A Photographer Lipman Karp
Following ‘A Lady From Skierniewice” track.
Few people can remember today where Pamiecka Street before the 2nd WW was. This street, like many others, changed its name long ago, quite like as Barania vel Barańska, Małe Glinki, Piotrkowska, Rybna or Zamkowa.
In 1 Pamiecka Street, nowadays Mszczonowska, used to live the oldest photographer in town Skierniewice, whose name was Lipman Karp. Here he was born and here he died. The history of his family is actually the history of the photo ateliers he had in Skierniewice, Rawa Mazowiecka and Biała.
His wife Barucha was from Fersztynberg family. Like her husband she was born in Skierniewice.We do not know what she was by profession. However, she must have been a good mother and wife as she gave birth to nine children. Unfortunately, the Karps were not lucky to have a son. All children were girls and when they were grown up , most of them became photographers and helped their fatherin photo studios.
A few daughters tied their lives with Warsaw or Lodz, where they ran their own photo studios or worked for other ones. One of them however ran a photo studio in Skierniewice after her father death.
Two of the girls died very early not having even a year of life. They were Chindy Laja Karp born in the November 1893/died on the 17th of April 1894 and Sura Karp born in July 1911/ died on the 29th of July 1912.
Here are the remaining daughters:
1. Bajla Rywka Karp born on the 15th of January 1895, a photographer by profession.Being 27 ,she married Moszek Fogel in Skierniewice.
2. Estera Karp, born on the 17th of December 1897.
3. Perla Karp, born on the 5th of March 1900, a photographer by profession. Being 26 she married on the 16th of April 1926 Szmul Abramowicz,photographer and artist-painter.
4. Chana Karp, born on the 16th of March 1902, a photographer .
5. Szejwa Karp, born on the 14th of March 1904, a photographer.
6. Sura Karp, born on the 19th of August 1906, a photographer.
7. Rojza Karp , born on the 15th of April 1910.
A few months ago, when I published my first article entitled “ A Lady From Skierniewice”, following Yad Vashem Institute File, I had given the names of Karp’s daughters in English version.
Now I know, that Khana Karp means simply Chana Karp, Szewa Karp means Szejwa Karp and Varda Gilboa /from Karps/ is the same person what Rojza Karp.
The history of Rojza Karp has fascinated not only me but has become the subject of further seekings . Together with Yeal Ben , a student from Israel, we have been searching Rojza’s family all the time in Israel. So far, we have succeeded in finding her address in Tel Aviv, under which Varda Gilboa lived yet in 1999. We have managed to find her phone number but it has been dead, unfortunately. Varda Gilboa is probably dead ,too.
If she had been still alive, she would have been over 100 years old. The question is: what she was by profession living in one of the most expensive districts of Tel Aviv. Did she pass away in loneliness? There are a lot of ‘such and such” questions – but as usual, there has been no answer so far.
But this does not necessarily mean that it always be the same situation and that Rojza Karp took all the mystery to the tomb.
Lipman Karp /son of Fiszl and Laja/ died on the 27th of March 1924 being then only 53.
The witnesses of the funeral statement were Mordka Fersztenberg/carpenter/ and Abraham Altschuler/shoemaker/ , both from Skierniewice.
Unfortunately, there is the waste of time seeking Lipman Karp’s tomb in Skierniewice.His grave like many other Jewish graves , has been completely destroyed during the 2nd WW.So that, the only evidence of Lipman Karp’s activity in Skierniewice, are still old photograps took in his ateliers. How many such photos are there in people’s houses in Skierniewice?- we do not know.But each single photograph is the evidence of his life and activity among Skierniewice society.
There is the saying that the only token of remembrance of our ancestors is the small cardboard from photo atelier. We often do not know where their graves are and we know little about their lives. So that, the only track which was left after our ancestors is simply an old photograph.
If it had not been such a photography , there would not have been anything left. There are many positive things left about Lipman Karp. There are a lot of Karp’s photos left not only in Skierniewice but also in distant Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or in many other cities.
Perhaps, not only photos but also his family. I would like so eagerly to find that family and to show the place where their ancestor lived and took photographes…….
Waldemar Bronicz
Photography: Skierniewice lovers’ bench Lipman Karp’s ateliers,
Rawa Mazowiecka,Skierniewice,
from Waldemar Bronicz’s file.
