Zelva, Belarus

Zelva Memorial Book
(Zelva, Belarus)

53°09' / 24°49'

Translation of
Sefer zikaron Zelva

English Translation Prepared and Published by

Jacob Solomon Berger

Mahwah, New Jersey, USA 1992

Acknowledgments

Our sincere appreciation to Jacob Solomon Berger who has kindly donated
his original book to JewishGen for online presentation

Our thanks to Sondra Ettlinger for extracting the pictures from the original book,
enabling their addition to the project.

This is a translation of: Sefer zikaron Zelva (Zelva Memorial Book),
Edited by Yerachmiel Moorstein; English translation prepared by Jacob Solomon Berger.
Mahwah, New Jersey, 1992

Notes:

The complete translation of this book is also available here: Zelva Memorial Book

The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Zel'va (1984)

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

Dedication

Forward		i
Translator's Note	Jacob Solomon Berger	i
Yiddish Language	Yerachmiel Moorstein	iii
Publication Note		iv
Conveying Congratulations!	Pinchas Levine	v
Supporters and Fulfillers	Yerachmiel Moorstein	vi

Introduction	Yerachmiel Moorstein	1
Testament	Yerachmiel Moorstein	3
Zelva		4

Overview of the Origins of Our Town
Overview of the Origins of Our Town	Yerachmiel Moorstein	5
The Place		6
The Community		7
The Fairs		11
Earning a Livelihood		12
Education		15
Sports		18
Entertainment		18

Memories
Concerning The Zelva That Was...	Chaim Gilony	19
Memories of Home	Dora Geiger & Haya Meiner	28
My Town	Joseph Vishnitzky	29
The Departure From Home	Emanuel Vishnitzky	30
Memories of My Town	Dvoshka Bar-Nir (Ravitz)	31
Before the Holocaust	Rivkah Wasserman (Ravitz)	32
Competition to Open the Ark for Ne'ilah	Chaim Slutsky	36
Lag B'Omer	Aharon Freidin	38
My Life	Yerachmiel Moorstein	39
Zelva, My Village	Joseph Slutsky	45
Eating “Days”	Yerachmiel Moorstein	46
“News from Zelva”	Yerachmiel Moorstein	48
The Lady Storekeeper and Her Scholar-Husband	Yerachmiel Moorstein	49
The Baal Tefilah	Yerachmiel Moorstein	49
The Model of Conduct in Zelva - Bubbeh Laskeh	Yerachmiel Moorstein	51
The Departure From Zelva (Diary Excerpts)	Eliezer Futritzky (Ritz)	52

100 Years Ago
HaTzefira, (Warsaw)	Abstracted by Yitzhak Shalev	66
HaMelitz, (Odessa and St. Petersburg)	Abstracted by Yitzhak Shalev	68

The Mouths of the Survivors
The Partisans	Moshe Slutsky	61
A Family Among the Partisans	Alta and Ephraim (Foyka) Gelman	77
Alone in the Forest	Mordechai Loshovitz	78
Mining Gold Above the Arctic Circle	Shmuel Kaninovitz	79
Two Years in the Pit	Faygel Gerber	80
I Jumped From the Death Train	Sandor Spector	81
On the Way to Concealment	Avraham Lapin	82
In Siberia	Sima Borodetska	84
From Zelva to the United States	Joseph Kaplan	86
The Farmer's Prophecy That Saved My Life	Yitzhak Shalev	87
The Belzeč Extermination Camp	Yitzhak Shalev	90
The Rescue of Rabbi Kosovsky	Yitzhak Shalev	92
Rachel the Teacher	Yitzhak Shalev	94
Yom Kippur, 1940 in the Soviet Sector	Yitzhak Shalev	96
The Escape From German Occupied Territories	Shlomit Becker-Laykin	96

Destruction of Zelva
Destruction of My Family	Sala Koyat	99
Eliakim the Avenger	Yerachmiel Moorstein	100
The Suicides	Yerachmiel Moorstein	101
The Final Victim	Yerachmiel Moorstein	102
The Destruction Of Zelva (Jewish Daily Forward)	Shmuel Yarnivsky	103
The Town, Zelva - In the Year 1957	Shmuel Kaninovitz	105
Liquidation of Zelva	Ephraim (Foyka) Gelman	106
My Family	Ephraim Gelman	109
Fate of My Immediate Family in Poland	Joseph Kaplan	110
Last Visit to Zelva in 1965	Chuma Zhchinsky	111

Victims of the Holocaust
The Reader	Yerachmiel Moorstein	112
List of the Holocaust Victims of Zelva		113

Surviving Families
List of Zelva Natives Who Emigrated to Other Countries		117
Natives Who Went to Israel & Their Families		118
Natives Who Died in Israel		122

Residents of Our Town in the Land of Israel
The Aliyah of Families	Yerachmiel Moorstein	123
The Kibbutzniks	Yerachmiel Moorstein	124
Who Died In The Kibbutzim		125
The Heroism of Eliezer	Yerachmiel Moorstein	126
Lady Pioneer and Her Son The Palmach Man	Yerachmiel Moorstein	126
Freidins of Zelva	Jacob Solomon Berger	127

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