The Gorzd Jewish youth who fought in the time
of the war in the Lithuanian division

The Gorzd Jewish boys who fell in battle on the front

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Today is a great day for the former residents of Gorzd. Today, the Yizkor Book for our parents, brothers and sisters, who met their cruel death in the Holocaust at the hands of the German Nazis and their Lithuanian helpers, is being published. After much effort, we see in this book a memorial monument for our martyrs, may HaShem avenge their blood. And if someone will say: another book in a series of Yizkor books, then in our eyes, the former residents of Gorzd and the remnants of the families that were destroyed, this book is a link in the chain of the bloody history of the Jewish people. Because, if fate wished that our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, young and old, to play their part in the terrible drama of the blackest period in the history of our people, their memory would also be preserved for future generations. And it seems that the Jewish people have no better way to perpetuate the memory of their martyrs than in a Yizkor Book.

In creating this book, we saw a sacred duty for all those who were fortunate to save their lives before the outbreak of the storm that uprooted our homes, and indeed, from the depths of our hearts, we poured out the most vibrant emotions related to everything that was once the “home,” our lives. How precious this work is to us is evidenced by the response of the city's residents who left Gorzd in their childhood, and also of those whose ancestors were natives of Gorzd, and the town and its way of life are only known to them from stories.

The idea of publishing the Yizkor Book occupied many of us for a long time, but it gained momentum with the arrival of the first Holocaust survivors from Gorzd. Of particular note is the vigilance of the activist, Avraham Orenshteyn, who established close contact with veteran former residents in Israel and overseas: America, South Africa and Canada. The Gorzders in Tel Aviv have a devoted mother in the image of Yehudit Leshem, a friendly and dynamic personality, with many rights in assisting and helping others. Yehudit does not feel insulted at being called “the Gorzders mother,” and for a certain period of her activity after the war she was even called “the refugees' mother.” In versatile activities for Holocaust refugees, before her immigration and in Israel, she did not discriminate between those from Gorzd and needy Jews who were not residents of our town. Her home was always wide open to every needy person who survived the Holocaust. Today, Yehudit Leshem is our adviser, our stronghold of energy and encouragement, despite

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her illness, limited mobility and confinement to a chair. Yehudit serves as the communications focal point for everything related to the book's publication. Like the memory of a computer, Yehudit remembers the residents of Gorzd, the town's atmosphere and its events, and quite a few curiosities related to many of the characters are etched in her memory. It is not for nothing that Yehudit testifies about herself and says: “Of course I remember, after all I am about three hundred years old”…

The publication of the Yizkor Book for Gorzd is the essence of our satisfaction, and for Yehudit, a compensation of satisfaction for all her blessed and many years of activity.

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Many years have passed since the Jews of our town were exterminated during the terrible Holocaust. But the sound of blood emanating from the mass graves in the forsaken land demanded that we, the survivors of Gorzd, erect a memorial to our martyrs.

The thought of commemorating our town, Gorzd, has been in our hearts for a long time. Among the former residents of Gorzd in Israel there are some who have been bothered by the issue for years. At the home of Yehudit Leshem, the “mother” of the Gorzders in Israel and the world, the problem was raised with every Gorzder who gathered there to talk and reminisce, or to remember fondly the home that was destroyed and no longer exists.

The first activity was born in such a meeting in 1972. An initiators' committee was organized. We collected donations of twenty pounds from the Jews of Gorzd who responded and placed a memorial plaque at the Chamber of the Holocaust on Mount Zion. In August 1973, we arrived by organized transportation to Mount Zion, held a memorial service by the memorial plaque and united with the memory of our loved ones who were murdered in the Holocaust.

A year later, we held a memorial service in the hall of the Association of Lithuanian Expatriates in Tel Aviv, in which most of the former residents of Gorzd participated.

Since then, the idea of publishing a Yizkor Book has gained momentum, and the meetings of the committee have been held regularly at Yehudit Leshem's home and with her advice. The living spirit of our organization and the driving force of all of our activities. Her energy, dedication, love of people, and especially the affection she feels for our townspeople, as if they were her family, inspired many in Israel and overseas to act on behalf of our organization and for the publication of the book.

In January 1973, we held a general meeting of former residents of Gorzd in the hall of the Association of Lithuanian Expatriates and brought the idea of the publication of the Yizkor Book before the participants.

In order to stimulate the process of collecting material and writing memoirs, and to expedite the financial operation, a Book Committee and Editorial Staff were elected. The elected members are: Yehudit Leshem, Avraham Orenshteyn, Rivka Naveh, Dr. Ben-Zion Inberi-Burshteyn, Moshe Katz and Moshe Hilcowitz. The committee member, Avraham Orenshteyn, made a great effort to locate Gorzders in Israel and abroad. When he had about seventy addresses in his possession, we wrote letters, once or twice, to former residents of our town, wherever they were,

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and asked for written material about life in the town and photos that would one day be public value for a book. At this stage, we opened a bank account and, from now on, we sent letters on a special form which indicated the account number. The response was slow, but we made progress in our mission. Our outreach to the public bore fruit. We held general meetings (about once a year) and meetings once every four or six weeks. In the past year, we have noted a significant revival, both in the writing of memoirs and in the finding of documentary material from various sources, which may shed light on the life of the Jewish community in Gorzd at the beginning of the century.

Creating the book was not easy for us, the task was too heavy and responsible. The members of the Book Committee gave much of their time, for over three years they engaged in diligent and precise work and assisted the editor in verifying the facts. This sacred work required great effort and was done with inspiration and devotion to the noble mission of perpetuating our community (for whose memory we performed this sacred work).

With the publication of our Yizkor Book, the organization does not end its activities. On the contrary, we will seek ways and means to continue our activities among the former residents of Gorzd in Israel and abroad.

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The committee at the memorial gathering in Tel Aviv, Dr. Ben-Zion Inberi-Burshteyn speaking

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Former residents of Gorzd in Israel next to the memorial plaque on Mount Zion

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