An Eternal Light: Brody, in Memoriam
(Ukraine)

50°05' / 25°09'

Translation of Ner Tamid: Yizkor leBrody

Edited by: Organization of former Brody residents in Israel, 1994



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Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Marjorie Rosenfeld



This is a translation from: Ner Tamid: Yizkor leBrody ; An Eternal Light: Brody in Memoriam;
Organization of former Brody residents in Israel, 1994.

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities. This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.

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About An Eternal Light

        The city of Brody--now in Ukraine but in Austrian Galicia in the 19th century and in Poland between the two world wars--boasted a Jewish presence for almost 400 years. A Jewish community was documented there as early as 1588 and endured until 1943, when the last Jews were deported from Brody for extermination in a Nazi death camp. A number of survivors who had miraculously escaped the Nazi death machine ended up in Israel. There, in 1955, Nathan-Michael Gelber's Toldot Yehudei Brody 1584-1943 (Brody: A History of the Jews of Brody 1584-1943) was published by Mosad HaRav Kook in Jerusalem as part of a series about towns in Europe which had been home to Jews. Meanwhile, other Brody survivors dreamed of a second book to commemorate and perpetuate their mother city. What they envisioned was a spirited collection containing historical essays, remembrances, testimonies, even poems, about what life had been like in Brody. Out of this dream was born the volume Ner Tamid: Yizkor LeBrody (An Eternal Light: Brody, in Memoriam), published by the Organization of Former Brody Residents in Israel in 1994.

Marjorie Stamm Rosenfeld

The Founders of the Organization of Former Brody and its Vicinity Residents in Israel

Uri Gasthalter Naphtali Jacob Rotmann
David Hammermann, of blessed memory Haya Shahar-Donner
Nathan Meirsohn Moshe Shalmi-Stadtmauer
Josef Parvari-Leiner, of blessed memory Haim Shmuszkin
Alexander-Olek Podmerner Mendel Singer, of blessed memory
Moshe Rosenblum, of blessed memory Anshel Stromwasser, of blessed memory

The Former Brody and its Vicinity Residents Committee

Naphtali Harash Moshe Shalmi-Stadtmauer
Hermann Lilian Raphael Shlinger-Shalev
Dov Pestes (chairman) Haim Shmuszkin
Alexander-Olek Podmerner Eliezer Tolmacz
Zipora Rom Jacob Tomashower
Haya Shahar-Donner Isaac Zohar-Zorne

The Memorial Book's Committee

David Altmann Dov Pestes
Josef Ettinger, of blessed memory Zipora Rom
Bianka Lilian Zehava Shmuszkin
Malwina Lilian-Dembinski Isaac Zohar-Zorne

The Editorial Board

Yehoshua-Shiko Mandel
Aviv Meltzer (editor-in-chief)
Josef Parvari-Leiner, of blessed memory
Sarah-Samith Shmuszkin-Rubinstein

Map of Brody
Map of Brody
(Click on the map to enlarge)

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Preface  
Yehoshu'a-Shiko Mandel 1
   
On the Image of the Brody Community  
Arieh Tartakower 11
   
Snail, Emerge from Your Shell!  
Simon Sauber 17

CHAPTER ONE: BRODY--ITS HISTORY AND JEWISH COMMUNITY

On the Start of the Jewish Settlement in Brody  
Nathan Michael Gelber,  
from his History of the Jews of Brody: “Jewish Mother  
Cities,” Vol. 6, Mosad HaRav Kook, Jerusalem [1955],  
pp. 13-14; from “Pinkas Ha'kehilot”: The Jewish Settlement  
of Brody from its Beginnings until its annihilation 23
   
Brody: “The Jerusalem of Austria”  
Nathan Michael Gelber 50
   
The Last Fire--May 23, 1867  
Adele Landau-Mises 55
   
Brody-ites in Leipzig  
A. Yehuda (Osterzetzer) 59
   
The Synagogue in Brody  
David Davidowitz  
from The Synagogues in Poland and Their Destruction,  
Mosad HaRav Kook and “Yad Va-Shem,” Jerusalem,  
1943 61

