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Meetings

At a meeting of all the workers' committees in Siedlce, the representatives of the “Bund” and the “Poale–Tzion” declared that they recognize no government aside from the workers' regime, which they will defend. The representatives of the P.P.S declared that the entire politics of their party is phony. The workers' regime will free Poland from the oppressors' yoke.

The meeting voted to unite all the professional unions in a strong association.

The “Dwa Grosze” provided the following commentary to the photocopy that it had published:

This example of the Jewish, Bolshevik “Warshawianka” demonstrates two facts: 1) the Bolsheviks had no intention of negotiating with our peace delegation. Their Intention was–to seize Warsaw and install the Jewish–Bolshevik regime, with whom Soviet Russia would make peace. In other words: The Jews in Warsaw would make an agreement with the Jews of Moscow over how to rule over the people of Poland and Russia. To aid them, the Jews would use the “Shabbos Goy,” the few bloodthirsty types, like Dzherzhinski and Fruchniak. 2) The Bolshevik newspaper demonstrates that the Bolsheviks have found friends among us, the Poale Tzion, the Bund, and the P.P.S.

The Polish government should use this information to make the proper decisions.

In the midst of this raging from the anti–Semites, the Jewish deputy organization of the Polish Sejm (in the persons of Y. Greenboym, H. Farbshteyn, A. Hartglas) presented a petition to the Polish prime minister about the killing of Jews in Poland.

The petition does not deal exclusively with the events in Siedlce but goes into the general situation of the Jews. But it was known that the petition was written by the well–known Deputy Harglas after his visit to Siedlce and on the canvas of his experiences in that city. Although in the document he mentions other cities in Poland, that does not diminish

[Page 202]

the local significance of the historical document, which we present from the Hebrew translation in the daily newspaper “Ha–Tzefirah.”

The petition reads:

The outrages of the military personnel against the Jews, which have lasted already a year and a half, with only small breaks, grew stronger in the first days when the danger of the Bolshevik invasion increased. The increase in the outrages was especially felt with the increase in agitation against the Jews, which was led by the announcements from the army that were spread by the government, by way of the publication of “Szolniesz Polski” (“The Polish Soldier”–a newspaper that was designed for the military–Y. Kaspi). These announcements are propaganda that Jews and Bolsheviks are one and the same.

When Dep. Hartglas informed the current War Minister and former vice–minister General Sosnkowski about this situation, the minister expressed his astonishment and promised an investigation. Nonetheless, the anti–Jewish agitation continued. Not only did it not stop, you should understand, but it increased as the Bolshevik threat increased. The Sejm deputies saw with their own eyes how the police spread the reports. General Sosnkowski's intervention had the result that the anti–Jewish announcements in Warsaw were not distributed, but copies of the same announcements were distributed in other Polish cities through the “”Szolniesz Polski.”

Under the influence of this agitation, the anti–Semitic spirit increased, and instantly the outrages and robberies also increased, led by the army. The Jewish populace, seeing the danger that was encouraged by the government, took in the needy victims, in order to do their civic duty. A Jewish committee was established to defend the government. The Jewish young people, and particularly the students, as a body willingly joined in the military work. The female students took up sanitary work. This voluntary work service by the Jews for the welfare of the government

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was soon transformed into required work by the government. The military powers had prevented the Jewish committee from working to found a hospital for wounded soldiers. The idea of Jews the right to establish such a hospital was put in doubt. Jewish nurses were systematically prevented from entering the laboratories of the Red Cross. There were also cases when Jewish volunteers were not accepted into the army.

The growing anti–Semitic spirit permeated society into the provinces. Under the mask of the need to assure peace in the state during the crisis, the government in many cases arrested Jewish community workers without regard for their political leanings. Communists sat in prison, as did socialists, Zionists, and those without a party. Various Jewish institutions and associations were shut down, even those of an economic and cultural character. Such facts were openly known in the whole area of Congress Poland–in Wlodawa, Nasielsk, Zambow, Mlava, and Mezritch. The government in Galicia dismissed requests to establish Jewish associations on the pretext that those are institutions that serve exclusively Jews (Oswiecem, Rzeszow, Cracow).

When the enemy began to approach Modlin, the military governor of Warsaw, General Latinek, issued an order to evacuate the Jewish populace from the areas near the fortress: Novy Dwor, Zakroczym, and Pamjerowek. The Jewish deputies who asked the government about this matter received the answer that the order applied not only to Jews. However, it is an established fact the printed order read “Jews, Germans, and Russians” and in reality from these places applied it only to Jews. The apartments and goods of the Jews, who lost their homes, were immediately plundered by the soldiers and the crowds of the Christian population who remained in the places.

At the same time, the Minister of War decided to instruct the publishers to circulate the pamphlets, which had been held in secret, about removing Jewish soldiers from the military locations so that the number of Jews who worked there should not exceed five percent

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There was also an order create a camp in Jablonna for a Jewish work battalion. All military units were told to withdraw Jews from their ranks and send them to Jablonna in order to establish exclusively Jewish worker units.

On August 15, they began to carry out this order. Jewish soldiers were withdrawn from their formations in which they had long served. An exception was made for soldiers who were in the first row at the front. In many places the Jewish soldiers had their uniforms torn off and under strict guard they were sent to Jablonna. There they were held like detainees. Jablonna was not only a concentration point for soldiers who had been mobilized for military duty but also for those who had volunteered, even the Jewish personnel from the legions and who had gone through the camp in Szetszifjorna (interned by the Germans before the liberation of Poland–Y. Caspi) and were decorated for defending Lemberg and other places.

The attention paid to the needs of these arrested soldiers was beyond criticism. For days at a time they received no necessities, and until the last minute they received not even straw mattresses to sleep on, despite what the official report might say.

Around the camp were placed guards from Poznan (“Poznantchikes”–violent anti–semites who entertained themselves by cutting the beards of Jews–Y. Kaspi), They treated the detainees badly. As a result of this treatment, the arrested were beaten with deadly blows; aside from the Poznan military guards, policemen served as overseers. As it turned out, there was a guard for every prisoner.

After many intercessions over four weeks, finally word came to dissolve the camp at Jablonna, but even so the soldiers were treated with special rules that overrode the normal army. The Jewish soldiers were not returned to their former military groups, but they were sent to other divisions.

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There they were treated as though they were guilty of military infractions.

As the retreat of the Bolsheviks began, people started to spread alarms about supposed Jewish treachery. Intelligence from general headquarters reported that in Siedlce an armed Jewish division had been seized and that it had fought on the side of the Bolsheviks, and that in Bialystok the Polish army had fought with the local Jewish populace, which had aided the Bolsheviks. After a thorough investigation, which was made on the spot, it became clear that in Siedlce not a single armed Jew had been captured. The announcement by the representative of the local Polish community, which spread the day after the Bolsheviks left, said nothing about a Jewish group. It did say that without exception the Jewish community had conducted itself with extreme loyalty.

Also about Bialystok it became clear that there was no fighting with the Jewish populace. On the contrary–the representatives of the Polish populace on the citizens' committee could find no fault with the behavior of the Jews.

The legend about Jewish treachery that was spread by general headquarters circulated throughout Poland, and everywhere the Jews were accused of treachery.

Investigations in various places had shown that the participation of the Jewish populace in the Bolshevik occupation government was less than that of the Polish population, among whom not only the socialists but the members of the right took positions with the Bolsheviks. So it was in Milawa, Biala Podlaska, Lomzhe, Pultusk, and elsewhere. Under the Bolshevik government, the Jews, aside from those in the villages, suffered more than others, because from the Jews a greater contribution was demanded in the form of goods sold according to prices determined by Soviet currency and according to an artificial rate of valuation. The Bolsheviks imprisoned and removed from their homes both Jews and Christians. In many places

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the mobs joined the Bolsheviks in stealing from the Jews. In Wysokie Mazowieckie, where the Polish population took a passive role in the Bolshevik offensive, the Jews organized an armed defense, which kept the Bolsheviks out of the city.

The Prime Minister, at the time of his visit to Siedlce, promised to receive a delegation from the Jewish populace. At the same time, a Polish announcement appeared whose goal was to weaken the effect of the first announcement from the Polish community. After the Prime Minister's visit to Plotzk, the official Polish telegraph agency published a half–official piece that claimed that the Jews in Plotzk had helped the Bolsheviks, had poured boiling water on the Polish soldiers, and held secret telephone conversations with the enemy. The governing committee in Plotzk disavowed these slanders, but the Polish telegraph agency published only a few of these denials.

