p. 8
Introduction
a.
For two score years, we yearned to create – in the form of a
megilah book – a memorial, a
Yad Vashem, for our sacred Radomsk
kehile (community), which is destroyed and exists no more. After a long time, full of
temptations and difficulties, we have the honor of finishing this [sacred]
book. We deliver it into the hands of our fellow townspeople in the land of
Israel and outside, and into the hands of the scholars of the Holocaust period.
This book is the highest achievement of our
landsmanschaft in its efforts to immortalize the memory of the martyrs of our city, an
effervescent Jewish city, which drew its magnificent spiritual pride from the
Tiferes (Magnificent) Shlomoh on one side and from Zionism and socialist progress on the other side.
Radomsk, in comparison with Piotrkow, was a new
kehile, with its genesis at the beginning of the previous century (until then Jews
were not permitted to live in Radomsk). However, Radomsk, in the course of her
existence, was one of the most prominent Jewish communities in Poland, popular
in the world of Hasidism and noted for a great love of Zion.
Thanks to the Radomsker Dynasty, which began during the time of
Tiferes Shlomoh, the first Radomsker Rebbe, our
shtetl was transformed into a great Hasidic center even before the First World War.
Hasidim by the hundreds would be drawn to Radomsk every
Shabbos throughout the year, and thousands for
yom-tovim (religious holidays) and other holy days.
The Radomsker Jews became well known because of their religious ecstasy for the
idea of emigration to
Eretz-Yizroel, at the end of the century. This religious ecstasy drew its source from
Tiferes Shlomoh's strong love of the Holy Land. Incidentally, this was strongly
expressed by the emigration of his daughter Rivkah and his son-in-law Yehieil
to
Eretz-Yizroel and their settling in Safed. Emigration to
Eretz-Yizroel embraced our city at all times. Wide circles of the religious observant and
'free thinkers,' Zionists and non-Zionists, were drawn to the land, until the
coming of the catastrophic times. The majority of the survivors of our
destroyed
kehile, immediately after the Second World War, went to
Eretz-Yizroel. This again confirmed the customary view from even before the war, that
Radomsk was one of the Zionist cities in Poland, and they fulfilled the Zionist
commandment of emigration. We were sure that hundreds of our fellow townsmen
escaped from Hitler's annihilation thanks to this, and personally brought near
the redemption of the land, and grew to be at home here. They fought in the war
before the liberation from the foreign yoke and helped strengthen and
invigorate the Jewish population in Palestine.
b.
Because of the great many difficulties in publishing this book, it was decided
that it should be supported, but that we would dwell upon the two essentials.
The idea for publishing a Yizkor Book was initiated by our dear Chaim Goldberg,
of blessed memory. He committed himself to this holy work immediately with the
end of the Second World War when the enormous tragedy for European Jewry and
the scope of the extermination of the Jews of Poland was revealed to us and it
became clear to us that only a few
p. 9
of the Jews of Radomsk remained alive. Right then, Chaim Goldberg was the first
among us to help the survivors of the calamity and simultaneously he began to
immortalize the memory of the
kehile, which had been destroyed. He began to receive the details about everything
that had happened to our townspeople during the war from the surviving
Radomsker Jews who arrived in [Israel]. Thus was born his idea for publishing a
book with a broad scope, which would entrust to the [future] generations the
multifaceted history of the Radomsker
kehile.
During a meeting of Radomskers at the beginning of 1948 in the apartment of our
townsman the writer and activist Dovid Klei, of blessed memory, the manner of
collecting the material was decided. A general plan for the book was drafted,
too (Dovid Klei died a short time after the meeting and did not have the honor
of being the editor of the book). However the practical work of collecting the
material for a comprehensive book stretched out for many years and required an
inconceivable super-human effort. At the start, we did not have any historical
sources about Radomsk, nor any newspapers or
kehile-pinkeysim (community record books or registers). Then in 1963, an opportunity became
available to copy informative and educational journalistic material from the
collection of the weekly newspaper
Undzer Zeitung ('Our Newspaper') in the National Library at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It
had been published in the years 1925-1927 in Piotrkow and Radomsk. We used the
material to complement the articles about the social and economic life of the
Jews in Radomsk during the [first] twenty years of the century. However, the
reconstruction of the details of
kehile life on the eve of the Holocaust (in the thirties) was done by the townspeople
alone, from memory.