CHAPTER TWO: CULTURE AND SOCIETY

The Wise Men of the Brody Kloiz  
Rabbi J. J. Weissblum 67
   
The Rabbis of Brody of the Past 150 Years  
Meir Wunder 86
   
The Brody Singers  
Joseph Parvari (Leiner) 96
   
The Brody Singers and Their Heritage  
Dov Sadan  
from Bimah II (9-10), 1961-1962, pp. 27-33 100
   
Brody: City of Border and Immigrants  
Mendel Zinger  
from his With Joseph Hayyim Brenner to the Land  
of Israel Sixty Years Ago, Mo'etzet Po'alei Haifa, 1969,  
pp. 19-29 108
   
On the Very Close Connection of the Jews of Brody and Those  
of Volhynia  
Joseph Parvari (Leiner) 114
   
The Aliyah of the Halutzim, “Artificial Immigration” and  
Hakhshara Activities  
Mendel Zinger  
from his With Joseph Hayyim Brenner to the Land  
of Israel Sixty Years Ago, Mo'etzet Po'alei Haifa, 1969,  
pp. 29-47 117
   
The Shomer Branch on Leshniovska Street  
Sonya Katzman-Vinogradov 129
   
Jewish Brody in Its Last Decade as I Remember It  
Yitzhak Zohar (Izio Zorne) 135
   
With the Misery of Isolated Jewish Homes  
Dov Sadan (Stock)  
from his From the Childhood District, “Dvir,” Tel-Aviv,  
1938, pp. 64-74 143
   
A Women's Organization in Brody  
Bianca Lillian 150

CHAPTER THREE: TESTIMONIES TO THE HOLOCAUST

Correspondence between Salomon Bardach in the Brody Ghetto  
and his Sister-in-law Dora Bardach in Switzerland 155
   
From a Letter to the Editor  
Shmuel Stoianover and Raphael Shalev 158
   
The Last Days of the Community  
Kalman Harnik  
This report was translated from Yiddish to Hebrew  
by Yaakov Netaneli-Rotman. It is citied from Nathan  
Michael Gelber's History of the Jews of Brody: “Mother  
Cities” in Israel, Vol. 6, Mosad HaRav Kook, Jerusalem  
[1955], pp. 397-406 159
   
I Alone Survived of My Family  
Gina Lantzeter 169
   
The Warring Jewish Organization in Brody  
From the collection Underground Movements in the  
Ghettoes and the Camps, edited by B. Eisenstein, 1946,  
published by the War Archives, The Jewish Communities  
in Cracow (in Polish); and The Ghettoes' Wars  
Volume edited by Yitzhak Zukerman and Moshe Basock,  
HaKibbutz HaMeuchad, 1954, pp. 328-331 170
   
Brody in the Days of the Nazi Conquest  
Amalia Olesker Friedmann 175
   
Revenge upon the Murderer  
Hersh Pollack 180
   
In the Days of Wrath  
Vladislava Larissa Choms (one of “the world's righteous”) 185
   
Testimony  
Genya Rosenfeld-Berger 189
   
The Hand of Fate  
Pessya Loewy 191
   
In the Days of the Conquest (Diary Excerpts)  
Fanya Zorne Laufer 192
   
Brody Happenings from 1941-1943  
Malvina (Mishka) Lillian-Dembinsky 197
   
Testimony (in third person)  
Raphael Shalev (Fulu Shlinger) 202
   
Memories of Brody  
Berta Landgeuertz Miasnik 208
   
My Mother: Paula Papernik-Poliner  
Rivka Flumin 210
   
My Father, My Mother, and My Sister
Bronia Roth 212
   
Testimony  
Abraham (ben Hayyim Noah) Shapira 214
   
Two Testimonies  
Clara-Hayyah Zorne 216
   
What We Ourselves Experienced  
Hayyim and Bina Gasthalter 220

CHAPTER FOUR: REMEMBRANCES

A String of Memories  
Joseph Parvari (Leiner) 261
   
In Memory of the City of Brody--A “Mother City” in Israel  
Miriam Lieberbaum (Dishel) 271
   