In the last days of August there was a conference in Tarnow, at which one of the speakers was Deputy Brill–a member of the party of the Prime Minister. In accord with the Prime Minister's stand on the question of Jewish treachery, the deputy called for peace. The Prime Minister neither stopped nor disagreed with his words. Before the Prime Minister had assumed his high position, the Jewish–Polish council had decided that it was necessary to issue an announcement to the Polish populace, and the government was obligated to distribute this announcement, which had to be certified, because the Jews were citizens. To this point, the announcement had not been published because the Prime Minister had promised to sign it because of the facts that had been determined in Siedlce and in Plotzk.

It is not to be wondered at that the army, which was poisoned by tales of Jewish treachery, about Jews who poured boiling water on Polish soldiers, the army which in the course of months had incited through announcements and posters against the Jews as Bolsheviks–

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had agreed that the outrages against the Jews, which had lasted for a year and a half, should not be punished, this army that had indicated its every victory with the blood of murders, terror, and robbery against the Jewish people.

In Siedlce, soldiers made Jews herd animals, then, outside the city, after robbing them–they killed them. In this fashion seven Jews were murdered, among them Richter–an old man of 66, along with other people fifty years and older. Aside from them, in the surrounding areas, in villages and on the roads, more than ten Jews were murdered, among them the aged teacher Godzhinski, a man of 71. In the city, many Jews were robbed. Several Jewish young women were raped. In the nearest village, Gwatzhenitza, the Torah scrolls in the synagogue were ripped up and the Jews were forced to rip up the remaining pieces. The Jews who were forced to herd animals and were not then killed were forced to beat each other, to spit in each others' faces, to lick up the blood of the wounded, and so on.

In Mardi, the Jew Shteynberg was murdered and several women were raped. In Dragitszin the Jews were forced into the river and many of them were shot in the water. Some were given the opportunity to escape from drowning, but the peasants of the area were called on to beat up those who fled. In Laszitz many Jewish girls were raped. The majority of local Jewish residents were robbed. The soldiers who did the stealing were urged on by an officer, who shouted in a loud voice that such theft was permitted for twenty–four hours and now the robbing could continue. The local police mocked the Jews who were begging for protection. In Wiszkow, the Christian people were called on to indicate Jews about whom they had complaints. In Gawrolin, the Jew Rutenberg was shot without a trial at the instigation of a Christian who was a business competitor. In Laskaszew (Laskerow), a young Jewish woman was shot in a similar way. In Luncki, near Plotzk, two Jews were shot without trial. In Lukow the soldiers shot without a trial twelve Jews who had returned from Mezritch.

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Before being shot, they were forced to dig their own graves. In Jagodna, three Jews were killed in the same way. In Dzhiwali the soldiers, at the urging of the watchman, shot a Jew who lived there.

In Pultusk, Jartzi, Makow, Wengrow, and Zambrow, people beat and mocked the Jews. In Otwock the soldiers daily rapaed Jewish young women after September 12. In Glinianka the soldiers, without a trial and in defiance of an officer, shot 21 Jews and raped a number of women. Before shooting them, the soldiers made mock of them. In Komarow, near Ostrow, a peasant from Lomzhe hanged a Jew. In Malkin, six Jews were shot without a trial. Among them was a man of 71–Eliezer Katczer. The Jewish women were raped. In Dobra, near Minsk–Mazowiecki soldiers shot a Jewish woman because she would not open the door when they came to rob her. In Skochadalia the Jew Platkowski was shot without a trial. In the neighborhood of Sokolow, in the villages and on the roads, sixteen Jews were shot. In Koemia, near Kaluszyn, sixteen Jews were shot after being forced to dig their graves. The sixteenth was killed by having his head smashed with a rake. In the nearby village of Mikas, three Jews were killed in the same way. In Rizhin, 30 Jews were killed, while the rest were tormented. Their clothes were taken from them and they were thrown into an icy pit.

Even in Visoko–Mazowieck, where a group of armed Jews had fought off the Bolsheviks, losing 11 fighters in the process, even there the members of this group were beaten and tormented, even though they had been taken prisoner by the Bolsheviks and had escaped. And all of these places to a greater or lesser extent were subject to armed groups of thieves.

The above deeds are far from encompassing all the crimes that were committed against the Jews. We have no information about many places, especially from the area around Lublin, where the followers of Petliura and the Bolshevik soldiers rampaged. It is known about Zamosc

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(the new city) that masses of Jews were robbed and women were raped. One young woman, who defended herself, had the fingers cut from her hands. And in Wladowa, Jews were buried alive, and so on and so on. We also lack detailed information about the area of Bialystok, where scores of Jews were killed on the roads in the woods.

There can be no doubt that most of these atrocities resulted from stories that had been spread about the Jews' treachery. Giving these stories the appearance of truth, hundreds of Jews had been arrested. Jews who had fled and then returned were arrested and imprisoned, accused of treason. From among the soldiers who had escapade from Bolshevik captivity, the Jews were selected out and put in jail under suspicion of treason.

A few Jews who had worked for a few days for a salary as clerks for the Bolsheviks, as both Jews and Poles had done during the Austrian and German occupations, were shot according to the legal sentences on charges of treason (like the story of Greenshpan in Siedlce). No consideration was given to whether these Jews could be judged by a quickly set–up court in agreement with the first point of an order from the council for the defense of the government that was published on August 9. In the same place and at the same time, one could find free Christians who worked together with the condemned Jews in the employ of the Bolsheviks and even of the Bolshevik commissars who remained after the retreat of the Bolsheviks. Some of them even received documents in which the government recognized their service to the Bolsheviks as a civic deed that undermined Soviet rule in Poland.

In Plotzk, the tribunal condemned to death Rabbi Shapiro, a man who had nothing to do with politics, on the charge that he led the movement of the Bolshevik army. No one heard the testimony of witnesses (Jewish and Christian) who came to the court, and at the time of the first inquiry, they confirmed his innocence of the charges.

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In such ways, stories about Jewish treason were manufactured, along with other signs that they were factual. Thus the environment grew in which new reports about Jews were fashioned.

Jewish publications could not show the groundlessness of these accusations because the mouth of the Jewish press was closed by the censor. At the same time as the Polish press gave out fabricated articles from Plotzk and Bialystok about Jewish treason and incited against the Jews–the Jews were forbidden to defend themselves. Jewish newspapers were punished for printing an article from “Narod” (a nationalistic Polish newspaper–Y. Kaspi) about Jablonna.

In the same way, lies were spread everywhere, but the truth was suppressed. Hatred for the Jews, who were presented as criminals, was instilled deep in the Polish masses

Because of the above–stated facts, attested by the undersigned–the Sejm should decide:

1. To appoint a commission with the participation of representatives from the Jewish national deputies to throw a light on all of these facts that have been described.
2. To bring to justice all those who are guilty of issuing illegal orders and who are guilty of spreading false reports and committing the illegal actions that are described above.

At the of 1918 a conference was held in Warsaw to plan a Yiddish national convention in Poland. Participating in the conference were 498 delegates from 144 cities and shtetls in Poland.

In the central Jewish National–Council, which was chosen

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at the conference, M. Laterman from Siedlce served as a representative from the handworkers' organization.

The Jewish National–Council intervened many times with the government about events and outrages that occurred in the city. In the report of the current Jewish National–Council and Sejm organization^[100], we find sections about interventions on behalf of the Siedlce Jewish community.

At the beginning of 1919, a petition was introduced in the Sejm about the murders and robberies among the Jewish population in Siedlce. The petition contained a trove of informational material. In the course of the summer months, Siedlce devised a protocol against outrages against Jews, with the participation of soldiers from Haller's army. These outrages were a result of the agitations and incitements by the Polish press.

At that time in the eastern regions there were many homeless people who had fled from Russia. Because the Polish government wanted to expel these people from the eastern regions, the club had to intervene in order to protect the refugees from expulsion. Thanks to the club's intervention, the escapees from Brisk and Minsk were allowed to remain in the area of Siedlce and Wysokie–Mazowieckie. Approximately 152 families were saved from Brisk, to which they could not return because the city had been devastated.

In the course of 1920, there were outrages in Siedlce. Not a single month passed in which nothing untoward occurred. In January and March the army went on a spree. Also in April and July, people beat up Jews. In August, Jews were even murdered, and in December the military committed outrages.

