The Book of Dembitz
(Poland)

50°03' / 21°25'

Translation of Sefer Dembitz

Edited by: D. Leibl, Association of former residents of Debica

Published in Tel Aviv, 1964 (Hebrew, 296 pages)

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Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Marc Seidenfeld

Our sincere appreciation to Mayer Goldman and Menachem Ofer, of the Dembica Landmanshaft in Israel,
for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Sefer Dembitz (The Book of Dembitz), ed. by D. Leibl,
Association of former residents of Debica, Tel Aviv, 1964 (Hebrew, 296 page).

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.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification. JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions. Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

The Book of Dembitz

{Page 4}

This book was published through the efforts of the organization of Dembitz emigres in Israel, which was founded in 5711 (1950-1951). The members are: Ruchama Bornstein, Yehuda Gruenspan, Fruma Grosman (Salomon), Pinchas Sommer, Aka (Rivka) Zilbershatz, Asher Salomon, Yitzchak Freiman, Rivka Shenker, Matilda Siedlisker, Reuven Siedlisker, Chaim Shneps organized by Daniel Leibel.

“The Book of Dembitz” attempts to portray the city as it was without any ideological censorship. It does not claim to exhaust the task, it is sufficient if it succeeds in establishing a memorial for our birthplace and for the Jewish life that was cut off by the enemy.

The essays and lists are in Hebrew or Yiddish, in whichever language they were originally written, with the exception of the chapter on the history of the community at the beginning, and the chapter on the Holocaust at the end, which appear both in Hebrew and Yiddish.

Published by “Achdut” company, Tel Aviv.

{Page 202}

Translation from English to Polish

Translated by Ireneusz Socha

Donated by Jacek Dymitrowski

Translated by Jerrold Landau

[Yiddish articles are marked with a star*]

Preface / Daniel Leibel		5
History of the Jews of Dembitz / Dr. N. M. Gelber		9
History of the Jews in Dembitz* / Dr. N. M. Gelber		15


Until the First World War		25
The city and its Rabbis		27
Enlightenment and Zionism		33
The Workers' Organization		36

Memories as Things Were		41
Jews in Local Government *		41
Elections to Parliament *		42
It Once Was / Ruchama *		43
The Beginning / Naftali Shnier *		47
Dembitzer Jews / Mendel Wilner *		49
Reb Shlomo Mordkovitch* / Naftali Shnier		53
Buffoons / N. Sh. *		53
The Jewish Heart *		55
Theater Plays *		55
The Baking of Matza Shmura / Yehuda Pechter		56
Portraits from Dembitz / Daniel Leibel *		57
In Shkola *		58
Rabbi Reb Reuven's Sabbaths *		57
By The Ice *		59
Two Worlds *		60
The Barracks *		62
Nicknames *		62


Images (I)		64
Yitzchak Laufbahn		65
The Modest One / Yosef Shprintzak of blessed memory		66
Yehuda Bornstein		66
On the Line of “Hashachar” / Dov Sadan		68


Between Two World Wars		74
War and Exile		75
Destruction and Rebuilding *		75
The First Elections after the War		77
A Community under Government Scrutiny		78
Assistance and Charity		79
The Assistance of Poor and Sick		79
The Orphanage and Assistance for Brides		81
The Final Civic Elections		82


Images (II)		86
Bendet Fett / R. B. D. L. *		87
Dr. Pinchas Laufbahn / Yitzchak Freiman		88
Tzvi Wolf / R. B. *		89
Shemaya Widerspan		90
Ben-Tzion Widerspan / A. Haber		90
Shimon Grünspan / Y. Bar-Yitzchak		91
Rivka Diament / Henia Grin-Heistein		92


Youth Movements		94
Debora / Rivka Faust		95
Hanoar Hatzioni / Aka Zilbershatz, Pinchas Sommer		96
Young Mizrachi / Asher Salomon		105
The Shomer Hadati Youth Movement / Moshe Sarid, Siedlisker		108
“Gordonia” / Yehuda Grünspan		110
Young Borochov / Manya Grünspan		112
The “Bar Kochba” Sport Organization		114


The Field of Education		118
The Field of Education		119
The Hebrew School / Avraham Weinberg		119
My Hebrew Schools / Manya Grünspan		123
Meir Stieglitz of blessed memory		124
Beis Yaakov / P. Salomon-Grosman		124


Recognition of Awakenings		126
Awakenings in an Alien Land / Yehuda Grünspan		127
	A) From the Early Days	127
	B) In the Cheder	128
	C) In School and Gymnasia	133
From My Memories / Edna Perelberg		137


The Holocaust		141
The Murder of the Jews of Dembitz / Reuven Siedlisker-Sarid		141
The Murder of the Jews of Dembitz *		148
Jumping off the Train to Belzec / Bronia Oling-Burg *		156
22 Months Hiding with the Gentiles / Perel Faust of blessed memory *		159
One Was Saved / Ben Steinhauer *		162
Thus were they Murdered / P. F. *		163
Reb Israel Leib Frankel / Moshe Unger (Jacob) *		165
A Bitter Lament / Yehuda Gruenspan		168
Jumping off the Train ... / Bronia Oling-Burg		170
22 Months Hiding with the Gentiles / Perel Faust		173
One Was Saved... / Ben Steinhauer		175
From Among the Righteous Gentiles		175
The Cradle of our Youth / Ruchama Bornstein *		177
The Terebinth of Weeping		183


List of Martyrs of Dembitz		185
Photographs		203

Addendum
Holocaust Righteous Gentiles Recognized by Debica

Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page Debica, at Shtetlinks

Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field
Contact person for this translation Marc Seidenfeld
This web page created by Martin Kessel and