While preparing the material, we did not spare any effort to [record] the
memories of all of the survivors with all of the distinct diversity that
characterized our community. Particular attention was given to the history of
the 'Radomsker Dynasty' and the institutions, parties and youth organizations,
which, directly and indirectly, influenced our Jewish life in Radomsk. With
[maximum] effort, we succeeded in collecting from our townspeople, the few
survivors of the catastrophe spread all over the world, the documentary
material about the horrible Hitler era. Chaim Goldberg collected and assembled
this material for almost twelve years, and as he was not destined to complete
this work, his successors, Yehuda Liberman and his assistants, made an
extensive effort to finish.
The second difficulty in publishing this book was on the financial side. In
1958, a critical situation occurred, which put into question the realization of
publication. Due to a lack of money, work [on the book] was discontinued. It
was only at the end of 1959, after an internal reorganization, that a general
solicitation among the
landsleit in Israel and the Diaspora was announced. Then, the work was renewed. Despite
the positive response to the idea of a general solicitation by the
landsleit in New York, Los Angeles, Buenos-Aires and Paris, [which encouraged us,] the
collection of contributions lasted for years.
In spite of all the difficulties that were encountered by Chaim Goldberg, of
blessed memory, and his successor, Yehuda Liberman, and several other
townspeople who were dedicated to the project heart and soul, we can underline
with satisfaction, that everything that was necessary was done in order to
carry out the plan for the book as it was drafted twenty years earlier. In
fact, it was surpassed in certain ways. And let
p. 10
the fact be emphasized that some one hundred collaborators, most of them
townspeople, of all strata and of different ages, took part in [creating] the
Yizkor Book.
c.
The material in the book is presented in two languages, Hebrew and Yiddish,
just as the collaborators originally wrote it (certain material was translated
and it appears in the book in both languages). Among the authors and writers
were those who raised their writing to a high literary level. All, in general,
made an effort to bring to the world not just the factual realities as they
were, but also the deep feelings of experiences, which are bound up with the
past in the burden of sorrow and sadness that we carry in our hearts in
everlasting memory of the martyrs of our
kehile.
Living and dead go arm-in-arm in this book. Nevertheless, one expressly sees
the boundary, which divides two parallel compilations in regard to the number
of chapters and book pages.
The first eight chapters (approximately 290 pages) comprise the history of our
city and of the 'Radomsker Dynasty.' It describes the way of life from the
near and distant past, reflects the economic and social life, gives an overview
of the political parties, youth organizations, social and charitable
organizations, cultural and educational undertakings, remembers the writers and
artists born in Radomsk or who had an effect there, and all of this, from the
beginning of the seventeenth century until the outbreak of the Second World War
in 1939. It should be remembered in relation to the compilation the outstanding
part of Dr. Tzvi-Mair Rabinowitch, the son of the Plawner rebbe and the
grandson of the
Tiferes Shlomoh, lecturer at Bar-Alon and Tel Aviv Universities, whose two studies of
the history of Radomsk and of the Radomsker Dynasty adorn the first two
chapters of the book (also present are other smaller treatises written by T.Z.
Rabinowitch in connection with the histories of
shtetlech
and Hasidic courts in the vicinity of Radomsk in the twelfth chapter of the
book). We should also mention the [participation in the] compilation
of Chaim Goldberg, Yitzhak and Yehezkeil Grosman, Sarah Hamer-Jaklin, Comrade
Yehieil Weinberg, Shlomoh Zeura, Yehuda Liberman, Yehieil Poznanski, Dovid
Koniecpoler, Dovid Kroize, Shlomoh Krakowski. Each of them adapted central
themes.
