Acknowledgments
Project Coordinators
Janis Friedenberg Datz
and Melissa Rubin McCurdie
Our sincere appreciation to Haim Lungin, of the Former Residents of Steibtz
in Israel for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.
With much gratitude to those who have volunteered translations and reviews of the chapters in this book:
Ann Belinsky, Osher Birzen, Rachel Kolokoff Hopper, Sara Mages, Rosanna Klatzko Milstein,
Ruth Murphy, David Passman, Esther Libby Raichman, Harvey Spitzer zl
This is a translation from: Sefer zikaron; Steibts-Sverzhnye ve-ha-ayarot ha-semukhot Rubezevits, Derevno, Nalibok
(Memorial volume of Steibtz-Swerznie and the neighboring villages Rubezhevitz, Derevna, Nalibok), Editor: Nachum Hinitz,
Tel Aviv, Former Residents of Steibtz in Israel, 1964 (H,Y,E, 560 pages).
Hebrew |
|
Since It Reached Me |
Zalman Shazar |
5 |
Regional Map |
|
7 |
Steibtz Town Map |
|
8 |
Foreword |
The Book Committee |
17 |
The Star of Steibtz |
David Zakay |
18 |
Steibtz, My Town |
Zalman Shazar |
19 |
Zalman Shazar President of the State of Israel |
(From the Press) |
24 |
The President's Words on Receiving Honorary Citizenship of Jerusalem, the Nation's Capital |
|
25 |
On the occasion of the Pope's visit to Israel |
|
26 |
The President, honorary member of the Capital's journalists |
|
26 |
The Monthly - published by Shazar in Stolpce in 1903 |
|
27 |
|
History of the City |
The History of the Jews in Stoiptz |
Mordechai Machtey |
29 |
My Town Steibtz |
Reuven Levine |
31 |
With the Outbreak of World War One |
Mordechai Machtey |
35 |
|
Rabbis |
Rabbi Dovid Tevli |
M. Cinowitz |
38 |
Rabbi Simcha Shmuel |
M. Cinowitz |
39 |
Rabbi Binyamin Ben Shmuel |
M. Cinowitz |
40 |
Rabbi Meir Noach Halevi Levin |
M. Cinowitz |
40 |
Rabbi Shlomo Mordechai Brodneh |
M. Cinowitz |
41 |
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak MaskilL'Eitan |
M. Cinowitz |
42 |
Rabbi Yoel Carmel Sorotzkin |
M. Cinowitz |
43 |
Rabbi Yoel Carmel Sorotzkin |
Yosef Dov Lechovitsky |
44 |
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak MaskilL'Eitan |
Rabbi Reuven Katz, of blessed memory |
45 |
Rabbi Yoel Sorotzkin |
Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin |
48 |
Rabbi Yehoshua Dov Lieberman |
Zvi Stolovitzki |
52 |
Rabbi Moshe Neifeld |
Yitzchak Lungin |
54 |
Rabbi Yerachmiel Leizerzon |
Rabbi Elchanan Sorotzkin |
54 |
Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, the "Chazon Ish" |
Getzel Reizer |
55 |
The Personality of the Chazon Ish |
Tzvi Stolovitsky |
56 |
The Gaon Rabbi Reuven Katz of Blessed Memory |
|
58 |
|
Rabbis Natives of Steibtz |
Rabbi Yochanan Mirsky; Father and Son Rabbi David and Rabbi Moshe Vilentzik;
Rabbi Yaakov Vilentzik |
M. Tzinowitz |
59 |
|
From the Press |
Haskala and Zionism in Steibtz |
|
60 |
|
Movements and Parties |
In Those Days |
Getzel Reiser |
66 |
Memories From My Life in the Youth Movements |
Dov Ben Yerucham |
68 |
The Youth in the Working Zionism |
Baruch Aloni (Shatzkin) |
70 |
Hashomer Hatsa'ir in Steibtz |
Tamar Amarant |
73 |
The Dry Bones |
Dr. Yisrael Machtay |
73 |
|
Institutions |
Public Institutions |
Mordechai Machtey |
76 |
From All My Teachers |
