Krynki, Poland

Published in Tel Aviv by Former Residents of Krynki
in Israel and the Diaspora, 1970

To you Krinki (Krinek) / Benedict Nisht	7
The “Pinkas Krinki”	11

From the history of the Jews in Krinki / Dov Rabin (pages 31-37)
From the distant past	31
The description of the emergence of the community	31
The bourgeois against the rights of the Jews	32
The Krinki community, Kehila, at its beginning	33
Krinki a community in Lithuania	33
The government assembly and its meeting in Krinki	34
The Krinki people revolt	35
Krinki Jews in the 19th century	35
During the Polish uprising in 1863	36
Krinki produces textile; chapter on the fires	37

About Jewish Life in Krynki: during the second half of the 19^th century until 1896 (pages 40-52)
Through the decades / Ab[raham] Miller	40
Chapter on textile production	40
Krinki in Confusion	41
The Fires	41
The Shtetl Is Rebuilt	42
The Beginning of the Tannery / A.B. Miller	42
People Become Tanners / Hillel Katz-Bloom	44
From Tanners to Leather Manufacturers / Ab[raham] Miller	45
The First Tanners	45
Krinki Rabbinate / Dov Rabin	49
The First Rabbis	49
Preachers	50
“Enlightenment” Winds	52

In the flourishing period of Krinki (1897 - 1915) / Dov Rabin (pages 62-93)
General overview	62
The Jewish population	62
The economic state and the aspirations of the Krinki Jews	62
Tanning, the life of Krinki	63
The first strike	66
Krinki a town of Torah	66
Under Russian cultural influence	66
The beginning of Krinki Zionism	67

The Tannery Town of Krinki in creativity and struggle
The tannery center
Krinki a town with a name / Mordecai V. Bernstein	68
The tannery / Shmuel Geler	68

The Strike Period
The condition of the Jewish tannery workers and laborers / M.V. Bernstein	69
The beginning of the strike movement / H. Weinberg (Hershel Pinkes)	69
Before the start of the strike / Yossel Cohen	70
My debate with the rabbi / H. Weinberg	71
Terror and arrests / Yossel Cohen	72
The first victory / Hillel Katz-Blum	72
The workers became aware of their power / A.B. Miller	73
The second tanners strike	73
The prolonged tanners battle for a humane existence / Sofia Dubrow Ehrlic	73

Revolutionary activity
Beginning of the revolutionary movement in Krinki / Dov Rabin	75
The revolutionary propaganda / Betzalel (Alter) Patchebutski	76

The activities of anarchists
The beliefs of the anarchists - terror - acts. Demonstrations of the anarchists	77
Niamke the anarchist	78
The activities of the Krinki anarchists outside of their shtetl	79
The workers take over the power in Krinki / Aba Lev-Btz (Alter) Patshebatski	80
A S. Lutz revives the “Bund” / Nechum Bliacher-M. Friedman	82

From the cultural-social life in Krinki. A center of Torah
Rabbi Zalman Sender Kahanee Shapiro and his Yeshiva	89
Cultural conditions and aspirations / D.R.	91
The cheder improved / Benedict Nisht (B.Nib )	92

The First World War (pages 94-110)
The beginning of Russian defeats
Relief to homeless refugees / Benedict Nisht (B. Nib)	94
At the end of the summer 1915 /D. Selkof	94

The German occupation (Fall 1915 - Spring 1919)
Under the pressure of the occupier / Dov Rabin
Under oppression and great needs	98
The trades during the destitute times	99
In the abandoned tannery places / Shmuel Geler	100
Jewish cultural resurrection / D. R__N	100
The “Literary Society” and its struggles / Israel Vaner	101
The Hebrew elementary school / Benedict Nisht	105
Struggle with Germans for teaching in Yiddish /Sarah Fel-Yelin	106

During the time of the revolutions
The workers reign in Krinki / Israel Stolarski	108
The activities of the workers regime and its demise / Wolf Ekstein	108
Activities of the “Bund” during the war years / Hershel Giteles Augustovski	110
A song about the war years / AB Miller	110

Under the Renewed Polish Reign (pages 146-166) (May 1919 - September 1939)
General overview / Dov Rabin
The Beginning of Polish Rule	146
Jews and Christians in Krinki	146
Economic discrimination	147
Krynki – An “Economic Ruin”	149
Dynamism & Mutual Aid Initiatives	149

The Jewish Public Life
Social Competition
Vigilance and Activity	151
Ideologies and Political Currents	151
The Competition of Social Forces	151
The Bund	152
The Communists	153

