Photograph

One of the undoubtedly oldest photographs in the collection. Pasted on cardboard, clearly cropped, it was probably displayed in a frame. It depicts, as Halina Mamelok, née Baruch, indicates, members of her husband's family, most probably her in-laws (although the term Old could hypothetically also mean, for example, the parents of the father-in-law or mother-in-law). There are several family photographs of Józef Mamelok in her collection. The captions on the photographs in the hand of Halina, née Baruch, and the available sources, e.g. from the register, allow for a general outline of the family members (although deeper genealogical research would perhaps yield more information and verify certain hypotheses).

First of all, we find in the preserved 19th-century records the birth certificates of five children whose names are repeated in the descriptions of the photographs in the collection: Stanisław Mamelok (b. 1862), Ewelina Mamelok (b. 1865, see note to photo MPOLIN-A25.1.53), Alexander (b. 1868), Joseph (b. 1872) and Franciszka (b. 1875). They are the children of Bolesław and Eleonora Mamelok. They were born in Praszka, a town east of Wrocław, inside a triangle: Kalisz-Wrocław-Częstochowa. The names Aleksander and Franciszka are mentioned by Halina, née Baruch, as the names of her husband Joseph's brother and sister, so there can be no doubt that it was that family which apparently left Praszka at a later date. It is possible that the Mameloks once lived in Wrocław, as Halina, née Baruch, described them (in fact, the portrait photograph, most probably showing Bolesław Mamelok, MPOLIN-A25.1.46, was taken in Wrocław and part of the family remained in Wrocław until the 1930s, see photographs MPOLIN-A25.1.54 and 55), but they were also connected to Częstochowa. In Częstochowa's residents' book we find a record of Boruch Mamelok, son of Majer and Ewa, nee Lind (!), born in Praszka on 12.10.1936. He is described (in two entries from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries: in volume 36 on page 1170; in volume 38 on page 450) as a widower, owner of a mill. The name Boruch (Baruch) was a Jewish name for Bolesław Mamelok. His Jewish name is also the only one recorded in the marriage certificate of the Mamelok family, who were married in 1860 in Wieluń, 20 km from Praszka (his parents, Baruch/Boruch, were Majer and Ewa, which is apparently how the name Chawa was written down, and the parents of Eleonora, née Kempińska, were Joachim and Dorota). Both names can be found in his death certificate dated 3.01.1910 (he was introduced as the son of Majer and Chawa, née Lindau (!) Mamelok). He died in Warsaw. In the Kurier Warszawski [Warsaw Courier] (issue of 4.01.1910, evening edition, p. 8), his children, daughters and sons-in-law with their families, and his sister (unfortunately, we do not know the name) published an obituary: Bolesław Mamelok, a former industrialist and citizen of the city of Praszka, after severe suffering, died on 3 January this year, at the age of 73. The removal of the body from the house at No. 14 Złota Street to the Jewish cemetery will take place on 5 January this year. The removal of the body from the house on Złota Street No. 14 to the Jewish cemetery will take place on 5 January, this year, at 2 p.m. [...].

In the description of one of the photographs from the collection, another name is mentioned: Mirosław Mamelok (with his wife Bronia - Bronisława? See the note to the photograph MPOLIN-A25.1.49). In the birth certificates of the Kalisz Governorate, we do not find a corresponding birth certificate. However, a gravestone has survived in the Warsaw cemetery in Okopowa Street, where Mirosław Mamelok, born in 1867 and died in 1913, is buried. The date of birth is close to that of his siblings, and he is probably the son of Eleonora and Bolesław Mamelok. He died in Sosnowiec, where he worked for H. Reicher and S-ka, as we know from an obituary published in the 16.12.1913 issue of the Evening Courier. From the family obituary printed above this farewell (and from the obituary in the following issue), we know that he had no children - he is signed 'Wife and Siblings'.

Przemysław Kaniecki

List of archival sources on the family:

State Archive in Łódź, no. 39/1721/0, microfilm no. 753122 (marriage certificate from 1860).

State Archive in Częstochowa, Akta stanu cywilnego Okręgu Bóżniczego w Częstochowie, sygn. 8/58/0, collective records of death for 1897, act 115 (death certificate of E. Mamelok).

Archiwum Państwowe w Warszawie, Akta stanu cywilnego wyznania mojżeszowego w Warszawie, sygn. 141, act number 440 (death certificate of B. Mamelok).

State Archive in Częstochowa, Civil Status Records of the Synagogue District in Praszka: act 43 from 1868, act 32 from 1872, act 22 from 1875 (birth records of Alexander, Franciszka and Józef Mamelok).