Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

The Wierzbniker Society, the publisher of this book, is located in Toronto Canada and was originally formed in the 1930s. At the current time, the Society has 185 members. The Society's goals include conducting not-for-profit activities pertaining to the World War II Jewish Holocaust. Our Society and its name are based on a town in Poland, Wierzbnik, which merged with the Town of Starachowice in 1939 and is now known as Starachowice. Some of the Society's current members lived in Wierzbnik Poland before and during the Holocaust and many others are descendants of Jews who lived in this town.

In 1973, the Wierzbniker Society published its original Memorial book with articles on life in Wierzbnik before and during the Holocaust written by Society members or their relatives, documenting the various aspects of Jewish life in Wierzbnik. This was published for future generations to read, appreciate and remember. The contents were mostly written in Hebrew, with some articles in Yiddish and a few in English.

Since the original book, many current members have expressed an interest in the book and indicated that they, their children and grand-children would like to get a copy of the articles written in English. In 2007, the Executive of the Society undertook the project of arranging the translation of the articles from the original book into English for the benefit of the membership and their families, future generations and other interested parties. To ensure that this project was economical, the articles have been re-published on compact discs and will be made available to all Society members. It is our belief that this book will become an important and significant addition to our members' libraries and we encourage all members to give copies to their family members. Members who would like a paper book version may take the compact disc to a printing store for such purpose.

The Society thanks the following persons who assisted in this publication of the English version of the Memorial book: Ran Snir of Israel for translating the Hebrew articles into English, Judy Grossman of Israel for translating the Yiddish articles, Lisa Zukerman for retyping the original English articles and re-organizing articles, Stanley Zukerman for coordinating this project, the Society Executive for their ideas and encouragement and especially the authors of the original articles, many of whom are no longer alive, without whom this project and book would not be possible.