In November of the same year, the Sejm–club of Jewish national deputies protested that in the election lists for the city council in Siedlce, only Polish citizens had been named and that the elections were scheduled for Shabbos. Thanks to the intervention of the club, the election was moved to Sunday. Furthermore, the club of Jewish national Sejm deputies

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intervened in the following incidents: in July, 1921–against the terrible outrages against Jews in which soldiers from Silesia participated; in October, 1921–against attacks by Christian civilians against Jewish funerals in Siedlce; in May, 1922–against ongoing anti–Jewish outrages that were led by the army.

The activities of the Jewish National–Council were felt in Siedlce at the time of the elections for the first Polish Sejm in 1922. The attempts to undercut the Jewish community in the Sejm election came to nothing. Then a nationalist minority bloc tried to elect a Jewish deputy, but no Jewish deputy was elected from Siedlce because no one from the Jewish list received enough votes. The greatest number of votes went to the bloc of the nationalist minority.

The votes for the Jewish list were thus divided:

Number 16–national minority bloc:	7852
Number 4–“Bund”:	763
Number 20–Folk Party:	405
Total	9020

After the difficult experiences of Siedlce's Jews at the time of the Polish–Bolshevik War, Jewish life in Siedlce began to return to normal. Jews tried to return to their occupations. Around 1921, there was a renewal in the garment industry. Orders began to come in from Poles, especially from Galicia. The devaluation of Polish currency stirred the development of the profession. The prices of raw materials went up, thanks to inflation. Finally the situation stabilized. In 1930 the number of Jewish tailors reached 600.

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From the building industry, which in czarist times had employed many Jews, in Independent Poland they were almost entirely ejected.

The First World War had reduced almost the entire industry to nothing. No houses were built. The Jewish construction workers were thrown out of their industry. Later, in Independent Poland, when there was a resurgence of building through individuals or government and community institutions, no Jews were allowed to work on them. In New Siedlce (Novo–Siedlce) which had begun construction in 1924 and where hundreds of houses soon appeared–not a single Jewish construction worker was employed. The economic–extermination policy of the Polish regime had led, in relation to the Jewish population, to the attempt to eject the Jews from their economic positions. For the working Jews of Siedlce, it pulled the ground out from under their feet. Jews tried to enter other professions, and in Siedlce they set up a knitwear industry.

Until 1921, there was no knitwear undertaking in Siedlce. Knitwear used to be brought in from Warsaw and from Lodz. Soon there were five workshops, which employed sixty workers. The season for knitwear work was in the month of Elul and lasted until Purim. The demand at that time was very great. For the whole summer, the factories stood empty.

According to the first census in Independent Poland from December 9, 1921, Siedlce, with its surrounding towns, had a population of 31,687. But the population was growing, so that in 1924, the number had increased to 35,219, according to the following table:

Jews	Christians	Total	Percentage of Jews
18,963	16,256	35,219	53.8

Together with the ongoing extermination–policy of the Polish

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government in relation to Jews, in Siedlce there was strong anti–Semitic agitation.

Deputy Sadzewicz began to put out a local inflammatory newspaper under the name “Przyjaciel Narodu” (Friend of the Nation), whose editor was a fervent anti–Semite, Wladislaw Shalatkowski. He conducted anti–Jewish incitements in the style of the Polish Jew–devouring official press, writing that Jews are “nomadic rodents” etc., giving the Polish population false and tendentious information about Jewish life, aims, and hopes. Later, when the “Siedlce Wochenblat” began to appear, every innocent notice in the paper was purposely distorted and explained as an assault by Jews on Polish interests. The anti–Semites claimed that the Jewish paper in Siedlce was supposedly edited by “Litvaks,” the mortal enemies of Poland.

The difficult situation of the Jews of Siedlce, their tragic environment during the Polish–Bolshevik War, did not kill off community activities. As life began to return to normal, the communal and political organizations began to resume their activities. “Jewish Art” revived. The “Bund” and the leftist “Poale Tzion” extended the school system for Yiddish instruction, which M. Mandelman writes about in his memoirs.

The activists in “Jewish Art” resumed their cultural work. They began to appeal to the Polish powers to return the site of “Jewish Art.” After long negotiations, they succeeded. Also, the sections devoted to drama, music, and the chorus resumed their activities. The musical division had an especially difficult time because during the Polish–Soviet War, Soviet soldiers took many of their instruments.

The library of “Jewish Art” did not interrupt its activities throughout the difficult time of the Polish–Bolshevik War.

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It actually increased the number of readers and the number of books, as the following tables show:

Year	Men	Women	Total
1919	431	416	847
1920	270	226	496
1921	243	188	431
1922	312	223	535
1923	316	235	551
1924	300	171	471
1925	302	172	474

Year	Hebrew # %		Yiddish # %		Russian & German # %		Polish # %		Total # %
1921	1513	15.9	5408	57.0	94	1.0	2479	26.1	9494
1922	1376	9.8	7057	50.3	206	1.5	5403	38.4	14042
1923	699	7.1	3875	39.3	146	1.5	5137	52.1	9857
1924	987	8.5	5400	46.7	161	1.4	5026	43.4	11574
1925	1790	16.6	4786	44.2	123	1.1	4121	38.1	10820

Language	1923	Purchased 1924	Total
Hebrew	1377	64	1441
Yiddish	1196	162	2158
Russian	1424	––––	1424
Polish	2052	59	2111
German	79	––––	79
Totals	6928	285	7213

[Page 216]

The library of “Jewish Art”

The year 1926 marked the half–jubilee of the existence of the library. The date was considered a great a great holiday by all sectors of the population. The library then owned almost eight thousand volumes. A community–wide committee was formed in the city which proposed a great academy for which it sought new subscribers. To honor the anniversary of the library, a publication was issued in 800 copies presenting historical material about the founding and development of the library. This cultural celebration also resounded among people from Siedlce around the world. Particularly interesting was the report from Yosef Rosenwasser, the founder of the library. Rosenwasser was then in Berlin and sent for the celebration a moving letter. He wrote

…My joy at your news is boundless. Ach, God! My dear only child (the library) still lives, for which I made so many sacrifices, for which I was excommunicated by the Skver Chasidim and forced to leave my dear home and my noble child.

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The only consolation is that my child, brought up with such difficulty, still lives and is in such good hands. This gives me the strength to forget my sorrows. I must also tell you that I am not the only one deserving of thanks. There are many others who should be thanked. First of all, Baron Georg von Kleist, who was the main person who helped with advice and actions to raise “the child.” Others were: Zev Tuchklaper, Asher Liverant, Yehoshua Goldberg, Moses Greenfarb, and many others whose names I cannot remember…

The anniversary committee also released the following announcement to the Jews of Siedlce:

It has been 25 years since the founding of our Jewish library in Siedlce, which is now associated with “Jewish Art.” A quarter of a century ago, a small group of enthusiasts with modest strength laid the foundation stone for this building which has grown into an exquisite book–treasure of over 8,000 volumes–one of the finest Jewish libraries in Poland.

The library has undergone many transformations during this time. Many were the dark forces that sought to bring troubles on this treasure. But they did not count on the self–sacrifice of the library supporters and the obstinacy of the true readers–and the library, with no external support, has grown into a splendid beacon for all local, conscientious Jews.

For a quarter of a century, this library has been the only source of light and education for the thirsty Jewish young people in Siedlce. And today more than ever, those who desire knowledge flow to us. Who has not drunk from this source? Every one of us who has sought peace and quiet, and those who have not–for all of us, this source has been a fountain of life in the springtime of our lives. And if someone from among our thousands of readers grows wings and then flies away into the greater, broader world, that is where he received the impulse.

That is why the days from April 10 to April 18 have been declared the anniversary week of the Jewish library, and it is a great holiday for the Jews of Siedlce. And now the thousands

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of readers, along with thousands of potential readers, and all who will become readers, are celebrating.

But Jews are accustomed to have an accounting even on holidays. Our joy is always mixed together with a serious thought. Now at the time of the anniversary we have to consider the future of the library.

Now, in the week of celebration, we call to life all local conscientious Jewish strength to help on one hand to transform this holiday into a demonstration for our library and on the other hand–to create for it a better future through financial contributions.

Our library must continue and be supported through all of the city's institutions–Jewish and non–Jewish–whose job it is to spread knowledge and education.

We must make it possible for our library to have its own location that can hold all its treasures and assure its future development. We must enable the library to grow bigger and more beautiful. We must also make the library more accessible to the greater Jewish population and increase the number of readers.

