The Warsaw Ghetto Museum received a gift of a metal plaque with a German inscription prohibiting Jews from entering the park. We sincerely thank the donor, Mr. Grzegorz Feliks Wajner, and present the history of this unique object.
| 'Jews are prohibited from entering the park'
Joy. Jews are forbidden from entering the park.
A tin plaque with the inscription "DAS BETRETEN DES PARKES IST JUDEN VERBOTEN" (THE PARK IS THE JUDEN VERBOTEN ) was found in the 70s by a resident of a house on the corner of Patriotów and Tomaszowska Streets, near present-day Radość, formerly Miedzeszyn Nowy. Coincidentally, it was found in a small attic compartment above the porch ceiling, along with German newspapers and weapons components. Taken by the finder during a move, it sat for several decades in the basement of a house in Michalin, facing a shelf. Rediscovered by the son of the original finder, it was donated to the Warsaw Ghetto Museum.
Where was it originally placed? It is unlikely that it was brought from Warsaw or another distant location; it was probably removed somewhere nearby in the autumn of 1940, when a ghetto was established in Letniska Falenickie – by then it was no longer needed, as Jews were not allowed outside the ghetto.[1]
Where were there parks in the area? Radość was certainly the case, though the precise location and timing of their operation are unclear.
| A poster of fun in the park of the Radość summer resort
Association of Lovers of Joy
The Radość summer resort, like most summer resorts of the so-called Otwock line, developed rapidly from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1920s, thanks to the initiatives of the Association of Friends of Radość, established in 1916 [2], the Association initiated activities to develop the resort's infrastructure, including the construction of a church. Together with the Warsaw Szaradziistów Club, the construction of a youth dormitory was planned [3]. Cultural events and entertainment were organized, with the proceeds going towards the program. Radość events were advertised and described in detail in the Warsaw press thanks to the involvement of several journalists in the social life of the summer resort. Karol Hoffman, writing under the pseudonym HAK, was a writer, playwright, and sometime actor, the initiator of the revival of the Szaradziystów Club and the creator of the entertainment section of the Kurjer Warszawski [4], participated in theatrical performances on the stage of the summer theatre in the park in Radość.
Marjan Fuks , a journalist and photojournalist and owner of the First Photo Agency in Warsaw, located at the corner of Marszałkowska Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie, donated his work to the Association through a 2018 exhibition of photographs documenting all the important socio-political events in Warsaw, Poland, and the world. The exhibition organizers omitted (or perhaps were unaware of) the artist's strong ties to the Otwock Line. For many years, he served as vice-president of the Association of Lovers of Joy, and in 1928, he was elected to the board of the Letnisko Falenica Commune, gaining 213 votes [5].
The Fuks villa, called Cieszynówka, surrounded by a park, served the owners, the Society of Joy Lovers, and guests of events organized by the community.
In July 1923, the cornerstone laying ceremony for the church in Radość took place. Kurjer Warszawski published a detailed account of the event, sparing no details of the less formal portion:
The Vice-President of the Association of Lovers of Joy and a courageous organizer, Mr. Marjan Fuks, read the foundation act, set in the chapel's foundations, amidst general concentration and silence. (...) It was almost two o'clock in the afternoon when we found ourselves in Cieszynówka Park at a table set for breakfast.
Here, in an atmosphere of cordial closeness, several hours passed unnoticed.
The chat with the neighbors included occasional speeches delivered by His Eminence the Archbishop (twice), introductory speeches in honor of Archbishop Marjan Fuks, Minister Głąbiński, Vice-Voivode Manteuffel, Father Prelate Prądzyński, and representatives of the press: K. Hoffman and Markowski.
Beautiful summer girls danced to the orchestra, and local folk to the accordion, though there was no shortage of fellowship in the common dances. They enjoyed themselves until late, until dusk, against which the pyrotechnic effects seemed even more impressive [6].
Just a month later, the Gazeta Warszawska announced: (…) This afternoon, in the park of the Fuks family villa "Cieszynówka," a fundraiser will be held to support the construction of a new chapel. The success of the previous fundraisers and a whole range of new attractions will undoubtedly attract crowds of Warsaw residents to Radość [7].
The Fuks' villa appears in holiday offers, for example in Nasz Przegląd in 1926: Radość villa Fuksa Room for 2 people with exquisite maintenance, information on site, tel. 244-46 [8].
In 1928, Paulina Sadowska advertised in the same newspaper: "Joy. Willa Fuksa. Paulina Sadowska's guesthouse. I recommend sunny single, double, and quadruple rooms with verandas in a beautiful six-acre forest. The cuisine is exquisite and made with butter. Electricity, piano, own telephone, first-class service. Opening in early May. Message 417-23 from 4 [9].