Stanley Zukerman
Samuel Lepek
Mel Stein

May 8, 2008

Preface and Acknowledgement	i
For Eternal Memory	IX
In Memoriam (Introduction) – Yizkor Book Committee	1
Introduction – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	4
In Memoriam	6
Sketches of a Town – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	7
Twenty Years after the Loss of Jewry of the Cities of Wierzbnik and Drilz (Ilza) – Gershon Rosenwald	9
Remember, And Don't Forget – Yaakov Katz	11
For the Next Generations – Reva (Naiman) Karstadt	14
German Trial Stirs Memory of Horror Camp – Wendy Tucker, Staff Reporter	16
The Sixteenth Day of Cheshvan The Liquidation of our Town – Yaakov Katz	20
It Was a Great Shock – Necha Baranek	23
My Heart Began to Pound Loudly – Sam Stein	25
In Times of Peace – Simcha Mincberg	28
Wierzbnik – Before the Flood – Simcha Minzberg	32
Jews in the Ghettoes of Poland (poem) – Malka Weisbloom	36
The Jewish People Lives! – Yaakov Katz	37
Wierzbnik: the Town, its Location and Growth – Excerpt from a Geographic Dictionary	40
A Precious Pearl Shattered – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	41
Chronicles of the Town and its Jews – Jerachmiel Singer	42
My Shtetl Wierzbnik – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	53
Religious and Traditional Life	58
Rabbis of the Community – Zvi Fajgenbaum	59
The Synagogues in Wierzbnik – Zvi Fajgenbaum	65
Heders and Melameds – Zvi Fajgenbaum	71
The Tale of a Torah Scroll – Reuven Lichtenstein	74
Traditional Folklore – Sara Postawski-Steinhardt	77
Social and Public Life	80
The Youth Movements in Wierzbnik – Yitzhak Kerbel	81
The Young Pioneer Movement in Wierzbnik – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	83
The Gordonia Movement and the National Labor Committee for Palestine Youth League – Reuven Lis Shuali	86
The Zionist Youth Movement – Rivka Greenberg (Mincberg) and Rachel Laor (Dreksler)	88
It Was our Whole World – Yaakov Katz	95
Beit-Yaakov School for Girls – Zehava Zitelna	98
The Batya Organization – Chava Fajgenbaum (Shraga)	100
The Establishment of Beit-Yaakov in our Town – Yaakov Korenwaser	101
The Maccabi Society – Reuven Lis Shuali	102
Maccabi's Youths – Pinchas Hochmitz	104
The Gviazda Sports Society – Shmuel Nudelman	105
The Beitar Movement – Yaakov Snir	107
The Revisionist Movement in Wierzbnik – Gershon Rosenwald	109
Jerusalem of Old and Jerusalem the Golden – Yaakov Katz	111
Memories	113
Memories – Reuven Shuali (Lis)	114
On Market Days – M. Ben-Yehuda	117
On Holidays We Gave Out Honey and Fish – Benyamin Weisbloom	119
A Bundle of Memories – Uri Shtramer	120
Fifty Years Ago – Yossef Kornwasser	122
The Blood Libel Miracle – Yaakov Korenwaser	124
The Tributaries of the Wisla – Moshe (Michael) Samet	125
We Baked Matzahs for Passover – Levi Brodbeker	127
The Hebrew Midwives – Zvi Faigenbaum	128
The Drama Society – Moshe (Michael) Samet	129
Kupat Cholim – V. H.	130
From Wierzbnik to Israel through the Paviak Prison – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	131
A Compilation of Memories from Wierzbnik – Yoseph Citrinbaum	136
The Carousel – Yitzhak Kerbel	139
Memories of my Home – Moshe Sali – Kerbel	140
Characters	143
Town Dignitaries (Characters) – Zvi Faigenbaum	144
Pola Laks, the Noble Woman – Jerachmiel Singer	149
Reb Shmuel Kleiner's House – M. Sali-Kerbel	150
The Admor of Chmelóv – Sara Postawski-Steinhardt	152
Memories from my Home – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	154
Memories of our Home – Mania Rosenkrantz – Bagno (Minka)	157
And His Time Never Came – Sarah Miriam Ribak	163
During the Holocaust	165
The Holocaust of the Jews of Europe – G. H.	166
Dark Days of Horror and Ruin (The Tragedy of Wierzbnik) – Jerahmiel Singer	167
Ilza, the Beginning of the Scourge – Zvi Faigenbaum	179
In the “Camps for the Correction of Man” – Pinchas Nudelman	183
The Day of Holocaust and the Extermination of our Town – Leibish Herblum	186
The Synagogue is Burning – Zvi Faigenbaum	188
A Source of Life Gone Dry – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	192
Waiting in Line for Bread – Sara Postawski-Steinhardt	194
The First Murder – Sara Postawski-Steinhardt	196
Wierzbnik, Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen – Malka Cohen (Leopold)	197
On this Day They Shall Mourn – Sarah Brodbeker	200
In the Jaws of Destiny – Menachem Mincberg	201
Diaspora – M. Magen	205
On the Road to Treblinka – Menachem Efrati	207
My Journeys Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death – Rivka Greenberg (Mincberg)	211
On the Edge of the Abyss – Hanna Tenzer	216
To the Wilderness of the Taiga – Rachel Laor (Dreksler)	223
Going to Palestine – Chava Faigenbaum (Shraga)	227
In the Claws of Death's Minions – Avraham (Moshe) Minkowski	229
In Desperation – Pinchas Hochmitz	232
The Death March from Auschwitz – Ida Rosenberg (Bialik)	234
A Mountain of Corpses in Korenwasser's Yard – Gershon Rosenwald	236
We Ate Grass and Coal – Natan-Neta Gelbart	237