We must therefore ensure that the library will truly be the crown of Jewish Siedlce.

If we want to get this done, then our joy will be deserved, creative, the joy of a job well done–a holiday for the people of the book.

Long live our serious cultural holiday.

Committee to Celebrate the 25^th Anniversary of the Library of the Association “Cultural Arts” in Siedlce.

This committee included the leadership of “Jewish Art” and the people–H. Goldberg, M. Grabia, M. Zhebrowicz, Y.L. Liveront, Y Rosenzumen, M. Rotbeyn, and Shpielfidl, as well as the representatives from the Zionist organizations with their divisions “He–chalutz,” “Ha–shomer ha–tza'ir,” from the Jewish Folksparty and its divisions, from the Jewish faculty, from the merchants and handworkers organizations, and a whole array of people from Warsaw, Lodz, Eretz–Yisroel, and New York, and Prof. Arbeter–Fareyna. They issued

[Page 219]

an announcement about the anniversary celebration of the Jewish library and called for help with the activities of the celebration committee, both financial and otherwise^[101].

The library existed until September, 1933, when the Second World War broke out [sic–trans. note]. The Nazi vandals destroyed and stole the literary treasures, which from 1926 until the outbreak of the war, had greatly increased, so that on the eve of the destruction the number of books had grown to 12,000.

The Jewish students of the governmental gymnasium formed, around 1924, an organization for mutual aid for destitute students that helped them pursue their studies. It was a secret organization, because no student was permitted to reveal who belonged to it. Along with the organization, a library was created for the studious young people of the middle schools in Siedlce. The library developed and grew thanks to the efforts of the young people who organized various entertainments and lotteries whose proceeds benefitted the library. The book collection at the beginning of the thirties numbered about 4,000 volumes in two languages: Polish and Hebrew. The library existed until 1932. After long negotiations it was shut down, as the Jewish student–library of the “Mutual Aid” was to be given to the Hebrew “Tarbus” school. The “Tarbus” school also took the library of the evening courses, which had existed from 1915 until 1926. Together with the newly bought books, the school owned a great book collection, which before the war numbered six thousand volumes.

The city library, which was located in the old city hall, formally had a Yiddish–Hebrew section, which

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was, in fact, never active. At the intervention of the Jewish councilmen, they would promise that slowly the section would be revived. But it never happened. The city managers had already taken care that it should be as it was. The city library owned about 800 Hebrew and Yiddish books.

When the war ended in 1918 and the worldwide “He–Chalutz” movement was founded, there was already a similar organization in Siedlce with excellent activities.

The Zionist organization had leased in Raskazh two acres of land and began to work it as a practice garden. The central committee of “He–Chalutz” sent the agronomist Haykes as an instructor. The number of pioneers was then small–six, in all. They lived a communal life; they lived together in Raskazh, they shared physical and professional labor, and made spiritual arrangements. They learned Jewish history, Zionist history, and the geography of Eretz Yisroel. In short, they hoped to accommodate themselves so they could make aliyah to Eretz Yisroel.

Meanwhile, the Polish–Bolshevik War broke out,, and just like the rest of the community life, “He–Chalutz” petered out.

In the city there was a chapter of “Ha–Shomer Ha–Tza'ir” to which the middle–class youth belonged.

Together with “Ha–Shomer Ha–Tza'ir,” “He–Chalutz” rented a room and wanted to establish again the locksmith school that the donor Y. Gutglas had opened at the Talmud Torah and which had been shut down. The pioneers strove to learn a productive craft that they could practice in Eretz Yisroel. But the plan to reopen the school came to nothing, because the Ger Chasidim influenced the donor that he should not support such a thing, giving a school to the young pioneers.

An important move was taken by “He–Chalutz” in Siedlce in 1919. Several hundred books were gathered together

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along with tools and were sent to Eretz Yisroel.

When Y.Kh. Brenner was killed in Jaffa in 1921, the news greatly upset Jewish Siedlce. In response to a call from “He–Chalutz,” thousands of Jews from Siedlce gathered in the city garden. At that time, “He–Chalutz” had about eighty members. But shortly after, aliyah to Eretz Yisroel was closed down, which had a great effect on “He–Chalutz,” and diminished its influence.

In 1923, “He–Chalutz Ha–Tza'ir” was founded, an educational arm of “He–Chalutz,” that accepted members up to 18 years old. “He–Chalutz Ha–Tza'ir” was not an agricultural organization. The young people began to learn Hebrew and awaited the opportunity to realize their aspirations.

At that time, the membership of “He–Chalutz” and “He–Chalutz Ha–Tzair” was as follows:

He–Chalutz Male Female Total			He–Chalutz Ha–Tza'ir Male Female Total			Total	Made Aliya
24	11	35	32	48	80	115	32

Simultaneously, masses of young people began to stream to “He–Chalutz,” seeking membership. In the ranks of “He–Chalutz” there developed a discussion between “broadening” or “deepening,” that is

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broadening the ranks according to the circumstances or ceasing to accept new members in order to increase the consciousness of those who already belonged. Only 70 comrades then were accepted into “He–Chalutz,”, which already numbered a hundred pioneers. The pioneers had done their preparatory work, received certification in agricultural areas, in stone–carving, and in carpentry. Thus there existed in the organization itself methodical labor for Keren–Kayemet and for the “League for Working Eretz Yisroel”^[102]

At the same time, the Mizrachi Organization also created “He–Chalutz Ha–Mizrachi,” which sent its members to certifying kibbutzim and later to Eretz Yisroel. In the community Zionist organization there was also a “He–Chalutz Ha–Mizrachi.”

The Zionist movement grew in Siedlce in all its varieties at the beginning of the ‘20s. At the time of the election campaign for the Sejm and the senate and the city council, people strongly felt the lack of their own press through which to address the Jewish population of nearly twenty thousand people. In Zionist circles, the thought arose of issuing a weekly paper in Siedlce.

In the summer of 1922, the idea began to develop of a regular weekly paper in Siedlce. Efforts were undertaken to get permission to issue a paper. Until the permission was prepared, people issued a series of independent bi–weekly publications.

A group of community activists (Y. Grauman, Asher Liverant, Levi Gutglas, and the already mentioned Yehoshua Goldberg) put out the “Voice of Siedlce” (published in only three issues), every two weeks in June, 1922. Then there was an interval of two months, and on September 1 of 1922 appeared the fourth issue. But the small group of “penmen”–aside from Y. Grauman, who in 1923 emigrated to the United States–were the real creators of the Yiddish Vochenblat in Siedlce.

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From right to left: Levi Gutgold, Asher Liverant, Y. Grauman, and Y. Goldberg

On the first page appeared the following statement from the editor:

We believe that Siedlce and its vicinity deserve to have a regular Jewish paper. at least a weekly paper, which should objectively and comprehensively react to all everyday, economic, and cultural questions and phenomena of local life. Meanwhile, we must, for technical and other reasons, be satisfied with this singular issue, which should serve for us and for you, our reader, as a sample of the forthcoming Yiddish Vochenblat in Siedlce––––––

In the second column, Y. Grauman published an editorial, “On the Subjects of the Day,” about the forthcoming first elections for the Sejm and the senate in Independent Poland–how the Jewish vote can be used productively in the election districts where thanks to abuses in the election organization there was little or no chance to elect a Jewish deputy.

Under the pseudonym “Bergaldi,” Y. Goldberg published a satirical poem called “The Cemetery City.”

“Yinger” (L. Gutglas” was represented by an article

Standing, from right to left: Menashe Czarnabrada, H. Kartcz, Avraham Shloyme Englander, Itsche Altschuler, Meir Vyman, Fishl Popovsky, Yehuda Tenenboym Seated from left to right: Levi Gutgeld, Moyshe Czarnabrada, Yakov Tenenboym, Y. Grauman, Asher Liverant

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“Be afraid, you from yesterday,” which strongly attacked the backwardness of the community leaders.

In an article, “Downhill,” L. Gutgelt shows that slowly step by step, our economic life was rolling downhill; in truth, this was partially a phenomenon caused by the state. In Siedlce this was quite obvious, because the city was impoverished and there were no sources of income.

With a notice about the library in the “Jewish Arts” association, a little local news, a warning against non–kosher meat, a survey of the local Polish press, election matters, announcements and congratulations, such was the paper.

The editorial staff of the “Siedlce Vochenblat,” with the editor Asher Liverant in the middle, with a glass of tea. Among them are Y.P. Greenberg, Yehoshua Eckerman, A. Kimmel, Bella Finkelshteyn, Avraham, Friedman, Velvel Lev, Kaspi, Dovid Popovsky, and others

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was called the “Siedlce Tog” [Day]. It appeared on October 12.

