Przytyk Memorial Book
(Poland)

51°28' / 20°54'

Translation of
Sefer Przytyk

Editors: David Shtokfish, Przytyk Societies in Israel, France and the USA

Published in Tel Aviv, 1973

 

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Melvyn Maltz z”l

 

This is a translation of: Sefer Przytyk (Przytyk memorial book),
Editors: David Shtokfish, Przytyk Societies in Israel, France and the USA, Tel Aviv, 1973

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

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Dedication to former Przytyk Project Coordinator, Melvyn Maltz z”l
 
  Melvyn died peacefully at Hillingdon Hospital in London, U.K. on 14th December 2022 aged 74 years after struggling with throat cancer. He will be very much missed by his family, friends, colleagues, and everyone who was fortunate enough to know him.

Rashelle Maltz-Jones

 

 

Pamphlet precursor to Sefer Przytyk

 

[Pages prior to the Table of Contents]

The Memorial Book of Przytyk

 

Thus says the L-rd, a voice is heard on high, lamenting and bitter weeping, it is Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted for her children for they are no more. Thus says the L-rd, refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your effort, says the L-rd, and they will return from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says the L-rd, and the children will return to their borders.
(Jeremiah 31, 14-15)[1]

[Page III]

The Book of Przytyk

A memorial monument to a Jewish community.

Editor: David Shtokfish
Tel Aviv 5733 1973

[Page IV]

{English}

PSHITIK

A memorial to the Jewish Community of Pshitik

Published by Irgun Yotzei Pshitik in Israel
and with the help of Pshitik landslait in the United States of America
and others over the World

Editor: DAVID SHTOKFISH

{Yiddish}

The Yizkor Book “The Book of Przytyk”

Published by the Organization of Przytyk Natives in Israel
With the help of the landsmanschaft in France and the United States

{Hebrew}

The Memorial Book “The Book of Przytyk”
Published by the Organization of Przytyk Natives in Israel, France and the United States

Editorial Committee: David Zeitani, Shmuel Hamershtil, Gedalyahu Blicher, Mendel Honig

English Translations: Y. M. Lesak
{Translator's note: this refers to the English translations provided with the original book.}

Printed in Israel, 1973

The book was printed on paper produced by the Hadera Paper Factory, and with their polite assistance.

The Lahav Printing Press, Tel Aviv, telephone 36565

[Page V]

Foreword[2] (H) Mendel Honig 1
Foreword (Y) Mendel Honig 3
Foreword (E) Mendel Honig 6
 
A. Between the Two World Wars
 
Przytyk in Historical Sources (H)   11
Jewish and General Factors in the History of Przytyk (H) Jerzy W. Halbich 12
Memories of my Old Hometown (H) Chaim Maltz 18
There Once Was a Town… (H) Chaim Goldman 25
A Bundle of Memories (H) David Maltz 26
My Grandfather's Home (H) Shlomo Meir Przytycki 27
My Town – An Island (H) Dina Grobstein (Schwitzka) 31
Religious Values in the Life of the Jews of Przytyk (H) Chancha Friedman-Honig 34
The Education of Jewish Children in Our Town Shlomo Eitan 36
With the Boats of the Maapilim[3] (H) Nachum Gil (Glibter) 40
Responses and Memories (H) Vitel Honig 42
Factions and Jewish Manners in Przytyk (H) Dr. Eng. Shalom Honig 43
When Tribulations Afflicted the Jews Mendel Honig 50
Przytyk in Historical Sources (Y)   54
Jewish and General Factors in the History of Przytyk (Y) Jerzy W. Halbich 55
Memories of my Old Hometown (Y) Chaim Maltz 62
In the Years 1905 and 1914-1918 (Y) Yitzchak Milstein 71
My Grandfather's Home (Y) Shlomo Meir Przytycki 79
My Town – An Island (Y) Dina Grobstein (Schwitzka) 83
We Move With the Przytyk Youth (Y) Moshe Melech Mauer 89
The Fisher's Cooperative in Przytyk (Y) Shalom-Velvel Cymbalista 92
Przytyk Dreams About the Land of Israel… (Y) Tzvi Zaltzschirer 95
The General Zionists and Beitar (Y) Margalit Rubinowicz-Milstein 99
We Fled to Russia… (Y) Yirmiyahu Koifman 101
Images and Events (Y) Hillel Strassman 105
Some Events from the Town (Y) Yaakov Kirshenzweig 109
Until the First World War and After (Y) Miriam Tishler 112
A Colorful Jewish Life (Y) Chancha Friedman-Honig 114
Memories from the Town of Przytyk (Y) Gutsha Blecher-Mieirfeld 116
My Youth (Y) M. Rosenshtein 118
People, Shtiblech, and Institutions in Przytyk (Y) Moshe Vagshal 119
How Przytykers in Paris Remember their Native Town (Y) Chaya Kirshenzweig, Maurice Rosenstein, Shifra Friedman, and Shalom Zimbalist 123
Militant Przytyk (Y) Helen Baum 124
Factions and Jewish Manners in Przytyk (Y) Dr. Eng. Shalom Honig 126
From Przytyk to the Land of Israel (Y) David Zeitani (Baumelgrin) 135
 
