New York

1949

Initial pages
Table of Contents		i
Foreword		xi
Plan of the City of Volkovysk in 1887		xiv
Plan Legend		xv
My Family	Dr. Moses Einhorn
The Einhorn Family		1
My Father		3
My Mother		3
My Sister Lisa		4
My Brother Oscar		4
My Sister Rosa		5
My Sister Dora		5
My Sister Paula (Pes'shka)		6
Volkovysk, My Home City	Dr. Moses Einhorn	7
The History of the Jews in Volkovysk and The Towns		11
The “Symphony” of Erev Shabbat		14
The Food Center		15
The Butchers		15
The Fish Market		16
The Fruit Peddlers		16
The Grinder		16
The Bakers		17
The Dog-Catcher		17
Sweets and Dairy Products		18
The Weekly Torah Portion is Reviewed in the Heders		18
The Musicians Escort the Bride and Groom		19
Herschel the Scribe and Chana-Chaya the Yoreshteh		20
The Promenade to the Synagogue		20
The Youth Promenades and Sings		21
The Volkovysk Rabbis & Dayans		23
The First Rabbis in Volkovysk		23
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan ז”ל, in Volkovysk		23
The Rabbis Rabbi Yitzhak Aizik Khaver ז”ל, & Rabbi Yekhiel Ben-Aharon Heller ז”ל		24
Rabbi Abraham Shmuel [Diskin], ז”ל		25
Rabbi Jonathan Eliasberg, ז”ל		25
Rabbi Abba Yaakov Borukhov, ז”ל		26
Rabbi Yitzhak Kossowsky		30
Rabbi Yitzhak Rabinovich, ז”ל		32
The Volkovysk Dayans		32
The Dayan Rabbi Yaakov Abraham Stein, ז”ל		32
The Dayan, Rabbi Menachem Joseph Volp (Reb Mendele), ז”ל		33
The Dayan, Rabbi Tuvia Ravitzky (Reb Teveleh), ז”ל		33
The Dayan, Rabbi Yaakov Berestovitsky, ז”ל – The Last Dayan		33
A Jewish Education in Volkovysk		37
The Elementary Teachers		37
The Writers		37
The Regular Teachers (Melamdim)		38
Modern Heders		40
The Real Schul		41
Private Teachers		41
The Talmud Torah and The Yeshiva		42
The Yiddish Volksschule		45
The Hebrew School System in Volkovysk	By Yud'l Novogrudsky	47
The “Kadima” Volksschule		51
The “Yavneh” Hebrew School		51
The “Herzteliya” Hebrew Gymnasium		52
Private Trade Schools,.... and the “Yavneh” Trade School		54
Zionist Movements in Volkovysk		56
The Volkovysk Bund		68
The History of the Volkovysk Bund		69
The Struggle of the Apprentices with the Tradesmen		69
The Volkovysk Cell		70
The Activists of the Cell		71
The Bund Prior to the Second World War		73
The Social-Medical Institutions in Volkovysk		74
Khevra Lina		74
Linat Kholim		76
The Jewish Hospital in Volkovysk		78
The TOZ Organization in Volkovysk		81
A Report from Sioma Gallin Concerning TOZ Activities in Volkovysk For the Year 1939		83
The Volkovysk Old Age Home		84
The Volkovysk Fire-Fighters		89
Establishment of the Fire-Fighters Organization and Command		90
Founding of the Fire-fighters Orchestra		92
The Jewish Fire Chiefs		93
The Fire Brigade Under the Leadership of Melekh Khantov		94
The Role of the Fire-fighters Organization in the Unrest After the First World War		96
The Fire Brigade Under Polish Rule		97
The Volkovysk Maccabi		99
Establishment of Maccabi		99
Maccabi Divisions		100
The Maccabi Activists		100
The Soccer Team		101
Other Maccabi Divisions		101
Soccer Matches		103
Amateur Theater in Volkovysk		105
The Establishment of the Amateur Theater		105
The Amateur Theater Up to the First World War		106
Amateur Theater Under the German Occupation During the First World War		107
Amateur Theater after the First World War		109
HaZamir under the Direction of Yaakov Fisher		110
Personalities		111
Nakheh & Hinde Heller		111
Eliyahu Shykevich		112
Rabbi Abraham Zalman Kurtz		115
Sarah Perliss (Sarah the Fishmonger)		117
