Jerusalem – Israeli website Bechadrei Charedim has posted a rare series of photographs, depicting Polish Jews before the outbreak of World War II.The web site claims the photos are a Lag B’Omer celebration by Chardei Jews going to pray at the tomb of the Rama, Reb Moshe Isserlis, in Crakow.
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VIN News has not independently verified the authenticity of these historic photos, nor the event time of the photos, which are of surprisingly good quality and provide an extraordinary snapshot of Polish life some 70 years ago. They clearly capture the feel of Lag B’Omer long ago, showing the crowds that gathered in honor of the day, including various pictures of people davening at various gravesites and collecting tzedaka.
Some readers have told VIN that these photos have also been published in the past in some Jewish newspapers.
Priceless pictures. However, I doubt whether the term “Chardei Jews” was used in pre-WWII Poland.
so real it is like the storybooks comes to life..
i can verify that its the remas shul
Were the women’s faces censored 70+ years ago or is it only a neiah mishegas?
These pictures of what was is both revealing and heartbreaking. Our history prior to the shoah was a rich life…….I would love to see more ….
I was in Cracow on Lag B’omer 10 years ago on the Re’Moh yahrtzeit. The area looks exactly like it did in pre-WW2, which of course isn’t surprising. I’ve seen pictures of pre-WW2 Cracow and the people do look like these pictures, especially the kids with their yiddish-hitlach. Chaval al d’ovdin v’loh mishtakchin. Klal Yisroel lost a beautiful world, hard as it was physically, when Jewish Poland disappeared in flames. Hashem yinochem domom and yehei zichrom boruch.
Wow….It hurts thinking that most of them there where probably murdered a few years later by the nazis…
i noticed some type of branches on some of the matzeivos,, was that a minhag?
and just look at the amount of beggars r’l waiting for handouts
who would believe that there were ladies at the kever at the same time as men?
Today, Achshire dure! if there wouldnt be a mechitza there would be a kol kora against it…
I didn’t see any branches over any of the matzeivos in the Re’Mo shul cemetary. Maybe it was just overgrown neglect back then, maybe it was some sort of minhag. Does anybody know for sure?
I am really disgusted that these valuable historic pictures had to be “censored.” What if that was someone’s grandmother and they had no other pictures of her?
very surprising that 70 years ago that cemetery should be so neglected!!
It’s a miracle that they could keep this photos. My question is how did this pictures survived during the nazi regime and who took them?
nice photos, thanks for posting them. Please post more in the future.Have a good shabbos.
Thank you to VIN for posting these photos. My father’s family was prominent in Poland before the Shoah, but they were all wiped out. There are so few artifacts left from this era that photos like these are precious. My zaidy a”h was one of six children and my father had many first cousins, but they all went to Auschwitz. Only my father, my grandparents and one cousin remained. The photos themselves are stunning and heartbreaking. You can see on the faces of the adults the fear and strain of living under the threat of extermination (which occurred r”l). Nobody is smiling, except for a few children, even though it is Lag B’omer. And for those anti-Semites who talk about “rich Jews”, tell me who in these photos was rich.
picture 15, the guy there looks like lipa, amazing, they had lipa back then too!
it looks like all the women had their heads covered – i have heard rumors that before the war many in Poland followed the shittah of the Rambam that even single girls have to cover their hair when in public – perhaps this is more proof of this
Big Machmirim , blanking out the women’s faces. Don’t these women have a right to be seen and remembered also? They were mothers , sisters and daughters who were most probably murdered along with these men. What’s wrong with some people?
it seems to me these pictures were taken in the middle of winter not on Lag B’omer
So let me understand this. A censor , an ultra chareidi ,sees with his own eyes the women in the photos. Now he censors them out of those photos. In other words , he doesn’t want me and you to see that which he has seen and which he has hypocriticaly allowed himself to see.. What chutzpah !! What gives him that right? Especially these precious people with their womenfolk ! Have we gone totally mad ?
I have seen these pics before. The building to the right of the Rema’s gravein Krakow was no longer there when I visited 4 years ago.
Abe
Hashem Yikom Dumum.
What an amazing history of Judaism. I wish that our Jewish world would retain some of the normalcy as seen in the photos.
Once a vibrant part of Judaism, now is turning into a disturbing religion full of politics, control, and craziness. No one has the right to distort history by blocking out women like that. Little things like this only show how little of value women have in today’s Charedi world. These censored faces of women were mothers and grandmothers most likely murdered by the Nazis. Give them a grain of respect and dignity at least for their memories. We are not Muslims to treat women as objects and tools for baby making and create rules for them in the name of Torah. By censoring their faces, you also insult people who view these photos because you assume that we are some animals with dirty minds.
This photos was first published last week in satmar paper the Yid.
What kind of crazy person blanked out women’s faces? These were 70 year old black and white photos! What is wrong with people? These women are probably almost all dead unfortunately. They were our mothers and grandmothers. We live in a really sick world!!!
Beautiful photos. Thank you.
No thanks though to the fool who blotted out the female faces.
My father A”H & his family the Spanlang’s lived directly across the street from the Rema’s kevier. They lived in the same house for 600 years. My father told me that the cemetery was his “playground.” I wish I knew what year these pictures were taken. My family members could be someone in the crowd. I am trying to guess which of the buildings in the background could be my family’s ancestral home.
is that a blackberry on picture #17 ?
picture #16 is the Redumske Bais Hamedresh in Krakow (kesser torah), wow amazzzing pics..
interesting to note that no picture has arba konfos ( tzittits ) being shown outwardly. Even a Talit Katon is no where to be seen. Yes I know thatat a cemetery it is custom not to have them outside the clothing but with the other pictures not in the cemetyery still no flowing whoite threads
Its a shame how we jews look today – allmost like the goyim.
Look how much חן the jews had before the war.
What is more interesting is that children under Bar Mitzvah age went to a Bais Hachayim