Korczyna Memorial Book
(Korczyna, Poland)

49°43' / 21°49'

Translation of
Korczyna; sefer zikaron

Published in New York, 1967


Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator and Translator

William Leibner



Editing

Phyllis Kramer


Our sincere appreciation to Morris Zucker and Isaac Wasserstrom,
of the Korczyner Relief Committee,
for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Korczyna; sefer zikaron
(Korczyna Memorial Book of a Jewish Town whose People were destroyed by the Germans in World War II),
 New York, 1967 (H. Y., 495 pages)

Purchase details for a printed copy of this translation can be found at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ybip/YBIP_Korczyna.html


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A few words by the publisher 11
Anger 13
Introduction 15
 
First Part
Isaac Englard-Wasserstrom:  
The township 19
When did Jewish life begin in Korczyn? 23
The community administration 25
The activities of the people and the elections 26
The rabbis 29
The synagogues 31
The study center 33
The economic situation and occupations of the Jews of Korczyn 35
The economic situation and occupations of the Jews of Korczyn after WWI 37
The spiritual and cultural life of Korczyn since the second half of the 19th century to the outbreak of WWII 41
The first years of the present century 43
The period following WWI 45
Jewish life hundred years ago in Korczyn 48
Friendly relations 50
When someone was sick 51
Sabbath 51
Parental respect 52
Marriages 52
Problems with marrying children 55
Similar situations in the past 56
Relations between Jew and non-Jew prior to WWI 59
Relations between Jew and non-Jew following WWI 61
Aron the crisis 64
The destruction and disappearance of Korczyn 67
The outbreak of the war 71
The entrance of the Germans and the first days of their rule 73
Jews must sweep the market 74
The first Rosh Hashana under German occupation 75
Refugees returning-the first victims of Dinow 76
German soldiers in town 77
Germans keep horses in the study-center- anti-Jewish slogans 78
Polish hoodlums clip sidecurls (peyot) of Jews 79
Germans soldiers rob Jewish homes 80
Germans arrest Lea Blank 82
Jews must wear star of David-contributions 83
The Judenrat 84
Jewish refugees from Lodz and other places 86
Germans ask to be paid for shooting a Jewish dog 87
The pharmacist 87
The Germans tear pieces of facial flesh from Itsche Denn and Avraham Itzhak Kanner 88
The rav escapes from the township 89
Death penalty for listening to the radio 90
Ritual slaughter forbidden – the shochet Moshe Leichtog 90
Poles seize apartments from Jews 92
The Germans attack Russia 94
Jews not allowed to own stores 95
Jews are not permitted to read newspapers 96
Jews must surrender furs under penalty of death 96
Jews are forbidden to leave township 97
Germans demand to be given Jews for an execution 97
Mrs. Korb 98
The Gestapo again arrives to kill Jews 100
The saint Moshe Epstein 102
Terrible news, the Germans are destroying entire Jewish communities 105
Jews must pay taxes and are forbidden to use electricity 106
Young Jews must register to work and old ones are shaving their beards and  side curls 107
The Jewish communities of Korczyn and Kros are erased 109
The liquidation of Korczyn 112
The end of the Jewish community of Korczyn 117
Parchments of the Torah used as insteps in shoes and pages of the Talmud are used as wrapping paper 117
The saints: Wolf Kirschner and his 12 year old son 118
Picture of their tombstone in Polish 119
The saints: Avraham Bezenschtock, his wife, his children, Jochewet Schiff 120
The saint Israel Brenner 122
The Krosner rabbi and his brother in law Naphtali Horowitz 124
The Gestapo grabs children and tosses them into the car – Pessah Kratzer and Yanka Geller 125
Why did we not resist 127
Weissberger- Urbankowa the convert 129
The remnants of the Jews of Korczyn after the liberation 130
Yossel Reich, murdered following the war 131
In the camp Duchatska Wola 132
The editors comment about the author of the song "This is how I feel" 135
Israel Platner – statement 136
This how I feel 137
Aron Atlas – The holy tombstone in memory of Korczyn 140
Our ancestors in Korczyn- Sabbath of our ancestors 142
Zishe Eichorn – about the destruction of my family and our township 144
Bashe Krawtchik (Schiff) – my painful experiences in the German camps 156
Itzhak Fessel – memories from the destruction of Korczyn 169
In memory of my family and relatives 178
Michael Horowitz – what I saw in Maydanek 181
Yossef Weber – the sale 191
The fisher 196
Moshe Zucker 205
Personalities and types 207
Wolf Rapport 208
Leibish Halpern – Shlomo Gimpel Wasserstrom 209
Moshe Rothenberg 211
Aron Atlas – Naphtali Hirtz Halpern 212
Moshe Zucker – Naphtali Raab 213
Moshe Zucker – Mendel Schroit 216
Some reminiscences 219
My mother, Reisel Idel's 224
Mordechai Hersh Baletschanker 228
Yekutiel Kamelhar 234
Haim Dym 238
My teachers 241
Moshe Mechale- My Torah and Rashi teacher 245
My first Talmud teacher- David Stretner [Shtern] 249
Zalke Melamed 251
Reuven Yossef 260
Hersch Yaacov Rossenhendler 263
Mendel Weissman 268
Benyamin Rubin 272
David Ringelheim 276
Leib Wolf Freund 282
Shmuel Aron Kokoshke 284
Shmayahu 286
Avraham, the slow one 291
The wife of the kehilla leader and Neche the fool 294
Ber Fishel 297
Haim Wolf [ Koref ] 302
Yesterday, today and tomorrow 309
Korczyner-Reisher Synagogue 311
Who came once to the USA 312
Yankel Guzik 314
Raphael Meisner and Eliyahu Katz 317
Korczyner Landsmen in the USA 323
The Meisner family 326
Raphael's daughter Sara 329
Sam Meisner, Raphael's son 331
Meir, the son of Nahum Kirschner 333
Hannah Malka, the glazier 339
The old and the new study center 340
The holy arc 346
The painting of the study center 349
Created by me for your Admiration 354
Purim gifts 356
Bread on Bread or the third Shabbath meal 359
Ethical personalities 361
The delayed reading of the torah 366
The desecration of the Eastern wall 373
A Jewish letter carrier by Mordechai Schiff from Jerusalem 376
A Punishment 380
A tragically comical story as told by Mechel Horowitz 383
American bluffers 387
Did you pray already Minha – Moshe Zucker 392
To Tashlich – Moshe Zucker 394
The Eruvin or enclosure in Korczyn – Shmuel Leib Kaufman 397
Haim Dawidowitz – Moshe Zucker 401
The study center – Michael Horowitz 408
On the eve of the Heshvan Yarid in Kros – Mechel Horowitz 414
This is the gate to the heavens and the righteous will enter it – Mechel Horowitz 418
The Zionist organization in Korczyn – Mechel Horowitz 421
Home and environment – Shalom Weissman 427
Another Reminiscence – Shalom Weissman 430
You should buy another laundry basin – Zev Weissman 432
Moshe- you can carry already – Moshe Zucker 436
Bashe Motik's– Mordechai Schiff 439
Picture of a tombstone on Mount Zion 443
Israel Platner –Yizkor 445
List of victims 447-456
Symbolic tombstones and pictures of victims 457-493
An Explanation 495
 
List of Jewish names that appear in the Korczyner Yizkor Book
List of Jewish names in Korczyna


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