After the successful appearance of the single issue, permission was received from the government to put out the “Siedlce Vochenblat.” The Zionist organization intervened to make the thought of issuing the paper a reality. Thus, the Zionists created an organ of their own that served as the mouthpiece for the local organization. This was at the time of the English mandate concerning Eretz–Yisroel in San Remo, on the eve of the Fourth Aliyah.

During 1922 three issues appeared, and in 1923, 38 issues appeared. From then on, the newspaper appeared weekly without interruption until the Second World War, that is, for 18 years.

In issue 2 from 1923 appeared the following message to readers:

In difficult material conditions, with little intellectual skills, with full indifference and partial ignorance about the business, we undertook the “Siedlce Vochenblat.” As we have so far, so will we continue to combat every community injustice and misdeed, react to every malfeasance which affects us, the Jews of Siedlce.

The paper struggled for its existence and made attempts to attract advertisements. Siedlce, however, had few business or factory interests, so they were satisfied with congratulations and obituaries. About the financial condition of the paper, we have a second announcement: “To Our Readers,” published in the fourth issue of 1923:

The publication of a daily paper, particularly in a provincial city, encountered many strength–sapping difficulties. This is neither the time nor the place to provide details of the great difficulties, both technical and material, that the paper experienced. It is also not the time or place to tell how small the number of initiators was or how few people carried the whole business on their shoulders.

–––––––––Individual birds, when they receive no straw

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to build their nests, sing no songs. Although everyone recognizes the importance of our undertaking, few readers feel the basic duty to pay the price of a subscription, putting in danger the existence of our newspaper.

In March of 1925, the “Siedlce Vochenblat” celebrated a milestone, the appearance of its hundredth issue. An editorial in honor of the milestone said:

The publication in a provincial city, without any underwriting, of a hundred issues of a weekly paper should definitely be celebrated as a small holiday in the history of the Jewish provincial press in Poland.–––––––

We have accomplished the end that our paper has become almost an elementary intellectual staple in every Jewish home in Siedlce, even in the whole province, which has a looser community than the capital, and our paper has begun to penetrate all the Jewish homes.

The “Siedlce Vochenblat,” from its first appearance and throughout its existence, served the community's cultural life as well as the development of various cooperative institutions, school and educational institutions, for awakening and continuing the feelings for their homeland among emigrants from Siedlce in other countries and encouraging them to support local institutions. Most important were the services given by the Vochenblatt to the Zionist institutions whose organ it was. But the paper suffered many internal and external disturbances.

For example, it happened that L. Gutgelt addressed in an article the business of the local government and a particular official, saying that he had acted “in the style of the old police” (meaning that he had acted like the czarist police). The official then imposed a large monetary fine on the “Siedlce Vochenblat.” When the editors turned to the readership for contributions to pay the fine, and then published a list of donations that came from readers and sympathizers, the same official felt offended and doubled the fine that he had imposed on the

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the paper. It happened more than once, especially when the Zionist land policies opposed those of the government, that the Vochenblat was confiscated. More than once–especially at the time of the elections for the Sejm or for local offices–the distribution of the paper had to be undertaken away from the hands of the administration.

The “Siedlce Vochenblat” also survived a ban from the Siedlce rabbinate. The ban was also sponsored by the Orthodox weekly “Our Way.” This medieval weapon was used against the Vochenblat because in issue 17, a feuilleton was published called “The Grandiose Sunday Mikveh Gathering,” a satire on a gathering that was supposed to compile a list of all the women who observed Jewish laws of hygiene–“Pure Ones among the Daughters of Israel.” In the same issue was written:

In the name of the holy gathering, people received permission to send to every home leaflets with a revolting purpose, to make meetings and rabbinical sermons about such matters, so that every mother, when she would teach her own daughter, should do so in a special room, with two observers.

This article convinced the Orthodox leaders of the city to order the rabbinate to forbid reading of the “Siedlce Vochenblat.”

The condemnation did nothing to lessen the circulation of the paper, but it had reverberations not only in the city but also in the daily Jewish press, which protested this method of one–sidedness in the rabbinate.

A letter from the handworkers' union to the paper said:

The Jewish handworkers in Siedlce, as part of the citizen democracy, recognizes that the issuance of a condemnation by the rabbinate against the “Siedlce Vochenblat” is reminiscent of a clerical notion from the Middle Ages regarding freedom of speech.

The Zionist committee in its meeting of May 16 decided to express the fullest recognition and

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belief that the good part of Siedlce was totally on the side of the “Siedlce Vochenblatt.”

“Jewish Art” put out a declaration is which it said:

We protest in the strongest way against the dark deeds of the local “holy ones,” who have, under the mantle of religiosity, have spread demoralizing obscene announcements, called evil meetings, and, lastly, have tried, through medieval methods, to stop the mouths of those who have the boldness to react to these methods.

A. Einhorn in the Warsaw “Heynt” of May 25, 1925 wrote an editorial called “Ban”:

The ban now stalks the Jewish streets. A few months back it was in Lublin, now in Siedlce, both times against the published Yiddish word.

The provincial pillars who have bear the heavy burden of worry for Jewish souls have begun to make it quite simple: if a Jewish paper writes anything that is not in their spirit, they quickly seize the old sword from its sheath and hack away; they put the newspaper under a ban. Two are now accursed: the “Lublin Tageblat” and the “Siedlce Vochenblat.”

It is not a question of these two “victims,” which are, after the ban, in just the same shape as they were before. It is a question of the phenomenon itself, which sets before us a sad corner of our community life.

The “Folkstzeitung” (Warsaw) dedicated a long article to the matter.

The “Lodz Tageblat” of May 23, 1925 in an article entitled “Our Ban,” reviewed the story of the ban in great detail, how it was issued, and ended the article with the following words:

The fact itself requires no explanation and is an excellent illustration of how certain rabbis besmirch the honor of the rabbinate.

The “Lublin Tageblat” devoted to the ban a long feuilleton, “The Siedlce Ban.” The “Tageblat” recalled the ban that had been proclaimed a year earlier,

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which had in no way harmed it, as though no one knew from whence it came or where it went.

The paper ended the feuilleton:

For our colleagues we have this advice: “Don't ask after the doctor, but after the sick person.” It won't hurt you at all, God forbid. It can only harm small–minded intriguers.

In regard to the frictions and controversies and the ban, the prophecy of the “Lublin Tageblat” was right. The “Siedlce Vochenblat” appeared for eighty years without interruption, until the outbreak of the Second World War, and became a truly regional paper, which provided space for articles from the whole area. Thus, on April 23, 1926, a second supplement began to appear, “Life in Mezritch,” which became an independent section of the paper and had its own set of editors.

As we have already said, the “Siedlce Vochenblat” was established by Zionist leaders and writers, and the paper followed this path until its last day. The Vochenblat served all the Zionist factions. Only at certain times, when the Zionist front was not unified–for instance, at the time of elections for the city council, the community, or even at elections for the Zionist congress–the different Zionist factions would separate. Then the paper would serve the general Zionist organization. As for the general Zionist ideal, its position was to be unified.

The paper was in favor of constructive work in Eretz Yisroel. In the area of culture, it propagandized for Hebrew. It is proper to note that from the end of January, 1934, until halfway through 1935–a year and a half–the “Siedlce Vochenblat” published a “Hebrew Supplement,” The Yiddish spelling of the of the newspaper was old–fashioned, just like that of the Warsaw “Heynt.” When the editors proposed to use a new orthography, L. Gutgelt, whose influence on the paper was significant, was opposed. Only in 1937, two years after the death of editor Asher Liverant, did the “Siedlce Vochenblat” begin to use

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the new orthography. The circulation of the paper was 800 copies, but with time it grew to 1000.

In 1936 the “Siedlce Vochenblat” celebrated its fifteenth anniversary. In a special article dedicated to the great day, L. Gutgelt, among others, wrote:

When one leafs through the fifteen years of the “Siedlce Vochenblat,” one sees with how much industry and responsibility it has fulfilled its duty. The “Vochenblat” became, and remains, a paper of battle, a paper that makes no peace with the current situation, a paper with an ideal, a paper that awakens and calls to action. The first articles in the paper opposed institutions that were ruled by shoddiness and corruption. During its existence, the “Vochenblat” fought for the extension of social aid and mutual aid for the purpose of shaping new institutions, strengthening those that existed with the work of the Jewish masses, awakened the consciousness of mutual aid, for education and cultural institutions. A significant chapter for it was the battle with the anti–Semites. The “Vochenblat” was silent about no offense done to Jews and always promoted our rights. As a provincial paper we should fight against sending Jewish life back to the dark Middle Ages. The “Vochenblat” is among the few provincial publications that had to survive searches, trials, and even denunciations over supposed disloyalty.

