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Editor: Shimon Kantz
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| David Erlich | Moshe Vald | |
| Chayim-Pinchas Blaf | Efrayim Lerner | |
| Yosef Boym | Yosef Nudel | |
| Yisrael Hastik | Eli Nudel | |
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| “Because of these I weep, my eyes overflow with tears…”[1] |
Translator's footnote:
The souls of the millions of our brothers and sisters who were cut off from the land of the living, the entire Jewish community that was taken to the slaughter and whose ashes were dispersed throughout the world; the tortured and the heroic, those who were killed in battle; those who raised the banner of revolt and sanctified the name of the Lord as they fought and fell between the walls of the burning ghettos; those who joined the ranks of the partisans in the forests and battle fronts throughout Europe, as they dreamed of settling in the ancestral homeland, of better humans and of the redemption of the people of Israel. May God remember and have compassion on the ashes of the Jewish victims, who sanctified the name of God by their deaths, who were taken in masses to the gas chambers and the crematoriums, and their embers were scattered in the fields as fertilizer, erasing all trace and memory of their lives and achievements on earth. May God remember and bind up in the bundle of eternal life the community of Grabowiec, together with the hundreds and thousands of Jewish communities in the European Diaspora, who were cut down and uprooted in the midst of their lives, young and old alike, fathers and children, mothers and infants, teachers and students. May God remember all those who were killed, and slaughtered, and burned, and suffocated, and died by cruel and unnatural means during the years of terror 1940-1945, for the sole crime of being part of the Jewish people, descendants of Isaac and Jacob. We will remember and mourn them, using the sacred letters they used when they prayed.
We will remember, we will never forget! |
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| An event commemorating the martyrs of Grabowiec on the annual anniversary, 24 Sivan |
This memorial book is also a cry that will never go silent and will never cease to demand revenge for the blood spilled on the soil of Poland. The role, and mission, of this book is not only to recall memories, to create a memorial to those who died sanctifying the name of God, and to light an eternal flame commemorating those sacred, pure souls, but also to sound a demand written in blood and fire:
Remember what Amalek did to you![1]
This includes the Amaleks of the 20th century, whose hands are bloodstained, and who continue their hatred of Jews to this day.
Our sorrow is limitless, and there is no consolation. Our hearts quiver with pain whenever we recall life in our Jewish community, and the spiritual and ethical values that have disappeared been robbed, or incinerated. We will treasure them in our hearts and keep them in our memories in order to transmit them to future generations. In this way, we sanctify the memory of our martyrs and bind them in the bundle of our nation's life as represented in this volume.
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Judge of widows and orphans, we entreat you not to remain silent and restrained in the face of the blood of Jews, which has spilled like water. Provide true rest on the wings of the Divine Presence amongst the holy and pure ones who shine as brightly as the brilliance of the sky, to the souls of the martyrs of
Men, women, boys, and girls, who were killed, slaughtered, burned, suffocated, and buried alive, the holy and pure ones, and bind their souls up in the bundle of life.
Earth, do not cover their blood. |
Translator's footnote:
This book allows us to commune with the sacred memory of our dear townspeople, who were exterminated so horrifically that no term can describe it. We, the survivors of the pyre, tremble as we set out to memorialize it. The chain of Jewish life in Grabowiec was unbroken for many generations. A multifaceted Jewish culture developed and rooted itself there. We have tried to collect materials to weave a tapestry of that Jewish life, which was rich in work and creativity, material as well as spiritual.
We, the few survivors of Grabowiec who have been merited to join those rebuilding the ancestral homeland in the State of Israel, felt that we needed to fulfill our sacred duty and create a memorial to our community. We labored ceaselessly until this work was done.
It is a labor of sanctity, sorrow, and pain.
None of those who were born in our home town of Grabowiec ever imagined that the day would come
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when we would have to compose a book containing thoughts and memories of our community, which was cut down and cruelly uprooted by the greatest enemy and murderer ever to attack the Jewish people.
We have tried to present faithful information about things as they were and as we remember them. Future generations will find first-hand accounts that reflect life before the terrible destruction that wiped out all trace of Jewish life in the town.
May this be an eternal flame commemorating our innocent martyrs, a monument to the community that was destroyed and decimated.
May it stand as an abiding memorial forever.
