Maciej Jakubowicz (1911-1979)

Maciej Jakubowicz was born on 20 February 1911, son of Helena (born Schenker) and Maciej (homonym). Before the Second World War he was a reserve Polish Army Lieutenant and then fought in the September Campaign (1939). He was consequently arrested and held at the prison on ul. Montelupich in Kraków, before being transferred to Nowy Wiśnicz.  During the occupation, he had at first “Aryan papers” under the name of Jan Gołąb. In 1942 he was once more arrested and taken to the labour camp of Kraków-Płaszów but managing to escape from it. Until the liberation, Jakubowicz had to hide in the woods around Dobczyce. After the Second World War, he was a member of the board of the Congregation of the Mosaic Faith (currently the Jewish Religious Community…

Dow Ber Meisels (1798-1870)

20th February 1870 marks the date of death Dow Ber Meisels. The son of  Izaak and Aurelia (born in 1798 in Szczekociny) passed away in Warsaw. A Chief Rabbi of Kraków between  1832-1856  and a Chief  Rabbi of  Warsaw between 1856-1870. A great advocate of the settlement between the Poles and the Jews in order to regain indepenence. Dow Ber Meisels  spent his childhood and youth years in Kamieniec Podolski where he took his first steps in the Talmud education thanks to his father.  In 1820 he moved to Cracow where he married Pajcza, a daughter of a very wealthy banker and a salt dealer from Chrzanów,  Zelman Bornstein. Thanks to this marriage, Meisels could fully devote himsef to the Talmud studies. However, he did not resist…

Majer Bałaban (1877-1942)

Born on 20th February 1877 in Lviv, Majer Bałaban was a historian and a researcher of the Jewish history on Polish soil.  An author of „Historia Żydów w Krakowie i na Kazimierzu 1304-1655” (”The History of Jews in Cracow and Kazimierz 1304-1655”), a monumental work for the history and identity of the Cracow Jews. The two-volume book, which took nearly 25 years to write, was pubished in Cracow in 1936. Its reprint by Austeria , a Cracow publishing house,  came out in 2013. Bałaban received thorough education which he started at a cheder in Lviv.  In 1890, he graduated from the C. K. 4th Gymnasium in Lviv. Between 1895–1904 Bałaban studied history, philosophy and law at the John Casimir University in Lviv. He obtained his PhD title…

Czesław Jakubowicz (1916-1997)

Czesław Jakubowicz was born on 20th February in 1916 in Lviv as the son of  Józef and Anna, neé Milner. A president of the Congregation of the Mosaic Faith in Cracow between   1979-1993. For most of his life, Jakubowicz had a close connection with his uncle Maciej Jakubowicz’s family. What is more, he worked at the uncle’s company for several years.  After Maciej Jakubowicz’s passing, Czesław Jakubowicz was chosen a president of the Congregation of the Mosaic Faith in Cracow. He died on 7th March 1997 and was buried at the new Jewish Cemetery in Cracow at Miodowa street.

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