The life of Jewish communities was shaped and watched over by religious communities. They coordinated and supported the development of charity by running and maintaining hospitals, pharmacies, subsidizing orphanages, shelters, homes for the elderly and charities. The most important institution maintained by the Jewish Community of Radom was the Jewish Hospital at 17, Starokrakowska Street. The existing building was made available to the public in September 1851and erected on the initiative of the Russian governor Białoskórski (Radom was then under Russian rule), thanks to the efforts of wealthy Jews, including the Beckermans. Joseph Beckerman, an eminent philanthropist and social worker, was the hospital's curator for many years and was later succeeded by his son, Leon. Next to the hospital, there was a house for a doctor’s assistant and property manager.
Initially, the hospital had 25 beds, and in the 1920s and 1930s, with 50 beds, it was the second-largest hospital in the city; with two wards - surgical (headed by dr Wolf / Władysław Finkelsztajn (since 1897) and internal diseases ward (headed by dr Ksawera Mulier until the mid 1930s). The hospital also employed other Jewish doctors: Wolf Cung, Moses Kellerwurm and Israel Kleinberg. For many years, the hospital was maintained thanks to a special contribution, paid together with the municipal contribution.
When the hospital experienced financial difficulties, Jews living in the vicinity of Radom and also treated in the institution, were asked to help. After the liquidation of the Radom ghetto, the hospital was closed and its patients were murdered by the Germans.
In 1946 a tuberculosis ward of a municipal hospital was opened in the renovated building. In 2004, the building and the plot became the property of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.
Bibliography:
Sebastian Piątkowski, Dni życia, dni śmierci. Ludność żydowska w Radomiu w latach 1818 - 1950, Warszawa 2006; Jerzy Sekulski, Encyklopedia Radomia, Radom 2009.
Photos:
1. Frames from a film about Radom made by Jacob Diament in the late 1930s.