JEWISH CENTER BUILDING

Before World War II, this building belonged to the Polish-Jewish Kornreich family. Tzvi Elimelech Hirsch Kornreich (born c. 1924 in Oswiecim) grew up in this house, and became a Bar-Mitzvah in the Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue (c. 1937). After the Holocaust, Hirsch returned to his hometown. Unfortunately, he was the only survivor of the over 100 members of his extended family. Today, Hirsch Kornreich lives in the United States and has over 45 grandchildren and great-grandchildren living in the U.S. and Israel. Since 2000, the Kornreich home has belonged to the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, which established the Jewish Museum and Education Center in the home.

Photo by unknown photographer presents a group of children and women at the well on Hospital Square in Oswiecim (presently Priest Jan Skarbek Square). In the background – Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue and a part of the Kornreich family home (right, presently Auschwitz Jewish Center). This picture was most likely taken at the beginning of WWII (c. 1939-1941).

Collection of The State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim.