1929 Greeting Card

This greeting card from 1929 sends blessings for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur from Mordechai Neumark and his wife in Oświęcim. The family owned a paint store at 1 Kościelna Street. Learn more about the AJC's artifacts and permanent exhibition here.

Rudolf Haberfeld Banking House

This marble plaque is from the Rudolf Haberfeld Banking House established in 1906. Rudolf Haberfeld was a co-owner of the Jacob Haberfeld Liquor Factory and a member of the Town Council and the Kraków Chamber of Commerce. The plaque was made in Oświęcim by Jewish stonemason S. Wulkan.

Salomon Kupperman Documents

This document is a work identification that belonged to Salomon Kupperman, who was employed at the Chemical Plant in Oświęcim as manager of production planning. The Kuppermans lived on 1 Parkowa St. and Salomon worked in the local chemical factory as a clerk. As soon as the war started, Salomon, a member of the Hitahdut left Zionist party, escaped to the Soviet Union with his brother and remained in Siberia and Uzbekisthan for the duration of the war. In 1962, he emigrated to Israel with his wife Regina and daughter Elina. The item is on loan from Elina Shaked. Please click here to learn more about the family.

Chrzanów Bakery Advertisement

This advertisement from the Chrzanów Bakery lists prices of bread for sale on October 15, 1936. Christian and Jewish residents of Oświęcim bought fresh bread at the Chrzanowska Bakery, which was owned by Chaim Gerstner. Chaim and Miriam lived nearby at 2 Spadzista Street with their children Rachel, Mina, and Yaakov.

 In 1941, the Gerstners were deported to the Chrzanów ghetto. Chaim Gerstner was hanged publicly with his father Israel, brother Shimshon, and four other Jews on April 29, 1942 in the ghetto. His oldest daughter, Rachel, was the only family member to survive. She immigrated to Palestine in 1947.

This object is part of the collection of the State Archive in Katowice branch in Oświęcim.

Artifact Spotlight: Challah cover

This challah (traditional bread baked for Shabbat) cover was sold to raise money for Kolel Chibas Yerushalayim (est. 1830), a charity that supported Jews who had emigrated to the Holy Land from Galicia, a former historical and geographical region in southeastern Poland and Ukraine. The cover features the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Many Jewish homes in Oświęcim had special collection boxes to raise money for their brethren in Palestine. This challah cover was found in 1990s in a house on Berka Joselewicza Street in Oświęcim. Gift of Aleksandra and Tomasz Kuncewicz.

Artifact Spotlight: Omega watch

This Omega watch is inside a case branded by Natan Scharf’s watch store and dates from the interwar period. The store at 8 Kościelna Street sold Omega, Roskopf, and Zenith watches, as well as jewelry and glasses. This object is on loan from Piotr Kolasa. Learn more about the AJC's collection here.

Artifact Spotlight: Libanon Nuta

This is the title page of the religious pamphlet “Libanon Nuta” by Rabbi Natan Landau, which is part of the AJC’s collection. It was published in 1901 in Podgórze, near Kraków, and details the subject of ritual purity. Natan Landau, whose family was part of the local rabbinic dynasty, was president of the rabbinic court in Oświęcim. The stamp of Rabbi Leser Landau (1869-1938), his son, appears on the page. Leser held the prestigious post of Deputy Chief Rabbi of Oświęcim for 21 years. The artifact was obtained from the Oświęcim branch of the State Archive in Katowice. Learn more about the Libanon Nuta here.

Artifact Spotlight: Dictionary

This handwritten Polish-Hebrew dictionary belonged to Ester Posner, who most likely was a member of a Zionist youth group during the interwar period. One of the aims of the Zionist movement was to promote the use of Modern Hebrew among Jews. The dictionary was found in a house near the Market Square in Oświęcim and donated by Mirosław Iżyczek. Click here to learn more about Jewish history of Oświęcim during the interwar period.

Artifact Spotlight: Stamps

Rubber stamps of the Jewish Religious Congregation in Oświęcim, 1946-1949.
Gift of Rachel Jakimowski, former President of Oświęim Society in Israel. 

The Communist regime in Poland intended to control all religious organizations; it renamed Jewish communities “Jewish Religious Assemblies” and later “Jewish Religious Congregations.” These original stamps date back to the Communist era, reading: Jewish Religious Congregation of Oświęcim. It was, and is, required for various organizations such as religious institutions and businesses to use these stamps in official letters, correspondence, and internal use. In the immediate post-war years, the Jewish Religious Congregation of Oświęcim was led by Chaim Wolnerman. Services were held in the only surviving house of prayer, the Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue, which is now part of the Auschwitz Jewish Center.

Artifact Spotlight: Menorah

2004 excavation in Oświęcim

In 2004, Polish archaeologists began a dig at the site of the former Great Synagogue in Oświęcim, just a few minutes’ walk from the AJC. More than 400 objects were discovered during the excavation, including this menorah, which became a symbol of the AJC and our work. It is believed that the Jewish community buried these objects before Nazis destroyed the synagogue in November 1939. In addition to the menorah, other objects were found: candlesticks, the Ner Tamid (Hebrew: Eternal Light) lamp, a plaque listing names of individuals who likely were synagogue donors, and other object fragments. Today, a plaque marks the site of the former synagogue and its ruins. As the largest and most important Jewish house of prayer at the turn of the twentieth century in Oświęcim, the 2,000-seat Great Synagogue – and its surviving artifacts – symbolizes the vibrant Jewish life that once existed in the town.

Below are articles that were published in international publications on the event:

• Following an Unlikely Tip, Auschwitz Dig Unearths a Trove of Lost Judaica, The Forward, June 2004
• ‘Auschwitz Treasure': Judaica Found from Destroyed Synagogue in Poland, JTA, July 2004
• Jewish religious treasures unearthed near Auschwitz, Haaretz, June 2004