Zabludow 4

Our Ruined Zabludow- and It’s Martyrs

By Shmuel (Muli) Bernstein

I’m asking forgiveness from you, holy souls… your spirit and memory are lying in the soul of each and every one of the Holocaust survivors. Forgive me, if I’m not going to be able to give strong impressions to your inhumane suffering, and to your heroism! A man is unable to tell all that you went through in those last moments of your life, and what the inhuman animals did to you… honor to your memories!

In May 1941, I was called by the Soviet regime to do six weeks of reserve service. I left our town Zabludow that seemed as it was in generations; the youngsters were happy, loved to sing; new government, new life, new songs; my wife Channah, and my son Elik, accompanied me to the bus.

In our unit there were a few people from Zabludow. In the morning, when the Germans opened their blitz was campaign and attacked unexpectedly, Shmuel Ruppa, Meir Perelgut, and Avrahamel Korovski, among others, died. Kopl Levine survived along with me; he was with me for a few days, I was an officer. Levine, who had a weak character, was lacking initiation, I protected him as much as I could. He was killed in Volkovisk-Baranovisk line, while I, on the other hand, was captured by the Germans, along with thousands of soldiers during the battle around Minsk.

The Germans gave an order that people will gather into groups according with their nation: Jews, Russians, Polish, Ukrainians, etc. I joined a group of Russian officers. They put us in a big barn and I felt the whole time an inner impulse to run, because I had the feeling that they were going to turn me in as a Jew. In the corner, where I lay down in the darkness I dug a hole underneath the fence and made a bunker. Suddenly an unexpected thing happened. A fire broke out. I don’t know who started it, the Germans, or someone inside; heavy smoke spread in the barn; we heard shootings from all over, I succeeded in crawling through the bunker, on my stomach until I got to the bushes and then I continued through the fields to the woods. I took advantage of the darkness, I ran until the morning, and I distance myself from that place. During the day I laid in a hole in the woods and once in a while I checked around to see in which direction there was any village.

I ate berries that I found in the forest, and some green from the fields. I wandered at night and tried to go around the villages; that’s how I arrived, exhausted to Zittle. On a dark night I knocked on a door of a house that stood in the edge of the town. Coincidentally a Jewish family lived there. They took me in with fear in their eyes, but when I spoke Yiddish it calmed them down. On that night they burned my Army uniform in the oven and gave me civilian clothes. I stayed with my hosts for five days. I lingered in the town for three days, when I saw that the traffic was lessening, and also that civilians were driving in the roads I started on my way in the direction of Slonim-Horodok-Zabludow. The adventures of my trip are very cruel and unique episodes. In Horodok I found a few people from Zabludow and got very sad regards from our town. They told me that Zabludow was burnt to the ground by the Nazis, they also told me about the victims that were killed during the air raid and that part of the citizens were expelled and part ran away and scattered in different places: Bialystok, Narba, Narabaka. I couldn’t figure out what happened to my family, I decided to go to Zabludow; I went through Zeshdna forest, when I got closer my heart started to pound heavily. After all it has been only one month since I left my family: mother, father, brothers, my wife that was a companion in my life. Channah Bendetszon, and our blooming son, Elik; I want to know what happened to them.

I stopped by the house of Birche Bartnovski, the smith. Darkness, night. From far away I see a burnt town. The whole area was empty, only the edge of the Catholic church and the round dome of the Pravoslavic church were erected. I knock on the door of my good acquaintance Birche, that his house survived the fire. I waited a minute, from the inside I hear movements and then cries and children’s sobbing. I feel a deep sadness. The door is open, in front of me Reba Baker’s wife stands, a moment passed until she recognized me. She is telling me, broken and filled with tears; two days ago the Germans took Birche from the house, they took him to the bridge by the river near the house and shot him in front of his wife and their three children.

A few days later I found my family in Bialystok.I will not write about the life in ghetto Bialystok, where I was a witness to its eradication. Other famous, talented authors like B. Mark, Dr. Detner, Risener, and others already did it. About ten days was the first chapter of the destruction of Bialystok Jews. The second chapter was five months later, and was finished with the elimination of those Jews. Then my whole family was killed, my wife, my son, and my mother. I was saved in the struggle for life, when death was waiting for me around every corner.

