Konin, Poland

Memorial Book Konin
(Konin, Poland)

52°13' / 18°16'

Translation of
Kehilat Konin be-ferihata u-ve-hurbana

Editor: M. Gelbart

Published in Tel Aviv 1968

Acknowledgments

Our sincere appreciation to Genia Hollander
for typing up the English text to facilitate its addition to this project.

This is a translation of: Kehilat Konin be-ferihata u-ve-hurbana (Memorial book Konin),
Editor: M. Gelbart, Assoc. of Konin Jews in Israel, Published: Tel Aviv 1968 (H,Y, E 796 pages)

Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Konin

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fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
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Translated by Yocheved Klausner

YIDDISH

The Old Home
History of the town	Z. Pencherski	19
The history of the Jews in Konin	Zvi Ozerowitz	27
The cemetery	Zvi Ozerowitz	45

Rabbis
Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Amsterdam z”l	Zvi Ozerowitz	69
Rabbi Zvi Bijonski	Nathan Bijonski	80
“Interregnum” of rabbis		83
Rabbi Yakov Lifschitz z”l	A. Tz.	85
The dynasty of friends	Dr. Rabiner M. Lifschitz	91
Our teacher the rabbi R'Zev Wolf Altman		93

1889 - 1939
Fifty years in Konin	Levi (Leo) Montchka	97

1905
Konin at the end of the 19^th century	M. Levin (London)	141
Konin at the beginning of the 20^th century	Moritz Levin	148
About the revolutionary movement	Pesach Kharaff (America)	157

1914
Short chronicles	Yakov Leib Sarna	161
Outbreak of the First World War	Reuven Kreissman	171
Konin 1914 - 1918	M. Moscowitz	173
Modern means of communication in Konin	Reuven Kreissman	179
“Cast your bread upon the waters...” [Eccl. 11:1]	Gitl Larek	181
Konin “Prenumeranten” for publishing books		183
Prayer Houses		185
The Holy Torah Ark	Rivka Shmerlovski Diamant	187

Between the Two World Wars
Melamdim and Cheder pupils	Yeshaia Sandberg (Bruxelles)	197
R'Israel Izbitzki	Y.L. Sarna	217
R'Manele Ozerowitz	Moshe Hersch	220
R'Chaim Kreitzer		223
The “Dobrer” melamed		223
“Chaim'ke Lehrer” [Chaim'ke the teacher]		224
R'Eliyahu Beatus		224
R'Binyamin Rotchke	Yechezkel R.	225
R'Oizer Tzorndorf	Reuven Kreissman z”l	229
R'Katriel Stein		231
R'Hersch Shmerlovski		235
Other melamdim		236
R'Zalman Ben-Yaakov (Yankelewitz)		237
Rivka the melamed'ke [woman-melamed]		239

Schools and Education
The Jewish High-School	Levi (Leo) Montchka	243
Konin	Prof. Leopold Infeld	260
Schools in Konin	Leonardo Friedlender (New York)	268
Jewish elementary schools	Yanko Nutkiewitz (Meisels)	269
Talmud Torah	Yanko Nutkiewitz (Meisels)	276
“Yavne” - the religious-national school	Y. Kruck, may God avenge his blood	278
The “ORT” Society in Konin	M. Winter, may God avenge his blood	285
The “Shkulke” evening school	Motek Moscowitz	290
The Cheder “Torah and Science” (photograph)		291

Culture and Sports
The Jewish library	M. Winter, may God avenge his blood	295
Drama Clubs		304
Jewish artists		310
“Maccabi”		317
“Shimshon”		323
The Jewish Society for land purchase		327

Economic Situation
The Jewish Co-operative Bank	A.A. Skovronski, may God avenge his blood	353
The Zionist Organization		357
“Po'alei Zion”	Zvi Ozerowitz	360
“Hechalutz Hatza'ir” [the young pioneer]	Esther Lifschitz-Meiri	367
The “training Kibbutz” in Konin in the name of B. Borochov	Zev Nasetzki	375
The Hechalutz garden in Konin	Shmuel Globinski	381
The Revisionist Movement		382
The “Bund”	I.L. Hampel	386
The Communist Movement	Mordechai Moscowitz	390
The Jewish Scouts organization Hashomer Hatza'ir		394
WIZO		398
Agudat Israel in Konin	Moshe Ehrlich	400
Po'alei Agudat Israel	Shimon Deutch	402