In the same season, at the Fuksa villa, Mrs. Sadowska took part in a charity event carried out in many well-known guesthouses on the "line":
Collection for the “Tomchaj-Anyim” Society on the Warsaw–Otwock line . Collection boxes will be issued and collections will be accepted by: in Otwock, Mrs. Goldman, Warszawska Street, next to the Sławina bookstore; in Świder, Mrs. Rosenbergowa, Główna Street, Staśkiewicz’s villa, Mrs. Lubelska’s “Ferdynandów” villa, Szeroka Street; in Józefów, Mrs. Frenklow’s own villa “Balbinówka”; in Michalin, Mr. Cyryn, Dr. Finkielkraut’s villa; in Falenica, Mr. A. Igalson and Mr. Adamowstwo Peretz’s guesthouse, Polna Street, Zylberberg’s villa; in Miedzeszyn, Wiśniewski’s villa, Mrs. Bella Weicmanówna; in Radość, Mrs. Sadowska, Fuks’s villa [10].
Do the advertisements describe the same villa that had hosted members of the Society of Lovers of Joy several years earlier? It's uncertain. Lists of abandoned properties in the Falenickie Summer Resort, constructed in 1946-47, list Beniamin Fuks as the owner of houses at Reytana 8 (now Żołędziowa Street) and Mickiewicza 28 (now Żwanowiecka Street). A list of insurance values for houses administered by the municipality in 1947 shows Beniamin Fuks's house listed as 3 złoty, indicating it was a small house – by comparison, an average two-story wooden house was estimated at several hundred thousand złoty.
Topographical complexities
The villa of Teofila and Marjan Fuks was located on a spacious plot of land on what is now Kąkolowa Street (pre-war Reymonta Street), between Izbicka Street (Al. 3 Maja) and Tomaszowska Street (Sobieskiego Street), in the southern part. In his book about Radość, Andrzej Lech gives the address of the Fuks villa as 73 Kąkolowa Street, or 75 elsewhere, inviting visitors to view the large wooden house, which was still standing (in 2009) when the book was published. Today, three new, contemporary villas can be found on this site.
In another passage from the book, the author describes Cieszynówka Park as a plot of land adjacent to the eastern side of the villa of Józef Formiński – the long-time president of the Association of Lovers of Joy, who also organized parties, concerts, and theater performances in his garden. This plot is located at Izbicka 16 (formerly Al. 3 Maja). If this description is accurate, the Fuks villa still exists. A large, two-story wooden building with verandas overgrown with vines stands abandoned on the corner of Tomaszowska and Kąkolowa streets, likely doomed to a slow death.
Regardless of which address provided by Andrzej Lech is correct, the Cieszynówka park area was located no more than a few dozen meters from where the sign prohibiting Jews from entering the park was found. Was the Cieszynówka area still serving the local community as a park at the beginning of World War II? Did the property still belong to the Fuks family? Was it at the entrance to Teofila and Marjan Fuks Park that the sign was hung? Perhaps further research into the archives and interviews with local residents would provide answers to all questions.
Marjan Fuks died in 1935. The newspaper "Polska Zbrojna" announced his funeral at the Evangelical-Augsburg Cemetery on February 27, 1935, at 16.00 p.m. [11] He did not live to see the German occupation; converting to the Evangelical religion would probably not have protected him from the tragic fate of all Polish Jews.
Lidia Głażewska-Dańko
November 2022
| House on Kąkolowa Street in Radość
Footnotes:
1 The Falenica ghetto encompassed the area of Miedzeszyn and Falenica, located on the eastern side of the railway tracks, from Kościelna Street (today Bartoszycka Street) in the south to Graniczna Street (today Żeglarska Street) in the north. Order of the German authorities presented at the village heads' meeting on November 30, 1940. Protocol. State Archive in Warsaw, Otwock Division, Records of the Letnisko Falenica Commune, p. 49)
2 Andrzej Lech, In Joy at the Station 1920-1951, published by the Kajet store 2009, p. 29
3 A poster inviting people to a fundraising event for the Radość dormitory. 1926. BN-polona.pl
4 Tenth Anniversary of the Szaradziistów Club 1921-1931, published by the Szaradziistów Club, Warsaw 1931 (BN – polona.pl) .
5 Kurjer Warszawy, R 108, no. 153, 4 June 1928, Jadwiga Dobrzyńska Falenica my love for the second time, published by Damiko, Warsaw 1996, p. 50. Photograph of the Letnisko-Falenica Commune Board with captions and Kurjer Warszawski, R. 105, no. 364, 30 December 1925, p. 4
6 Kurjer Warszawski, Vol. 103, No. 202 (July 23, 1923) – evening edition, p. 5
7 Gazeta Warszawska. Vol. 143, No. 221 (August 14, 1923)
8 Our Review, Vol. 4, No. 181 (July 2, 1926), p. 8
9 Our Review, Vol. 6, No. 99 (April 10, 1928, p. 12
Our Review, Vol. 6 No. 214, August 3, 1928.