After the riots in Bialystok I was sent with a group of craftsmen to East Prussia. I was there for two years; I waited day by day for death to come, as simple as it is. In spite of it all, I stayed alive.

I will not tell about the suffering in the concentration camps, about thousands of people from different nations that were killed, and I will not tell about the bloody field, and about the destruction and tortured basements and all the horrible things that my eyes saw. This is a different story. This doesn’t touch Zabludow.

After the liberation when I came back to Bialystok in March 1945, full of pain, I found that the whole ghetto area was erased. Around there was deadly quiet and ruins. I’m walking between the ruins, and I got to a place that once used to be 10 Yurovitski St. I lived there before the Holocaust, with my dear wife Channahle and my blond haired son, that didn’t even live to see five springs. Nothing was left from these dear people. Were killed: my mother, my brother Leible, the carpenter who was the librarian in Zabludow’s library, and my twin brother Moshele the tailor. Now I’m standing on a pile of weeds, on sand and bricks… the heart is shrinking, tears are washing my face- there is no memory for their existence…

left are green fields, weeds: in the edge of the field there were some scattered huts, and also a few huts near the Pravoslavic church. I meet a few ‘Goy’ [gentile] acquaintances. They are looking at my as though I came from another world. One of them hugged and kissed me. They told me that there are two Jews in the town who hid and got out of their hiding place. I found them in a small dark room behind the church, Yosele Levine and Shimon Levine.

At night we slept in the small room, we are three Jews and the survivors of the Jewish community of a whole town. Before we went to sleep we closed the door and the shutters very carefully and each one of us checked it’s gun because there were still some white soldiers in Poland that were looking after individual Jews who survived the Holocaust. We stayed for two days in Zabludow, then we moved to Bialystok. In Zabludow there is not one Jew left. It is ‘Judenrein’, pure from Jews. The wind blew the ashes of the Zabludow Jews who burned in Treblinka. Hundreds of thousands were killed in different ways, and there was no trace to their existence. We, who survived have to keep in our heart forever their holy memory.

...Shmuel Bernstein moved to Israel, blended nicely with his job, and socially. Until the end of his life he was the pillar of the small Zabludow community in Israel, and also was a liaison between them and Zabludow’s expatriates abroad. May their memory be blessed.

I Saw my Ruined House

By Reizel Wagman Bachrach

    When I came from Russia to Bialystok, immediately when the terrible war was over, I decided to visit my hometown Zabludow where I was born. Though people warned me about traveling to small towns, because there was still no quiet and gangs roamed the roads – I couldn’t resist the experience [temptation]. And I convinced Rosa Bialystotski, Pearl Bialystotski and my sister-in-law Teibl Wagman to go to our hometown to see what had remained.
    Shocked and astonished we stood in front of the gloomy scene that lay before our eyes. The town was desolate…from far away we could see the two church steeples that were not damaged -- the Catholic and the Pravoslavic churches. Here and there were houses. Among the few houses the Bilsk Bet Midrash and the house of Rabbi Jochanan Mirsky (may the memory of a righteous man be blessed) – a miracle indeed; I’m looking for the place where my house was. I’m looking and am unable to find it. There was no sign whatsoever.
    Tears are choking my throat…the blood in my veins is pounding in ever-increasing rhythm. Pictures from the past are chasing each other in my burning mind…I am searching with my eyes and with my hands…for this is the place where I was born and educated…the place where I spent my childhood, both happy and sad…there I sat all my precious days…I was married there and there they stood the Chupah in my house near my father’s bed (may he rest in peace) before his death.
    I wake from my nightmare and drag my feet through Mukevitz alley to the new cemetery. The Christian street where the old cemetery is untouched. However in the cemetery area, in the place where there gravestones the cows and sheep of the goyim are grazing and wandering.
The new cemetery is totally ruined. All the gravestones are shattered. Pieces of my father’s gravestones, Nachum Wagman (may he rest in peace), are scattered all about. I pick up some pieces and read his name…
    In a heart wrenching and indescribable sadness we are whispering the holy Yizkor for our dear ones that were cut off from life. We leave the cemetery and graves, our beautiful town Zabludow that just previously had blossomed and was full of life.

