Lublin: Yeshivat Chachmei, the Seer and Majdanek

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The first Jews settled in Lublin in the fifteenth century, but the flowering of the community came in the sixteenth, when Lublin became one of the principal centres of commerce in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Here the sessions of the Council of Four Lands (Vaad Arba Aratzot) — the supreme organ of Jewish autonomy in Poland, active from 1580 to 1764 — were held. In 1567 Rabbi Salomon Luria — the Maharshal — became rabbi of Lublin, founding the Lublin rabbinic school, whose influence extended from Prague to Vilna. Lublin from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century was the true capital of learned Jewish Poland. Dozens of yeshivot operated, a Hebrew printing house (one of the earliest in Europe), three great synagogues (the Maharshal, Saulow, Magomzer). The Old Jewish Cemetery at Kalinowszczyzna — established in the sixteenth century — became the resting place of the most distinguished rabbis of Poland. In the last decade of the eighteenth century Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Halevi Horowitz — the Seer of Lublin — settled here, a disciple of Elimelech of Leżajsk, who founded Lublin Hasidism. His court drew thousands of followers; after his death in 1815 the ohel in the Old Cemetery became the principal pilgrimage site of the Lublin Hasidim. In the nineteenth century, under Russian partition, Lublin underwent industrialisation. The Jewish community grew — in 1897 it numbered 23,000 people (fifty per cent of the city). Jewish banks, manufactories and the grain trade flourished. Around Castle Square and the Old Town the historic Jewish quarter developed, taking in Szeroka, Krawiecka and Jateczna streets — an entire Jewish shtetl within the city. The climax of Lublin's spiritual history was the opening on 24 June 1930 of Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin — the Lublin Sages' Yeshiva. The founder was Rabbi Meir Shapiro (1887-1933), a brilliant organiser and teacher. At the time of its opening it was the largest yeshiva in the world — a six-storey building with study halls, a library of thousands of volumes, residences for three hundred students, a mikvah. Rabbi Shapiro was also the originator of daf yomi — the daily study of one page of the Talmud, still practised today by hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world in a seven-year cycle. Sadly, Rabbi Shapiro died three years after the opening of the yeshiva, at the age of forty-six. In the interwar years the Lublin Jewish population numbered forty thousand — thirty-five per cent of the city. Two Jewish daily newspapers operated, a Yiddish theatre, dozens of schools. The Hasidic tradition continued alongside an active Zionist movement and the Bund. German occupation of Lublin began on 18 September 1939. Within the first months the Germans burned the Maharshal and Saulow synagogues and requisitioned the Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin building. The yeshiva library — several hundred thousand volumes, including unique Kabbalistic manuscripts — was taken out to Piłsudski Square and burned in a public act of destruction. Witnesses recalled that the fire burned for twenty hours. March 1941 — the Germans established the ghetto within the historic Jewish quarter, confining up to fifty thousand people. Lublin was one of the principal cities in the plan of SS-Globocnik — Operation Reinhard, the extermination of all Jews of the General Government. The first deportations to Bełżec began on 16 March 1942 — about thirty thousand people were deported in the course of six weeks. The remainder were moved to the "small ghetto" in the Majdan Tatarski suburb, from where on 9 November 1942 they were taken to Majdanek. Majdanek — a concentration and death camp five kilometres from the centre of Lublin — operated from 1941 until July 1944. About eighty thousand people died there, the great majority Jews. After the war about seven hundred Jews returned to Lublin. Most emigrated between 1946 and 1957. Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin partially recovered the building in 2003 — today a branch of the Lublin Village Museum operates there, with a reconstructed study hall and an exhibition. The Old Jewish Cemetery was destroyed during the war (the Germans used the matzevot as building material), but in 1990-2010 a major reconstruction was carried out — today the site is marked, fenced, with the reconstructed ohel of the Seer of Lublin. The State Museum at Majdanek — one of the best-preserved concentration camps in Europe — is one of the most important Holocaust memorial sites.

German occupation of Lublin began on 18 September 1939. Within the first months the Germans burned the Maharshal and Saulow synagogues and requisitioned the Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin building. The yeshiva library — several hundred thousand volumes, including unique Kabbalistic manuscripts — was taken out to Piłsudski Square and publicly burned. Witnesses recalled that the fire burned for twenty hours. March 1941 — the Germans established the ghetto within the historic Jewish quarter, confining up to fifty thousand people. Lublin was one of the principal cities in the plan of SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik — Operation Reinhard, the plan to exterminate all Jews of the General Government. The first deportations to Bełżec began on 16 March 1942 — about thirty thousand people were deported within six weeks. The remainder were moved to the small ghetto in the Majdan Tatarski suburb. From there, on 9 November 1942, the last Jews were taken to Majdanek. Majdanek — a concentration and death camp five kilometres from the centre of Lublin — operated from 1941 until July 1944. About eighty thousand people died there, the great majority Jews from the Lublin region, Warsaw, Holland, France and Bohemia. Lublin Castle was used as an SS prison for Jews awaiting deportation. Of forty thousand Lublin Jews, about seven hundred survived the war.

A visit to Lublin asks for two days for the full experience. A single-day variant takes in Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin, both cemeteries and Majdanek (eight to nine hours). A two-day variant adds Lublin Castle, the Grodzka Gate and deeper exploration of Majdanek (with overnight at Hotel Europa or Grand Hotel Lublinianka in the centre). Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin — opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-17:00. Admission about 12 PLN. Audio guides in Polish, English and Hebrew. The Old Jewish Cemetery — accessible by prior contact with the Social and Cultural Society of Jews (key to the gate). The New Cemetery — open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-16:00. The State Museum at Majdanek — opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 09:00-17:00 (summer), 09:00-16:00 (winter). Admission is free. Audio guides are free in many languages (Polish, English, Hebrew, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Yiddish). A visit takes at least three hours for the full experience of the camp complex — gas chambers, crematorium, barracks, monument to the victims. Etiquette: men cover their heads when entering the cemeteries and Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin. At Majdanek silence is observed within the camp complex — this is a place of memory, not tourist sightseeing. One does not take photographs in the gas chambers or the crematorium out of respect for the victims. Recommended two-day plan: Day 1: depart Warsaw at eight in the morning, two hours and fifteen minutes. First three hours in the centre — Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin, the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Grodzka Gate. Lunch at a restaurant on the market square — Mandragora (Lublin cuisine) or Hades (Polish cuisine). In the afternoon Lublin Castle. Overnight. Day 2: morning at the New Jewish Cemetery. Afternoon: full visit to the State Museum at Majdanek (three to four hours). Return to Warsaw by eight in the evening.

Mercedes V-Class from Warsaw to Lublin is two hours and fifteen minutes. The 175-kilometre route runs on the S17 road, which is comfortable and recently built. Rush-hour traffic around Warsaw can extend the journey by half an hour — we recommend departure at eight in the morning. Parking in the centre of Lublin: underground parking at Galeria Plaza (five minutes on foot to the Old Town), parking at Hotel Europa. Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin — free parking on Lubartowska Street. Majdanek — a large free car park at the State Museum (ten metres from the main gate). Recommended transfer duration: for the single-day variant — twelve hours door-to-door. For the two-day variant — two full days with overnight in Lublin. The driver is available throughout, on the second day for transport between sites. For those tracing family roots — the State Archive in Lublin and the Lublin Museum offer access to documents of the Lublin community by prior appointment. The Grodzka Gate — NN Theatre maintains an oral history and personal documents archive.