Mordechaj Rajzman (born 27.12.1921) about his parents and their families, live in Czestochowa before war and his way to Palestine after war
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An English resume of an interview in Hebrew that took place in Israel, as a part of the Polish Roots in Israel Project. Interviewee name: Mordechai Rajzman
Częstochowa, prior to the 2nd World War, had a population of around 120,000 inhabitants, out of which 30,000 were Jewish. Most of the Jews lived in area called “Maxi” but some Polish Christians lived there as well. In most cases, Jews lived among themselves.
Mordechai Rajzman’s parents, Jankel Rajzman of Jędrzejów (in the Kyeilce region) and Perla Ickowicz of Częstochowa were partners in a big metal factory by the name “Horowicz” Inc. The factory employed 120 workers; most of the workers were Polish Christians, the minority was Jewish. The factory was the third leading company of metal in Poland. The largest company was owned by a German; the second largest was owned by a Pole and was used as the Polish government’s primary choice. 93 percent of the “Horowicz” factory owners were related. Only one partner, by the name of Yehuda Engel, who was a delegate at the Jewish Congress, was not related to Mordechai Rajzman.
Mordechai Rajzman attended Heder from the age of four, he can not recall if it was affiliated to any specific “Hassidim”. Mordechai Rajzman’s father was a traditional Jew; the home was strictly kosher. He was a reader of the “Hyeint” Yiddish newspaper and he was a Zionist affiliated with Ha'Zionim HaKlalim. His father prayed in the “Shtibel” of the “Radomsko” Hassids. The “Shtibel” was located in an area that belonged to Mordechai’s relatives. At home, Shabbat and Jewish holidays were celebrated according to Jewish law. Mordechai’s aunt, Inga (Horowicz) Weisfisch lived in a big house on the corner of Warszawska and Nowy Rynek Streets (at “the new market”).
At the age of six, Mordechai Rajzman was transferred to a general Jewish public school. The school had about 400 or 500 Jewish students. At school an emphasis was put on Zionism. The name of the school might have been “Gimnazjum Żydowskie” number 378. There was another Jewish school, named “Akser” in Częstochowa, which was privately run. That school was also secular but not Zionist. Several other educational institutions existed in the city, such as Jewish elementary schools and plenty of Heders. In the early 1930s Haim Nachman Bialik (the great Hebrew poet) came to visit the school Mordechai attended. Most of the subjects of study at school were taught in Polish. Only Bible and Jewish history were taught in Hebrew. A club for various youth movements (such as Gordonia, HaShomer HaZair) was located in the school building named “Herzelia”, which later became HaNoar HaLeumi in 1932. When the Polish opposition party demanded that such nationalist clubs be established in the Polish non Jewish school system, all political activities were banned from schools and the “Herzelia” club shut down. Mordechai Rajzman’s younger brother, David Rajzman studied at a Heder. He also had a sister that died before he was born.
Outside school, there were several political movements in Częstochowa, such as HaChalutz, HaZionim HaKlalim, Mapai and the Bund. There were also some Jewish sports clubs, such as “Maccabi”, “Blyskawica” and “Gwiazda”.
While growing up, there was always a Polish Christian maid living with Mordechai’s family. Once they also had a Jewish maid. Mordechai remembers that a City Mayor from Silesia brought his daughter, so she would learn how to be a maid at the Rajzman residence. The mayor ordered that she only be permitted out of the house on Sundays.
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