[Unnumbered pages]

Map from the book by Dr. Shmuel Spector “The Holocaust of Volhynian Jews, 1941-1944” Yad Va-Shem Press, Jerusalem, 1987

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The Committee of the Organization of Ostroh Natives: Standing from right to left: Aharon Waldman, Mendel Marochnik, Boris Lichtenstein, Yona Blecher, Sarah Tsvieli (Shpeizer), David Vajnshelboim; Sitting from right to left: Mordechai Blecher z”l, Miriam Rubinstein, Yoel Rubinstein, Frieda Kolpanitzki-Goren, Chaim Finkel, Miriam Vajnshelboim, Tova (Gitele) Reuveni-Steinberg

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The Great Synagogue in Ostroh named after the Maharsha[1]

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“The Ostroh Book” is a book of witness and a memorial candle. We have revealed in it matters and deeds of the Jews of Ostroh in the far and near past. The few survivors that remained of the natives of our city describe in it the greatest of the tragedies of ours, in which the holy and pure were killed in the days of the terrible Holocaust.

With emotion and great respect, we offer this book to the natives of the city. This is our modest contribution to the general wave of witnessing that is meant to perpetuate the memory of the multitudes of the congregations of Israel. These pages in this memorial book are a living tombstone for our celebrated community in Volhynia whose lives were cut off by the Nazi enemy and his Ukrainian helpers.

Over decades since our community was destroyed, these survivors have carried, together with those who left the city years ago, the dream to perpetuate the memory of their loved ones who were murdered with cruelty and to memorialize all that happened to them in a memorial book, which would remain and serve as a kind of mourner's prayer for those who are left and their children and grandchildren forever and always. For who other than us - the remnant of the Jewish collective in Ostroh, strewn throughout the entire world - is able to perpetuate the memory of the glorious past of our community, its active life and its Jewish institutions.

Twenty-seven years have passed since the appearance of “The Ostroh Notebook” in 1960, under the editorship of the eminent son of our city, Benzion H. Ayalon, and now “The Ostroh Book” appears, which is a fitting continuation of “The Ostroh Notebook.” But it is also different due to reasons caused by time.

After a pretty long period of preparation and organizational efforts, we have the privilege of publishing this book. In this volume, we have brought also things that were written at the time and in which their times are integral - teaching about the period, its background and its atmosphere.

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“The Ostroh Book” is the fulfillment of an idea that began many years ago. In this book, we bring new material that was not included in “The Ostroh Notebook.” We wanted to surround the material in the book with a series of articles and reviews about all aspects of the rich and colorful lives of the Jewish populace in the city.

We set ourselves the goal to shine light on its glorious historic past, on Jewish Ostroh, on the development of its economic, religious, communal, and national life. We made efforts so that the authors of the articles would be close in spirit and outlook to the subjects of the articles.

“The Ostroh Book” tries at the very least to describe the city, the community, and its glorious past up to the war of annihilation, including Holocaust chapters written by survivors of the Holocaust who went through the Nazi hell. We paid special attention to the Holocaust and to the bravery, in order to add a comprehensive picture of the terrible events, and also we brought forward historical scientific research written by a daughter of our city, Betty Eisenstein-Keshev, about the Holocaust of the Jews of Volhynia, in which information about the Jews of Ostroh is also found.

Also included in the book is a list from among the natives of Ostroh of fighters and of those who fell for the freedom of the nation and the homeland on various fronts in the Second World War and in Israel's military campaigns.

We have brought a “Yizkor” list in this book. There is no doubt that the list is not complete and that names are missing. We are not at fault for this. We have sent reminders numerous times to people from Ostroh and asked them to complete what was missing. There are no official sources with which we could have been aided and those who are still alive were unable to remember all.

Many photos of well-known community figures or of people who took an active part in the communal and cultural life of the city are included in the book.

Although the book concentrates on a description of the history of the community in the last century, still we felt the need to publish some articles about the foundational setters and molders of the character of the community of Ostroh. Our desire was to give our descendants, who did not know the glory of the city in which their ancestors were born, a clear picture of the life of our community in the past and of what especially marked it and what is fitting to preserve as a precious stone in the history of the people of Israel.

The gathered material is written in Hebrew and Yiddish and partly in foreign languages (English and Polish). We thought it right to leave each composition in the language of the author, with the exception of a few articles that were translated into a foreign language.

We also tried to acquire a pleasing esthetic for the book and, thus, the book appeared elegantly and pleasantly.

