Alternate names: Turek [Pol, Rus, Yid], Турек [Rus], טורק [Yid], Tirek, Torek. 52°02' N, 18°30' E, 16 miles SE of Konin, 26 miles NE of Kalisz. 1900 Jewish population: 2,072. This town in central Poland with 29 522 inhabitants in 2004 is the capitol of Turek powiat, Greater Poland Voivodeship (since 1999) and previously in Konin Voivodeship (1975-1998). Also see Golina. Also used old cemetery in Dobra. photos.
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The first documentation of Jews here was in 1798 with a kahal and chevra kaddisha. The synagogue was built in 1857. In 1897, 2,072 Jew lived here and in 1939 over 2,330. In spring 1940 the Nazis created a ghetto with about 5,000 people from the town and its surroundings. In October 1941, they were sent to Chelmno nad Nerem. [July 2009]
CEMETERY: Located on a small hill about 4 km from the city center and about 300 meters west of ul. Chopina, the 0.6-hectare cemetery with no gravestone or traces of graves dates has an obscure date of establishment. The oldest gravestone dates from 1806. About 1850, a beit tahara and other buildings, including a hostel for the poor were built near the cemetery. After WWII, the beit tahara was replaced with a residential building. The cemetery was closed in May 1941 with the fence and gravestones removed. The final destruction was in spring 1943. After the war, the cemetery area became overgrown until 2003 with the only sign of a Jewish cemetery was the cast iron plate placed on by the Museum in Konin: "The Jewish Cemetery. Land legally protected. Respect this resting place of the dead". In 2003, the cemetery was cleaned and given a new front open work fence and gate with a large Star of David. From the gate, a stone path leading into the depths of the cemetery has a lapidarium created by the Turek city administration, Adamow mine, and families in Turek Association of Israel. The official opening and dedication was August 25, 2003. The Museum in Konin and its director, Łucji Pawlickiej-Nowak, for many years recovered stolen gravestones from the surrounding area including the matzevot of Rabbi Pinkas Węgrowa. These gravestones were placed initially at the Museum in Konin and then in the lapidarium located in the area near the death camp at Chelmno nad Nerem. Most of the matzevot had black and green polychrome with letters in gold or silver with borders around the table and . We Remember Jewish Turek. Photos. [July 2009
The mayor, local dignitaries, the rabbi of Lodz, and a delegation of Israeli Turek descendants attended the dedication on 25 Aug. 2003. Source: Moshe Shubinsky. England. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [September 2003]US Commission No. POCE000709
The town is in Konin province, 30 km from Konin. Cemetery location: locality called Zdrojki Lewe, 300 m W. of ul. Chopina. Present population is 25,000-100,000 with no Jews.
- Town: Burmistrz (Mayor), Roman Rybacki, Urzad Miasta, ul. Kaliska 57
- Local: see: Skulsk
- Regional: Muzeum Okregowe (District Museum) Konin, director Lucja Pawlicha-Nowak.
- Interested: Grazyna Piasecka director of Muzeum Rzemiosla Tkackiego (Museum of Textile Craft) Turek.
The earliest known Jewish community was 1798. March 1, 1938 Jewish population was 2,216 out of 9,879. Historical event: January Insurrection of 1863/64. Noteworthy individuals: Henoch Clicenstein, famous sculptor (1870-1942), Rabbi Wegrow d. 1937, families: Horowitz, Gerson, Zahn, Gotab. A 1932 report showed gravestones dating from the 1800s up to 1832. Turek Jews also were buried in Dobra. Tzadakkim buried in cemetery include Rabbi Pinchas Wegrow. Date of last known Orthodox (Sephardic) and Progressive/Reform Jewish burial 1939. Cemetery is in the monuments register. The isolated suburban crown of a hill, separate but near other cemeteries, the choleric [sic? Catholic?] cemetery. The cemetery has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all withno wall or gate. Approximate size of cemetery before World War II was 2 ha. Over 300 stones and fragments were incorporated into roads or structures: office building of the factory in Turek at Kolska Szosa, the building at the outskirts of Grobieniec, and near the Jewish cemetery in Turek. No stones are visible OR Tombstones date from 1846-20th centuries. 2 marble and sandstone flat shaped stones and finely smoothed and inscribed stones have Polish and Hebrew inscriptions. The tombstones have traces of painting on their surfaces. The cemetery originally had a mass grave, transferred [to ?EB)] after the WWII. There is a pre-burial house rebuilt after a fire in 1960. The municipality owns the property used for waste dumping; trees were planted around 1960. Properties adjacent are agricultural and residential. Occasionally, private visitors stop. The cemetery was vandalized in the spring 1943. There is no maintenance. Security, weather erosion, pollution, vandalism and vegetation are slight threats.
Lucja Pawlicka- Nowak, 62-510 viennin ul 11 Listopoda 15/76 tel. 434356 completed survey on 13 October 1992. Documentation: Research in the archives in Konin, in the municipality in Turek, literature, interviews. Other documentation exists but is too general. He visited site many times in 1989, 1990, 1991, and August 1992. Jan Arent, the gravedigger's son ? 1992, who used to live in the building adjacent to the pre-burial house, was interviewed.
- BOOK: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel A Guide to East-Central Europe . New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992. p. 69