A Guide to Jewish Kielce: Tracing the Shadows

Paperback, 146 pages, NOT ex-library. Clean and bright pages, unmarked text, firm binding. Free of stamps and inscriptions. Moderate wear to tips of corners. Gentle external shelfwear, a light indentation to rear cover (upper corner at spine). Upper spine edge shows horizontal creases. -- The book provides an insightful historical account of the Jewish community in Kielce, Poland, prior to and during the Holocaust. It offers a detailed guide to the landmarks, memorials, and remaining traces of Jewish life in the city. With an emphasis on the significance of these sites, it takes readers on a journey through the rich cultural and social history of Jewish Kielce, while also addressing the tragic events of the Kielce pogrom. The book is meticulously researched, highlighting the once-thriving Jewish population, the devastation of World War II, and the erasure of Jewish heritage, followed by efforts at commemoration. It includes detailed descriptions of former synagogues, cemeteries, and important historical locations tied to Jewish life, as well as testimonies of survivors and historical documents. This work serves not only as a historical guide but also as a reflection on the enduring legacy of the Jewish community in Kielce, offering readers a way to connect with this largely lost heritage through a physical and emotional journey across the city. -- Contents: Prologue; The First Forty Years; A Turbulent Start to the Century; Between the Two Wars; The Holocaust; The Pogrom; Epilogue; Traces of Kielce's Jews -- "Explores traces of the Jewish past in Kielce, Poland, once a colorful, productive, and vibrant community that was eclipsed first by the Holocaust, 1939-1945, and then by the pogrom of 1946." -- "Where does one start today to explore traces of the Jewish past in Kielce, discernible in the contemporary city only to the experienced eye of someone with at least some knowledge of Jewish culture and custom? Of the 54000 residents of pre-war Kielce, 18000 were Jews. In other words, one-third of the town's population was Jewish. Here and there in the town centre, on the right-hand side of a door frame, under several layers of paint, you can still see the slanting protuberance of a mezuzah. Here and there, in one of the old tenements on Zagnariska or Jasna Street, or in a courtyard on Wolnosci Square, you can see the built-in bay in which Jewish families used to make their booths and sit down to eat at the Feast of Tabernacles. Nowadays few people even know what a mezuzah or a tabernacle is, but these are traces of people who are part of the history of this town. These are no more than traces. The world of Kielce's Jews is gone. But the memory must not be lost.".…