The compilation of eyewitness testimony and descriptions of the Holocaust era
and acts of revenge, and the writings and pictures in connection with
perpetuating the memory of our martyrs comprises chapters nine, ten, eleven and
twelve (approximately 200 pages), including the chapter about the area around
Radomsk. It gives a reflection of life in our community in the last years of
its existence and in the years of its destruction. It provides material, too,
for investigatory work about the destruction of Polish Jewry, in general. In
the compilation, the works “The
Megillah of Suffering” written by Dr. Simkha Hampel and Issakhar Minski, “The
Day Book of Horror” of Miriam Khaszczewacki and “The Glowing
Coals” from the literary [legacy] of Tovia Borzykowski, must be
emphasized, along with all of the other descriptions of those saved from death,
whose testimonies and descriptions are concentrated in the compilation.
The last three chapters of the book are the natural links that complete
the interrupted life chain of the Jews in the city of Radomsk, the chain that
was cherished in the world, and was forged anew in the Land of Israel. The
compilation also contains records, descriptions and pictures to express clearly
the deep love of the basic theme and purpose, to erect through this book an
eternal
matzeyve (headstone) and memorial for our townspeople, the martyrs of the
Hitler-annihilation and for our relatives and friends,
p. 11
Radomsker
landsleit who left the world. Their memory is cared for through us. Among the last must
particularly be remembered our townspeople in Israel, who were involved in
preparing this book, who gathered and prepared the materials for printing and
did not themselves live to see the fruit of their work. They are: Tovia
Borzykowski, Chaim Goldberg, Dovid Kroize, Shlomoh Krakowski, Tovia Rubinsztein
and B. Ymini (Karmazin), of blessed memory.
d.
We express our thanks to all those who have helped us carry out this work,
institutions and Jews in [Israel] and outside. The list is too long for us to
enumerate everyone. At the head of the list of institutions are
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem and Bet Lochome Hagetaot – Yitzhak Katznelson.
Let us remember, with appreciation, the editor of the book, Mr. L. Losh who did
everything necessary in molding the contents and the shape of the book.
A deep thanks to Mr. Aryeih Shintal (a comrade and friend of Chaim Goldberg), a
heartfelt blessing to our
landsleit Yushua Kalka, who contributed to the printing of the edition with help and
editing and Dovid Koniecpoler, who revised and put the finishing touches on
different materials. A well-done to our
landsman, the publisher and graphics [designer] Tovia Ahruni, for his professional
consultations and magnificent work.
Here should also be remembered the Moskowicz family of Buenos Aires (the
daughter of Szmul Faris of Radomsk), whose generous contribution facilitated
the publication of this book according to the original plan.
And let us bless the members of the book committee, whose names appear on the
title page of the book, who worked together in the committee during the various
eras of its existence.
e.
With the appearance of the book, we end our great undertaking to immortalize
our martyrs. In this Yizkor Book, we have erected a monument for our fathers,
mothers, children, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, comrades and
acquaintances, who were torn away from us by profane hands and who did not live
to see the rise of Israel.
We ask you dear townspeople throughout the whole world, read this book and
memorize its chapters with your children and children's children, who did not
personally know our destroyed community and its Jews. Acquaint your children
and children's children with the source from which our parents and forefathers
drew strength and power to resist all fateful calamities and hardships from
their foes in Jewish exile. Acquaint them with the creative initiative and
courage with which they excelled in deeds and with the life of individuals and
with the community of the former Radomsker Jews, as an organic part of Polish
Jewry which no longer exists. They were the same Jews, some of whom infused
with national consciousness understood the need to leave their home city in
time. They arrived in
Eretz-Yizroel and showed her all of their good qualities by creating and building, by taking
part in the
Haganah and in the war for independence and sovereignty of the Jewish land.
Let the memory of our Radomsk
kehile be protected among us and let the holy souls of our martyrs remain bound for
eternity with the coming generations who continue and strengthen [Yiddishkeit].
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