Communal Workers and Personalities
R'Moshe Ehman, the Kromsker [from Kromsk]	Tz. A.	403
R'Simcha Sarna		409
R'Eliyahu Pendzel		411
The Goldwasser family		412
Jewish bankers	Michael Moscowitz	413
R'Yakov Strikovski, the barber-surgeon		416
Community workers		417
The “Tepper” Market	I.L. Hampel	432
The “Politic” Center	Chanoch Neuman	444
Konin folklore		445
From my early childhood	I. Sandberg	449
A family chronicle	Rivka Shmerlovski-Diamant	454
The kopeck	H. M. Natal	455
A disturbance on Yom Kippur	I. L. Sarna	457
“Bi Zhida”	Micha Temkin-Perlman	458
In the last minute	H. M. Natal	460
Yitzhak Moscowitz, the Konin “Noah Pandre”	Avraham Kempinski z”l	464

Destruction
Yizkor (a poem)	Chaim Leib Fuchs	467
Arrested as hostages	Leo (Levi) Monchka	469
The first victims	Avraham Kempinski z”l	476
The first evacuation	Breine Rosenberg (Greenbaum)	487
Working in the factory of explosive materials	Sarah Pintchevski (Schwarz)	490
1080 Konin Jews	Yakov Leibush Hampel	493
The road to Ostrowietz	Celina Loewenberg (Beirach)	504
The Ostrowiec Aid Society for Konin Refugees	Eliezer son of Chanoch Langer z”l	509
In the German Hell	Lea Scherer (Moscowitz)	512
In the Ostrowietz ghetto	Celina Loewenberg (Beirach) z”l	519
The second evacuation	Francisca Bram-Grochovska	524
Josepov Bilgorjeski	Fela Fishkin (Prost)	535
We destroy the cemetery in Kletchev	Louis Levkowitz	541
The deportation from Groyetz	Shimon Deutch	544
Forced labor	David Drachman	547
Chased from camp to camp	Zvi Antzer	551
My war experiences	Moshe Kav-Or (Kava)	558
My son Mark	Yakov Kravtchik	564
Forced labor and other troubles	Marcus Yudkiewitz	566
War prisoners	Avraham Obashanek	579
Turned into an animal….	Avraham Sveika	583
Dr. Felek Bulka	Kalman Goldwasser	585
Documents		589
Report of a trial		595
Murdered in the Kazhimir woods	David Riegel	602
Children accuse	Mira Ehrlich (Bram)	605
An incident in Paris	Chana Scher (Globinski)	607
The Rabbi's documentation project	Zvi Schner	609
The “House of Slaves” chronicle in Konin	The Rav R'I. M. Aharonsohn	613

The Jewish Resistance
The uprising in the Konin Camp	Shmulik Ben-Zion Motl	622
A tragic document from the Konin camp		625
Feivish Kamlaj's will		627
Jewish partisans	Sara Tribuch (Ozerowitz)	628
Dr. Michael Strikovski	From a book by Chaim Lazer	642
Frania Beatus		645
Rivka Glantz		647

Liberation
My encounter with the Eretz Israel Brigade	Guta Rosenfeld	650
War experiences	Bronka Ben-Gourion (Meisels)	652
A mass-grave in the Kazimirz forest	Yitzhak Leben	654
After the tragic and bloody deluge		657
Konin after the destruction	L. Monchka	658
In Germany 1946		664
My visit in Konin today	H. M. Natal	668
Yizkor		671
List of Konin Jews who perished in the Holocaust		674
El Male Rachamim prayer		701

Continuation
Konin Landsleit in France	I.L. Hammerl	705
Konin Landsleit in England		708
Konin Aid-Societies		711
Konin Society in America		714
Organization of Konin Jews in Israel		722
Around the world - to the promised land	Yehoshua Chanoch Bram	725
Konin Landsmanshaft in Israel		745
Martyrs who fell for the defense of our homeland		761
Once upon a time….	I. Sandberg	767
Longing	Miriam Mazover	772

English & Polish Sections		1-24
Konin at the turn of the century	M. Levin	3

Appendices 1, 2, 3

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