During its eighteen years of existence, hundreds of writers contributed to the “Siedlce Vochenblat,” locals and from elsewhere in Poland and in the larger world. To the editorial circle belonged, in addition to those already mentioned, Yechiel–Pesach Greenberg, who published stories, essays, poems, criticism of the arts; Y. Ch. Eisenberg wrote poems and essays; Y.N. Vayntroyb, whose name has appeared so often here, published memoirs about the pogrom in Siedlce and many biographical articles about Jewish personalities in Siedlce; A. Goldberg and Sh. Rosenbgarten wrote sports in Siedlce; B. Mintz published a monograph about the people's bank; Yoel Mastboym wrote memoirs about his childhood in Siedlce.

Others who worked on the paper were Dr. Dovid Kleinveksler, later

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a lawyer in Haifa; Peretz Listek, Yosef Listek, Dovid Ben–Yosef (Pasawsky), Avraham, Friedman; the writer of this work, and his brother Leib Srebrnik.

Besides the “Siedlce Vochenblat” weekly papers were put out by all the other active Jewish parties in Siedlce. Two years after the Zionist paper began to appear, the Agudah began to put out a weekly publication called “Unzer Veg” [Our Path], an Orthodox weekly. The paper appeared with some interruption from May 16, 1924 until 1930, with 2 or 4 pages with a circulation of 400. The main editor was Berish Jakobowicz. A committee did the editing: Sholem Yellen, Rabbi Meir Schwartzman, Yehudah–Aryeh Zuker, Aharon Gelkenboym, Yisroel–Meir Kleinlehrer, and Shmuel Ginsberg. The Orthodox weekly represented the Agudah's political views in the Siedlce city council and in the community. Details about “Unzer Veg can be found in the memoirs of Rabbi M. Schwartzman.

In 1926 and 1927, M. Mandelman, Yakov Tenenboym, and Menashe Czarnobrode put out a paper called “Dos Vort” [The Word]. The paper had a folkist coloring and served the interests of the Jewish Folks School, which was then active in Siedlce.

Also the leftist factions published their weekly. In 1930 the Bund's worker Binyamin Kramarzh put out a weekly called the “Siedlce Tribune,” which lasted for two years. Dovid Nymark published in this weekly a memoir in installments of the social and cultural life of Siedlce at the beginning of the twentieth century. This paper, with its small circulation, closed down thanks to a lack of resources.

Z Rozenzumen, an activist in the “Poalei–Tzion” of Siedlce and its surroundings, together with A. Friedman, who, because of friction with his colleagues at the “Siedlce Vochenblat, had left the paper, decided to published a new weekly, “Siedlce Life.”

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The first issue appeared on October 9, 1935 and it lasted for three years, until the winter of 1938.

Through the initiative of a group of fiction writers–Y.H. Eisenberg, Y.F. Greenberg, and Y. Tenenboym, in January of 1927 a bi–monthly literary journal began to appear under the title “Vortzlen” [Roots]. Its aim was to present young talent, regardless of their orientation. Two issues appeared. An editorial in the first issue said:

We propose to provide a stage for young writers. We take on the burden with full responsibility. We know that the way is difficult, but we have the courage to approach publication with our modest attempts.

Our journal will not serve any particular orientation or formula. Our criterion is–talent, steeped in truth. Our goal–an excellent approach, a conscientious appreciation.

The contents of the first issue: B. Olitzki–poems; Y.Ch. Eisenberg–Shadows; M. Bershling–Poems; a. Vogler–Poem; L. Olitzki–The First Three Rubles; Y.F. Greenberg–Without Anything; Sh.L. Schneiderman–Poem; Y. Tenenboym–The Hatchet; A. Zilberman–Because of a Guy; M. Natish–Poems; about young Yiddish prose

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H. Levi–Harvest Time; P.G.–Tanach in Yiddish; A. Lehrer–Direct War Poetry; L. Plony–Bibliography and Notes.

The format of “Vortzlen” consisted of sixteen pages published by Ch. Rosenblat.

I should also point out the effort of a group of young people, graduates of the Hebrew Folks' School “Tarbus” in Siedlce, who in October of 1931 put out a hectographed paper called “Ha–B'ris” [The Covenant]. After the first two issues, the paper was published every two weeks. The paper was the organ of the Hebrew–speaking circle, under the editorship of the Hebrew teacher Hillel Schwartz, with the participation of writers from the school. Hillel Schwartz later made aliyah, became a policeman, and was killed by piece of shrapnel on August 4, 1938 near Ramat–Ha–Kovesh, at the time of the bloody events there.

The first published issue of “Ha–B'ris” appeared on December 6, 1931 and the following contents: An editorial–(H. Schwartz) concerning Chanukah; Y Srebrnik (Y Kaspi): an article about Chanukah as a spiritual holiday; Shomo Reich described in a long literary piece his father's funeral; further:––an article an notice concerning the pioneer movement and the Hebrew language. At the end, a humorous section. It is appropriate to add that the patron of the paper was no other than the editor himself who, from his small salary, cut down on food and warm clothing, devoting his coins to the existence of the Hebrew bi–weekly paper, which lasted for four months.

Around 1924, it was possible to believe that life had returned to normal. For the Jewish community, new problems cropped up. There was a lack of open, legal institutions that would undertake and organize Jewish community life. The Polish overseers had not found it necessary to reorganize the Jewish community, although such a demand had been the topic even in 1919 at a conference of the leaders of the

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Jewish communities in Poland, which was convened by the central Jewish national council. A representative from Siedlce was there. At the conference it was proclaimed that the demand of the German occupation government about the organization of the Jewish religious union in the Warsaw General Government and in the decree of the country leader of February 4, 1919 about the changes in the organization of the Jewish communities in former Congress Poland, does not meet in any way the legal demands of the Jewish population.

The Polish regime, which had no interest in broader Jewish autonomy, desired that the community should control only religious functions. The dozors also did not want to lose their power if the community enlarged its framework, and in 1923 Siedlce had the following community budget that illustrates the character of the Jewish community:

Income
Taxes	33,000,000 marks
Slaughter income	35,000,000
Shops at the hospital	1,000,000
Shops at the cemetery	1,000,000
Bath	180,000
Total	70,180,000
Expenses
Rabbinate	11000,000
Shul: cantor, sextons	3,000,000
Cantor, beis–hamedresh	240,000
Administration	10,000,000
Talmud–Torah	7,000,000
Ezras–Y'somim	3,000,000
Old–age home	1,500,000
Slaughtering expenses	25,000,000
Total	60,740,000

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The “Agudah,” which had a strong religious character, was quite influential in the community at the time. As the rules had established a definite category of voting rights, to which belonged only a particular category of taxpayers, the dozors from the “Agudah” arranged that no taxes should be collected from the general population so that they would not be able to vote

The Jewish community building

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the situation and winning the sympathy of the Jewish masses. With their votes they later were able to exercise their wills.

Around 1926, the first more democratic votes came to the community, and new people became part of the governing body. The “Bund” at that time boycotted the community body; in the third decade, however, when the “Bund” changed its views and took part in the campaign for votes, it succeeded in passing several mandates.

The Zionist parties led a battle in the community body to support the Zionist institutions and finally achieved a victory. They also assisted the Yiddishist elements in the battle to receive support for the Folks' School with a Yiddish basis. The Jewish community in Siedlce had set aside certain sums for the Hebrew “Tarbus” school, Hebrew evening courses, the Yiddish Folks' School, and Keren Kayames L'Yisroel. The community later gave a hundred zlotys to every pioneer who made aliyah to Eretz Yisroel.

After 1920, when life began to return to normal, the officers of “Ezras–Y'somim” [the orphan home] began to seek ways to obtain a suitable locale for the orphan home. Then they purchased a small wooden building with a garden, which was in the same neighborhood as the old people's home. The wooden building was pulled down and a special committee was chosen to construct a new building. The committee consisted of: Dovid Rubinshteyn, chair; Monish Ridel, assistant; Bunim Rothenberg, secretary; Yisoel Gutgelt, treasurer; Wolf Barg, steward; Yisroel Zucker; Dovid Kanafni; Alter Kaminski; Eliyahu Levita; and Yakov Yom–Tov.

