From The Book of Zambrow...

”Yablonka was one of the oldest towns in what was known as the Mazovie region. When in Zambrow there was not even one Minyan of Jews, there was already in Yablonka a considerable Jewish community with a famous Rabbi.

In 1863, during the Polish revolt, Yablonka constituted the headquarters of the rebels. Zambrow was still unknown at the time. When they wrote a letter to Zambrow they had to add: Zambrow near Jablonka.

Jablonka was a poor little townlet, but with a celebrated pedigree. The old synagogue bore the stamp of over 500 years.”

We visited Zambrow in 1995 and as this was the first ancestral town of our trip, we did not know what to expect. We were very pleasantly surprised. It is a thriving area, well tended to and very cheerful. The town market square was clean and the stores around the square were modern and up to date.

We stopped into a bookstore to ask the owner if he knew of any Golombeks. He said there were none left in Zambrow, but he showed us in the telephone directory that there was a Golomb. He said Golombek meant pigeon and Golomb meant little pigeon.

Over the years there were numerous Golombeks residing in Zambrow, We believe that many of the Golombeks migrated from Jablonka to Zambrow. We visited the old Jewish cemetery in Zambrow, which left us with a very sad feeling. The cemetery is overgrown and most of the stones have been destroyed. To see discarded beer bottles and other trash items there was very sad.

During the Holocaust a ghetto was created in Zambrow where all of the Jews were moved to. Eventually the Jews from the Wysokie Mazowieckie ghetto, which included the Jablonka Jews, were brought to the Zambrow Ghetto. In 1943, all the Jews of the Zambrow ghetto were sent to Auschwitz.