Andrzej Selerowicz
and his interactive street map
of Jewish homes in Belchatow in the early 1900's
Old Market (Stary Rynek), Belchatow, around 1900
Andrzej Selerowicz, who created the drawing above of the Old Market in Belchatow, was born and raised in Belchatow after the Holocaust. He has a deep interest in the Jewish history of the town. Although he now lives in Vienna, he has made a significant contribution to our understanding of life in Belchatow both before and after the war. This he has done by visiting Belchatow and speaking with people about earlier times there, by obtaining and translating documents from Poland concerning Belchatow, and by visiting in Israel with Mr. Menachem Sharon, the head of the Belchatow Landsmannschaft and former diplomat to Poland from Israel. He has also translated sections of books about Belchatow and articles in the Belchatow Bulletin about its Jewish history. (I am guilty of not yet finishing the transcription of one of these articles from his recorded translation.) In addition, he has translated many records for Belchatow researchers.
Andrzej and Roni (2006)
Seeing that a website
about Jewish Cemeteries in Poland is on-line, Andrzej wanted to have
Belchatow represented on the site, despite the fact that the two cemeteries
no longer exist. He prepared a paper explaining where these cemeteries were
located and included photographs of the
monument made up of cemetery matzevot (headstones), which is located on the grounds of one of the old
cemeteries. See
the section for
Belchatow on the site for Jewish Cemeteries in Poland
(click for English text on the site).
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More recently, Andrzej has continued his research to determine which houses in Belchatow had Jewish families living in them and who they were, as well as to provide a drawing of these homes. Now he has expanded this and created a website on which he identifies Jewish families who lived in the homes on specific streets in Belchatow around 1900. Be sure to click on "Map of Belchatow, about 1900" in the lower left corner to see the interactive map. (When on the interactive map page, click on the buildings or street names for descriptions of some streets, wonderful drawings and photographs, as well as the names of people who lived in the homes there.) |
Andrzej deserves our deepest gratitude for providing us with priceless information about our families and the places they lived.
Roni Seibel Liebowitz (10/10/2007)