Bob'cheh Kilikovsky-Cohen		118
Moshe Shapiro		118
Reb Joseph Yerusalimsky		119
Moshe Leib Khmelnitsky		120
Zerakh Moshkovsky		121
Tuvia Fenster		121
Reb Aaron Lifschitz		123
Reb Israel Efrat		124
Volkovysk and The Land of Israel		126
Chaikel Shiff		126
Sarah Tovah Shiff		128
The First Volkovysk Youth Aliyah		129
Eliyahu Golomb		131
Zus'keh Berman		134
Yaakov Rabinovich		134
The Kalir Family		138
The Yudzhik-Yehuda'i Family		143
The Markus Family		149
The Epstein Family		150
My Forty-Five Years in Volkovysk		162
Volkovysk Schools and Houses of Worship at the End of the Nineteenth Century		162
The Second Sabbath		165
Volkovysk at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century		167
The Volkovysk Orphanage		174
Cooperation with the “Joint”		177
The First Objectives of the Orphanage		178
The First Fund-Raiser of the Orphanage		180
The Sanitary and Medical Condition		180
The School System in the Orphanage		180
Training in Craftsmanship at the Orphanage		181
The Religious Upbringing in the Orphanage		182
Private Care for Orphans		182
The Children After Leaving the Orphanage		182
Day Care for Indigent Children		183
Sources of Support for the Orphanage		184
The Weddings of Orphan Children		185
The American Landsleit		186
The Volkovysk Synagogue and Volkovysk Relief Committee in New York		187
The Builders and Activists of the Volkovysk Orphanage		188
The Dreamers & Builders of Volkovysk		194
Two Community Institutions in Volkovysk		199
Discreet Charity		199
Provisioning Firewood		199
The Educators of Days Gone By		200
Volkovysk Landsleit in the Land of Israel		200
The Destruction of Volkovysk		202
In Those Times		203
The Old Bet HaMedrash in Volkovysk		203
Rabbi Jonathan Eliasberg, ז”ל		204
About Batyushka		205
The Rabbi & The General		206
The Einhorn Family		208
Reb Shmuel Feinzilber		211
The Rakhmilevich Family		212
Reb Koppel Isser Volkovysky		213
“Myrrh” and “Sweet Cinnamon”		216
The Forest Products Merchants of Volkovysk		217
“And You Shall Not Draw Near to a Woman”		217
Reb Benjamin Bialsky		218
Saturday Afternoon – A Stroll Through Volkovysk Streets		220
Jewish Tenant Farmers		224
A Jewish Swindler		225
Three Volkovysk Residents	By Rabbi Abraham Zalman Kurtz, Rochester NY	227
Reb Joel Azriel Shishatsky		227
Reb Moshe Tzigelnik		228
Reb Aaron Leib Friedenberg (Leib Ohreh der Melamed)		229
Zamoscheh	By Velvel Krinsky, Argentina	230
The Old Zamoscheh Bet HaMedrash		231
The High Holy Days		234
The Other Holidays		236
Numismatists in Volkovysk		238
Karczyzna		240
Ending Prayers Late Because of an Esrog		241
Having Prayed Under the Free Sky		243
An You Will Exact Vengeance From His Oppressors		244
Ostroger Gasse (Kosciuszko)	By Rabbi Yaakov Zakheim, New York	246
The Ostroger Bet HaMedrash		246
Yitzhak Neiman		247
Berel Itcheh Pinkhosovsky		247
Rabbi Yerakhmiel Daniel		248
Rabbi Moshe Nakhinson		248
Reb Moshe Joseph Ravitz		249
Reb Shlomo Eliezer Zakheim		249
A Tear for the Volkovysker Leben	By Alexander Kalir, Petakh Tikva	253
Three Balebatim of Volkovysk	By Eliezer Kalir (Petakh Tikva)	256
Reb Abraham Eliyahu Markus		256
Reb Shmuel Feinzilber		257
Reb Yaakov Solomon		257
Reb Shlomo son of Reb Yitzhak Bereshkovsky		259
Reb David Feinzilber		260
Reb Yehuda son of Shlomo Bereshkovsky		260
Reb Yitzhak Novogrudsky		261
Reb Joseph Berestovitsky		263
Sholom Barash		263
David Hubar		265
Meir Shiff		265
Zvi Berg (Herschel the Contractor)		266
