ABOUT THIS PROJECT:

In one very important aspect, we believe that translating newspapers can be more revealing than translating Yizkor Books. Yizkor Books were written by Holocaust Survivors, sometimes many years after the War, relying on memories which, over time, may no longer be as accurate as we would like and which may have been affected by “collective memory”. However, newspapers were written in “REAL TIME”, as events, being written about, were actually happening.

The “Częstochower Cajtung” (“Częstochowa Gazette”), published from 1922 to 1939, was a Yiddish-language, political and social weekly, with a Zionist-Orthodox character.

Owned and printed by Bernard Bocian, it was initially edited by Izrael Płocker and then by Szmul Frank. Its editorial office was located at Aleja NMP 6.

It seems to have been the most enduring periodical of Jewish Częstochowa. This was probably due to its moderate political line.

It had a sound financial position which was drawn from both advertising and subscriptions. It was printed in its own (Bocian’s) printing house.

Its circulation ranged from 900 to 1,400 copies and continued to be published weekly until the last week of August 1939.

In translating the issues of this newspaper, every effort has been made to translate, as accurately as possible, the Yiddish text and to transliterate (and double-check) the names of people and places as they would have been spelt in a historically, accurate manner (surnames may have been changed post-War). This includes the use of Polish diacritics where appropriate.
PLEASE NOTE: A great number of people are mentioned in the issues of this Yiddish newspaper.
If anyone finds their landsleit relatives’ names spelt incorrectly, please email us.

We have decided to begin translating these newspapers with 1939 – the year when the Germans marched into Częstochowa. We believe that, unlike the Yizkor Books, which were published post-WWII,
they will provide us with knowledge about what the Częstochowa Jewish community knew at the time.

We believe that this is the first time
that there has been an attempt to PROFESSIONALLY translate, into English,
as many issues as possible of this Częstochowa Jewish newspaper.

Click on the YEAR to reveal that year’s issues.

• 1939 – 34 issues (4 issues now translated into English)