Finally, we thank everyone who helped with our effort, whether with material or in spirit, and thus permitted the perpetuation of the memory of our community. Our thanks to all who wrote the articles published in this book and to those who sent photos and other material. May they all be blessed and gain emotional satisfaction in seeing the completed work. We hope that this work of memory will raise a living monument for the young generation and those generations to come.

Our thanks to the son of our city, Moshe Steinberg, for his generous help in publishing this book.

	Chaim Finkel
	Chairman of the Organization

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The great destruction during the Holocaust period, the destruction which has no parallel in our people's history, whether in its extent or in its cruelty, brought about the flourishing of a vast literature of destruction. Many Yizkor books have appeared, and are still appearing, concerning large and small communities that were annihilated in the attack of the evil wave on the House of Israel during the Second World War.

The Holocaust left its mark on the life of the Jewish people over many generations and constitutes one of the tragic chapters in the history of the Jewish people. The literature of destruction constitutes a sad picture of giant cemeteries filled with large and small monuments. One monument after another, with its attributed name and its specific character, with a special description of the lives of the Jews who died.

A stone monument is forgotten and destroyed over time, but a monument in the form of a book will remain for generations. It is accepted, therefore, to call Yizkor books a witness monument that sets the members of the community before its holy ones, but this Yizkor book is more than a monument and a witness. It is an attempt to revive the past, to return to the city, and to join its holy ones in their last moments. There is no cure for the wounded soul in The Ostroh Book, but there is a kind of eulogy and kaddish that were not said on the graves of those who were murdered during the Holocaust and that will be said now whenever natives of the city take the book into their hands.

The natives of Ostroh have an understandable feeling of pride and always between the walls of the city, in wanderings and in far-away places, and even in the bosom of our motherland, here in Israel, the image of the city stands out like a lovely and twinkling pearl in the crown of Volhynian Jewry that is no longer. The simplicity that was the unique quality of its residents, its special character and its social-spiritual values were expressed and found their place in the memories of the natives of the city in this book.

The Ostroh community lifted up personalities with many virtues in various fields. Over hundreds of years, the community struck deep roots in the soil of Volhynia. The branches of the magnificent and much connected tree spread throughout the world, this magnificent Jewry was cut down and removed from the world over a short period during the Holocaust.

In the period before the Holocaust, Ostroh Jewry reached the peak of flowering as a lively Jewish center, mixed up in the national and religious, political, social, and cultural life of Polish Jewry in general and of Volhynian Jewry specifically.

Despite the trouble and the lack of chance for a future, rich life developed in the city in the areas of community and spirit: Ostroh had faith in the tradition of Torah learning and delving into the philosophy of Judaism. On this fertile soil sprouted

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the social and spiritual ideologies of the new era. Zionism, the new Hebrew culture, and Yiddish culture. Ostroh made a significant contribution to Zionism, starting with the beginnings of the Hovevei Zion and ending with the pioneering youth movements in all their ideologies and thus also various parties on the Jewish street in the city at that time up until the Holocaust.

Ostroh excelled in its authors who brought a new and refreshed spirit. The educational enterprise in Ostroh also stood at a high level. With its federations, its organizations, its social institutions, and its societies for mutual aid and its many other connections, Jewish Ostroh was a huge cultural institution that encompassed the life of the Jew in all areas of creativity.

The community of Ostroh was a wonder of diverse society with its strata, its standard, its atmosphere, in its originality and its public nature. Rabbis learned in Torah, in wisdom, and in awe molded this community, like the Maharsha^[1] and other great rabbis.

The reader will find in this book drawings, memories, and notes about the affairs of the public, personalities, and figures. The principal strength of the notes that were collected in the book is in the internal truth that is in them, coming to memorialize figures and events dear to the hearts of the writers.

Everything that is written in this book, therefore, is the fruit of a collective effort of people, for most of whom this is their first attempt to put down on paper their spiritual thoughts, the whispers of their hearts, and the fruits of their memories. Nevertheless there is also an advantage from this in this writing: simplicity, heartfelt honesty, direct and soulful truth.

I feel an obligation here to make special mention of the Chairman of the organization, Mr. Chaim Finkel, whose entire life has been dedicated to Ostroh. He worked diligently and did so much for the publication of the book. He put great effort into collecting the material, to its processing and selection. He also contributed his own writing and notes scattered throughout the pages of the book. In addition to raising the financial means, he also had to take care of the organizational details and only due to his dedication to the goal over years of publishing the book has the book achieved publication and for this he deserves blessing and thanks.

May all those members of the organization who enriched the book with their notes be blessed. Our greatest thanks go to the workers of the Hamiel Press for their sincere efforts in preparing the book for publication.

We hope that this memorial book will serve as a living monument for the people of the city, for the young generation, and for the generations to come.

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