Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

Siedlce
Siedlecz
שעדליץ
Седльце

In 1794, coninciding with Siedlce coming under Austrian rule with the Third Partition of Poland, a Beit Midrash was founded in Siedlce.
In 1798, the Jewish cemetery was extended, because of the increased size of the Siedlce Jewish community.

In 1900, the Bund started activity in Siedlce, as did the Zionist movement, and many of the town's Jews were members of Polish Socialist Party.
In 1906, the antisemitic persecutions of the Black Hundreds flamed a pogrom, which killed 26 Jews.

On October 10, 1939, Siedlce was occupied by German troops.
On November 15, 1939, the Germans began to arrest Jews.
The following day they were marched to Wegrow, where, 50 of those arrested escaped from the market square, including Hercel Kave and his father.
The Jewish prisoners were marched to Ostroleka.

At the end of November, 1939, German soldiers entered the Siedlce synagogue and the Beit Hamidrash, threw out the Torah scrolls, ripped them apart and trampled on them.
The Germans ordered the formation of a Judenrat, composed of:
* Icchak Nachum Weintraub, chairman
* Hersz Eisenberg, deputy-chairman
* Herszl Tenenbaum, secretary, responsible for liaison with the Gestapo
* Dr Henryk Loebel, health division
* M. Czarnobroda, treasurer
* M. Rotbejn, employment division
* J. Landau, lawyer, social assistance
* A. Altenberg, supplies division
* L. Grinberg, legal assistance
* R. Leiter, general matters
The Judenrat managed Jewish property and manpower, and drew up "transport lists" (lists of persons destined for extermination camps).
A Jewish police force kept order, wearing as insignia caps of office, nightsticks, and special armbands with the inscription Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst.
There was a Sanitätsdienst, Sanitation Service, which was mandated to maintain cleanliness in the apartments, courtyards, and streets of the Jewish quarters.
By December 1939, the Judenrat was ordered to make a contribution" of 20,000 zlotys.

On the night of the December 24-25, 1939, the Nazis set fire to the Siedlce synagogue, and Jewish refugees who sought refuge inside died in the fire.

In 1940, from spring to winter, Siedlce Jews were forced to work on land reclamation on the Liwiec River.
The Germans had overall supervision of the labour, and the workers were supervised by the SS.
Around 1,500 Jews left the Siedlce ghetto every day to work at the jobs to which they had been assigned.

In November, 1940, the Judenrat was ordered to make a contribution of 100,000 zlotys.

In December, 1940, the authorities decreed that Jews were required to wear armbands with the Star of David, and the inscription Jude.
They also decreed that Jewish shops in Siedlce must be marked.

On February 21, 1941, the administrator of the Siedlce diocese, Bishop Czeslaw Sokolowski, following the decree of January 23, 1941, preventing the numerous conversions from Judaism to Catholicism, issued a ruling to the Catholic clergy, suspending permission for the baptism of Jews, Muslims, or pagans.

In March, 1941, the Germans organized a 3-day Aktion in Siedlce, during which many Jews were murdered.

On August 2, 1941, the Germans issued the decree for the formation of a closed ghetto in Siedlice. giving Poles living in the area until 8:00PM., August 8, 1941, to leave the ghetto, while Jews from outside the ghetto’s boundaries were ordered to move into it.

In November, 1941, Jews from nearby areas were moved to Siedlce:
* Czuryly
* Domanice
* Krzeslin
* Niwiski
* Skorzec
* Skupie
* Stara Wies
* Wisniew
* Wodynie
* Zbuczyn
* Suchozebry
* Zeliszew
In March 1942, 12,417 Jews lived within the Siedlce ghetto precincts.

During 1941, the German Gypsies, Sinti and Roma, of Cologne and its environs, including Hürth, were transferred to Siedlce.

On March 3, 1942, the Germans arrested 10 Jews, and shot them at Stok Lacki, under the pretext that they had refused to work.

Some people tried to escape on trains carrying wounded Italian soldiers, which stopped at the railway station in Siedlce.
In 1942, Hercel Kave, with Liwerant and Nelkienbojm, successfully escaped to Italy, where they survived the war, and emigrated to Israel.

On August 23, 1942, 11,700 Siedlce Jews were deported to Treblinka, 2,000 others were shot at the Jewish cemetary, and some were deported to forced labour camps.