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NowyTarg_COA

Nowy Targ, Poland

Lat: 49° 29' N,  Long: 20° 02' E

   Translation of Nowy Targ, means "New Market"
Nový Targ (Slovak)

Nowy Targ in Hebrew letters, ðåáé èàøâ
 Neimarkt (in Yiddish, or in Hebrew letters, ðééîàø÷è
Neumarkt am Dohnst (German)

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Location and Maps

Nowy Targ 1917
NT_Map2017
Map of Neumarkt (= Nowy Targ), and other highlighted towns, old Map of Austro-Hungary, 1917
(extracted from a larger map purchased by this webmaster)

Google Map of Nowy Targ, Poland, and vicinity, highlighting its proximity to Krakow, and two towns now in Slovakia 

Background Information

Nowy Targ is a city situated in southern Poland,in the Malopolska province,the county seat of Nowy Targ.  Nowy Targ was once one of the many towns in the area known as "Galicia." It is 85 km south of Krakow, and 433 km south of Warsaw.   The full name of Nowy Targ in Polish, is Królewskie Wolne Miasto Nowy Targ, which translates to "Royal Free City of Nowy Targ."

You can find information on the general history of the town of Nowy Targ from various sources, especially on the internet. Very few mention anything about the Jews who once lived there. But see some of the sources below.

The following section describes some pieces of history of Nowy Targ as it pertains to the Jews who came to live there in the middle of the 19th century and onward.

On JewishGen, in the Town Finder, you can key in Nowy Targ, and you will see a map and a list of nearby towns and how far they are from Nowy Targ.  After World War I, families appeared to have moved from Nowy Targ, either further into Poland; parts of what is now Ukraine; as well as into what is now Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Virtual Shtetl, a Polish language website for the most part, has some portions that are in English.  One of these is on the local history of the Jewish community in Nowy Targ, adapted from various sources. Click on the footnotes there to see the sources.

Virtual Shtetl has on-going updates to its websites, so links to what was found at the time of creating this site may vary. At one point, in reading about important people in Nowy Targ's Jewish community, I noted the following with these excerpts, highlighting the names of the people in bold lettering:
  
"...Dr. Abraham Blumenfeld, who in 1847 came into the possession of an agro-industrial complex specializing in brewery[1.5].. He owned: a flourmill, a sawmill, a house, farm buildings and arables. In 1871 he sold his vast estate for the sum of 21,500 Rhine ducats. To conclude the purchase the town hall had to incur a debt with the Jewish bankers: Aron Mandl, Salomon Goldman and Józef Herz. In 1875 the property was leased to Józef Goldman and in 1894 it was taken over by Józef Herz. "

"...They actively participated in town life and financed many social initiatives, such as the establishment of the fire-brigade. Jakub Goldfinger, who for 15 years held the office of the vice mayor, served as a paragon of a citizen.

"More than 60 congregations fell within the kehilla’s jurisdiction. The office of the rabbi was then held by Jakub Hirsch, and later by the unpopular Hirsch Meislich. The wealthiest members of the local community were part of the congregation’s council, e.g. Jakub Goldfinger and Józef Herz."

"The situation began to deteriorate in the 1930s with a rise in anti-Semitism among Poles ... Nevertheless, Jews still actively participated in town life. The National Defense Fund, which was established by virtue of the decree of April 9, 1936, was supported also by financial contributions made by citizens of Jewish origins. Dr. Zahariasz Goldner was the most generous donor in the town’s history with a contribution to the amount of 100 golden koronas."

"...According to the census conducted in 1945, 15 Jews lived in Nowy Targ in 1945, while in 1946 only 5 Jews remained in the area. It was in this period that an attempt at reviving local religious and cultural life was made. David Grassgrün declared himself president of the Jewish community. Before the outbreak of the war he worked in agriculture and traded horses. He miraculously survived the slaughter of August 30th only to die at the hands of Poles who were part of a partisan group..."

The museum of Beit Hatfusot (The Museum of the Jewish People) , located on the campus of Tel Aviv University, Israel,  has archives that include histories of places where Jews once lived.  This includes a section on Nowy Targ.  Another person mentioned in that section is the intriguing Leopold Trepper:

"...During the war, Leopold  Zakharovitch TREPPER, who was born in Nowy Targ, (February 23, 1904) headed a Russian spy network in Western Europe, called the "Rote Kapelle" ("Red Orchestra"). ..."  Leopold TREPPER's brief memories of Nowy Targ can be seen in the Nowy Targ Yizkor Book.  An article appeared in Israel's Haaretz Newspaper about him.  He died on January 19, 1982, and is buried in Jerusalem, Israel.

For those interested in learning more about Leopold TREPPER, and his activities as a spy, he wrote a book, "The Great Game, Memoirs of the Spy Hitler Couldn't Silence," published by McGraw-Hill, New York, 1977.

Other Sources of Information

Gesher Galicia website: Since Nowy Targ is situated within Galicia, a visit to this site should prove helpful, although as of June 2017, the information for Nowy Targ is limited.

Yad Vashem.  If you put "Nowy Targ" in the search field for Place, you will get over 6,000 records, some of which may be multiples for the same person.

Virtual Shtetl
covers all of Poland and does have some pages and photos of Nowy Targ.  While the website is in Polish, at the top right of the page, next to the search field, you can select "EN" for the English translation.   The gallery of photos of Nowy Targ may be reached directly.
 
Among JewishGen's Yizkor (Memorial) books, is one written by Robin O'Neil, Rabka Police School (Poland).  It has a lot of information about Nowy Targ in the World War II period, including names of people and what happened to them, the removal of tombstones from the cemetery and re-purposed at the Rabka School.

Some have already been indicated above.  More will be added as needed.

Contributors of Material

    Thanks are due to people who contributed information, photographs, documents, etc., to add to this KehilaLinks site.

Sally Mizroch,
Seattle, Washington, USA
For photographs of the town of Nowy Targ and specifically for a focus on the cemetery.
Georges Rosenfeld,
Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Photographs of his Nowy-Targ grandmother, Eleonora (née LERMER) SCHIPPER and a brief history
Bette Stoop Mas
Miami, Fkorida, USA
For information about the FEIT family, and connections to Czarny Dunajec
Yoel Hirsch
Monroe, New York, USA
For information about his ancestor, Rabbi Yakov Yukel HIRSCH, of blessed memory.
Paul S. Valasek
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Professions of people in Czarny Dunajec
Yad Vashem Archives,
Jerusalem, Israel
Discovering other photographs of tombstones.




There have been visits to this page since 1 March 2017

 Compiled by Madeleine Isenberg
9 March 2017
Updated 20 August 2019

Copyright © 2017-2019
Madeleine R. Isenberg
All rights reserved.

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