Dr. David Tropp		268
Itcheh Leibeh Golda's (Reb Yitzhak Goldin)		269
Gedaliah Pereshetsky		269
Leibkeh Patsovsky, the Barber		270
Yud'l Novogrudsky & Moshe Rubinovich		271
Moshe & Yankel Rutchik-Kavushatsky		272
Meshel Lashowitz		272
Padrovsky the Feldscher		273
The “Kolontai” Company		274
Shaymeh Mordetsky & Yankel Palteh's		275
Shmuel David Nionia's		275
The Jewish Wagon Drivers and Peddlers		276
An Album of Volkovysk Groups		278
Scenes from Volkovysk		282
Volkovysk Relief Organizations		283
Lisokovo		284
Jewish Community Life		285
Personalities		286
Lisokovo Before the First World War		287
What Happened in Lisokovo		291
The Outbreak of the German-Russian War		291
Lisokovo Under the Nazis		292
The Nights of November 1 & 2, 1942		293
The March to Volkovysk		294
What the Lisokovo Partisans Survived		295
Lisokovo After the War		297
Svislucz	By Abraham Ain, New York	298
The Jewish Community in Svislucz		299
The Economic Life of the Jews in Svislucz		299
Economic Conditions After the First World War		300
The Destruction of Svislucz		302
Svislucz Under the Nazis		302
The Last Night in Svislucz		303
Volp	By Zvi (Herschel) Kaplan	306
The Development of Volp		306
The Synagogue		306
Economic & Community Life		307
Incidents in Volp		309
The Incidents in Porozovo		312
The Life of the Porozovo Jews Under the Nazis		313
The Expulsion of the Porozovo Jews		314
The March to Volkovysk		315
Krzemienica		316
The Extermination of the Volkovysk Community	By Dr. Moses Einhorn, New York	318
My Flight to the Land of Israel		318
Meeting with the First Witnesses in Israel		319
Our Witness Ida Mazover		320
Our Witness Yitzhak Tchopper		321
Our Witness Dr. Yitzhak Resnick		321
Our Witness Dr. Yitzhak Goldberg		322
Our Witness Dr. Marek Kaplan and His Sister, Nunya		323
Other Witnesses: Dr. Noah Kaplinsky, Katriel Lashowitz, & Eliyahu Kovensky		323
Our Witness Moshe'l Shereshevsky		324
In the Year 1939		324
On the Threshold of the Second World War		327
Volkovysk Under the Russians		330
Outbreak of the German-Soviet War		331
The German Invasion		331
The Bombardment and Destruction of the Jewish Quarter of the City		332
The German Occupation		338
Anti-Jewish Decrees		339
The Judenrat		339
The Mass-Murders		340
Daily Life Under the Germans		342
Summer 1942 – Under the Germans		344
The Partisan Movement		344
The Contact of Volkovysk Youth with the Partisans		344
The Aktion Against The Handicapped Children		346
German Espionage in the Battle with the Partisans		346
The Arrest of the Jewish Doctors and Technicians		348
The Interrogation of the Doctors and Technicians		348
The Interrogation of the Technicians		350
The Efforts to Free the Doctors		350
The Murder of the Doctors		351
Depressed Morale in the City		352
The Feverish Preparation of Hiding Places		353
The Expulsion of The Jews of Volkovysk Into the Bunkers		354
Black Monday		354
The Tragic Procession		355
Panic On Being Driven Into The Bunkers		356
The First Night in the Bunkers		356
The Arrival of the Jews from Surrounding Towns		357
The Bunker Lager		357
Living Conditions in the Bunkers		358
Life in the Bunkers		359
The Difficult Conditions There		359
The Health Situation in the Bunkers		360
The Work of the Khevra Kadisha		361
The First Work Group		361
A Typical Twenty-four Hour Day in the Bunkers		362
The Murder of Sioma Gallin		363
People Seek Means to Escape from the Bunkers and Many Victims Fall		364
A New Volkovysk Partisan Group		365