We Will Never Forget

By Avishai Dolinsky

Yizkor!
    To the six million Jews that perished, burned and gassed; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, children, grandmothers and grandfathers; rabbis, authors, artists, merchants and craftsmen; teachers and educators. Whole communities, whole sects were thrown into fires and into the gas chambers and among them our unforgettable community Zabludow…
Yizkor!…
    -- To our home and birthplace Zabludow; each and every one of us will forever remember his acquaintances and all those we loved. Their countenances will be forever engraved deep in our hearts…yet they are no longer!…disappeared with the smoke!…the Nazis (may their memory be erased) burned them alive!…There is a common saying: "all that the earth covers -- is forgotten"…We are forbidden according to this saying…Our martyrs did not die a natural death and were not brought for burial!…They were uprooted in the prime of their lives by the Nazi animals, that masqueraded as humans. They were murdered in the cruelest manner.
    The Nazis murdered them in the gas chambers and burned them in the crematoria; old and young, men and women, children and tots – they were murdered in Majdanek, Treblinka and Auschwitz. Even graves did not remain…no graves, no gravestones, no stones!…
    We bear a heavy burden of rocks of sadness deep in our hearts; we will carry in our hearts the grief forever – until the end of our lives…
    The ashes of our martyrs was scattered by the wind upon the face of the earth, on rivers and seas… And every place that a son of Zabludow lives, he will mourn the fate of our town’s sons and will not forget. He will also know that it is not enough to cry over the loss. We must unite with our martyrs and we must obey the commandment: "May the memory of Amalek be erased." We must never forget! At least this we owe our martyrs – we shall not forgive and we shall not forget! They command us to avenge their death!!!

The Last Notebook of Zabludow

Michael Lifshitz, Tel Aviv.

     In Zabludow there were many notebooks that are historically valuable: a notebook of the four countries committee, different notebooks of old companies that were operated in the town, a notebook of the old Chevra Kadisha etc. The important events that took place in the old community of Zabludow were written in each notebook. Every generation added some pages to the tales of the city. Everyone added to the intricate web, constantly building the history- until the German Nazis arrived, and in one sad morning cut the web.
    This Yizkor book is the last notebook- a monument to an old rooted, Jewish community that existed according to the tradition for seven hundred years and was destroyed and ruined to its foundations by the Nazi Germans.
    Jewish Zabludow was burned, the Jews of Zabludow were burned, and they were the first miserable victims that the Hitler Germany threw to the gas chambers.
    How shall we mourn you, dear Zabludow Jews? How do we mourn a father and a mother, a brother and a sister, a friend? With human tears, with human cries, with sighs…? No! That is not the way to mourn you; it’s not enough to weep for you…! It is possible to express human feelings only when a person dies of natural causes… then comes the justice of the verdict after the cries and the sighs, but there is no justice of the verdict of your death, the burnt, as long as the Holocaust survivors are still alive, they will not accept the justice of the verdict…
    When we look at the pictures and reading the list of the perished- they are standing in front of our eyes… and it seems to us that only yesterday they were all with us; they lived, hoped, and couldn’t imagine to themselves that their end will be so bitter…
    We are paralyzed and hopeless… how did it happen, that so fast you were uprooted from us?
    We must not forget the "Amalek"; the hatred to the Nazi nation to Germany shall not diminish. The fire of revenge for the murderers shall not burn out- these are the last words in the will of each Jew that was burnt, therefore, the job of this notebook is not only to build a will to the community and its martyrs, it has to evoke hatred, anger, and disgrace toward the murderers of our nation!
    Our wounds are still fresh. They have no cure; we have no consolation. Our only comfort is that the G-d of revenge will pay them back.

