Skępe, Poland

Other Names:  Skepe, Skempe (Russian, German) Schemmensee (German, 1942-45)

Location:  52º52 N 19º21' E             131 km WNW of Warszawa                 26 miles NNW of Płock            Nearby cities:  Lipno, Sierpc
                                                    
                              


Jewish Life in Skȩpe




Nathan's tefillin

From the Berg Family collection


                                        Jewish Families
Rabbi's Response to German Invasion
The Jewish Cemetery

                                                                                                



Shochet
Rabbi
The Shochet of Skȩpe, Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Podgygal.
He served in that position for 50 years.  He was born in Sierpc and immigrated to Israel in 1926.  He died in Jerusalem in 1954.

Photo and biography courtesy of Israel Berliner

A Rabbi from Skȩpe
Photo courtesy of Freund Family Album



Jewish Families of Skȩpe, 1939

As remembered by Rywka Pozmanter

Name
Families
Survivors



ADLER
3

BRUSZCZYNSK
2

BURDKE
5

BURSZTYN
3
5
COHEN
3
1
CUDKOWICZ 1

FAGOT
1

FOGEL
1

RABBI GERLERNTNER
1

GOLDBERG
1

GOLDMAN
1
Dora
GOMBERG


GOODMAN
2

GRUZA
1

HOCHGELERNTNER
1

KARPA
1

KOHN
1

MINSKY
1

NUSSBAUM
1

PIENTA
3
1
PISAZ
1

PLONSKAR
1

PODRIGAL
2
Naomi
POZMANTER
2
Rywka, Fela, Sarah
RIWANOWICZ
1
1
ROSEBART
1

ROSENWAX
1

RUBINSTEIN
1

RUDA
1

SPERLING
1

STRIKOWSKY
2
Fela, Avraham
SZELKE
1

WINCZARSKI
1

WINKELMAN
1

YURIK
1





List of Skȩpe's Inhabitants in 1939 who Paid the Contribution for the Community



Surname and Name

Occupation
Amount
(zloty)



Adler Anszel
Baker
180
Adler Chaim
Merchant
40
Adler Josek
Merchant
600
Brodacz Josef

75
Bruszczyński David
Butcher
10
Bursztyn Abram
Merchant
130
Bursztyn Izrael
Merchant
225
Burtke Hana Rywka
75
Burtke Pinkus Butcher
10
Cudkiewicz Abram
Merchant
50
Fagot Icek Merchant
10
Fagot Machał

10
Fogel Lejzor
Merchant
40
Goldberg Binem

15
Goldman Salomon
Hairdresser
10
Goldman Szaja
Butcher
15
Gruza Aron

10
Gutman Szaja
Butcher
50
Hartbrot Dawid
Merchant
90
Jakubowicz Szoel
Merchant
30
Kohn Berek

40
Kohn Josek

10
Kohn Nuchim
Clerk
15
Kurczak Josek Mechel

10
Nusbaum Aron
Merchant
60
Ogrodowicz Chiel
Merchant
20
Pieta Aron
Worker
10
Pieta Lejzor
Merchant
40
Pisarz Jakub Baruch
Merchant
20
Podrygał Chiel Majer
Baker
10
Podrygał Szymcha Hercel

10
Pozmanter Chaim
Merchant
20
Pozmanter Szlama
Merchant
175
Rogensztein Izrael
Merchant
15
Rozenwaks Anszel
Merchant
100
Ruda Gusen
Leather Stitcher
30
Rywanowicz Jakub
Merchant
60
Sarna Aron

10
Strykowski Fiszel
Tailor
10
Strykowski Moszek
Tailor
60
Szapiro Szulik Merchant
60
Szelka Icek
Merchant
10
Szperling Nachman Merchant
10
Winczarski Szmerel
Merchant
10
Winkielman Rywen
Merchant
230
Zeszotko Chaim

10
Żelek Aron Fałek

10
Żychliński Abram

60


Source: APB, UWPT, file no. 4492
Virtual Shtetl


Business photo
          Master and apprentices and other small craftsman before 1939.  This photo now hangs in a meeting room in City Hall.  It was rescued from a local attic by Zyta Wegner.  There are three Jewish businesses listed:  #3   Adler, Gitla-- baker,  
#26   Gutman--butcher  and    #72  Podrygal, Chiel--- baker

Photo by Roberta Fleishman

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Rabbi Gelernter of Skępe:  Religious Response to German Invasion of 1939

Part of a sixty-four page Yiddish document in the Ringelblum archives, a …..
contemporaneous eye witness report….. copied by a single writer, describes the early September 1939 flight of Jews from Skempa (Skepe) Poland from advancing German troops under the guidance of Rabbi Yosef Gelernter (later a member of Warsaw’s Central Refugee Committee).

He told his congregants that their flight pointed to Israel’s mission for the sake of monotheism and morality, even amidst suffering (Citing R. Akiva, Berakhot 61b), in the face of eternal hatred (“Sinat olam le’am olam.” Source?). Thus it was with the Jews of the Crusades and the Inquisition. The response had to be the prayer: Shema Yisrael: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One (“dos tragish Lebn fun unsere Eltern di Kadoshim fun yener Tsayt, ot in azelkhe bitere Shmertsen hobn unzere Eltern oysgehoykht zayre haylike Neshamot mit di letste verter oyf zayner Lipn: Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem ehad”). Gelernter assured his congregants that God would not cast them away or break their covenant and would even return them to their border (Leviticus 26:44; Jeremiah 31:16).