Only Graves Remain – Moshe Weintraub	240
Where No Birds Fly – Abe Zukerman	242
Father, I am Going to the Crematorium – Pinchas Helstein	244
From Wierzbnik to Mauthausen – Zvi Unger (Heshek)	246
A Gruesome Reality – Yaffa Barkai – Rosenwald	251
Sorrowful Reunions Tragic Encounters – Esther Zukerman-Zilberman	252
Memorial Candle – M. K.	261
Bar Mitzvah in the Forest – Malka Weisbloom	262
We were Ten Brothers – Pinchas Hochmitz	263
The Deception: “Work Sets You Free” – Malka Weisbloom	268
Echoes from the Vale of Tears – Yoseph Honigsberg	270
Aiding Children in the Holocaust – Sara Postawski-Steinhardt	276
The Little Orphaned Shoes – Esther Zukerman-Zilberman	278
Like Dark Clouds – Mindl Rosenwald-Farbman	281
The Beginning of the Downfall – Simcha Minzberg	283
Days of Misery and Ruin – Simcha Mincberg	291
Mengele's “Promise” – Zvi Unger (Heshek)	298
Polish Cooperation in the Extermination of Jews – Beniek Zukerman	300
Resistance and Rebellion	307
Led Like Lambs to the Slaughter – Zvi Faigenbaum	308
Hell's Dungeon – Chava Faigenbaum (Shraga)	317
The Policeman Shot and Missed – Abraham Shiner	321
A Hole in the Floor of the Railway Car – Pinchas Hochmitz	325
We Jumped from the Railway Car of Death – Zvi Faigenbaum	327
Aba Kumetz Dared to Swear – Jerachmiel Singer	330
Active resistance	332
In the Woods of Wierzbnik (With the Partisans) – David Sali	333
Fighting the Nazi Conqueror – Yaacov Snir	341
In the Ranks of the Polish Army – Moshe (Michael) Samet	350
He Died on the Way to Freedom – Hania Kuper (Reichzeig)	355
Shmuel Dov Faigenbaum Fell in the Line of Duty – Zvi Faigenbaum	356
Hela Sacrificed Her Life – Tzipora Snir (Faiga Lustman)	359
Guta Blass-Weintraub Snatched the Gun – Jerachmiel Singer	360
In the Shade of the Thick Forest – Gershon Rosenwald	362
Memorial (poem) – Reuven Shuali (Lis)	366
We Wished to Die as Heroes (poem) – Malka Weisbloom	367
Flames Rose from the Steam – Avraham Shiner	368
Knives by the Crematoriums – Rivka Greenberg (Mincberg)	370
Saved by Finkelstein's Sacrifice – Malka Weisbloom	372
The Heroism of Esther Manela – Malka Weisbloom	373
A Gap in the Fence – Avraham Shiner	374
Deep in the Forest – Gershon Rosenwald	376
Hunted and Murdered by Polish Partisans – Avraham Shiner	381
After the war	386
After my Liberation – Simcha Mincberg	387
Yizkor… – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	390
Murders – after Liberation – Perele Brodbeker-Unger	392
The Nazis' Followers – Chava Fajgenbaum (Shraga)	394
The Encounter in Munich – Yitzhak Kerbel	396
It Began on an Autumn Day – Dvora Rubinstein-Erlichsohn	397
I Ran Away and Returned Home – Yitzhak Edison-Erlichsohn	398
A Memorial Stone in Toronto Dedicated to the Wierzbniker Martyrs – Abe Zukerman	401
The Wierzbniker Society in Toronto – Abe Zukerman	402
Last Impressions of my Native City – Abe Zukerman	404
To the Cemetery in Wierzbnik – Sarah Postawski – Steinhart	409
The Town Elder Lied Deliberately – Yitzhak Kerbel	411
Hunted to Extinction – Moshe Neiman	414
From Slavery to Freedom – Zvi Magen (Hershel Pancer)	416
The Miraculous Journey of Mr. Hershel Wiser – M. S., Zvi Faigenbaum	419
To Mention – Through Allusion – Gershon Rosenwald	422
In Memory of the Missing Ones	424
Reb Mordechai Mendel Zilberstein, of Blessed Memory – Moshe Kerbel	425
Shmuel Morgenstern, of Blessed Memory – Yitzhak Kerbel	427
Mr. Noah Citrinbaum – His Daughter Esther	429
Hershel Froyman – Yaakov Katz	430
Israel Reisler, of Blessed Memory – Abe Zukerman	431
Shmuel Gelbard – David Plonsky	432
On the Grave of Yosef Citrinbaum – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	433
Yoseph Citrinbaum (Harari) – His Sons, David and Amos	434
Mr. Moshe David Rothschild – Zvi Faigenbaum	436
I Cry for Them – Leibl Rabinowicz	438
In Memory of my Beloved Ones – Yehoshua Jerry Rolnizki	439
In Memory of our Family – Sternkranz Family	441
The House of Mr. Shmuel Kleiner – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	442
At the Mass Grave of our Brethren – Moshe Sali-Kerbel	444
Conclusion – Yizkor Book Committee	446
Wierzbnik Necrology
English
In Memoriam (Introduction) – Yizkor Book Committee	3
Sketches of a Town – Moshe Sali (Kerbel)	9
The Jewish People Lives! – Yaakov Katz	12
Twenty Years after the Loss of Jewry of the Cities of Wierzbnik and Drilz (Ilza) – Gershon Rosenwald	15
Remember, And Don't Forget – Yaakov Katz	18
Dark Days of Horror and Ruin (The Tragedy of Wierzbnik) – Jerahmiel Singer	20
In the Woods of Wierzbnik (With the Partisans) – David Sali	35
For the Next Generations – Reva (Naiman) Karstadt	43
German Trial Stirs Memory of Horror Camp – Wendy Tucker, Staff Reporter	45
The Sixteenth Day of Cheshvan The Liquidation of our Town – Yaakov Katz	48
It Was a Great Shock – Necha Baranek	51
My Heart Began to Pound Loudly – Sam Stein	52
Jerusalem of Old and Jerusalem the Golden – Yaakov Katz	54
Lists (from Forced-Labor-Camps)	57

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