Memorial Days For our Martyrs

Saturday, the 17th of Tammuz 5701 – the 12th of July 1941.

This Saturday was written in our history of ruins as the Black Shabbat. Among 5000 Jews from Bialystok that were caught and murdered in Patrasha Fields and then in the death camps outside of the city, many from Zabludow perished. We know these names: Melech Isaruk (the tailor), his brother Mamme (Avrahamel), Feivl Zesler and his older son; Avrahamel Bazruk, Velvel Glatshtein, his son and son-in-law; Shlomo and Leib Gorosh; Moshe Binyamin Sindrovsky and his son Leible; Heidle Shaitsheek's husband, her two sons and son-in-law; the famous educator from Bialystok Moshe Zabludovsky and the teacher Binyamin Kapustein (principal of the Tachkemonie school in Zabludow). Those who perished in this cruel fire are known by the name "People of Shabbat".

Wednesday, the 1st of Kislev 5703 – the 10th of November 1942

(General Memorial Day for the Zabludow community that perished in the Holocaust). On November 1st, 1942 the Nazis transported by wagons all the Jews from Zabludow imprisoned in the ghetto near the leather factories to Bialystok. First they were tortured in the army camp of the 10th Cavalry Unit. From there they were expelled to Treblinka where they were killed by gas on November 10th 1942. On that day most of the Jews of Zabludow died a cruel death.

January 1943

In January 1943 many Jews of Zabludow that had previously been expelled to the Proshna ghetto and later with the destruction of this ghetto were transferred to Auschwitz together with the Jews from Proshna -- perished. Among those who perished were Rabbi Jochanan Mirsky (may his righteous memory be blessed), his daughter and grandson, Rabbi Yaakov Zesler and others.

30th Shevat – 5th of February 1943

The first stage of the destruction of the Bialystok ghetto from where 12,000 Jews were expelled to Treblinka – many were from Zabludow.
On that day the Nazi murderer Fritz Friedel killed more than 100 Jews as a revenge for the daring rebellion of Malmed. Among those shot were all the family of Motka Zabludow and his sister Beila Zesler and her two daughters, Lila and Solya.

15th of Av 5703 – from the 16th to the 23rd of August.

This is the week the ghetto Bialystok was destroyed completely. Then the last people from Zabludow that were in the ghetto were killed.

Man's Foundation In Soil

By Shmuel Zesler

From soil man was created
and to the soil he will return
In his soul he will bring his bread
In tears and sadness.

And man is a metaphor
For the vessel, to a broken vessel;
To the grass in the field
That will grow - become green - then die.

And to the flower in the garden
That will blossom - wilt, then wither.
To the silent shadow
That will pass and be gone.

To the cloud in the sky
Which quickly disappears in the horizon
And to the whistling wind that sways
That blows and quickly wanes.

To the dust that wanders in the air
Without purpose, without taste, causeless
To the dream that suddenly appears
And vanishes quickly, departs and ceases