Education & Culture
The Secular School in Yiddish	153
The Hebrew School	154
Libraries	156

The Zionist Movement
Trends Within the Movement and What they Supported	157
The Hekhalutz Aliya to Eretz Israel	158

The Life Pulse Of Krinki / Shmuel Geler
The Economic Life of the Jews	159

Religious Life
Torah and Traditional Devotion in Krinki	162
Rabbi Reb Khizkiyahu Yosef Mishkovski / David Mishkubski	163
Krynki Melamdin / Betzalel (Alter) Patshebutski	164
Two Reb Shmuels	164
Reb Shmuel “der Rebetsin's”	165
Reb Shmuel Glembutski / Yishie Drayzi	165

Our Shtetl Krinik (pages 175 - 188)
From my childhood year / Beilke Shuster - Greenstein	175
Krinik / Avrom Soyfer	176
The weekday Krinik / Shmuel Geler	180
On a market day	181
The dear Sabbath comes	183
Friday evening	184
Baruch Vladek visits the eternal light / Daniel Charney	185
The “Skif” / Hershel Zakheim	186
From the Krinki “Hakhalutz” / Shmuel Herbarem-Krupnik	187
A summary	188

Krinik in the Past: From the Distant Past (pages 193-203)
From my Contact with Krynik and Krynkers / Yehazkel Katyk	193
Krynker Thieves	193
David Moreynu	193
Yosel Lieder	195
Reb Yosele Hatzadik (what people said) / Issy Drayzik	195
From The Weekly Portion “Krinker Revolutionaries” I See Everything Again (a poem) / Yosel Cohen	196
My First Master / A. M. Weinberg (Meshal Pinkus')	197
My Journeys to Krynik / Sam Levin	199
The Attempted Assasination of a Manufacturer / Betzalel (Alter) Potchebutski / Nachum Anschel Knischynski	200
“Niomke Anarchist” (As told by his older brother) / Lipa Friedman	201
Krynker “Revolutionaries” Who Went Abroad / Betzalel (Alter) Patchebutzki	202
Socialist Activities of a Proletarian High School Student / Sarah Fel-Yellin	202
The Great Fire	203
A Worker's Reading Circle	203

Description and memories (pages 204-221)
My Kavkaz (mountain) / Wolf Ekstein	204
Our shtetl in the past / Avram Miller	205
The waters in Krinik	205
The market place and the streets	206
Count Varion stacks tree bark for Krinik	206
A cloud burst	206
The tanneries in the past	207
The artisans	207
Nice citizens, Maggids, Hassidim, Cantors	208
From the respected citizen of the community	208
Types from among the “common people”	208
Triple storied names	209
The pastimes of the children	209
During the reconstruction of Krinik	209
Mentally ill, dark souls (underworld)	210
Dark “souls”	210
Krinker healers - doctors	210
Pharmacists and midwives	211
Healers, exorcists and other healers	211
Something more about a Polish doctor / D. Selkof	211
Krinik Of My Memories / Berl Zakon (Belartzer)	213
Krinker Manufacturers	213
Fires	214
Great men of the Torah	214
Luminous figures	215
Special common people	215
Remember / Moishe Weinberg (Pinkes)	216

The Krinki life-style
Not a fanatical Community / Berl Zakon (Belartzer)	217
The Sabbath and High Holidays; The Holy Sabbath	217
Days of Awe	218
Sukes	218
Hanukah and Purim	219
The dear Passover	219
Shavuos	219
Tishebov	219
“Linat Hazedek”	219
The mentally ill, confused people, and nicknames / Betzalel Patschebutski	220
A disturbed person	220
Seasonal disturbed people	220
An Exorcist	220
Nicknames	220
Nicknames according to Chaim-Opstam	221
An error / A. Fridenstein	221

Notices and Lists (pages 223-224)
Yiddish names of the Krinik streets	223
Names of regions	223
Jews on the Krynki Town Council	223
Dedication of the “Public Heder”	223
“Krinker Vakhnshrift”	223
“Funken”	223
“The young revolutionaries”	223
A book about Krynki and Krynkers	224
Investigator, man of letters and world scientist – a Krynker	224

At the outbreak of the Storm (pages 231-234)
Jews in Krinki under Soviet reign / Koshnir Alihou and Fride Zelkin	231
The beginning of WWII / Bielke Shuster-Greenstein	232
On the eve of Russian invasion / Abraham Soyfer	233
Under the reign of the Red Army / B. Shuster-Greenstein	233

