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| Matzevah Chybie Bielitz |
Then let us move on and read the rest:
Between 1911 and 1925 there was a or long-distance tram linking the train station in Chybie with nearby Strumeny and the local brick factory. Strumeny was not connected to the railway network at that time). It was cancelled after the new railway line "Chyby - Strumeň - Slezské Pavlovice" was established.
Its construction was related to the division of Těšín and the attempt to shorten the road between the Polish Těšín and the new administrative center, Katowice. In the interwar period, the track "Chyby - Skočov - Vistula" was built, which made the village a railway hub.
After the German attack on Poland in September 1939, Chybie, along with the rest of Silesia, became part of the Third Reich. In the winter of 1945 there was fierce fighting between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. The village itself was occupied on February 11 during a battle, but the front-line around the town did not move until April.
Post WWII Chybie
11 December 1945, Chybie along with Mnich, Frelichov, Záboří and Záříčí created the existing gmina (administrative community). Between 1975 and 1998, they belonged to the White Duchy. In 1955, the Goczałkowice Dam was built on Vistula. The resulting reservoir flooded parts of Frelichov and Záříčí.In 1969, a local native of the name Franciszek Dzida founded an Amateur Film Club called “Klaps” in the village. He has made several dozen films and has won over 60 awards and medals, including the UNICA Gold Medal of the International Union of Independent Film. Dzida's story became the theme of Krzysztof Kieślowski's “Amator” (“The Amateur”).
In 2009, the local sugar factory was closed by a new private owner, Südzucker AG, which transferred it to the Polish Cerekev in Ratibořsk. Even the railway traffic was severely restricted at the beginning of the 21st century, and the track to Strumen was completely abolished in 2004.
The Chybie Jews
Jews are first documented in Chybie in the 18th Century, when a certain Lippmann Meyer (born in Chybie in 1791 as Nathan Neta ben Lippmann Heilprin) received citizenship in the town of Dzierżoniów in 1835. He later took the name of Reichenbach that was the German name for the city. |
| Bielitz Orthodox Synagogue |
The town of Chybie has no sources of information on the pre-war Jewish community, but we can safely assume that it is identical with the Jewish community of nearby largest town, Bielsko. After the invasion of Poland, the approach of the Germans led to mass flight but many had to return to the city when their escape routes were cut off. The German army entered the town on Sept. 3, 1939 and immediately initiated an anti-Jewish reign of terror. On Sept. 4, 1939, the Nazis burned down both synagogues in Bielsko and the Bialik Jewish cultural home. A few days later the Germans burned down the two synagogues in nearby Biała, and its Orthodox Jews were forced to throw the holy books into the fire.
In the summer of 1940 a ghetto was established in Bielsko. The ghetto was liquidated in June 1942 when the town's remaining Jewish population was deported to the death camp in Auschwitz. Bielsko was amalgamated with *Biała in 1950 to form the city of Bielsko-Biała. After the war a few hundred Jews settled in Bielsko-Biała.
A children's home for orphans--survivors of the Holocaust--functioned there for a few years. The Jewish Cultural Society ran a club until June 1967 when the Polish government initiated its anti-Semitic campaign. After that, almost all the remaining Jews left Poland. There are no Jews in the village since the WWII. Jewish families whose ancestors came from Chybie can be found in Warsaw, South Africa, the United States, Australia and Israel. The only remnant of the once thriving Jewish community is the former synagogue, which is now used as the local cinema.
But even though no Jewish community stands there today, Chybie is still a place worth visiting on a kosher tour, if we are to pay our respects to the fellow Jews who once lived there.
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