Gąbin is a small town in Płock County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,065 inhabitants as of December 2021. Until the mid-15th century, it was part of the Duchy of Mazovia, and in 1462, it became seat of the Gostynin Land, in what was then Rawa Voivodeship. It was a royal town of the Polish Crown. a public execution of 10 Poles near the local church on June 15, 1941.

Before the onset of World War II, Gąbin was home to a large Jewish population, around 2,000 residents, and hosted an ornate wooden synagogue from the early 1700s. On September 7, 1939, Gąbin was occupied by the invading German Army, which burned down the wooden synagogue and rounded up the town’s Jewish population to dig trenches for protection against the Polish Army. In 1940, German police and SS murdered many Jews and tortured many others. In 1941, the Germans placed the Jewish population in a ghetto, and in 1942 about 500 were sent to forced labour camps. Later that year, the Germans rounded up the remaining hundreds of Jews and sent them to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were immediately gassed. At war’s end, of the approximately 2,300 Jews that had resided in Gąbin (including about 250 sent there during the war, only about 212 survived, 180 having escaped to the Soviet occupied zone of Poland in September 1939, and 32 fleeing into the Polish countryside.

The Jewish history of Gąbin was memorialized in Minna Packer's acclaimed documentary film Back To Gombin (2002) as seen on United States and Israeli television, and in numerous international film festivals. Gombin is the name for the town in both Yiddish and German. The film is distributed by the National Center for Jewish Film.

Post-war Poland

thumb|right|175px|Saint Nicholas Church

The anti-communist resistance was active in the town. Because of fears that the tower's incredibly powerful radio waves might cause health problems, a large number of villagers who had once farmed the land directly under and around the tower were migrated to a block-style apartment building in the center of Gąbin, where many still reside today. The town has experienced a remarkable renaissance since the fall of Communism.

Education

Gąbin is home to a large high school of over 1,000 students with specialties in modern farming techniques, technical skills, and preparation for higher education. The school has been home to Peace Corps volunteers and has promoted foreign exchange visits with peers from Germany, Russia, and other countries.

Churches

Churches that support the local Catholic population include:

  • Saint Nicholas, ul. Warszawska 4, Gąbin, 09-530 PL

Transport

Voivodeship 574 passes right through Gąbin, whilst voivodeship road 577 bypasses Gąbin to the south.

The nearest railway station is in Płock.

Special events

  • Gąbin Tower Memorial Festival

Sports

The local football team is Błękitni Gąbin. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

thumb|175px|Birthplace of [[Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, now a museum]]

  • Abraham Abele Gombiner (c. 1635–5 October 1682), Rabbi and author of "Magen Avraham"
  • Michał Pietrzak (b. 1943), Polish lawyer and academic teacher
  • Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski (1885–1962), Polish physician, general, politician, Prime Minister of Poland in 1936–1939
  • Rajzel Żychlińsky (1910–2001), Polish-American writer of poetry in Yiddish, who was born in Gąbin in 1910 and attended grade school there, escaped to the Soviet-occupied part of Poland in September 1939

References

  • Official website
  • Map of Gąbin
  • Gombin Society active participant Ada Holtzman's personal web site and memoir to Gombin
  • Jewish Community in Gąbin on Virtual Shtetl