An announcement issued by the committee said:

Small and narrow is the old home of the “Ezras–Y'somim.” The number of children who make their home there is very small, but even so, because of its size they must sleep two, and sometimes three, to a bed.

Even worse is the fate of the greater number of orphaned children who cannot be taken in, barefoot and alone,

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wandering the streets, living in cellars and attics. We must use all of our strength to find for them their necessities and a home. Without capital, without any pre–arranged income, we are dedicated to putting up a large building that must and will soon take in a great camp of about 150 such poor orphans and relieve their suffering.

Truly we rely on your feelings for the fate of these children. We have calculated that along with us, you will understand for whom we are proposing this building; and truly, the recent war years have shown that the fate of our people lacks a firm foundation, that no one has a secure tomorrow. Unfortunately, all of our messages to you have not produced a response.

After about six months, work on building the orphan home was under way, and on December 13, 1926, while the building was in progress, the following accounting was published:

Purchase of land	8,670.70 zlotys
Materials	26,728.71 zlotys
Labor costs	15,218.14 zlotys
Miscellaneous	3,682.83 zlotys
Total	54,300.38 zlotys[103]

“Ezras–Y'somim” did not have a school for the children. In that situation, the boys learned in the Talmud Torah, the girls in the government school, the “Tarbus,” and some in the Folks' School. The writers and community activist

[Page 239]

Puah Rakovski greatly praised the institution but also criticized sending the children

to the Talmud–Torah, where they studied for 12 hours a day.

When the children grew up and had to leave the home, they were apprenticed to craftsmen in order to learn a trade appropriate for their abilities. They learned: shoemaking, tailoring, locksmithing. Some went into printing and other trades. There were also times when, with the help of the Central Orphan Welfare Agency and “Giant,” children from the Siedlce Ezras Y'somim were sent to France, Canada, or the United States.

The building of “Ezras Y'somim”

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fewer expenses, because “Ezras–Y'somim” needed more for education, clothing, and so on.

A bedroom for children in Ezras–Y'somim

Because of this developing situation twice called for consultations with the prominent citizens of Siedlce. But no one attended. Only five people attended the extraordinary meeting that was called for the 26^th of May in 1930.

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The committee therefore issued the following resolution: they declared that since the entire deficit of the “Ezras Y'somim” was left over from the time of putting up the building, and since the building belonged to the entire community of Siedlce, the community should cover the deficit. This proposal was made in the community council, which authorized the community committee to extend a loan of 20 thousand zlotys and thereby cover the deficit. The “Ezras Y'somim” committee went to the “Union of Orphan Concerns” and persuaded them to lend that sum to the community committee for a period of three months at four percent interest^[104].

Until this matter was settled, the committee called forth the guardians of the orphans, turned the children over to them, and closed the institution. But the problem was solved and in July the institute was opened again. Thus things went until the outbreak of the Second World War, when the children were evacuated to Minsk (in the Soviet Union). At the outbreak of the Russian–German War (June, 1941), some of the children were taken

The Passover seder for the orphan children with the participation of the Ezras Y'somim Committee, led by Asher Arzhel. At the table state the educator M. Stchalke, the teacher Yakovicz, and Asher Arzhel

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further into Russia and survived, but some were killed in Minsk.

During many long years, the following personnel led the “Ezras Y'somim: Alter Kaminski, chair (he left Siedlce in the thirties); he was replaced by Yisroel Gutgelt; Bunim Rottenberg, secretary (the secretaries changed: he was replaced by M. Stczalka); Dovid Kanapni, treasurer; Aaron Yochlin, steward; Yisroel Zucker, Yakov Yommtov, Gittl Fershter, Sarah Czarnabrode, Avraham–Yosef Karnitzki, members. Fishl Dromi (Popowski) represented the community as an ex–officio member.

The Ezras–Y'somim children in the woods of a summer camp

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would be thrown open and people would pass out bread and challahs. The baskets would be brought back to the “Beis Lechem” office, where the other products would be divided up.

A second required institution was founded in December of 1926–––the “Toz,” an acronym for the Polish phrase “Society for the Preservation of Health” (for Jews).

“Toz” took on the task of watching over the health of the Jewish population, particularly children. It conducted clinics. In its last years, “Toz” oversaw the Jewish hospital in Siedlce.

At the same time there was a “Linas Ha–Tzedek,” which was on duty throughout the night. This group provided a doctor in case of need and also lent out medical devices and so on.

The “Bikur–Cholim,” which already existed for many years, halted its operations from time to time, but each time it resumed those activities.

After the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Novograd yeshiva came to Poland and opened branches in a variety of cities. Siedlce had such a branch.

The arrival of the Novograd yeshiva in Siedlce drew great attention. It was located in the butchers' beis–medresh. Students would come there to focus on the Talmud. For several hours a day they would study Mussar from two volumes: “Mesilas Yesharim” and “Orchos Tzadikim” (the first volume was by R. Shmuel Dovid Luzzato) [A footnote corrects this, explaining that the book was actually by Rabbi Moshe–Chaim Luzzato.]. Each day, at the time of the afternoon service, it was time to study Mussar. A student from the yeshiva, attended by four younger students, would march in the hall of the butchers' shul or in the courtyard; the older student taught Mussar to the younger ones.

On Thursday evenings–summer and winter–the students did not sleep, but studied through the night. This was called keeping watch.

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A special experience was the “Hitor'ros” [spiritual awakening] that was made on Shabbos after the third meal. The head of the yeshiva would stand before the opened Ark of the Covenant while the yeshiva was entirely dark, and he would preach. The listeners, from their great devotion, would cry out, which signified either repentance or remorse.

There were four divisions in the yeshiva. The fourth, in which the oldest students studied, was called “kibbutz.” There were three heads of the yeshiva–R. Leibl, R. Shabbtai, and R. Mikhl Tsikholnik.

The political power of Jews in Siedlce was broad but became weaker. The Polish supervising authority did everything it could to make the city more Polish. They created an artificial Polish majority, as documents later showed.

At the time of the city council elections, on May 29, 1927, nine of the twenty–nine elected members were Jews.

The second census, from December 9, 1931, gave the following figures:

Jews Men Women Total			Christians Men Women Total			Combined Men Women Total			%Jews
7,031	7,762	14,793	10,683	11,400	22,083	17,714	19,162	36,876	41

Yiddish and Hebrew	Polish	Other	Total	% Yiddish and Hebrew
14,601	22,019	256	36,876	39.6

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18,963 Jews, but in the second census there were only in Siedlce 14,793 Jews, that is, a decline of 22 percent. And we see that the number of non–Jews grew from 16,256 in 1921 to 19,162 in 1931, that is, an increase of 17.9 percent.

This change in the population count was not the result of Jews leaving Siedlce in such numbers over the ten–year period. It was the result of the politics of the Polish government, which aimed to reduce the number of Jews belonging to Siedlce. This was necessary for rigging the elections so that there would be fewer mandates from Siedlce. To this end, a number of small towns that had earlier been included as parts of Siedlce were separated from the city and declared to be independent municipalities. At the same time, a number of villages that were inhabited only by Christian farmer workers were assigned to Siedlce. Thus the number of Polish inhabitants was artificially increased.

Jewish life in Siedlce in the last years before the outbreak of the Second World War was over all in decline. When the Polish prime minister spoke in the Sejm, he justified the economic war against the Jews. The anti–Jewish Siedlce paper “Pszyotszel Podlyosze” (number 9 from 1936), contained an article “The Polish Earth Should Burn their Steps.” The author of the article, St. Kapetcz, rejoiced that as a result of the prime minister's speech, the Polish Foreign Minister Beck had demanded that colonies be created “to accommodate the overflow of the Jewish population.” Kapetcz wrote:

The war against the flood of Jews should be waged by the entire people, by every individual, and through every aspect of community life.

It is clear that the Jews will not leave on their own, so we should establish colonies that can take in 800,000 a year, not just 80,000. They don't leave because it is good for them here. They feel at home here.

