Synagogue De Gabin
The wooden synagogue Gabin was destroyed by Nazi troops as dozens of others in Poland during the Second World War.
Summary |
The wooden synagogues
The Jews have settled in the Republic of Poland and Lithuania (which covers approximately the present territory of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and the Ukraine ) massively from the XV century , fleeing persecution to Western Europe , from Germany and Czechoslovakia. If the bourgeoisie chooses to settle Jewish preferably in large cities , the little people, mostly composed of artisans , of merchants and peddlers settled in the countryside or creating Jewish neighborhoods in the villages already existing or by creating actual Jewish villages, the shtetl.
Then see the Polish countryside to build a very large number of synagogues , several thousands, some in stone, but mostly in wood. Poland is a country of so heavily forested and timber construction for housing as for public buildings , despite the high risks of fire are the majority.
The wealth of the community is reflected in the size of the synagogue's interior and the sumptuousness of its liturgical objects.
From the seventeenth to the twentieth century , the numerous pogroms that destroys a large part of Jewish Communities in Poland, beginning most often by the burning of the synagogue. In 1648 - 49 during the massacres by the Cossacks of Khmelniyski during the incursions of Swedes , the Turks , the Russians , during the uprisings of 1831 and 1863 , and even during the pogroms during the First World War , thousands of synagogues are destroyed. So between the two World Wars, there is more that just over a hundred wooden synagogues in Poland.
The synagogue Gabin
Gabin (Gabin in Polish ; Gombin in German ) is a town in Poland, Mazowieckie voivodship , county of Plock , located 123 km northwest of Warsaw. It is situated on the banks of the river Nida. Currently it has 4,230 inhabitants.
Gabin's Jewish community dates from the second half of the sixteenth century. At the census of 1861 , Gabin 2624 inhabitants including 1909 Jews. In 1877 , about 5,834 people, roughly half are Jewish.
The wooden synagogue was built in 1710 and restored from 1893 to 1911. Before the Second World War , it is regarded by the Polish State as a historic monument , part of the heritage cultural and national under the special supervision of the Department of Museums.
Many visitors to Poland but also abroad regularly come to admire its architecture and the magnificent bas-reliefs carved on the eastern wall.
The structure of the synagogue is distinguished from other wooden synagogues by two towers style baroque and dome in onion bulb recalling some churches Christian. It measures approximately 18 meters wide by 16 meters deep with an estimated height of 17 meters.
The interior of the synagogue is baroque. The Ark, with three levels is decorated with floral motifs carved according to the legend with only a knife, according to traditional regional methods. The bimah (the altar ) is covered by a valance sewn from colorful flags from the Army French Napoleonic. The ascent to the bimah is made by six short marches. On the bimah is the chair for the prophet Elijah.
An old seven-branched candlestick in copper gilt surmounted by the Polish eagle , dating from before the first partition of Poland in 1772 , illuminates the interior of the synagogue.
The synagogue has more than fifty scrolls of the Torah , all luxuriously wrapped.
In the anteroom to the right of entry, are stored strings that were used long ago to punish offenders of the religion. Among other things, the chains formed by two circles, which closes around the neck of the offender.
In 1833 , a small school yeshiva was built next to the synagogue. It has five Torah scrolls.
Destruction
In 1939 , the Jewish population of Gabin is 3 100 people.
A few days after the start of the invasion of Poland by the troops Nazis , Germans, along with the fascist premises, set fire to the synagogue and the yeshiva on 21 September 1939 , the holy day of Yom Kippur , after have them sprayed with gasoline.
A treasure artistic, religious and cultural survived over 230 years, starts on fire within minutes.
The entire Jewish population of Gabin is then collected on the site of the "New Market". When the houses near the synagogue are also beginning to catch fire, the Germans forced the Jews to enter to save the property therein, while the Nazis take hilarious photos. Many people will perish in the flames.
From October 1939 , wearing the yellow star for Jews Gablin is required.
Beginning in 1940 , Jews were expelled from their homes and gathered in the ghetto Gabin. The number of Jews in the ghetto is 2 100, including about 250 from the surrounding villages. From early 1941 until the liquidation of the ghetto, the Germans deported Jews to labor camps of Konin , in Eindziov of Hohenzaltz and to the extermination camp of Chelmno.
After the war, the entire Jewish population of Gabin, there are only 230 people. Of these, 18 have survived the camp Konin, 212 refugees were at the time of entry of German troops in that part of Poland occupied by the Soviet Union and 32 are hidden in the "party Aryan "Gabin. The majority of survivors after the war decided to join the State of Israel, newly created.
Features
Moshe Verbina conducted under the direction of architects and researchers Polish Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka, models of the main Polish wooden synagogues destroyed by the Nazis.
These models are exposed to ORT Givat Ram College in Jerusalem, Israel.
References
- (In) Zchor In memory of the Jews Gabin
- (In) Jewishgen Jewish community Gabin
- (In) weber.ucsd.edu The destruction of the synagogue Gabin
- (In) Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka, Wooden Synagogues, Warsaw, Arkady, 1959
Gallery
 overview of the synagogue |
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