Zalman Shazar |
80 |
The Mir Yeshiva in Steibtz |
Mordechai Machtey |
88 |
The Tarbut School and Its Teachers |
Eliezer Melamed |
90 |
School |
Tamar Amarant (Rabinovitz) |
91 |
The New Study Hall |
Mordechai Machtey |
92 |
Religious Schools: Talmud Torah Chorev; Beit Yaakov; The Small Yeshiva; The Tifferet Bachurim Circle |
Zvi Stolovitzky |
93 |
|
Persons of Note |
Introduction |
A. M. |
95 |
The Appearance of the High Priest Mareh Cohen |
Dr. Yisrael Machtey |
95 |
Alter the Teacher |
Menachem Halevi |
98 |
In Memory |
Moshe Bar' Natan Akon |
99 |
Nachum R' Elihas |
Getzel Reiser |
100 |
Rabbi Yisrael Yehudah HaLevi Kapushchevski |
Rabbi Moshe Levin |
100 |
Yitzhak Alter Yossilevitz |
Shmuel Epstein |
102 |
Rabbi Meir Chaitovitz |
Yitzchak Tunik, Advocate |
102 |
Torah Scholars and Men of Learning: HaRav R' Shlomo Chari; HaRav R' Dovid Shmuelovitz; HaRav R' Moshe Gitelis; HaRav R' Yaakov Domnitz; Rabbi Yehudah Leib Stolovitzki; Rabbi Moshe Melamed; Rabbi Yosef Miskov; HaRav R' Yeshayahu Borishanski |
Tzvi Stolovitzki |
105 |
Itche (Yitzchak) Margolin |
Getzel Reiser |
110 |
Hillel Akon; Shlomo Yosef Eichel |
M. Machtei |
111 |
The Model Teacher |
Dov Ben-Yerucham |
112 |
One Kaddish |
Rabbi Zalman HaLevi Ori (Fibushuvitz) |
114 |
The Last Rabbi of Steibtz |
Rabbi Zalman HaLevi Ori (Fibushuvitz) |
115 |
The Mesharet Moshe |
Mordechai Machtei |
115 |
The Image of a Dear Friend of My Youth |
Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevi Epstein |
117 |
The Rebbetzin, Chassiah-Miriam Sorotzkin-Carmel |
HaRav Eliezer Maskil-L'Eitan |
118 |
|
Memories |
A Matter of Dispute |
Zalman Shazar |
120 |
Memories of My Childhood Days |
Mordechai Machtey |
124 |
Untitled poem |
Yehezkhel Ben Moshe (Plaksin) |
127 |
Memories |
Gershon Rabinovitz |
127 |
My parents' home |
Tamar Amarant (Rabinovitz) |
128 |
My Parents' Home |
Chana Borsuk |
129 |
Our Home |
The Prosinovski Sisters |
129 |
|
Between Two Regimes |
The Year 1939 |
Dr. Aharon Machtey |
131 |
A Story of Wandering |
Avraham Bursuk |
132 |
|
The Holocaust |
My Small Town Steibtz |
Nachman Flaksin |
134 |
My Escape To The Forest |
Shlomo Aginsky |
135 |
How I Remained Alive |
Zalman Aginsky |
137 |
Departure from the Ghetto |
David Levin |
139 |
In the Camp and in the Forest |
Isaac Berkovitz |
140 |
The Holocaust |
Eliezer Melamed |
146 |
On My Brother's Death
| Isaac Berkovitz |
169 |
And You Shall Tell Your Son … |
David Levine |
170 |
|
Dreamers and Fighters |
Yosef Harkavy; Moshe Zaretsky; Boaz Axelrod; Hirsh Posesorski; Yaacov Spiegel |
Eliezer Melamed |
171 |
Feiveh Aginsky |
Getzel Reiser |
176 |
A. Yehoshua Peker |
Dov Ben-Yerucham |
176 |
B. Yaacov Riefler |
Dov Ben-Yerucham |
176 |
C. Meirka Machtei |
Dov Ben-Yerucham |
177 |
D. Asaf Shachnai |
Miriam Shachnai |
177 |
Sarah Gershenovitz |
Eli and Miriam Shachnai |
178 |
Tanchum Rabinovitz |
M. Neched |
178 |
Elimelech Machtei |
Dov Ben-Yerucham |
181 |
At the End of the War |
E. Melamed |
182 |
Greetings at the Celebration in Beit Hanassi |
Mordechai Machtey |
185 |
|
Yiddish |
|
The Editors |
|
189 |
Foreward |
Zalman Shazar |
190 |
|
The Town and Its Development |
Steibtz of the Past |
Motl Machtei |
