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Please contact me
if you have connections to Radzilow, and I don't already know about you.
I have a lot more material and information about Radzilow families that is
not online.
If your family was from Radzilow or you had branches in this town,
I will surely have additional data
and actual records for many of your ancestors and relatives.
I also have information on a new book about Radzilow which came out on
June 28, 2004,
as well as on a two-hour documentary which featured Radzilow. |
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Geography: |
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Location: In the former Lomza Gubernia,
near the northeastern border of Poland |
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Distance from important shtetls in the area: |
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5.7 miles SW of Klimaszewnica; 8.8 miles SSE of Wasosz;
9 miles NNE of Jedwabne; 10.5 miles ENE of Stawiski;
12.2 miles SSE of Szczuczyn; 12.5 miles WNW of Trzcianne;
13.8 miles N of Wizna; 15.5 miles WSW of Goniadz;
17.4 miles S of Grajewo; 19.2 miles E of Kolno;
19.9 miles NE of Lomza |
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Coordinates: 53° 24'N / 22° 24'E |
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Latitude: 53.4000 Longitude: 22.4000 |
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Altitude: 406 feet (123 meters) |
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Currently in Podlaskie Province, Grajewski District
(which includes 5 counties: Grajewo, Radzilow, Rajgrod,
Szczuczyn, Wasosz) |
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Radzilow is just to the West of the Biebrzanski National Park,
a large, protected nature refuge that surrounds the Biebrza River
throughout Northeast Poland. |
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Other Information: |
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The town had a population of 671 Jewish residents in 1921.
Some residents estimated the Jewish population at about 1,000. |
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Spellings include: Radzilowo (Yiddish), Radzilova (Yiddish), Radzhilov |
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Other spellings: Radzilowie, Radzilowa, Radzilowe, Radzilowo,
Radzilov, Radzilova, Radzilovo |
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Spelling in Polish (using Polish letters): Radziłów |
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Pronounced in Yiddish as: Rad-ZHI-wo, with the accent on the 2nd
syllable |
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Some information from: Where Once We Walked. A Guide to
the Destroyed Communities of the Holocaust, by Gary Mokotoff and
Sallyann Amdur Sack. Published by
Avotaynu, Inc., Teaneck, New Jersey, 1991. |
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View of Radzilow from afar shows how
small and isolated the town still is
[Large version available upon request] |
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Radzilow Population Statistics (Compilation of Data From Many Sources): |
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Assuming the general population grew steadily from 1857 to 1921, and
taking into account that Jews started to emigrate in much larger numbers during the early 1900's (there
was a huge drop in their percentage of the population after WWI,
from 55% to 34%, and therefore, they accounted for a large drop in the overall population as well), one can extrapolate that, at its high point,
from 1905-1914, there were over 2,000 persons living in Radzilow, with Jews making up over 1,000 of those. Take note that these figures
do not include surrounding farms and villages right outside of the town itself (see note for 1885). |
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Additional notes:
- Invading Swedish armies sacked the town in the 1650's. In 1708
Poland became the scene of a war between Russia and Sweden. Swedish
armies, commanded by King Charles XII, occupied the Radzilow area
and built a fort to command the Biebrza crossings, about 15 km.
upstream from Radzilow.
