Widze Memorial Book
(Vidzy, Belarus)

55°24' / 26°38'

Translation of
Sefer Vidz: ayarah behayeha uve-khilayonah

Edited by: ed. Gershon Winer, Yizhak Alperovitz

Published in Tel Aviv, by the Widze Association in Israel


 

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Eudice Shifra Winer

 


Our sincere appreciation to Gershon Winer, for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

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

This is a translation of Sefer Vidz (Widze memorial book), Editors: Gershon Winer and Yizhak Alperovitz, Tel Aviv,
The Widze Association in Israel, 1997 (Y,H,E, 565 pages).

Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Widze (1998) pdf available


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Translated by Eudice Shifra Winer

 

YIDDISH SECTION
 
Introduction – Gershon Winer 11
Irgun Yotzai Vidz (Widze Landsmannschaft) in Israel 16
 
From the Past  
 
A Shtetl: Widze (poem) – Borukh Gelman 21
Widze – Otto Hederman 23
Widze Between the Two World Wars 27
Chapters in the History of the Jews of Widze – Yakov Permont 30
Jewish Communal Life Between the Two World Wars – Yakov Permont 40
The War Years – Yakov Permont 53
The “folks-hoyz” (cultural center) in Widze – from the Vilna Yekopo – Jewish Relief Committee 1930 Register 60
 
Memoirs  
 
Memories from my Childhood – Gershon Winer 62
The Yiddish Secular School in Widze – Yakov Permont 68
The Cultural Life in Widze – Shlomo Ichiltzik 73
Widze Nicknames – Shlomo Ichiltzik 76
Widze Folklore – Shlomo Ichiltzik 79
Letters from the Widze School Committee – 1926 82
The Opening of our Club – Rivka Murmiski 82
A Life that was Obliterated – Noach Shayvl 84
A Few Memories from My Birthplace Widze – Hode Klumel 87
The Outbreak of the Second World War – A. Makhnovski (Swirsky) 92
The Soviet Regime in Widze – Noach Shayvl 95
Back to the Past – Pessye Lipovski 103
Memories from Widze – Mikhle Abramson-Grundshtein 107
The Town of my Childhood and Youth – Mikhle Abramson-Grundshteyn 112
The Evacuation to Russia – Moshe Kraut 121
My Jewish Home in Widze – Jenny Khinitsh 125
My Years of Wandering During the Second World War – Noach Shayvl 128
The Fate of My Family – Ette Makhnovski (Swirsky) 139
 
Personalities and Figures  
 
Reb Dovid'l of Vidz 142
Harav Aryeh Leib Rubin 143
Harav Yosef Kahanman 143
Yisrael Aharoni (Aharonovitz) 145
Dr. Meir Klumel 146
Borukh Gelman – Gershon Winer 147
About Borukh Gelman's Collection of Poems – Efraim Shedletzki 150
Natan Greenblat-Goren 154
Professor Gershon Winer 154
Moshe Zilberman 155
My Father Eliyahu Abramson – Mikhle Grundhsteyn (Abramson) 156
Shlomo Vatkin – Mikhle Grundhsteyn (Abramson) 157
 
The Holocaust and the Heroism  
 
In the Shadow of Death – Shlomo Ichiltzik 161
Destruction and Resistance – Noakh Swirsky 167
Memories from the Ghetto and Forest – Jenny Khinitsh 187
The Bloody War Years – Sarah Korb-Dembovski 199
In the Days of Horror – Pessye Lipovski (Glikman) 203
The War Years – Sarah Swirsky-Okhane 206
I Survived the Nazi Hell – Chane Ichiltzik (Slitn) 208
Jewish Widze Partisans in the Kazian Forests – Yisroel Jekhilzcyk 222
Experiences in the Widze Ghetto – China Kuricki Lifshyn 227
Memories from the Holocaust – Yakov Mogilnik 234
Widze – Yisroel Kokhalski 259
The Struggle to Survive – Shlomo-Reuven Feygl 265
About the Ghetto and Forest – Shlomo-Reuven Feygl 279
The Bloody Scene by the Marug Lake – Sonia Kasimov (Abelevitsh) 315
Widze Holocaust Chronology of Events 319
 
HEBREW SECTION
 
Introduction – Gershon Winer 323
Irgun Yotzai Vidz (Widze Landsmannschaft) in Israel 327
 
Chapters from the Past  
 
History of Widze and its Jewish Community - Yizhak Alperovitz 331
The Character of Widze – Shlomo Niv (Katsherginski) 341
Between the Wars – Noach Shayvl 343
Widze is No Longer! – Shlomo Ichiltzik 349
Memories from Widze – Rochel Zilberman 352
A Journey to the Past – Shlomo Niv (Katsherginski) 358
In the Footsteps of the Survivors – Moshe Zilberman 365
My Parents' House – The Farber Family – Shlomo Farber 369
Widze – Remembering You Forever – Shlomo Niv (Katsherginski) 371
 
Widze Personalities  
 
Harav Aryeh Leib Rubin 374
Harav Yosef Kahanman 374
Yisrael Aharoni (Aharonovitz) 375
Dr. Meir Klumel 376
Chaim Aryeh Zuta 377
Natan Greenblat-Goren 377
Borukh Gelman – Gershon Winer 378
Professor Gershon Winer 379
Moshe Zilberman 379
Borukh Gelman's Poetry 380
The Klumel Family – Moshe Klumel 381
The Feigelman and Berez Families – Shimon Feigelman 384
Meyer Slitn – Yakov Slitn 386
The Gendel and Slitn Families in Widze – Adva Naveh (Gendel) 387
 
The Holocaust and the Heroism  
 
Years of Storm and War – Shlomo Ichiltzik 393
The Ghettos of Widze, Vilna and the Camps of Estonia – Hirsch-Zvi Ablavitz 429
Memories from the Holocaust – Leah Swirsky (Shlomovitz) 456
In the Widze Ghetto and the Concentration Camps – Sarah Dembovski (Korb) 459
The Jews of Druysk in the Widze Ghetto – Reuven Bodovnitz 464
Memories from the Holocaust in Widze – China Kuricki Lifshyn 470
Protocols from the Holocaust Period in Widze 481
The Strobin Family during the Holocaust – Ayelet Shakham 486
The Sailing of the Exodus to Israel – Mikhle Grundhsteyn-Abramson 498
Widze Holocaust Chronology of Events 505
 
List of Holocaust Victims from Widze (Necrology) 509
List of heads of household in Widze before the war 519
 
Memorials 525
 
ENGLISH SECTION (in select books only)  
 
Kaddish for our ShtetlGershon Winer i
My experiences in the Widze GhettoHenia Koritsky Lifschitz vi
In the Shadow of DeathShlomo Ichitzik vii
Widze PartisansYisrael Ichiltzik viii
Destruction and ResistanceNoach Swirsky ix
The Story of One Family – Malacki and FlekserFreda Malacki Nareve xi
A visit to Widze – September 5, 1996Dr. Joseph Katz xiii

 


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