Mikveh in Zamość

It’s been a long time since the Zamość ritual bath has been in use for the last time. Jewish population of the „renaissance ideal town” of Zamość perished during the Holocaust and thus the mikveh was not used ever since. Situated at... Read more

The case of Pelz family

One of our first genealogical commisions was the case of Brian Pelz from Canada who came to Poland as a tourist and didn’t know much about his Polish background. After tree days we reunited him with his Polish family….  In September of... Read more

From Klodno Wielkie to the British Navy

In 2009 we managed to reunite members of a Polish family split by the World War II. We found relatives of Mr S. Paliwoda from England and we visited a village in the Ukraine where his family used to live before the war. Father of Mr Paliwoda lived... Read more

Where is grandma’s house? Adventures in Waldenburg

A random street in Wałbrzych-Podgórze (Dittersbach) Although as Insiders we specialise in genalogy research about Polish families, we deal also with commisions about former German territories which lie in Poland now ( Ost-Preussen, Pommern, Ober-... Read more

Six brothers from Fuks family. A story from Brzeziny

Looking for uncle Aron’s house Brzeziny is a small place in central Poland. In spite of its microscopic size, for many years it had been the greatest tailoring center in the country. Almost all of the local tailors were of Jewish origin and the... Read more

Jewish Brzeziny during the Second World War

The Nazi German Army entered the town on the first days of war, in September 1939. It had been decided that Brzeziny, together with the western part of Poland, would be incorporated to the Third Reich, whereas the areas east of the town were to... Read more

The Lubomirski ball in Nowy Wisnicz

The castle entrance One of the most characteristic landmarks of Małopolska (The Little Poland ) is a beautifully set castle of Nowy Wiśnicz. The castle owes its glamour to the Lubomirski family – mighty magnates that shaped the Polish... Read more

A list of Holocaust survivors from Brzeziny

There is hard to estimate the precise number of Shoah survivors from Brzeziny. The list below shows ONLY the names of people who survived the war and then moved to former German Lower Silesia that became a part of People’s Republic of Poland... Read more

The discreet charm of Krzepice

Częstochowa, a small city in central Poland, has one of  the longest lists of Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland. Thanks to the activities of World Society of Czestochowa Jews, the story of its Judaic population is very well documented. But what... Read more

Country town Kolaczyce

The valley of Kolaczyce I went there to find out more about Maria Sękowska’s relatives. The story behind it is typical of Galicia and goes back to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. A young woman at the time, Maria decided to cross the... Read more

Unknown photos of Jewish life / Myszkow and Zarki

In 1983, my American friend, Harry Birnholz came for a tour to communist Poland. He payed a visit to his father’s family town, Myszkow (yiddish Mishkov ). One of the places he visited was a studio of a local photographer, Mr Bożek, who turned... Read more

AL Golleschau

Cement plant in Goleszów ( Golleschau ) Reportedly, Dr Hans Frank, the Governor-General of the Nazi-occupied Poland, used to say very often that Poland was the largest labour camp in the whole of Europe. This dictum of his was not far from the... Read more

Jewish Bedzin – a tragedy in three acts

Paula admiring restoration works at Mizrachi prayer house

Like many other Polish towns Będzin seems to be gazing nostalgically into the past. What used to be an important commercial centre in one of the largest industrial districts of the tsarist Russia is now an exceedingly run-down and unsightly witness... Read more

Opoczno survival story

opoczno survival story

Everyone who either reads press articles or watches TV broadcasts in Poland will easily notice that one of the most contested topics concerning the country’s  last decades history is the Poles’ attitude towards their Jewish neighbours.... Read more

Looking for Jewish Jedrzejow

Jędrzejów, a town in Kielce region, is usually linked with the Cistercian abbey dating back to the XII century and the Clock Museum boasting one the richest collections in the world. It does not mean though that there was no Jewish population... Read more

Czestochowa off the beaten (pilgrim) track

jewish genealogy Poland, tours Poland, heritage tours, jewish Krakow, jewish cracow, genealogy tours Poland, jewish genealogy Krakow, jewish genealogy Cracow, jewish guide Poland, jewish guide Krakow, jewish guide Cracow, genealogy research Poland, heritage tours Poland, Polish ancestry tours, jewish guide warsaw, jewish guide lodz, jewish guide kielce, jewish guide radom, jewish guide tarnow, jewish guide zaglembie, jewish guide lublin

Photos from my last visit to Częstochowa. On the hot summer days we were tracing the family places of Jewish families of Epstein and Działoszyński that once lived there. Skyline of Częstochowa – dominated by churches and closed industrial... Read more

Old photos of Mszana Dolna, [Yid.] Amshana

jewish genealogy Poland, tours Poland, heritage tours, jewish Krakow, jewish cracow, genealogy tours Poland, jewish genealogy Krakow, jewish genealogy Cracow, jewish guide Poland, jewish guide Krakow, jewish guide Cracow, genealogy research Poland, heritage tours Poland, Polish ancestry tours, jewish guide warsaw, jewish guide lodz, jewish guide kielce, jewish guide radom, jewish guide tarnow, jewish guide zaglembie, jewish guide lublin

Small collection of prewar photos of the town and surroundings. Thanks to the courtesy of Muzeum Okręgowe in Limanowa Inn run by the Szmidt family, located on the way to Kasinka Mała. Burnt down at the beginning of WWII. he Bakery of Zins family,... Read more

Pictures of old Wolbrom

jewish genealogy Poland, tours Poland, heritage tours, jewish Krakow, jewish cracow, genealogy tours Poland, jewish genealogy Krakow, jewish genealogy Cracow, jewish guide Poland, jewish guide Krakow, jewish guide Cracow, genealogy research Poland, heritage tours Poland, Polish ancestry tours, jewish guide warsaw, jewish guide lodz, jewish guide kielce, jewish guide radom, jewish guide tarnow, jewish guide zaglembie, jewish guide lublin

Several photos from my last tour of Wolbrom [Yid. Volbrom]  and Olkusz [Elkish] – two industrial towns located along the important Dąbrowa-Dęblin railway line, before the war known for their  thriving, long-established Jewish communities.... Read more

Jewish cemeteries in Olkusz [yid. Elkish]

jewish cemeteries

Several photos from my last tour of Wolbrom [Yid. Volbrom]  and Olkusz [Elkish] – two industrial towns located along the important Dąbrowa-Dęblin railway line, before the war known for their  thriving, long-established Jewish communities.... Read more