The well–known leader of the Pilsudski camp (Sanatzia), Pulkownik Boguslaw Miedzinski

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editor of the official “Polish Gazette” and former Postmaster, published in his newspaper in June of 1938 a Jew–baiting libel. The author of the Jew–baiting article had a close connection with Siedlce. He was the husband of Janina Shteyn, a daughter of the Siedlce doctor Moritz Shteyn, the longtime director of the Jewish hospital, researcher on the Jewish past in Siedlce, who later converted to Catholicism. Miedzinski graduated from the Siedlce Gymnasium in 1909 and later studied in the Lemberg Polytechnic and in the Agrarian School of Jagellonian University in Cracow. In his anti–Semitic article Miedzinski repeated the lines which had been disproved already eighteen years earlier, that Jews had greeted the Bolsheviks in Siedlce and so on. He wrote:

The communist idea is deeply ingrained in the Jewish youth. In 1920, when the Bolsheviks came to the region of Siedlce, the whole population aided the Polish army in repulsing the enemy. And what did the Jews do?

The Jewish communists of Siedlce–he continues–took up a voluntary collection for the Red Army. At the end of July, the following occurred: The Polish general headquarters sent a parliamentarian to Siedlce, where the Bolsheviks were. The parliamentarian later travelled in a car with a Soviet flag and surrounded by a Bolshevik escort. When the car with the Polish officer came to Kalushin, the Jews were in the streets and met the arriving troops with an outcry: “Long live Soviet Russia.” Quite simply, the Jews thought there was a Bolshevik officer in the car, not a Polish one.

Miedzinski assured his readers–this fact was told to him by an officer who was surely no anti–Semite but had actually belonged to the leftist sector of the P.P.S. He asks: is if possible that such facts should lack evidence? Is it not clear why there is such an uproar when people try to deal with the Jewish problem?

Not only was Boguslaw Miedzinski an enemy of Israel

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but so was his wife Janina. The apostate was inspired by Hitler's regime in Germany. Since Frau Janina Miedzinski had taken a position as a work inspector, in February of 1937 she came from Warsaw to Siedlce and gave a talk entitled “The New Work System in Germany,” which was a song of praise for the Hitlerian system.

The pogrom that was organized against the Jews of Brisk, in May of 1937, had wide repercussions in Siedlce. An aid committee was formed in the city for the victims in Brisk. It included: Dr. Kh. Bergman, M. Ratbeyn, Y.N. Wayntroyb, Y.A. Zuker, Y. Slushni, M. Saltzman, and B. Zucker. They issued an announcement that said:

Let not our brothers from Brisk suffer from hunger and need! Let us rebuild the ruins of Brisk! Not a single Jewish business or workshop should cease to exist!

Together with all the other cities in Poland, our city of Siedlce must take an active part in aiding Brisk! This includes both material and psychological aid for our victimized brothers and a spit in the face to the deplorable anti–Semitic evildoers!

In addition to material aid, thousands of Jews from Siedlce also took part in travelling to protests against the pogrom. All businesses in the city were closed on May 30, 1937. This indicated the specific Jewish solidarity and togetherness against the anti–Semitic scourge. This solidarity and unified posture of the Jewish population in Siedlce called forth the scorn of the Siedlce Polish and anti–Semitic paper “Zhemia Siedlceke,” which published an article entitled “Jewish Protests”:

The behavior of the Jews in such a bestial manner, just as Hitler has done, has not prompted an appropriate reaction among the Jews of Warsaw and Siedlce. If for Brisk, the demonstrative closing of stores on Monday was a vocal reaction, how much should the Jews have demonstrated by closing their stores–for hours and days–after Hitler's pogroms?

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After the Polish prime minister Gen. Slavoy Skladkowski had, in his already mentioned speech in the Sejm, approved of the economic battle against the Jews, the divisions were erased between the National Democratic Party (N.D.), which had always been anti–Semitic, and the official government party, the Sanatsiya, which from its beginning had interested itself in the good reputation of Poland and had made a show of friendship with the Jews.

The economic battle against the Jews, their elimination from the Polish economy, had in Siedlce, as it did in other places, took concrete forms. In the Jewish streets, around the businesses, special uniformed picketers roamed and prevented Christians from entering Jewish businesses. When a Christian customer approached a Jewish business, the “picketers” would confront him and ask why he wanted to bury the Polish economy by not buying from a Christian store. It is easy to imagine that this kind of activity affected almost the entire confidence of the impoverished Jewish population of Siedlce. Christian customers stopped patronizing Jewish shops, while Christian shops began to do very well. They used credit and other privileges that the Polish government had given them.

The economic battle also manifested itself in other aspects of life. In November of that year, Christian cabs appeared in Siedlce with signs that read “Christian cab.” This development ruined the income source that had benefited scores of Jewish families for a century. In time, Siedlce was also “honored” with an Aryan doctor's union. The Endecja [the aforementioned N.D.] lawyer Chzhanowski also proposed a petition that all the Christian lawyers except for three signed. This petition required excising Jews from the corps of lawyers. The above–mentioned anti–Semitic lawyer was a son of Alexi Chzhanowski, a liberal and a friend of the Jews, whose activities on behalf of the Jewish community we remember from the early chapters of our work..

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With the greatest energy, the local government proceeded to liquidate Jewish business in Siedlce. On August 16, 1938, an order was promulgated by the Siedlce magistrate that took away the incomes of 27 Jewish merchants who had alcoves in the city market. They were required to give up their spots, because supposedly their alcoves were to be renovated. At the same time, it was declared that all merchants who owned businesses, stalls, or tables in the market had to leave their spots on September 1, 1938, because the city directorate would “renovate” the businesses in the market. All spots for food merchants had to be in a particular place, and special shops were established for other merchandise.

The price for such a shop amounted to from 25 to 40 zlotys a month, and because the city directorate needed money, they required rent for a whole year. This order hit the Jewish merchants in the market like a thunderbolt, because the entire income of a small business or a table in the market amounted to about 50 to 80 zlotys. The poor, ruined merchants had to come up with 300 zlotys for their business, because otherwise they faced catastrophe.

And what kind of renovation was undertaken? Before the renovations there were 48 locations, which became 60, but none of the additions went to Jews. Finally, the anti–Semitic government decided that it was necessary to take a radical step in order to destroy the existence of the Jewish merchants. Although the market had, for a hundred years, come together on Tuesdays and Fridays, this custom was nullified, and the market operated only on Shabbos. Jews did not want to desecrate Shabbos, so that the anti–Semitic order destroyed the existence of a large number of Siedlce's Jews.

From economic anti–Semitism, people turned to hooliganism. Physical attacks on Jews in the streets of Siedlce were a common occurrence. On June 1, 1937, a group of Poles, armed with sticks and iron bars, set out on the side streets, and when they encountered a Jew, they beat him. Among those who were assaulted were: Yakov Kroyt, Esther Tarnheim, Hersh Yablon,

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Bialeshklo, M. Zilberberg, Yitzchak Heler, and two yeshiva students whose names I do not know.

From then on, attacks against Jews became constant occurrences. A Jew was afraid to leave his house in the evening. Jews confined themselves to their dwellings as soon as night fell. The city garden, which always used to be full of promenading Jews, where there had been entertainments and mass demonstrations–now the garden was bereft of Jews, because of the wandering gangs with deadly intentions. Anti–Semites would lie in wait for passing Jews and beat them up.

Consequently the leaders of Siedlce would fuss over certain guests who would travel through the city, on their way to the Bialoweza Forest. One could often see the German Hitler–ministers–Goering, Goebbels, and Mussolini's minister Count Ciano, who were received with great honor. The Poles little thought that these were their deadly enemies.

On October 19, 1937 the Jewish community in Siedlce protested the incorporation of Jewish banks into the high schools. Jewish Siedlce gave insisted that this was the beginning of an attempt to force the Jews into a medieval ghetto. consequently, the protest was unanimous: businesses closed, workers went on strike, and Jewish students did not appear in their educational institutions.

At the same time, when Jews were being so starkly robbed of their elementary civil and human rights, there were some Jews who really desired to demonstrate their Polish patriotism. The “Siedlce Vochenblat” wrote about them^[105]: the recruiting committee for the Silesian Legion enrolled volunteers, but it made difficulties for Jewish volunteers, members of the Jewish combat unit who wanted to be mobilized with the Silesian Legion. The recruiters separated the Jewish volunteers with a variety of justifications. They were sent into Jewish combat units, or they were told that no decision had been made regarding Jewish volunteers. Two Jews did not want to give way and insisted on being enrolled. It seems that the Polish

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patriots did not want to cause a scandal, so they were enrolled in the volunteer legion.

Thus Jews wanted to demonstrate their patriotic feelings, though people tried to prevent them.

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