Dombrowa Gornicza was a town near Sosnowiec. Jews settled in the area in the 1820's. By 1931, the Jewish population was in excess of 5,000 out of a total population of about 37,000. The Germans occupied the town on September 3, 1939, and formed a Judenrat in November. Refugees from Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Silesia increased the Jewish population to over 6,000. Many of the Jews were sent to labor camps in Germany, and over 2,000 were mobilized for work in local businesses supplying the German army. Deportations to Auschwitz started in May, 1942, and the ghetto was created later that year. When the camp was liquidated, there were about 1,000 Jews remaining, and they were sent to the ghetto in Sosnoweic and from there to Auschwitz.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a postcard sent by Gitla Borenstyn in Dombrowa Gornicza to Gitla Rubin who was in a Frauenlager (womens' camp) at Gellenau, a subcamp of Gross Rosen (see Gellenau). The card is potmarked April 16, 1943, and bears a violet Judenrat cachet, Jud. Kultusgemeinde in Dombrowa, on the front. Of unusual interest is the insertion of the Hebrew words "Yom Tov" in the 12th line of the message on the back of the card. This refers to the upcoming Passover holiday. This slipped by the censors, since only German was permitted. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Postcard" in the left frame to return.
Spector, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), P. 321-22
Copyright © 2006 Edward Victor