Interesting Videos

In this film, “As If It Were Yesterday”, created in 2004, Sigmund Rolat tells of his pre-War life in Częstochowa and of his wartime experiences as a child in the Częstochowa ghetto and in the HASAG-Pelcery slave labour camp.

He also describes returning to Częstochowa, many years after the War,  when he located the grave of his brother, Jerzy, a partisan who was executed by the Nazis at the Częstochowa Jewish Cemetery..

The World Society of Częstochowa Jews & Their Descendants gratefully thanks TV Orion in Częstochowa and, in particular, its Director Cezary Szymański, for helping to make this video accessible on our website.

This film, “Generations of the Shoah – the Sigmund A Rolat Story” is a longer version of that which was shown during the celebrations of Sigmund’s barmitzvah, a Jewish lifecycle event which he shared with Henry, his thirteen-year-old grandson.

The World Society of Częstochowa Jews & Their Descendants gratefully thanks Sharon Danzger and her sons Adam, Ben and Daniel, for permission to feature this film on our website.

Violinist Bronisław Huberman was a Częstochowa Jew who became famous as a child-prodigy.

He owned a rare Stradivarius which, during one of his concert tours, was stolen. For many years, the violin’s fate remained unknown – that was until another world-famous violinist, Joshua Bell, discovered it and, since that time, has played the instrument in all his concerts.

During our World Society’s Third Reunion, in October 2009, the Huberman Stradivarius returned home to Częstochowa, when Joshua Bell gave a concert in the Częstochowa Philharmonic Hall, the site of the New Synagogue which was destroyed during World War II.

With the imminient Nazi threat, Huberman rescued many European Jewish musicians who then, together, formed the Palestine Symphony Orchestra which, today, is known as the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.

This is the story of how that instrument returned home to Częstochowa.

The exhibition was originally created for the World Society’s First Reunion, which took place in Częstochowa in April 2004.

Since then, it has travelled the world but, until 2016, it did not have a permanent home.

Finally in 2016, thanks to the Częstochowa Mayor and City Council, it found a permanent home as the Jewish Museum of Częstochowa, located at ul Katedralna 8, in the city’s former Jewish district.

(This building is also home to the Częstochowa branch of the Jewish Social-Cultural Association – the TSKŻ.)

More information about the Jewish Museum can be found HERE.

An excellent, English language presentation of both the city and its Jewish history and heritage.

An excellent documentary telling the story of Częstochowa during World War II.

(In Polish with English subtitles)

Filmmaker Marcin Bocian walks around the site of the former HASAG-Pelcery slave labour camp in Częstochowa.

This camp operated as an munitions factory for the German Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft-Metalwarenfabrik company of  Leipzig.

It was also where many surviving Częstochowa Jews struggled to see the  war’s end and liberation on 16th January 1945.

(English language)

Kamil Langier, of the Stowarzyszenie Historyczne Reduta Częstochowa, uses a video drone to fly over the site of the former HASAG-Pelcery slave labour camp in Częstochowa.

This camp operated as an munitions factory for the German Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft-Metalwarenfabrik company of  Leipzig.

It was also where many surviving Częstochowa Jews struggled to see the  war’s end and liberation on 16th January 1945.

(English language)

Kamil Langier, of the Stowarzyszenie Historyczne Reduta Częstochowa, investigate the prison below the former HASAG-Pelcery slave labour camp in Częstochowa.

This camp operated as an munitions factory for the German Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft-Metalwarenfabrik company of  Leipzig.

It was also where many surviving Częstochowa Jews struggled to see the  war’s end and liberation on 16th January 1945.

(English language)

Part of the “History Hiking” series, the discovery of an underground chamber in HASAG,.

(Polish language)

Part of the “History Hiking” series, the discovery of an underground shooting range in HASAG,.

(Polish language)

Filmmakers Marcin Bocian and Kamil Langier continue their research into the HASAG forced labour camps in Częstochowa.

This time they investigate if the HASAG forced labour camps produced tracks for the railway.

(English language)

Filmmaker Marcin Bocian walks through Częstochowa’s Old Town, visiting the site where the Old Synagogue once stood.

He then visits the hospital which was established by Częstochowa Jews at the beginning of the 1900s.

(English language)

Filmmaker Marcin Bocian walks along ul. Strazacka, the site the murderous “Bloody Monday, which took place on 4th September 1939.

As he walks, he compares the present surroundings with pictures from the time of the massacre.

(English language)

Filmmaker Marcin Bocian drives through the area which once constituted the areas of the “Big Ghetto” and the “Small Ghetto”.

He begins at the Częstochowa Umschlagplatz monument, then along ul. Nadrzeczna, the Stary Rynek, ul. Kozia and ul. Spadek. On ul. Garibaldiego, we see the site of the mikveh and the Philharmonic, which was built on the remains of the New Synagogue.

(English language)

This is a lecture by Wiesław Paszkowski of the Częstochowa Museum’s Centre for the Documentation of the History of Częstochowa.

Recorded on 18th November 2021, it was held to mark the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the “Big Ghetto” in Częstochowa.

The event was organised by the Częstochowa branch of the Social-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland (TSKŻ) and was held in the branch’s rooms above the Częstochowa Jewish Museum.

The video recording of the lecture is courtesy of Częstochowa’s Orion TV..

(Polish language)

Filmmaker Marcin Bocian takes us to ul. Kozia and plac Obrańców Getta (Ghetto Defenders Square) which, before the war, was named plac Warszawsski.

He relates some stories about the place, showing the remains of the buildings and the memorial plaque honouring the Jews who perished there..

(English language)

This documentary tells of the love between Bogdan Jastrzębski and Krystyna Geisler and an act of rescue for which Bogdan and his mother were honoured with the title of “Righteous Among the Nations”

(Polish, with English subtitles)

The Częstochowa Umschlagplatz Monument, created by our dear landsmann Samuel Willenberg z”l, was dedicated during the World Society’s Third Reunion in October 2009.

During the monument dedication ceremony, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Meir Lau, a former inmate of HASAG-Pelcery, gave this address.

The first post-war visit to Częstochowa by Samuel Willenberg z”l.

(In Hebrew with Polish subtitles)

The memoirs of Elżbieta Mundlak Zborowska – granddaughter of Częstochowa Chief Rabbi Nahum Asz z”l.

(Polish with English subtitles)

Seven Jewish Holocaust survivors from Częstochowa recall their experiences.

(English language)

Irit Amiel z”l, Israeli poet, writer and translator, was born in Częstochowa in 1931 as Irena Librowicz, tells her story.

This video was recorded on 26th-27th May 2014, when she visited Częstochowa.

(Polish language)

• “Treblinka’s Last Witness” – Samuel Willenberg – Polish & English/English subtitles
• “Made by Żyd” – Hebrew/English subtitles
• “Made by Żyd” – Hebrew/Hebrew subtitles