In Memoriam  
Yitzhak Zorne-Zohar 273
   
Brody  
David Altman 274
   
How My Family and Rabbi Steinberg's Family Were Saved  
Ya'akov Braun 287
   
The Last “Oleh” from Brody  
Yitzhak Weltman 292
   
My Family in Brody before World War I  
Samuel Lamm 302
   
How Fortunate was I  
Hinda Wohl (Hela Tuch-Tuviel) 307
   
From My Father's House  
Naftali Harash 309
   
My Family, of Blessed Memory  
Joseph Kahana 311
   
Members of My Family and Images of Brody Preserved in My Heart  
Joseph Ettinger 313
   
There Was a Pious Man  
Ya'akov Lieberman 318
   
One Friday at Home  
Berta Kalenberg (Margulies) 320
   
My Family's Fate  
Eliezer Tolmetz 322
   
My Family's Fate  
Lea Shduel 323
   
My Family  
Lola Rotenberg-Buchan 324
   
About My Family That Is No More  
Pnina Hertzberg Lansky 326
   
Memories from My Father's House  
Hadassah Esther Nathan (Weiss) 327
   
A Visit to Brody--45 Years After . . .  
Ziporah Rom 331

CHAPTER FIVE: IMAGES AND EULOGIES

Our Teacher Nachum Okser, Brody's Janusz Korczak  
Joseph Parvari (Leiner) 341
   
A Letter from Brody  
Heinrich Adler 343
   
Through the Window (a poem)  
Hadassah Esther Nathan (Weiss) 346
   
Samuel Weiler  
Joseph Parvari (Leiner)  
An offprint from Publications of the Partisan Fighters  
Museum, Tel-Aviv, Tevet 5732--December 1971. 347
   
Alas, German Mothers! (a poem)  
Fanya Zorne 350
   
The Brody “Klezmer”  
Samuel Lamm 352
   
In Memory of My Parents Simcha and Yasse Reiser  
Shoshana Weiser 353
   
Two Episodes  
Shraga Weintraub 354
   
In Memory of Our Father Ya'akov Unreich  
Rivka Matushewicz 355
   
My Father's House (a poem)  
Fanya Zorne 356
   
Images from Brody  
Joseph Kahana 359
   
Our Father Joseph Parvari  
Uri and Elazar Parvari 360
   
Our City Brody  
Shaul Perlmutter 362
   
“Kaddish” for the Lost  
Avshalom Sion-Szmuszkin 367
   
My Friend Nunek  
Raphael (Fulu) Shalev-Shlinger 374
   
List of the “Righteousof the Nations of the World”  
Who Saved a Few of Brody's Jews 375

CHAPTER SIX: MEMORIAL PAGES

List of the Martyrs of Brody and its Environs 383
The Youth of Brody Who Fought the Nazis and Fell in the Years  
1939-1945 420
Former Brody Residents Who Passed Away in Israel 421
Former Brody Residents and Their Offspring Who Fell in Israel's  
Battles 426

ADDENDUM

We Polish Jews  
Julian Tuwim  
(In the original Polish plus Hebrew, Yiddish and English  
translations) 431

ENGLISH SECTION

Preface  
Yehoshu'a-Shiko Mandel 11*
The Jewish Settlement of Brody: From its Beginnings Until 1919  
(From “Pinkas Hakehilot”) 19*
We Polish Jews 38*
My, Zydzi Polscy 59*
Brody Town Map 59*

Map and aerial photographs of Brody  

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Contact person for this translation Marjorie Rosenfeld
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