Expatriates of Zabludow in Israel

Akiva Gellerstein – Kibbutz Ramot Menashe, 1986

    In every typical Jewish town in eastern Europe that the tradition, the Halacha (the law), and the faith were a base for existence, and the community organization- the vision and the ambition to make an aliyah to Eretz Israel never ceased, and was an eternal dream.
    Zabludow, as a very old town with a strong Jewish tradition, there also was that dream of making an aliyah to Eretz Israel. In reality, everything stays as a dream that doesn’t get fulfilled, though, in the beginning of the century (1880-1914) few families and some individuals dared to go to Israel in all kinds of ways. Most of them came back after wandering, and because of absorption problems in difficult conditions that they found in the small, and poor settlements in Israel.
With this dream a considerable part of the part of the people left Zabludow. They immigrated to America and Argentina, which then offered a better and brighter future. After the first world war when the Zionist movement spread in Jewish communities and Zionist organizations, youth movements and the ‘Chalutz’ were established, there were temptations for youth and families to make an aliyah.
    We know about some families that succeeded to make roots and stay in Israel. On the other hand some of those temptations were failures and many youth came back disappointed and frustrated. During the years of 1920-1939 there were signs of organizational youth to make an aliyah, these youth are motivated by an inner impulse and ideology carrying in their heart a vision of changing the harsh reality that filled the town, and that is how students and some families arrived to Eretz Israel as pioneers, and they were lucky enough to be saved from the Holocaust and from the destruction.
    Only after the second world war when most of Zabludow’s community perished in the death camps and only a few were saved they started to arrive in Israel, in the framework of the second aliyah, and the absorption of the Holocaust survivors. These were the first ones that brought the bitter news about the destruction of Zabludow.
    The veteran immigrants and the survivors got organized in the framework of ‘the organization of the expatriates of Zabludow’ that took care of them, and helped them and also kept in touch with our people around the world. The organization, since then, has an annual memorial gathering for the memory of the town in which the expatriates of Zabludow gather. The initiator and the active person in the first years was Shmuel ‘Muli’ Bernshtein, Z.L. As a Holocaust survivor that got to be in Zabludow after the destruction, Shmuel Bernshtein devoted himself to search out for every citizen of Zabludow. Took care of every new immigrant, and hosted every Zabludow expatriate tourist who came to visit. He was the one who initiated meetings and warm receptions. Muli, may his memory be blessed, also wrote poems and stories that once in a while we were privileged to hear, on Memorial days, and friendly meetings.
    With the immigration of the family of Sara and Eliyahu Gellerstein, may their memories be blessed, from Chile in 1953 the organization experienced a boost and renewal. The home of the Gellerstein family, first at Varmisa St, then at Tarsat St, in Tel Aviv, became an address for every Zabludowian in Israel and abroad. Eliyahu Gellerstein, may his memory be blessed, became a point of contact for every Zabludow expatriate, wherever they are, but especially from America and Argentina. The first mission was to establish a memorial for the martyrs of Zabludow in the Holocaust foundation [basement] at Mount Zion in Jerusalem where the list of all citizens of Zabludow who had perished in the Holocaust resided.
    The next mission was to establish a Kupat Gmilat Hassidim [a charitable foundation] from a donation fund in the United States. The fund made available years of help and services and loans without interest.
    The important mission was to publish the "Yizkor" book on Zabludow in Argentina. This goal was met with big success after a 10-year effort, and in 1961 this "Yizkor" book was published and distributed among all Zabludowian expatriates in the world.Eliyahu Gellerstein, Z"L, who edited the book invested much effort and money to this goal. He was in constant contact with the exiles of Zabludow and took an active role in balancing the interests of the USA and Argentina expatriate communities regarding who would publish the book. The book consists of 500 pages, is considered today one of the highly regarded books among many books dedicated to hundreds of Jewish communities. The book contains original material and deep historical research on the generations of Zabludow and surrounding towns and much accurate information on the Holocaust period.
As times passes the population of the Zabludow expatriate community is shrinking in a natural biological way. Dear and committed people passed away and a few active young people from the town are taking their place. The memorial gathering that takes place annually was and still is a meeting of friends from the same town who gather from all over the country. The sadness in the memorial ceremony of the town that no longer exists blends somehow with the joy of the gathering and discussion among friends.
    The meeting and the religious memorial ceremony was not a sufficient force to attract most of the Zabludow expatriates and there were some meetings that had poor attendance. This situation needs a new initiative.
    Muli Bernshtein (Z"L) first, together with Nechama Shmush–Shmueli and the
Gellerstein family; Mina, Batya and Akiva, tried to change and give a new face to
the memorial gatherings; - that the contents of the memorial service becomes, not just an expression of mourning for a perished town, but a meeting place to bring up memories and stories about people, places and special events of which the town was blessed and which characterized it.
The meetings took place consistently in a respected place in "Bnai Brit". The first part of the meeting was dedicated to the memorial ceremony and included: lighting of six candles and mentioning of the names of Zabludow expatriates who had passed away in Israel. For a few years, we had the pleasure of having the cantor Samech (Z"L) as the host of the ceremony, himself a Holocaust survivor. With his beautiful voice he recited a special "Yizkor" embellished with psalms and poetry that added honor to the event. With the passing of cantor Samech (Z"L), Avishai Dolinsky, a fellow from our town, accompanies us always in those ceremonies. Despite his ill health he makes great efforts and year by year he keeps the traditions of the ceremony.
After the religious ceremony, tea is served with some desert that the women prepare for this evening. This period is used for friendly talking and changing of addresses. The grandmothers show pictures of their successful, beautiful children.
    The second part is mainly folklore and is dedicated to memories, stories and descriptions. In this section, it is worthwhile to mention the original descriptions of Eli Zesler from Haifa who would sometimes walks us through the streets and alleys of Zabludow, passing and peeking at every house, bringing up stories of each and every resident and describing their character with charm and emotion. Also, Nechama Shmueli, the living spirit of these meetings, contributed to the success of the get-togethers by describing the different types and personalities of Zabludow. Her excellent memory helped her describe in juicy Yiddish characters from the town that had been forgotten.
In these memorials we also had receptions for guests who came to visit in Israel. I should mention Yitzchak Zesler, the editor of the ‘Yizkor book’ in Argentina, Shmuel Zesler and his wife, the great teacher that we all remember from Tachkemonie School, that always provided us with poems that he wrote. We had the pleasure of hosting Batsheva Goldvasses, Shmuel Zesler’s daughter, that together with her family settled in Israel, and many times we had the taste of her reciting her father’s poems in Yiddish. We also hosted Pinia Korovski, Norton (Norsitz) family, and the Shmus family. They all contributed nicely to finance the publishing of the Zabludow book in Hebrew.
In the last few years we were blessed with the presence of ‘Dooda’, David Zabludovsky, that came to Israel from Argentina, the actor and the famous announcer from Zabludow-Bialystok. We had the pleasure of unforgettable nights of listening to Jewish folklore in reading and acting, especially parts from Shalom Aleichem that are always fresh and actual, and we hope to enjoy ‘Dooda’ for many more years.
    We are trying to look for different forms and content in order to bring the young generation closer to its roots. Zabludow can be an origin of pride and honor to all of us. ‘The pages of Zabludow ’ in the Hebrew translation are one of the steps to fulfill this goal.
    The Holocaust generation conceals in each and everyone’s heart a cemetery, and each one of us has to battle with this inheritance according to its emotions and memories. We need to be able to separate from the cemetery that is in the heart- the sadness and the pain of a world that was ruined and doesn’t exist anymore- with the beauty, the happiness, and the unique culture that characterized our town, that will never be forgotten.