B. Events in Przytyk – March 1936
 
The Town is Burning! (H) David Shtockfish 157
Our Self-Defense (H) Yitzchak Friedman 160
In the Home of the Minkowski Family (H) Sh. Berlinski 164
It is Burning (Y) M. Gebirtik 167
The Przytyk Pogrom March 1936 (Y) Yaakov Lencynski 168
In the Home of the Minkowskis (Y) Sh. Berlinski 187
The Eve of the Pogrom (Y) Shifra and Shalom Cymbalista 190
We Were Victims of the Pogrom (Y) Tzirel and Gittel Mauer 191
On the Day of the Pogrom (Y) Hillel Strasman 193
During and After the Pogrom (Y) Tamar Kaufman 195
Our Self-Defense (Y) Yitzchak Friedman 197
We Prepared Resistance (Y) Yisrael Cymbalista 200
Why Did the Events of 1936 in Przytyk Take place? (Y) Dr. Jozef Urban Holan 203
We Prepared Resistance (Y)   207
With the Minkowski Orphans in a Krakow Synagogue at Neila (Y) L. Rodal 228
The Bloody Events of Przytyk (Y) Michael Teper 232
Our Town is Burning… (Y) David Shtokfish 238
Thirty-Five Years After the Tragic Famous Pogrom in Przytyk (Y) Y. Shmuelewitz 244
 
C. The Holocaust
 
Remember!… (H) David Zeitani (Baumelgrin) 253
The War and the Destruction of the Jewish Population of the Radom Region (H) A. Rotkowski 257
Przytyk During the 1930s and its Destruction (H) Yisrael Cymbalist 259
The Destruction of Przytyk (H) Shifra Friedman 268
During those Melancholy Days (H) Dr. Eng. Shalom Honig 269
War and Destruction of the Jewish Community in the Radom District (Y) A. Rotkowski 275
The Martyrology of the Jews of Przytyk (Poles Relate) (Y)   278
I do not have Enough Energy to Tell About That Cruel Era (Y) Yisrael Tishler 281
Fragments of Bravery and Pain (Y) Shaul Kirshenzweig 293
Saved with my Brother (Y) Chanache Friedman-Honig 298
I was Saved from Auschwitz (Y) Feiga-Leah Kuperwas 300
At Hard Labor and in the Death Camps (Y) Tzvi Teper 302
One Survivor from an Entire Family (Y) Tamar Kaufman 305
In Ghettos and Camps (Y) Yisrael Lewental 310
The First Victim of the German Murders (Y) Lola Basow 315
In Auschwitz, we Just Waited for Death (Y) Leibish Friedman 318
Jews of Przytyk Escaped to Wierzbica (Y) Chaya-Sheva Malcmacher 321
In Those Dark Days (Y) Sheindel Fierman (Shwitzki) 323
During Those Dark Days (Y) Dr. Eng. Shalom Honig 323
The “Supermen” Turned People into Sheep (E) Malka Honig 335
 
D. Personalities
 
Rabbi Yisrael Szapira, May the memory of the holy be blessed (H) Lawyer Meir Shapira 339
In Their Memory (H) Mendel Honig 343
Monuments to Several Families of Przytyk (H) Devora Zaltzschirer 378
Elimelech Yitzchak Kac (H) David Zeitoni (Baumoilgryn) 380
Yosele Przytyker (H) Tz. Z. Weinberg 381
Nathan Furzst (H) From the “Yizkor” book – stories of the lives and deaths of those who fell in Israel's War of Independence 384
From Our Personalities (Y) Yisrael Cymbalista / Tel Aviv 386
We Must Remember Them (Y) Mendel Honig 392
Several Personalities of Przytyk (Y) Hillel Strasman 408
Our Father Hershele the son of Yaakov Mauer of blessed memory (Y) Tzirel and Gittel Mauer 411
The Miller Family (Y) David Zeitani 412
Moshe Furzst (Y) Sam Davis 414
 
E. A Memorial Candle
 
A List of the Martyrs & those who Perished in Przytyk   419
Mourning Notices  [4]427
 
Przytyk Natives in Israel
 
The Organization of Przytyk Natives in Israel (H) The Committee 455
The Przytyker Landsmanschaft in Israel (Y) The Committee 459

Translator's Footnotes

  1. Repeated in Yiddish Return
  2. These three Foreword sections are identical translations of each other. Return
  3. Maapilim are the immigrants who came to Palestine in the years prior to the founding of the State of Israel, despite great obstacles imposed on them by the Mandatory Government. Sometimes termed as 'illegal immigrants'. Return
  4. There is a typographical error in the original here, which says 227. Return
    5.

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