The Community of Rohatyn and Environs
(Rogatin, Ukraine)

49°25' / 24°37'

Translation of Kehilat Rohatyn v'hasviva

Editor and Publisher: M. Amihai

Yiddish editing: David Stockfish

English editing: Shmuel Bari

Published in Israel in 1962 by Rohatyn Association of Israel




Acknowledgments

Project Coordinators

Michael J. Bohnen and Donia Gold Shwarzstein




Our sincere appreciation to: Fischel Kirschen, Chairman, Rohatyn Association of Israel,
for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

Many thanks to Fay and Julian Bussgang for their help in editing the text.

We would also like to thank David G. Roskies for permission to use his translation
of the poem “Es brennt”, “Fire.”

This is a translation from: Kehilat Rohatyn ve-ha-seviva (Rohatyn; the history of a Jewish community),
Editors: M. Amihai, David Stockfish, Shmuel Bari, Tel Aviv, Former Residents of Rohatyn in Israel, 1962
(H, Y, E, 439 pages).


This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
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Background on Rohatyn

Other resources

Acknowledgements and Notes to the English Translation of the Rohatyn Yizkor Book



Translated by Michael Bohnen

Hebrew and Yiddish Section

Yehoshua Spiegel Introduction 5
Mordechai Gebirtig Fire! (poem) 7
Mordechai Amitai From the Publisher 8
Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Nurok And Their Blood Will I Never Cleanse… 9


History of a Town

Dr. N. M. Gelber A History of the Jews of Rohatyn 10
        A. Historical Background
        B. The Beginning of the Jewish Community
        C. Economic Conditions
        D. The Sabbatians and the Frankists in Rohatyn
        E. The Rabbis – The Census of 1765
        F. Under Austrian Domination
        G. 1848 – 1914
        Surrounding Towns
 
  Addenda:
Charter of the Jews of Rohatyn (Latin)
68
          Decision of the Sejmik of Sadowa Wisznia
        after the Dispute of the Jews with the
        Frankists in Lvov in 1759
70
Yeshoshua Spiegel         Collected Sources on Rohatyn from the
        Time of the Sabbatean Dispute
72
S. Y. Agnon Rebbe Yudel's Daughter Gets Married In Rohatyn 75
Yehoshua Spiegel The Hasidut of Stretyn 78


The Life of the City

Yitzchak Weissblum Rohatyn 84
Dr. Yitzchak Lewenter The Rohatyn Way 86
Yehoshua Spiegel Our City Rohatyn 101
Chuna Jonas Inside Rohatyn 113
Marcus Tsin A Bundle of Memories 118
Dr. Nathan Spiegel Sounds of Home 121
Leibush Zuckerkandle A City of Torah 124
Uri Mishor The City and its Images 125
Dr. Nathan Melzer Community Life in Rohatyn 128
Joseph Green In Memory of Moshe Lewenter 129
Leah Zuch Cherished Images 130
Chaya Weissberg (Weinreich) My Home That Is No More 131


Within the City

Yehoshua Spiegel The Rohaytn Fair 132
The Wagon Drivers 133
The Bathhouses 137
  The Military 138
  The Jewish Orchestra 140
The Butchers 141
The Slaughter House 142
The Melamdim of our City 143
Avraham Cohen The Image that I Loved 144


Daily Life

Anschel Milstein Buisnesses and Craftsmen after World War I 146
Yosef Jozef The Printing Industry in Our Town 152
David and Esther Blaustein Jewish Merchants among the Gentiles 153
Grina Shtertzer The Professions 158
Zeev Baraban Dramatic Experiments 159


The Personalities of our Town

Naftali Schein Rabbi Yaakov “Kavi” Schein 162
Rabbi Alter Meir Rabbi Abraham David Spiegel 164
Ben Avraham-David “The Young Dayan” 166
Two Letters of Rabbi Shpiegel 170
Y.B.A. Rabbi Mordechai Lipa Teumim 172
A Selection from the Letters of Rabbi Teumim 176
Y.P.S. In Memory of Yosef Hakohen Laks 177
Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Sofer 178
  Yerachmiel Schwartz 179
Yaakov Leiter and his Wife Sarah 180
“Tall Moshe” 182
Some of the Town's Personalities 183
Mathilda Soferman Raphael Soferman 185


Looking to Zion

Leah Ring (Teichman) Memories of Hashomer Hatsa'ir 191
Yehoshua Spiegel The Hashomer Hatsa'ir Club 196
Dov Kirschen “Zionist Youth” 199
Yitzchak Bomze The “Hehalutz” Organization 202
Y.P.S. “Gordonia” in Rohatyn 203
David Kartin The Betar Club 204
Tzvi Skolnik TheYouth of the Town 207


How the City Has Been Destroyed

Rachel and Moshe Nasshoffer The Community of Rohatyn and its Destruction 213
Anna Shweller Kornblei Some Stories of Those Days 216
Y. P. S. Pepka Kleinwachs 221
Aryeh and Cyla Blech Rohatyn in the Occupation Years 222
Rosa Halperin (Faust) A Diary of the Rohatyn Ghetto (in English Section) 229
Tzvi Wohl The Destruction of Rohatyn 234
S. L. A Jewish Girl's Road to Hell 239
Rivka Hader From Hiding Place to Hiding Place 250
Dr. Avraham Shtertzer In the Rohatyn Ghetto 277
Y.P.S. A Story of a Bunker 321


The Surrounding Towns

Yosef Milner Jewish Centers Around Rohatyn 325
Yehoshua Pinchas Klarent Burstyn 327
Chedva Weissman Bukaczowce 336
Leon Gewandter Bukaczowce 337
Leon Schreier Zurow, Bukaczowce 339
Aryeh Rebisch Knihynicze 342
Tzvi Fenster (Felker) Life in the Village – Podkamien 347
Yaakov Palgi The Jews of Czesniki 351
Yisrael Chetzroni Lipica-Gorna 355
Yaakov Galili Jews in Lipica-Gorna 360


The Rohatyn Association

Tzvi Skolnik About the Organization 363

English Section

Dr. Jack Faust Rohatyn: A World That is Gone with the Wind 7
Dr. Golda Fischer A World that Was 18
Morris Grant (Granoviter) In Memoriam 25
Rosa Halperin (Faust) A Diary of the Rohatyn Ghetto 27
S.L. The Death of Chaimke 32
Dr. Abraham Shtertzer How Rohatyn Died 40

Yizkor List of Victims   369


Index of Names  from the Rohatyn Yizkor book

The English spelling of names that appear in the book in Hebrew are an
approximation, so the reader is advised to look for alternative spellings.


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Emerita Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field
Contact person for this translation Michael J. Bohnen and Donia Gold Shwarzstein
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