RADZANOW: Mazowieckie

Alternate names: Radzanów [Pol], Radzanov, ראדזאנוב [Yid], Radzanuv, Радзанув [Rus]. 52°56' N, 20°06' E, 60 miles NW of Warszawa, 31 miles NNE of Płock (Plotsk), 17 miles SW of Mława. 1900 Jewish population: 532. Gmina Radzanów is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Białobrzegi County, Masovian Voivodeship,in east-central Poland and in 1975-1998 was located in the ciechanowskim province, Siedziba gmina. Jewish settlement in Radzanow dates from the second half of the 18th century, most arriving from nearby Szreńsk, following a privilege of June 5, 1765. In 1775, they had a synagogue and dominated local trade and crafts so much so that in 1819, all persons engaged in trade and crafts were Jewish. In the mid-19th century, Jews built a new synagogue to replace the old, wooden synagogue, but due to financial shortfall, the building was completed only in 1902 or 1904, a Moorish design by S. Kmita. Damaged by fire in 1907, vandalized during WWII, and neglected under the PRL, the building still stands. Around 1900, the Jewish population declined due to the poor economy, WWI, and immigration. Many moved to large cities in Europe of overseas or Palestine. 532 Jews in 1897 became on 303 in 1921. During WWII, the Nazis deported about 200 Jews from the overcrowded and horrendous ghetto in Radzanów Mławie. Auschwitz and Treblinka were their destination at the ghetto's liquidation. [June 2009]

CEMETERY: The 7,500 sq m Jewish cemetery established in 1765 on a small hill above the Wkrą at the end of the current ul. Górna. The building in the cemetery served both as the tahara and home for gravedigger named Ząbkowski. During WWII, in Spring 1940, the cemetery was destroyed, gravestones stolen and the fence dismantled. Earlier, the synagogue accoutrements were burned here. Today no gravestones are visible. In the 1990s, a member of the Municipal Council, Edmund Gutkowski, appealed to Jewish organizations in Warsaw to build a Holocaust memorial, but none has been created. [June 2009]

US Commission No. POCE000374
Radzanow is located in Ciechanow, 20º52 51º34, 28km from Mlawa. The cemetery is located at Mlawska St. Present population is fewer than 1,000 with no Jews.

• Town: Stanislaw Pisarkiewicz, Urzad Gminy, 06-540 Radzanow, tel. 35.
  
• Regional: Krzysztof Kalisciak Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow, 06-400 Ciechanow, tel. fax 49-52.
  
• Interested: Marian Konrad Klubinski, Pelnomocnik Wojewody d.s. Kontaktow z Koscidlami i Wyznaniami, (Province's Plenipotentiary for Contacts with Churches and Denominations), Urzad Wojewodzki, ul. 17 Stylznia 7, 06-400 Ciechanow, Tel. (823) 22-55, 20-51 w 238, Fax. 2665. Mr. Edmund Yutkowski, ul. R. Siemiatkowskiego 19, 06-540 Radzanow, tel. 42.

The earliest known Jewish community was 1710. 1921 Jewish population (census) was 303. The cemetery was established in the 18th century with the last known Orthodox, Sephardic Orthodox, Conservative, and Progressive/Reform Jewish burial in 1942. The isolated suburban hillside by water has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with no wall, fence, or gate. The approximate size of the cemetery before WWII was 2.00 hectares; now it is 0.40 hectares due to housing development. The municipality and private individual(s) own site used for a Jewish cemetery and agriculture. Properties adjacent are agricultural and residential. Private visitors or local residents rarely visit. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II, but not in the last ten years. No maintenance but occasionally authorities clear or clean. No gravestones are visible. One stone was incorporated into the school building. There is a well. The biggest threat to the remaining sections is existing incompatible nearby development.
Wojcieck Henrykowski, ul. Spoldzielcza 20, 06-200 Makow Mazowiecki completed survey on 03/10/1991. Materials from Mr. Yutkowski's collection as well as Radzanow-Synagoga Dokumentaego Historyczno Architektoniczno by E. Bergman were used. He visited in September 1991 and interviewed Radzanow communal office employees in September.