Remnants of a pre-WW2 mikvah believed to date back to the 18th century have been found during the construction of a parking lot in Oświęcim, the town in southern Poland where the Nazis built the Auschwitz death camp. The discovery was made last week near the Great Synagogue Memorial Park, which is located on the site where the town’s destroyed main synagogue stood before WW2.
“Among the items discovered are ceramic glazed wall tiles, dating back to the early 20th century, produced by the L&C Hardtmuth Company of České Budějovice [in today’s Czech Republic] with distinctive Art Nouveau lettering, as well as floor tiles, a metal fragment from a window opening and a brick manufactured at the Tenczynek Brick Factory,” the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation (AJCF) said in a statement.
It said the items will be donated to the AJCF’s Oshpitzin Jewish museum, housed in the nearby complex that includes an educational and cultural centre and the only remaining, working synagogue in the region.
Historian Dr. Artur Szyndler, curator of the museum, said all the items had been verified as belonging to the Oświęcim mikvah.
The AJCF announcement said the Mikvah had been located near the Great Synagogue, by the Soła River.
In 1910, the building was marked with the number 279. In 1912-1913 the Mikvah was expanded by adding a floor. Less than 20 years later, in 1931, two additional water tanks were added. […] The building did not survive the Nazi invasion in 1939 and the Mikvah itself remained buried until recently.
“The discovered remnants of this pre-war Mikvah are a valuable trace of Oświęcim’s Jewish past, the memory of which we at AJCF have been protecting for many years. We are very happy that they will end up in our collection and will be made available to a wider audience,” Tomasz Kuncewicz, AJCF’s Director in Poland, said.
Jewish presence in Oświęcim dates back to the 16th century and by the early 20th century Jews made up more than half of the local population; they called the town Oshpitzin (a play on “Ushpizin”, the Aramaic term for “Guests”).
Almost all of them were murdered during the Holocaust. The last Jewish resident of Oświęcim, Szymon Kluger, died in 2000. The Jewish Museum in Oświęcim tells the story of the local community through the main exhibition “Oshpitzin. The History of Jewish Oświęcim.”
In the announcement of the discovery of the mikvah, Szyndler noted that the Oświęcim mikvah was mentioned in an 18th century Hasidic tale from “Sefer Oshpitzin,” a book of remembrance of Oświęcim’s Jews published in 1977. In the story, he said, three great tzaddiks; Elimelech of Leżajsk, his brother Zusja of Annopol and Shlomo Bochner of Chrzanów met in Oświęcim during a journey.
They spent the whole day there, but following a rule they adopted on their trip, they did not stay at night in the same place where they spent the whole day. This time, however, at Elimelech’s request, they stayed in Oświęcim, and the tzaddik slept in the place of the mikvah, which has since been called the mikvah of “Reb Elimelech.”