In Memory of My Father

Avishai Ben-Shlomo Dolinsky, May His Memory Be Blessed

Shlomo Dolinsky, Bnei’ Brak.

It saddens me that you are unable to see this book about Zabludow Jews, the town of your birth. You left this town, when all your family was left there, and were destroyed by the Nazi enemies, may their name be erased. You came to Israel on your own and here you established a new family. In the memories of the expatriates of Zabludow in which you were one of the active members, you brought up memories from Zabludow’s life in past years. You always emphasized to me the saying "All of Israel should care for each other"; a saying that I saw in the united spirit and comradeship that always existed among the people of Zabludow and their willingness to help each other. You also mentioned the institution of ‘leenat ha’Tzedek’ [sleeplessness of righteousness] that was known in its many actions of helping the poor. You made sure to always remind me that our children that were born in Israel have to know their origin.
Even in your difficult days when you fought your terrible illness you always made sure to be present in the memorial services for the Zabludow expatriates. You were the one to say the eulogies in the prayer ‘El Ma’ale Rachamim’ and ‘Kaddish’, in your splendid voice, the memory of Zabludow martyrs. With deep pain I’ll finish with a part of that prayer: "for the memory of mentioning the soul of my father, Avishai Ben-Shlomo ha’Levi, may his soul be bound up in the bonds of everlasting life in the Garden of Eden, may he rest, and shall we say Amen. "Died on the ninth of Tevet, 1987, may his memory be blessed.

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