A Group of Girls from Bialystok Is Permitted to Leave the Bunkers		365
The Transports		366
The First Transport		366
The Order to Liquidate the Lager		368
The Judenrat is Ordered to Prepare a List		369
The Confused Struggle Between Life and Death		370
Renewed Pressure to Flee to Bialystok		371
The Terrifying Night of Departure		372
Evacuation of the Jews of Volkovysk and Svislucz		373
The Image of the Empty Bunkers		374
The Gassing of Bunker “Number Three”		374
The Life of the Seventeen Hundred in the Lager		375
The Bad Hygienic Conditions		376
Incidents With The Germans		376
The Typhus Epidemic		377
The Judenrat Organizes the Doctors to Combat the Epidemic		377
The Epidemic Grows From Day-to-Day – Many Incidents of Death		378
The Last Volkovysk Transport		379
The Order to Abandon the Lager		379
Those Ill With Typhus Leave the Bunker-Hospital		379
New Pressure to Flee the Bunkers		379
Panic and Confusion in the Lager		380
The Historic Night of the Last March of the Volkovysk Jews to the Train Station		381
The Brutal Onslaught At Being Driven Into the Wagons		382
In the Wagons		382
Arrival In Auschwitz		383
The Tumult in Being Driven from the Wagons		383
The Selection for Life and Death		384
The Tragic Fate of the Last Volkovysk Transport		385
A Partial List of the Men and Women in the Auschwitz Camp		386
The Men		386
The Women		389
The Lager in Auschwitz		390
The First Night in the Lager		390
The Three Days of Quarantine		391
The Life of Bondage in the Lager		392
Bunker “Number Seven”		393
Details of the Death of A Number of those from Volkovysk		393
The Women's Lager In Auschwitz		396
Life in the Women's Lager		396
A Number of Episodes With the Girls from Volkovysk		396
“Death Bunker Number 25”		397
The Selections		397
The Crematoria at Birkenau		399
What Some from Volkovysk Lived Through		399
The Underground Movement and Resistance in the Auschwitz Lager		400
Liquidation of the Lager		401
Volkovysk After The War		401
The Tragic Fate of the Volkovysk Jews	By Yitzhak Tchopper	404
Zamoscheh (The Left Side)		404
Zamoscheh (The Right Side)		408
Svisluczkeh Gasse		411
Bet HaMedrash (Zamoschanskeh) Gasse		412
Brzezkeh Gasse		412
Die Kakhelnya		414
The Wide Boulevard		414
Vatachiner (The Shammes's) Gessel		415
The Wide Boulevard (The Right)		421
The Wide Boulevard (The Left)		426
The Gesseleh		427
The Schulhof		427
The Wide Boulevard (The side on which the Blond Hassid's house was located)		428
The Einhorn Family		429
The Gesseleh		431
Fabrichneh Gasse		433
The Wide Boulevard		434
Millner Gasse (The Side of the Mill)		435
Millner Gasse (The Second Side)		436
The Market Street (Rynkowa)		438
The Neuer Gessel		439
Novogrudskeh Gessel		443
Kholodoiskeh Gasse		443
Wilenska Gasse		446
Gymnasialneh Gessel		447
Tatarski Gasse		448
Tatarski Gasse (The Second Side)		449
Grodno Gasse		453
Alshimover Gasse		455
The Hospital Gasse		456
Ostroger (Kosciuszko) Gasse		458
Ostroger (Kosciuszko) Gasse (The Other Side)		465
Mazover Gesseleh		465
Karczyzna		468
The Tribulations of Ida Mazover		470
Escape from the Bunkers		471
On Foot to Bialystok		472
In the Bialystok Ghetto		473
From Bialystok to Maidanek		473
In Maidanek		474
The Major Aktion in Maidanek		475
Departure from Maidanek		475
The Jump from the Train		476
In the Hospital		476
Photographs		477
Local News (Heimishe Inyonim)	by Reuven Rutchik, ז”ל	478

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