191 |
A Lifetime With My Little Village |
Zvi Hirsh Neyfeld |
196 |
a. Sixty Years Ago |
Mendl Machtey |
216 |
b. The Ferry Over the Niemen River |
Mendl Machtey |
220 |
c. Designating Borders |
Mendl Machtey |
223 |
|
Movements and Parties |
The Political-Social Life |
Mordechai Machtey |
225 |
Zionist Organizations |
Shachne Shatskin |
228 |
The Founding of Betar |
Shachne Shatskin |
230 |
|
Institutions |
Social Activity Before the First War |
Mordekhai Machtey |
232 |
Stoibtz Firefighters |
Mordechai Mirski, Betzalel Baskin |
235 |
The Gemillut Chesed in Stoibtz The Benevolent Society in Stoibtz |
Getzl Reiser |
239 |
The Bikkur Cholim Visiting the Sick |
Getzl Reiser |
243 |
The Artisan's Association |
Getzl Reiser |
245 |
|
Folklore |
My Shtetle [small town] Stolpce |
Ben Yerucham |
246 |
Wagon Drivers |
Mendl Machtey |
255 |
Memories |
Shmuel Milcenzon |
257 |
My memories of Shteibtz |
Leibel Mirsky |
261 |
a. He Kept His Word; b. My Last Lag Ba'omer in Steibtz |
Yitzchak Russak |
262 |
Stolpce My Shtetele |
Ahron Chayat |
264 |
A Memory |
Roze Dvoretsky |
268 |
The Family of a Village Jew |
Yisroel Proshtsitski |
269 |
Gutkele |
Rozze PetshenikPrusinovski |
271 |
|
Institutions |
The Last Rabbi Of Stoibtz The Gaon Rabbi Yehoshua Dov Lieberman |
Rabbi Nissen Waksman |
272 |
The Rabbi Reb Yehoshua Dov Lieberman |
Yitzchak Isaac Shapiro |
278 |
My Stolpcer Melamdim (Religious Teachers) |
Mordechai Machtey |
281 |
A Bundle of Memories |
Aharon Chait |
283 |
A. Two Communal Workers; B. Reb Leib Rozowski; C. The Kitayevicz Family |
Getzl Reiser |
287 |
Mulye Kaplan |
Chana Borsuk |
291 |
Shlomo and Chiene Ruchl Mirski |
Arye Leibl Mirski |
292 |
Elegy About Chazon Ishai [Rabbi Avrom Yeshaya Karelitz] |
Chaim Gradde |
293 |
Pillar of Fire |
Chaim Grade |
294 |
|
Morning Stars |
a. The protectors of the town; b. The Revenge of the Rebuke; c. Viera Yakovlevna |
Zalman Shazar |
296 |
|
Death |
In the Ghetto and in the Concentration Camp |
Getzel Reiser |
316 |
With Partisans |
Shmuel Leib Aginsky,
of blessed memory |
325 |
Fragments from Forest in Flames |
Josef Reich |
329 |
From Those Terrible Days |
Nakhema Inzelbukh |
336 |
Fear and Pain |
Esther Bruchansky [Mednitzky] |
338 |
A Terrible Day |
Dovid Slutzak |
339 |
How I Survived |
Shimon Epshtein |
341 |
The Death of the Jews in the Villages |
Mendl Machtey |
342 |
Remembrance |
Basia Milcenzon |
344 |
I Remember |
Betzalel Ben Moshe Baskin |
345 |
How Can We Forget |
Nachman Flaksin |
347 |
A. Back to Stoibtz in July 1944; B. Protocol of the Mourning Session |
Getzel Reiser |
348 |
A Letter |
Noakh Barsuk |
351 |
The First Letters from Stolpce |
Rywka Kantorovitz |
353 |
The First Letters from Stolpce |
Azriel Tunik |
353 |
The First Letters from Stolpce |
Chava Tunik |
354 |
A letter from a soldier of the Jewish Brigade |
Dov Germiza |
354 |
Letters from Africa and Argentina |
Bashke (Basia) Milcenzon, Yehezkel Russak, Henie Kushnir |
355 |
Our Organisation in Israel |
The Editors |
358 |
Articles of the Association |
The Editors |
359 |
|
Landsmanschaftn Association of Immigrants from the Same Region |
A Short Report of Our Activities |
Rozze Dvoretzky |
