SHEDLETSKI Origin of surname
SIEDLECKI, SHEDLETSKI, SHEDLETZKY, SIEDLETSKI, SIEDLETZKY, SHEDLEZKI
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
This family name is derived from Siedlce, the name of a city in the Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. The meaning of the Slavic suffix “-ski” is “from”, “of”.
Places, regions and countries of origin or residence are some of the sources of Jewish family names. Many of these names, originally based on toponymics, have developed into variants which no longer resemble the form of the original source. Thus, unless the family has reliable records, names based on toponymics cannot prove the exact origin of the family.
Shedletsky is documented as a Jewish family name with Dr. Ralph Shedletsky, a community leader, who served as chair of Jewish Federations of Canada – UIA in early 21st century.
Siedlce
(Place)Siedlce
Referred to as Shedlets in Jewish sources
A city in the Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. During World War II, the city lost one-third of its population, including its entire Jewish community.
Jews lived in Siedlce from the middle of the 16th century and worked mainly as innkeepers; later they also worked as craftsmen and merchants. In 1794 a beit midrash and a house for the rabbi were built. Shortly thereafter, in 1798, the Jewish cemetery was expanded. During the 18th century there was a small Jewish hospital operating in Siedlce; a larger one was built in 1890.
The most noted rabbis of Siedlce during the mid-18th century were Rabbi Meir, the author of "Netiv Meir," and Israel Meisels, the son of the rabbi and Polish patriot Dov Berush Meisels. During the second part of the 18th century the rabbis of Siedlce would visit Warsaw in order to serve the Jews who were living there illegally (at that time Jews were prohibited from living in Warsaw). A group for the study of the Torah and Talmud was founded in Siedlce in 1839, though a Jewish high school was not opened until World War I. A Bikkur Cholim Society was founded at the end of the 19th century.
Yiddish newspapers published in Siedlce included the "Shedletser Vokhenblat," which Abraham Gilbert began publishing in 1911. Jacob Tenenboim, who lived in Siedlce between the World Wars, edited the weekly Dos Shedletser Lebn with Joshua Goldberg; they also collaborated with Gilbert. The lawyer and Zionist leader Maximilian Meir Apolinary Hartglas contributed to this newspaper.
The Jewish socialist party, the Bund, was active in Siedlce beginning around 1900. At first the Polish Socialist Party was also very influential among the Jews in Siedlce, but Zionism proved to have strongest, and most lasting, influence among the numerous and diverse Jewish political ideologies.
Many Jewish activists in Siedlce were involved in the 1905 Revolution. In 1906 the Okhrana (the czarist secret police) organized a pogrom against the Jews of Siedlce in which 26 Jews were killed and many more were injured.
In 1920, Siedlce was occupied by the Red Army. After its recapture by the Polish Army in 1921 there were a number of anti-Semitic incidents against the Jews of the city.
The Jewish population numbered 3,727 (71.5% of the total population) in 1839, 4,359 (65% of the total) in 1841, and 5,153 in 1921. Before the outbreak of World War II there were about 15,000 Jews living in Siedlce.
The German Army entered the town on September 11, 1939. In November 1939 the Jewish population was forced to pay a "contribution" fine of 100,000 zlotys. The synagogue was burned down on December 24, 1939. During 1940 about 1,000 Jews from Lodz, Kalisz, and Pabianice (cities which had been incorporated into the Third Reich) were forcibly moved to Siedlce. In March 1941 German soldiers organized a three-day aktion, during which many Jews were killed. The following August a ghetto was built, and was closed off on October 1. In January 1942 another fine of 100,000 zlotys was imposed on the Jews of the ghetto. On August 22, 1942, approximately 10,000 Jews were deported to the death camp Treblinka, where they were murdered. Approximately 500 Jews were allowed to remain in the ghetto, though another 1,500 remained there illegally. On November 25, 1942 the "small ghetto" was liquidated, and its 2,000 Jewish inmates were deported to Gęsi Borek, where the Germans concentrated everyone from the Siedlce province. Hundreds of them were shot along the way, or murdered in Gęsi Borek. Those who remained were deported within a few days after their arrival at Gęsi Borek and murdered in Treblinka. A few hundred remained in a forced labor camp near Siedlce until April 14, 1943, when they were killed.
During the deportations, hundreds of Jews were able to escape into the forests. They formed small groups and tried to organize resistance units; the majority of them were killed during the winter of 1942-1943, though Some Jewish groups continued to offer armed resistance until the fall of 1943. In January 1943 the Germans reported the capture and execution of 150 Jews in different parts of the Siedlce province.
The Jewish community of Siedlce was not rebuilt after the war. Organizations of former Jewish residents of Siedlce were established in Israel, the US, France, Belgium, and Argentina.