- In 1885, the parish of Radzilow, belonging to the dekanate [deanery
of the Catholic Church] of Szczuczyn, numbered 2,435 "souls"
[believers]. The community of Radzilow, including the town and
nearby villages, numbered 4,497 inhabitants. |
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Radzilow Population Statistics (Compilation) |
| Year |
1564 |
After Swedish Invasion |
1779 |
1808 |
1827 |
1857 |
1858 |
1880 |
1890 |
1893 |
1905 |
1906 |
1908 |
1914 |
1921 |
| Houses |
309 |
40 |
85 |
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101 |
--- |
124 |
163 |
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259 |
| Total Population |
1,827 |
100 |
435 |
532 |
780 |
1,495 |
1,539 |
1,859 |
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1,983 |
| Number of Jews |
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51 |
225 |
639 |
658 |
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--- |
over 1,000 |
over 1,000 |
over 1,000 |
over 1,000 |
671 |
| Percent Jews |
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10% |
29% |
43% |
43% |
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38% |
41% |
51% |
54% |
51% |
55% |
34% |
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Radzilow Jews in the Diaspora: |
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Countries Where Descendants of Radzilow Jews
Are Currently Known to Live |
| Argentina |
Finland |
Norway |
Sweden |
| Australia |
France |
Poland |
Switzerland |
| Brazil |
Germany |
Puerto Rico |
Ukraine |
| Canada |
Israel |
Russia |
United States |
| Chile |
Italy |
Scotland |
Uruguay |
| Costa Rica |
Mexico |
South Africa |
Venezuela |
| Cuba |
New Zealand |
Spain |
Zimbabwe |
| England |
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Cemetery: |
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Photo of the Radzilow Jewish Cemetery, 1939 |
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The only photo ever uncovered of the cemetery |
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Located on Piekna Street.
The year of its foundation is unknown, covering a surface of .56
hectares, it's not enclosed, it's desolate, and there are no
tombstones; local authorities had used it as (or converted it to) a
garbage dump. |
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Translated from: Remembrances & Monuments of Jewish Culture in
Poland.
Assembled, compiled and introduced by Przemyslaw Burchard. Warsaw, 1990. |
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Synagogue: |
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The Synagogue, made of wood in the 17th century, stood until the
Holocaust. |
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From: Pinkas Hakehilot: Poland - Vol. IV, Warszawa and its Region; Yad Vashem |
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Current Statistics About the Radzilow District: |
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Population: 5,801 |
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Area: 199 square kilometers |
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Population Density: 30 people per square kilometer |
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Percentage of Urban Population: 0% |
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Percentage of Rural Population: 100% |
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Budget (in PLN): 6300000 |
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Investment Expenditures (in % of budget): 30.1% |
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Current Chief Councillor: Kazimierz Gwiazdowski |
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Current Council Chairman: Zbigniew Mordasiewicz |
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Contact me for addresses and phone numbers |
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Economic and Political Statistics - 1996 |
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Visit the Homepage of a School in Radzilow: |
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Szkoly w Radzilowie |
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Web page about the primary school and gymnasium (high school) in Radzilow
and about events occurring in the school and about town. It is in Polish. |
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Other Sources of Information About Radzilow: |
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AMG (American Gathering/Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors) |
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COH (Chamber of the Holocaust) |
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GUM3, GUM4 (Guide to Unpublished Materials of the Holocaust Period) |
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HSL (Hebrew Subscription Lists) |
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LDS (Latter-day Saints Family History Library Locality Catalog) |
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LYV
(Landsmanshaftn Societies on File at Yad Vashem) |
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PHP4 (Pinkas Hakehilot: Poland - Vol. IV, Warszawa and its Region) |
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SF (Shtetl Finder) |
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From: Where Once We Walked. A Guide to the Destroyed Communities of the Holocaust,
by Gary Mokotoff and Sallyann Amdur Sack. Published by Avotaynu, Inc.,
Teaneck, New Jersey, 1991. |
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Search This Site:
Take note that this method only finds exact spellings.
Many surnames are mentioned throughout the web page with many different spellings,
from the original Polish spellings, to Yiddish variants, to transliterated
English versions. Surnames in pages like the Ellis Island records
can be completely off. While most town name references are standardized to the current Polish spellings,
in certain cases some towns can be found using different spellings, depending on the context.
If you enter a certain spelling for a given surname and don't find anything,
that doesn't mean it can't be found under alternate spellings. Not
to mention the fact that less than a quarter of my material is online, and I don't put
a single vital record (birth/death/marriage) on the web page. So, if you
believe your family came from Radzilow or any nearby town in Lomza gubernia,
please
contact me and I will be glad to help you.
Important Note: It doesn't matter if the search result comes up empty
because of alternate spellings or because it's not on the web page itself. If
your family came from Radzilow or nearby, I almost certainly have more
information, so please
contact me regardless.
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Send
all comments and suggestions to
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Jose Gutstein. All rights reserved.
Last updated: May 21, 2024 |
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