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

Our original website went online in mid-2004 following our First Reunion of Częstochowa Jews 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, in 2018, it was really time to take advantage of these advancements and to develop this entirely new website.

Our Facebook group came into being in December 2009 and is still going strong.

Since putting our new website online, as at the end of November 2023, our website has been visited over 270,000 times and pages have been viewed more than 1.6 million times!

We are especially proud of the completion of our YIZKOR (MEMORIAL) BOOKS PROJECT – eighteen Yizkor books (4,734 pages!) have been translated into English and have been put online.

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

The “Częstochower Cajtung” (“Częstochowa Gazette”), published from 1922 to 1939, was a Yiddish-language, political and social weekly, with a Zionist-Orthodox character. We have decided to translate, into English, each edition of this newspaper – being with 1939, the year the Nazis marched into Częstochowa. You can access the project by clicking HERE.

Finally, I’d like to thank our website programmer Viv Rotstein for her continuing work in upgrading the various aspects of our website’s software and for fixing the odd glitches which periodically come up..

I hope that everyone continues to find our website information both interesting and useful. Since 2004, when our original website went online, we have accumulated an immense amount of historical information and data about the Jewish history of Częstochowa and the surrounding area.

Our work continues!

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.