Destruction and heroism. (pages 263-318)
A dream (a song) / Sarah Fel-Yelin	263
The Cataclysm - Nazi Germany Attacks Russia / Avram Soyfer	264
The Downfall Of The Jewish Community Of Krynki / Lola Wolf-Resnik	264
The Jewish Quarter Is Bombed And Destroyed	264
The Mass Murder At The Town Pastures	265
“Better We Should Be Sacrificed For The Sake Of The Town Rather Than The Town Be Sacrificed For Us”	265
The Polish Anti-Semites Take Revenge On The Jews	266
Edicts And Persecutions	266
We Are Closed Up In A Ghetto	266
The Judenrat	267
Life And Scenes Of The Krynki Ghetto	267
Jew-Baiting And Murders	269
The “Twenty Men Action”	269
The Murderous Sergeant	270
Hunger And Epidemics	270
The Pre-Passover Action	270
Brestivitzer Jews Are Transferred To Krynki	271
The Ghetto Is Divided	271
The Liquidation Of The Ghetto	271
The Work Camp And It's Liquidation	272
In the Ghetto / Abraham Soyfer	273
Deterioration and Overcrowding	273
Bloody Friday	274
“One Should Escape to the Forests”	274
The Nazi Murderers and their Polish Collaborators / Chaim Weiner	275
The Liquidation of the Ghetto / Abraham Soyfer	275
The Scroll Of Kelbasin / Dov Rabin	277
The Chief Murderer and his “Court Sentence”	277
Rintzler's Hell	277
The Struggle For Survival / Feivel Wolf	279
Early Tribulations	279
And It Began Like This	280
In The Krynki Ghetto	281
The Massacre Before Passover	282
Before The Destruction	282
Inside The Kelbasin Camp	284
In Rinzler's Hell	284
On The Way To Death	286
Do Not Forget, Remember! (poem) / Chaim Sheinberg	288
After the Departure for Treblinka / Feivel Wolf	289
In the Grodno Ghetto	292
The Factory-Camp / Abraham Sofer	293
The Last Road	295
Jumping From the Death Train and Arriving in Bialystok / Dr. Ts. D.	297
In Auschwitz / Abraham Sofer	298
With Krynki Jews in Birkenau	298
Our First Victims in the “Work” Camp	299
Weekly Torah Readings “Canada”	300
The Krynki Mutual Aid	300
The Krynki Girl	301
The Crematoria Are Burning	302
Let Us Blow Up the Crematoria!	303
Shlomoh Avnet Killed in the Battle	303
Struggling & Wandering / Feivel Wolf	305
The “Big Action” (Slaughter) in Grodno	305
Escaping from Grodno	306
Wandering – Homeless	307
My Brother Leaves	310
I Join the Partisans	311
Krynki Partisans / DDTs”D	312
More about Moshe Slapak and his Krynki partisan group / Shmuel Geler	313
Partisans and Krynki fighters; Jews and their unity	315
A Krinker “organizes” a Passover Seder in a German concentration camp	316
Exhumation of the Krinki martyrs / Shmuel Wolf and Heschel Eizen	317
The roster of the victims. The victims of the bloody Passover-eve	318
On the Ruins of Jewish Krinki: My Shtetel, Krinki / Sarah Fel-Yelin	318

After the Holocaust (pages 322-325)
On the ruins of the Jewish Krinek / Baylka Shuster-Greenstein	322
On the cemetery of our home town / Sarah Fel-Yelin	322
On our ruins. My last visit / Benedict Nisht	323

Necrology	328
They Fell for the Defense of Israel's Birth	333
Yisrael Korngold
Tuvia Gendler
Yehuda Zhack	334
Nakhum Nisht
Ya'ir Friedman	335
Yitskhak Khefer
Monument On The Field Of Ashes At Treblinka	338
Perpetuating And Remembering	339
Krynker Yizkor Committee	340
This Is How We Began	342
A Children's House In The Name Of Our Murdered Community	343
Pictures	344
Our Written Grave Stone	346
A Memorial Book about the Destruction of Krynik	347
Memorial Services For the Krynker Martyrs	348
Krynkers Around The World (Pictures)	350
The Final Word	361
In Conclusion	370
After The Book Was Completed	371
More Names Of Krynker Fighters Who Perished	371
Personalities (Pictures)	372
Organized Community Events	373
Krynki Today … (April 1967)	373

Krynki Map
Synagogues in Krynki
Cemetery in Krynki

Translated by Dora Rytman and Judie Goldstein