Welcome to the new and upgraded website of the World Society of Częstochowa Jews and Their Descendants!

Our original website went online in mid-2004 following our First Reunion in April 2004 and during which our World Society was formed. Since then, the website has undergone a minor facelift but, with the advent of more advanced website, multi-platform and multimedia technology, it was really time to take advantage of these advancements and to develop an entirely new website.

Our Facebook group came into being in December 2009. Since then, our Częstochowa landsleit have been posting on that more and more and, as a result, have been using our Yahoo email group less and less – to the point that it is being used very rarely. So, with our new website going online and being linked to our Facebook group, it has been decided to close down the Yahoo email group. For fourteen years, it has served us well, but the time had come to recognise that it has outlived its usefulness.

In putting this new website online, I’d like to draw a few of its new features to your attention:

• The top left-hand corner now features the ability to instantly translate everything from English into either Polish or Hebrew.
• The top right-hand corner now features the ability to search the entire website for specific text (the magnifying-glass symbol). Next to that are two other symbols – the envelope symbol which will allow you to email me directly and the house symbol which will return you to the website’s home page.
• Older News items will no longer be deleted. They will be archived and will remain accessible irrespective of how long ago they were posted.
• Notifications of new material on this website will be automatically posted onto our Facebook group with a link back to the relevant part of the website itself.
• When future Reunions or other events are organised, you will be able to register for these directly through this website.

In putting our new website online, I have also added a new section – YIZKOR (MEMORIAL) BOOKS. You can access it via the HISTORY item on the main menu.

But that’s not all – we have now added ANOTHER new section to our website!

With the help of our friends at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and the resources of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, we have now added a section devoted to the CZĘSTOCHOWA RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS. These people are heroes and they should rightfully be honoured here. You can access this section also via the HISTORY item on the main menu.

Finally, I’d like to thank our website programmer Viv Rotstein for her work in setting up the structure of our new website and for her patience, both now and ongoing, in teaching me how to use it all.

I hope that everyone likes our new web home. As always, I welcome comments and suggestions which can be emailed to me by using the envelope symbol in the top right-hand corner of any page on the website.

Enjoy!

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, an event which he shared with Henry, his thirteen-year-old grandson.

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

During the visit of Pope Benedykt XVI to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 28th May 2006, the President of The World Society of Częstochowa Jews and Their Descendants, Sigmund Rolat, was among those privileged enough to meet him.

Sigmund presented the Pope with a copy of the Album of our Exhibition, “The Jews of Częstochowa”.

The Pope was particularly moved by the inscription Sigmund had written inside the Album – a fragment of Psalm 133: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity”.

This inscription connected directly with the words of the Pope’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II, when he referred to the Jews as his “elder brothers in faith”

Our World Society President, Sigmund Rolat, was made an Honorary Citizen of Częstochowa. By unanimous vote, the Częstochowa City Council bestowed the honour on Sigmund in January 2012.

The motion to honour Sigmund, sponsored by Councillor Jerzy Zając, was in recognition of his achievements. These included the formation of our World Society, his promotion of the city and of its Jewish history around the world, his support of culture for the city’s young people and for his stablishing monuments to victims of the Holocaust in Częstochowa – in particular, the monuments at the Umschlagplatz and at the HASAG-Pelcery slave labour camp.

In moving the motion, Cr.Zając also cited Sigmund’s other activities outside Częstochowa, including his Chairmanship of the North American Council in support of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and for his work in building bridges between Poles and Jews.

Cr.Zając noted that Sigmund’s efforts have been recognised by the Presidents of both Poland and the USA and that he has met with both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedykt XVI.

Sigmund Rolat is only the fifth person to be awarded Honorary Citizenship of the City of Częstochowa. The others are Pope John Paul II (in 1991), President Ryszard Kaczorowski (2003) and Maria and Paweł Chaubon (2008).

In 2014, our World Society President, Sigmund Rolat, was made an Honorary Professor of the Jan Długosz University of Częstochowa.

The induction took place on 7th October 2014 at a ceremony marking the start of the institution’s 44th academic year. The audience witnessing the event included Sigmund’s children, Geoffrey and Samantha, the Częstochowa Mayor and City Councillors, and senior members of the Academy’s professorial staff.

The honour was bestowed on Sigmund in recognition of his contribution to the University’s research programmes and to the awareness of Częstochowa’s Jewish history.

(The video makes mention of the Academy gaining the status of a “University”. This was achieved in 2018.)

Following having been honoured, for the third time, as Częstochowa’s Patron of Culture, our World Society President, Sigmund Rolat,
was interviewed W sieci programme of local television station TV Orion.