[Page 362]

Serial	Last Name	First Name	Father	Mother	Hday	Hmo	Hyr	Day	Mont	Year	Interred At
2	Aloni (Rudnick)	Bruriah	Rabbi Joseph		27	Tevet	5728	28	January	1968	Tel-Aviv
3	Baranchik	David	Joseph	Gitt'l	7	Elul	5708	11	September	1948	Hadera
4	Baranchik (Zlocowsky)	Chaya-Sarah	Joseph	Feiga	18	Tevet	5714	24	December	1953	Hadera
9	Feigin (Halperin)	Chana	Israel	Rachel	15	Iyyar	5710	2	May	1950	Kfar-Az”R
1	Itzkowitz	Rabbi Shmuel-Joseph	Noah-Zalman	Leah	3	Adar II	5704	27	February	1944	Hadera
10	Kamenetzky	Issachar	Chaim-Noah	Rachel	7	Shevat	5724	21	January	1964	Jerusalem
11	Kaufman	Chana	Mordechai	Hinde	28	Tevet	5726	20	January	1966	Pars-Chana
13	Krasnsoelsky	Baruch	Gabriel	Rash'keh	5	Tevet	5714	11	December	1953	Kfar-Saba
12	Kusielewicz	Yehuda	Zalman	Gitt'l	14	Adar I	5719	22	February	1959	Ness-Tziona
8	Lejzorowicz	Szprinza	Chaim	Bluma	1	Av	5716	9	July	1956	Akko
5	Wismonsky	Shlomo	Rabbi Moshe-Dov		24	Tammuz	5722	26	July	1962	Jerusalem
7	Yosselewicz	Zalman	Abraham	Zelda	28	Heshvan	5728	1	December	1967	Jerusalem
6	Zlocowsky	Israel	Hirsch-Zvi	Rachel	14	Adar I	5727	24	February	1967	Netanya

[Page 363]

During a Memorial Gathering of the Belica Émigrés in Israel in the synagogue named for the Martyrs and Ghetto Fighters in Netanya

Sitting from the right: The Poet, Y. Feigin (author of the poem ‘Tefila BaYa'ar on P. 239), his wife Chana, and her brother Nachman of the family of R' Israel Halperin; Behind them: Their Sister Sarah, and her husband (Ligomsky)

From the left: Leah Garberowicz-Halperin (arrived in Israel after the Holocaust) Beside her Father R' Israel Halperin and his grandson Abraham'l

During a Gathering of Belica Halutzim in 1934 in Hadera

During the visit to Israel by Shmuel Shimonowicz and his wife from the United States

For most of those people from Belica who survived, the goal was to reach the Land of Israel, and only very few turned to try and go to the United States, if they had relatives there. Despite the fact that the circumstances of the settled members of our shtetl in Israel was distressed, the first aid that was given to the first of those who arrived here – was from the hearts of brethren, with the wishes to get assimilated as quickly

[Page 364]

as possible. At the same time, in Israel, we became aware of the establishment of two assistance committees of the Belica émigrés in the United States (one of them headed by Zalman Rubin, and the second by – Sarah Kaplan). In the spirit of trying to unify the efforts, and the good will to centralize the activities, a united action committee was established, whose goal was to deal with the new arrivals from our shtetl, and to provide them with assistance on a joint basis with these American committees that were named above, who began to send us financial aid for the olim. The members of the action committee were: R' Shmuel-Joseph Itzkowitz, Dov Kaufman, Dov Grodinsky, and Zerakh Itzkowitz.

During the years 1948-1950 most of the surviving individuals who were scions of Belica, arrived in Israel, and they settled themselves in different areas and branches. Out of the need for assistance, previously mentioned, and after the details of the destruction of the community of Belica became clarified in the fullness of time, and a list of all its martyrs had been compiled, who had not had the privilege of receiving a proper Jewish burial, the idea arose to publish a ‘Yizkor Book’ to preserve their memory. Therefore, in one of the meetings of the previously mentioned action committee (after the Passover holiday of 1952), to which Issachar Kamenetzky and Israel Zlocowsky were also invited, it was decided that: An annual memorial meeting would be held by the Belica émigrés in Israel, on 23 Av, which was the day the Zhetl ghetto was liquidated, and where many Belica Jews were exterminated. At that same meeting, it was also decided to establish a ‘Book Committee’ whose mission would be to encourage all friends to put down their memories on paper, and to gather material for a book, and afterwards to

[Page 365]

assemble and edit it, in anticipation of publishing it.

At the same time, a detailed list of the martyrs of out shtetl, along with indications of dates and places where they died, was prepared by the survivor from our shtetl, Yaakov ben Israel-Meiram Kremen. Since it became clear that the publication of this book would take a lot of time, because of the difficulty in preparing the material and the raising of the needed resources, it was decided, for the time being, to publicize the previously mention list, in a memorial ledger and in this ledger, to also incorporate the names and addresses of all the émigrés from Belica in Israel.

At every one of the annual memorial meetings afterwards, the questions concerning issues surrounding the production of the book were raised: the question of what language in which to publish it, questions regarding the type of content, and also the financial questions, etc. It was decided – part of the book would be printed in Hebrew, part in Yiddish, and with an English introduction. Issachar Kamenetzky took on the role of centralizing all the material, to edit it, and organize it. Every Belica family was assessed an annual sum of 12 IL for the book fund, and in this way, we renewed out contact with the landsleit in The United States.

In order to encourage the work of gathering the material, and the writing of memoirs, and to accelerate the financial work, the Book Committee was expanded, and the following were added to it: Zerakh Itzkowitz, Dov Grodinsky, Israel Zlocowsky, Chaim Yosselewicz, Abraham Maggid, Elazar-Meir Savitzky^[1], Herzl Sokolowsky, Dov Kaufman, Issachar Kamenetzky, Yaakov Kremen, Zerakh Kremen.

We especially need to underscore the efforts of Issachar Kamenetzky ז”ל, who worked and labored to assemble material, edited and organized the first of the drafts for the publication of the book, as well as the efforts of Israel Zlocowsky ז”ל, who did not stint in giving of his energy and time, for the collection of lists and pictures from the Belica people in the entire country.

In a similar manner, we must recognize as praiseworthy, the efforts of out landsleit in The United States, at the head of which was Mr. Shimon Baker (Buczkowsky) who gave not only of their time and energy to hasten the publication of the book, but also provided writings, developed lists of pictures, donated and helped gather donations to assure the resources would be available for publication.

The thanks of the publication committee is extended to all of those who participated in the collection and organization of the material, and in the publication of book. May this Memorial Book be a memorial pillar to all the martyrs of our community and shtetl, Belica, whose Jewish world was destroyed, and will never rise again.

Translator's Footnote

1. The text shuttles back and forth, but seems to favor Eliezer-Meir as his correct name. Return

  Belitsa, Belarus     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 15 May 2023 by JH