May His great name be exalted and sanctified…[1]
We natives of Grabowiec bear the sacred duty of creating a monument to our community, which was rich in traditional as well as modern learning, including the use of modern Hebrew. It contained Jewish institutions that contributed to vibrant Jewish life. After its destruction, we natives of Grabowiec all over the world wanted to create a monument to our community that would collect and preserve our memories forever. We were impelled not only by nostalgia but also by the thought of our children, wanting them to know the origins and roots of their ancestors so that they might transmit the knowledge to future generations.
We carried out historical research, but also wanted to present community life through the reminiscences, testaments, impressions, and experiences of those who lived and were active in our community and its cultural, social, and economic life. We therefore approached as many people as possible, requesting their impressions. It is hardly surprising, then, that there are some repetitions of reports about people or matters; these may present different viewpoints or approaches. We were especially diligent about commemorating those who had contributed to the community and its institutions. For lack of space, we did not aspire to create comprehensive monographs about each and every person or matter.
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For the natives of Grabowiec, it was only natural to use both Hebrew and Yiddish in our book; the community lived and created in both languages. Both languages were heard at home, on the street, in youth groups and in school, in the traditional cheyder and the yeshiva. We therefore considered it natural to use both languages in this memorial book, which we intended as a description of life as it was. We usually gave the writers license to speak and write in their own languages. We realize that there is much more to say about our community, its members and institutions, and we hope that future contributions will complete the depiction of the profoundly Jewish community that was destroyed by the Nazi enemy.
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Standing, right to left: Yosef Nudel, Yisrael Hustik, David Erlich, Moshe Vald, and Eliyahu Nudel |
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The idea of publishing a memorial book for our decimated community came up years ago in our Grabowiec native group in Israel.[3] We realized that generations of Jews and Jewish culture had left behind only mass graves, without even a gravestone or the slightest memorial to cry out to the world about the horrific tragedy that had befallen our Jewish town. Each survivor's heart was burdened by the duty of setting up a monument to our unforgettable martyrs. The idea kept nagging at us. Publishing a memorial book for our destroyed community would consist of more than printed, mute words; it would give voice to the souls of the martyrs. Each of us hears these inner voices crying out, “Remember! Do not forget us!”
However, as we started to assemble the necessary financial means, we became aware of the unusual difficulties such a project would face. That was when our fellow native Chayim Pinches Blaf came to us with the warm response of the Grabowiec natives in America. Their financial help and enthusiastic devotion encouraged us, and the plan to publish a Memorial Book gradually became a reality. We began to write materials, in addition to gathering it. Our committee was headed by Leybush Golomb; noteworthy among the other participants of the Book Committee were David Ben-Zvi Erlich, Moshe Vald, Yisrael Hastik, Efrayim Lerner, Yosef Boym, and others. The Committee's goal was to concentrate all our powers and attention to publish a reminder for future generations that would reflect the beautiful Jewish way of life in our town.
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The pages of this historic, documentary book, written by dozens of Grabowiec natives living in Israel and the United States, preserve for all eternity the life and murder of the Jewish community of our town. The Jews of Grabowiec led an intensive social life, and created social institutions, and charity organizations. Trade and artisanship provided their livelihood. Over the centuries, they built their homes and developed a dynamic life. As we unfurl the scroll of our destroyed community, complete with numbers, dates, and historical events, the figures of our grandfathers and more distant ancestors begin to appear. We, their descendants, join hands with them, like a bridge over the ages. We do not want to neglect any of the historical periods or any important historical event. We need to know everything and remember it. Our children and grandchildren, generation after generation, will use this book and through it – the beautiful qualities of our ancestors, as well as the suffering that they endured, yet their faith remained as steadfast as it had from the very first moments of Jewish life in Grabowiec, through all the later generations, and down to their final destruction. This monument that we are building is meant to memorialize each bright moment during the generations of Jewish life in the town, as well as their dark moments. We have done everything in our power to enrich the Grabowiec Memorial Book and make it worthy of its contents, including its esthetics and external form.
We stand at the side of this special memorial, bowing our heads and wringing our hands, as we commune with the sacred memory of the martyrs.
Let the cry rising from these pages never be stilled and continue to sound the demand down the generations.
Translator's footnotes:
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