Grębów, Poland

Grębów is included in the Kolbuszowa Region Research Group (KRRG). Shtetlach were interwoven together like a tapestry and the Jewish people of neighboring shtetlach linked by marriages, trade and marketing. They shared schools, cemeteries, kosher butchers, bakers and more. Smaller shtetlach registered their birth, marriages and death in a nearby larger shtetl. One should research the neighboring area as well as an individual shtetl. The KRRG web site has resources and information that is relevant to many shtetlach. To search for family links and learn more about neighboring shtetlach, please visit the Kolbuszowa Region Research Group (KRRG).

Administrative District:  Tarnobrzeg

Subdistrict  - Judicial / Tax District:  Rozwadów

Location:

• 22.3 miles NNE of Kolbuszowa   
• 36.2 miles N of  Rzeszów
• Latitude  50°34’  Longitude  21°52’     

Jewish Population before the Holocaust:   172

History/Geography:

• In present day Poland Grębów is in the Podkarpackie Province (Województwo).  County (Powiat):  Tarnobrzeg.  Rural Administrative District (Gmina): Grebów

• From Gerald Sanders' travelogue: "Our Jewish Roots Tour 1990" [Full article under: Travelogues]:

Before the Holocaust Grębów had a Synagogue and Mikvah and used the Rozwadów cemetery approximately four miles distant.

• Sarah Fortgang Halpern writes:

In 1934 Grębów had many streets, crossroads, town squares etc. I clearly remember walking zig-zag through the grid of streets, considerable distances with our housemaid, who took me, so that I wouldn't get lost, to visit family and friends I was too young then to develop an estimate of the population. I think there were about 50 Jewish families in the town, most with many kids. About half the families our kin. There were wooden houses but also many stone houses, some quite large. All houses then had wells for water and a yard of about 1/4 - 1/2 acre behind the house where some families did light farming and animal husbandry, as we did. Most of the Christian families farmed large areas outside the town or had workshops in town while most Jews had stores, some were craftsmen. The streets were not paved then.

The religious activities were centered on the large wooden synagogue where prayers were held every morning and evening by a few, and on Friday evenings and Saturdays and on holidays, when all the Jews in town attended. The women were in curtained-off areas on both sides of the main hall. Jewish holidays were all very actively celebrated with festive meals, family visits, special events at the shul including guest speakers and singers, and everyone dressed up in special clothes. All the Jewish traditions were very enthusiastically practiced even though the Jews were not fanatically religious. Most of the older men were Chassidim and used to visit their rabbi before major holidays or to consult with him over some pressing problem or to try to find a shiduch for an unmarried daughter.

There was no high school in Grębów and my mother attended the high school in nearby Tarnobrzeg.

[Sarah Fortgang Halpern's "Memories from 67 years ago, when I was 10:" under: Memories, Reminiscences and Anecdotes]

Maps:

Holocaust:

• A Righteous Gentile. Submitted by Judi Garfinkel     

Resources: 

• The 1929 Business Directory
• The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.  Type in the name of your town.
• Jewish Records Indexing - Poland and JewishGen “All Poland Database”.This is a multiple database search facility, The “All Poland Database” enables researchers to find indices to vital and  related records from the independent JRI-Poland database as  well as entries from other databases.  The combined databases have more than 6.75 million entries for individuals living in areas now or formerly in Poland.  The database is a work in progress, and new entries are being added regularly.  http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Poland/ 

• Logan J. Kleinwaks Galicia Genealogy Indexer

Vital Records:

Photos & Postcards:

• Photos of Grębów  Submitted by Gerald Sanders. 
• Photos of Grębów  Submitted by Sarah Fortgang Halpern.
• Photos of Grębów  Submitted by Judi Garfinkel.      

Travelogues: 

• Our Jewish Roots Tour 1990.   Written and submitted by Gerald Sanders
• Family Roots in Polish Towns.  By J. Larry Brown     

Books:

Articles:

Grebów Town Plans:

•  Urban and Rural maps of Grębów as it was before the war  (1930's).  Submitted by Sarah Fortgang and drawn from memory by Joshua Garfinkle z"l. Included are lists of residents corresponding to numbers on maps

The People of Grębów:

   1) Faces:

•  Photos of the Birnhack / Fortgang / Goldwasser Families 

   2) Biographies, Family Histories:

   3) Memories, Reminiscences and Anecdotes:

•  Memories of 67 years ago, when I was 10. By Sarah Fortgang Halpern.

Links and Databases: When searching the links below, please remember that many towns in Poland have the same name. Make sure that the information you find refers to the shtetl you are researching.

Search for Grębów. The Jewish Records Indexing - Poland and JewishGen "All Poland Database" is a multiple database search facility, which incorporates all of the following databases: JRI -Poland,  Yizkor Book Necrologies, JewishGen Family Finder )JGFF), JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR), 1891 Galicia Business Directory, 1929 Polish Business Directory, 1890-1891 New York Immigrants from Poland, Austria and Galicia, JG Discussion Group Archives, SIG Mailing List Archives and much much more. Search for any surname and /or town. the "Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation Eastern European Archival Database" to see where some vital records are.