362 |
A Report from Our Committee |
Betzalel Baskin |
363 |
The Stoibtz Mirror |
Harris Malbin |
365 |
My Memories of 30 Years |
Sam Tunik |
366 |
Scenes from My Birthplace |
Dr. Zeyfert |
369 |
A Story of Childhood Years |
H. Lempert |
370 |
The Story of My Childhood |
Nachum Rozowsky |
372 |
Stoibtz As I Remember It |
Dr. Zeyfert |
373 |
A Jewish FellowCountryman Society Dismantles After 60 Years and Sends Its Torah Scrolls to Israel |
Forverts |
374 |
Reb Yosef Yeshayahu Cohen [Yossel Shaya The Teacher] |
Mordechai Machtey |
375 |
To All Former Stoibtz Jews! |
The Committee |
376 |
I Turn Around |
Zalman Shazar |
377 |
Poems |
Nachman Flaksin |
377 |
Two Stoibtz Golden Weddings |
The Association of Former Stoibtz Residents in Israel |
378 |
|
The Book of Swerznie |
The Book of Swerznie |
|
379 |
Members of Editorial Board |
|
380 |
Table of Contents |
|
381 |
First Memorial Service to the Martyrs of Swerznie |
A. D. Sh. |
382 |
Swerznie, the Dear Town of My Birth |
Reuven Sperans |
385 |
From the Life of the Town Swerznie As I Remember It |
A. Rozansky |
387 |
The Rabbis of Swerznie |
M. Tsinovitz |
387 |
Sounds of the Past |
Yaacov Shalom Katzenellenbogen |
389 |
Memorial to a Life |
A.D. Shkolnik |
392 |
From the Life of the Town Swerznie |
A.D. Shkolnik |
393 |
From the Life of the Town Prussian Market-Gardeners |
Yekhiel Shmushkovitsh |
441 |
Memories of Our Little Town of Swerznie |
Manya Protas |
441 |
Social Life and Youth Movements in the Town of Novy-Swerznie |
Simchah Reznik |
443 |
Refugees in Swerznie |
Chanah Vineberg |
447 |
Jews in the struggle against the Nazi Occupier |
A. Kaplan |
452 |
The Holocaust and Heroism - Memoirs From the Nazi Occupation |
Peysekh Epshteyn |
454 |
Swerznie in its Agony |
Yisrael Tzelkovitz |
456 |
The Last Night |
Michael Grande |
463 |
Not Like Sheep to the Slaughter |
Munia Yossilevski-Yaron |
464 |
A Memory To Those Who Fell Heroically |
Munia Yossilevski-Yaron |
477 |
The Final Liquidation of the Svershzne Jews |
Khave Bernshtein |
480 |
|
Our Towns |
Rebzevitsh (Rubiazhevichy) |
Mendl Makhtay |
485 |
The Destruction of the Jews of Rebzevitsh and its Vicinity |
Gishke Polayesh |
486 |
From the Press [H] |
M. Tsinovitz |
488 |
HaRav R' Arye-Leib Pupko, son of the Chofetz Chaim, a resident of Rubezhevitz |
|
489 |
My Little Town Derevne |
Aharon Broide |
490 |
The Town Nalibok, Its Life and Extermination |
Chaim Shlosberg |
491 |
* |
The Publishing Committee |
494 |
|
Alphabetical list of martyrs |
|
495 |
List of Swerznie martyrs |
|
503 |
List of partisans who have fallen in the forests and in battle |
|
506 |
List of former Stolpce residents who died in Israel |
|
507 |
List of former Stolpce residents who died in Argentina |
|
507 |
Obituaries - for their holy remembrance |
|
508 |
Family photographs |
|
517 |
|
English Section at the end of the book |
Foreword |
Zalman Shazar |
IV |
The History of Steibtz |
|
VIII |
A Short Report of Our Activities |
Rosa Dvoretsky |
IX |
A Short Report of Our Activities |
Icheskel Russak |
XIII |
Germiston Pioneers Celebrate Golden Wedding |
|
XIV |
How Steibtz Was Destroyed |
|
XV |
The Founding of Our Society in Israel |
|
XIX |