NATURAL RESOURCES & PARKLANDS
Jewish Central Poland is surprisingly diverse in terms of economic activities. First and foremost is the agricultural sector, lead by forestry and cropland production.
Upon the retreat of the glacial ice age, the watershed of the Vistula provided nourishment for a once vast forested region and magnificent parklands no longer present across the country. These once virgin timberlands have been lost to encroaching forestry denudation caused by agricultural expansion and human activities. Today, these areas are nonrestricted to a few large regions designated a Poland’s parklands.
One of the largest is the Gostynin and Włocławek Landscape Park (Gostyninsko-Wloclawski Park)—forming part of the largest forest in the area—stretching along the southern banks of the Vistula between Plock and Wloclawek and south almost to Kowal and Gostynin. The map also indicates smaller scattered forested lands throughout the area, slightly smaller than in the 1800’s when Jewish families began to settle in this area.
Not surprisingly, the forest provided substantial opportunities for enterprising entrepreneurs in the Jewish community and many were involved in managing the forest lands for absentee landlords and hiring local workers to cut trees and deliver lumber products demanded by construction and railways.
Unfortunately, these forested lands also provided hidden protection from views of Nazi war crimes—the destruction of the Jewish Community and mass murders in JCP during the Holocaust—places like Chelmno nad Nerem.
Central Poland agriculture consists of small farm production throughout this area and is generally known as a major European producer of agricultural and horticultural products. Read More
Sources: Maps, Google Earth;