(Photos courtesy of Wajtek Mazan)
(Below information based from: http://judaika.polin.pl/dmuseion/docmetadata?id=6403&show_nav=true
...and other sources)
The house {situated on the street Iłżecka 45] was built by Szmul Heine, the owner of the sawmill at Kuźnia in 1913. According to the Ostrowiec historians, in September 1924, the Christian Guild of Craftsmen founded the Male Training School in this place.
In the 1930s, the Heine House housed the Talmudic College "[Yeshiva Bejs Josef [Bet Yosef]", in which future rabbis were educated. The school was run by the Association for the Support and Propagation of Religious and Talmudic Knowledge in Ostrowiec Św. operating since 1929. Its founders were rabbi Mordka Szymonowicz, shekita (ritual slaughterer) Ajzyk Mendel Bułka and merchant Chaskiel Fiszendler
[Source: book of Waldemar Brociek, Adam Penkalla, Regina Renz, Jews from Ostrowiec. Outline of history, Historical and Archaeological Museum, Ostrowiec Św. 1996].
The Heine House was also the place of learning for young boys studying in the Yesodei Hatora 'Cheyder". This is known from article in the newspaper in 1937 as seen on this page. Translation below:
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Cheder Yisodei haTorah [ school “Foundations of Torah”], Iłżecka 45
Through energetic work we have praise God succeeded in engaging a special expert, an educator from the Warszawa seminary. Studies will be conducted on the highest level. Hebrew and Yiddish will be taught by the educator. Secular subjects will be conducted by a special leader from the Pozshekhne schools.
Whoever wants to partake of our good healthy kheyder rooms and the masterful studies and the good management of our kheyder should come early to enroll his child in our kheyder.
Board and Administration of the kheyder
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During the war, the seat of the Judenrat was located here - the Jewish Council established on the orders of the Germans. Some people even hid in this house, including Arye (Leibel) Zabner.
During the liquidation of the ghetto on October 11-12, 1942, the Heine House was devastated, and the documents assembled in the attic of the pre-war Talmudic school were probably burnt and destroyed.
In 2012, members of the Culture Association "Nie z tej Bajki" accidentally stumbled across the archives, which were then handed over to the Historical and Archaeological Museum in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
In 2014, the house was demolished.
Before demolished, a cultural event was held there.
Heine House in local media:
- Future plans for the building were mentioned in 2020 here.
- In 2022, a ceremony was held at the new building on the original site.
- In 2023, Completion of exterior of new building on original site on Ilzecka 45
More information on this house can be found in Polish on Wojtek Mazan's here and here
