from the Jews.

Many of Plontch’s Jews, especially farmers, had no means of support and moved to Lodz, or emigrated overseas, particularly to Canada, Australia, and Argentina.

In the period between the two World Wars, children continued to study in traditional ‘cheders’, but many of them also went to the new Yiddish school of the “Tzisha” [xvi] organization and to public schools.

That period was marked by social and political activism, especially among the Zionists. Many Zionist branches were opened in Plontch - mainly Poalei Zion, Mizrachi, Revisionists; plus youth groups: HaShomer HaTzair, HeChalutz,  and HaShomer HaDati.

In May of 1929 a big fire broke out in the Jewish quarter. Fifty houses were burnt, leaving about 100 families homeless. The Beis Medrash, Talmud Torah and bath-house were burnt. The fire, together with the general economic depression of the late 1930’s, and increased anti-Semitism and economic prohibitions imposed Plontch’s Jews caused massive poverty.

At the beginning of September, 1939, when Poland was conquered by Nazi Germany, there were 864 Jews in the town.  In the first few weeks of the Nazi conquest the Jews were ordered  to wear yellow stars on their clothing.  High taxes were imposed on them, and they were forbidden to walk on the sidewalks.  Many were forced to work outside the town, and many young people were sent to labor camps outside the town.  The Germans took over Jewish storehouses and factories and gave them to Aryans (Germans and Poles).

In October of 1939 the Jews were ordered to establish a Judenrat.  In December of 1940 the Germans ordered the Judenrat to accept 346 refugees from Radom; and in March of 1941, an additional 300 people from the surrounding area.  In April of 1942, a ghetto was established.

On May 13, 1942, Ritter, the Nazi governor of the Apatow district, informed them (based on German decree) that Plontch was to be one of five towns in the area into which all of the Jews of the district would be concentrated. An additional 500 people were brought there. Hunger was pervasive and the people lived in crowded conditions. Typhus broke out in the summer of 1942.

In September of 1942 rumors of the Nazi evacuations of many of the surrounding ghettos reached Plontch.  Many Jews sought hiding places, and some paid money and valuables to farmers to hide their children.  Often the farmers kept the money but turned the children over to the Nazis.

In October of 1942,  2,000 Jews were moved to Sandomierz, to be sent to death camps.

During the Akstiya on Plontch,  the Germans searched for the Jews’ hiding spots and any Jew found was shot on the spot.

On October 29, 1942, the Jews of Plontch and Sandomierz were sent to the Belzec extermination camp.

Only a few survived. Five days after liberation, on Rosh Hashana in 1945, eighty members of the AK broke into 2 houses of survivors and killed 40 people, including two children.

Translated by Orrin Vardi (Fair Lawn, New Jersey), and Michael Gottlieb.
Annotation  by Michael Gottlieb.

This web site is authored and maintained by Michael Gottlieb, whose paternal ancestors lived in Plontch since at least the middle of the 18th century.  The site is dedicated to memory of those ancestors, many of whom were  slaughtered during the Nazi Holocaust. 

                             
Last updated on Monday, November 06, 2006
                   

Click for Gottlieb and Kirschner family tree