His group reached the General Government border town of Dobrzyn-Wista (sic Dobrzyn nad Wisla) on 8 September, Erev Shabbat, not knowing whether to continue. Invoking the precedent of Joshua’s plea for Sabbath’s onset to wait until he could conclude his battle victoriously (Citing
Pirkei Derabi Eliezer ch. 52 to Joshua 10:12), Gelernter asked them to stop for the Sabbath—
making a miracle possible. They stayed in place and on Selihot (10 September, Sunday AM)
they prayed, saying over and over again with special emphasis:
The soul is Yours [God]. The body is Your work. Have mercy on Your people
(Amalekhah) [i.e., in history], O have mercy on Your people. (‘Lekhah yom….’ Selihot
Lekhal Yom). Throughout this episode, the God of prayer remained the God of metahistory.


…….Reports about the Yamim Noraim, which coincided with or immediately followed upon
the invasions, indicate that the relationship remained intact, and consciously so. The Skempa
Jews praying on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in Dobrzyn-Wista, according to the
contemporary account, pleaded (apparently during Tashlikh) “Out of the depths I cry to Thee, O
Lord! Lord, hear my voice! Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication” (Psalms
130:2), with such fervor that the report said the plea ascended in ecstasy through the gates of
Rahamim up to the throne of glory—even as those standing watch urged them to lower their
voices. On the second day of Rosh Hashanah Gelernter recognized that in fact, all mankind was
passing before God like a flock of sheep to be judged for slaughter—evoking in his mind the
rabbinic interpretation of Leviticus 27:32, where each tenth lamb was sacrificed, and sanctified
(“Vekhal ma’aser bakai vatson, kal asher ya’avor tahat hashevet ha’asiri yehiyeh kadosh
La’adonai”): Lambs gathered at the door of their shed to be close to their mothers, who waiting
desperately at the other side to find out which of their children would be marked red—for
sacrifice. (Bekhorot 58b. See Rambam, Hilkhot Bekhorot 7:11). On Yom Kippur (23
September), back in Skempa, fearing that his congregants would be taken to forced labor like the
Jews of Lipno and their rabbi Shmuel Halevi Brot, he invoked the High Priest’s plea “may your
homes not become your graves” (“Ve’al anshei sharon Hashem Yerahem yehi ratson shelo ya’asu
bateihem kivreihem.” See Ta’anit 22b) and the congregants prayed to God desperately during the
closing services (Neilah) to open up His gates of Rahamim to them (Ringelblum). That is, the
metahistorical stream continued, the mythic language of God’s actions fit together with the
empirical realities of the present.

above segments taken from a research project:
Jewish Religious Practice Through the War:  God, Israel and History
by Gershon Greenberg
4 April 2001
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem



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The Jewish Cemetery of Skępe


The Jewish Cemetery in Skępe, Poland dates back to just before 1850 (Virtual Shtetl).  A cousin from Toronto had visited the cemetery 20 years earlier, but only after he located an older resident who knew where to find it.  Our cousin encouraged us to locate and visit the cemetery.

Thanks to a local town historian, Zyta Wegner and her husband Bernard, we were able to locate and visit what is left of the old Jewish Cemetery.

To get there one leaves the town square on Rynek (the location of many Jewish businesses before 1939) and take Dobryzyńska street traveling southwest out of Skępe.  After crossing a small creek you bear right on Rybacka and pass a couple of homes on the right.  After the last home you enter an area of woods and come across a small, dirt road on the right which enters the woods and quickly descends to another dirt road (Aleja Spacerowa) which hugs the southern shore of Jezioro Małe, which the cemetery overlooks from its hillock location.

One can park your car at the intersection of the dirt access road from Rybacka and Aleja Spacerowa, find the path to the left, and follow it up the hillock.  After a short distance you will find a small foundation - the only remnant of what was once the resting place of Skępe’s Jews.  Except for a few depressions in the soil there are no other indications that this was sacred ground:  no matzevot remain to indicate the location of one’s family members.

However, the foundation to a small building sits atop the hillock in a prominent position looking out over the lake (Jezioro Małe).  At the time of our visit we wondered if it had once been used to prepare a body for burial.  A follow up interview with an older, former resident, Stanisława Nadrowska of Skępe in late May, changed our understanding.  According to her the building was a monument (Ohel) to a prominent Jew of Skępe - probably a rabbi.

Standing by the ohel foundation, shaded by large trees and a picturesque view of Skępe, our guide, Bernard Wegner, pointed to another hillock immediately to the northeast and informed us this was the original Jewish Cemetery from the 1800’s.  After it was filled, the Jewish community purchased additional land to accommodate future burials.

Skępe has a similar history with many other Polish towns.  Even though it is reported the Germans destroyed the cemetery after 1939, it was local townspeople who collected the matzevot for use in their foundations, sidewalks, and steps.  Until a short time ago the path leading from a home on Rybacka down to the lake had steps made from the matzevot of the cemetery.  These cemetery markers recently disappeared and their whereabouts are unknown.


Cemetery Path
Ohel
The path alongside the cemetery in Skępe
The remains of an ohel in the cemetery

Skepe from cemetery
view
                    from ohel
A view of Skępe from the cemetery
More of the cemetery from the ohel


Oldest Part
steps
The oldest part of the Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Photos by Roberta Fleishman
Matzevot had been used as steps between the lake and this home but were recently removed



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Compiled by Roberta Fleishman and Mike Smith
roberta.fleishman@gmail.com
Copyright © 2013 Roberta Ann Fleishman




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