The first vote of thanks must go to Yosef Kariv and the “Former Residents of Sarny and Vicinity in Israel” with whom we are privileged to walk the streets of Sarny and meet its Jewish residents, who from their memories of life and loss wrote this Yizkor book. Their burning memories of their little town and its 42 years of Jewish life have inscribed in our hearts the vibrancy and love of their shtetl and its people. We are indebted to the care they took to recall and to record not only what Sarny added to the Jewish world of then-Poland, but to Israel at its birth and early years. Special mention must be made of Miriam Bergman who with great courage retrieved the passport photos and gave them to A. B. Feld who brought them to Israel, which were included in the Yizkor book. These 1,856 photos, 1,063 of them named, give a face to our murdered families, and a picture of the magnitude of loss of every community destroyed in the Shoah. Yad Vashem kindly allowed us to translate and make this translation available.

In addition to individual donors, the translation was made possible by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter which seeks to promote awareness of periods of peaceful coexistence in Ukrainian-Jewish relations and to facilitate knowledge and understanding during periods of crisis. I am grateful to Alti and Berel Rodal, to Raya Shadursky, and to the visionary and mentsh James C. Temerty for their work in supporting exchanges between two peoples and cultures with deep historical roots and connections.

The translation was prepared by Jacob Solomon (Jack) Berger who endeavoured over a period of years to get this translation right and as clear as possible. Tragically, during this period, Jack suffered the loss of his dear wife Carol Lynn Berger z”l and I the loss of my husband, Sir Martin Gilbert z”l. In the dedication of this Yizkor book translation to the martyrs and survivors of Sarny and its vicinity must be added the names of Carol Berger and Sir Martin whose loss we both feel every day.

The translation was edited by Sheryl Bronkesh, daughter of Sarny survivor Bronia Bronkesh z”l, granddaughter of Sarny-ites Alter and Chana Pasman z”l, and JewishGen volunteers Jane S. Gabin, Alisa Klaus and Karen Leon who sought to make the voices of the writers heard and accessible. Shalom Bronstein translated the necrology list which has a wealth of information on family connections; Zygi Boxer transliterated the photo gallery names which I have tried to match with the spellings on the necrology list; Jonah Cowen translated the Errata page. If there are corrections and further photo identifications, please let me know.

JewishGen has done a huge service to bring the wealth of Jewish history and life that had been locked in these Yizkor books to the English-speaking world. We are all indebted to the many volunteers whose scholarship and expertise has helped us research and memorialise. My own thanks go to Lance Ackerfeld who with patience and determination managed to tie the disparate threads together to see the translation of this Yizkor book finished, posted, and available to the English reader online. It would not have happened without him.

The destruction of the Sarny Jewish community and that of its surrounding towns and villages took place on 27 August 1942, the 14^th of Elul, 5702. In 2022 this English translation of the Yizkor book is completed on its 80^th Yahrzeit.

Foreword	The Editorial Committee	5
Introduction	Nachman Blumenthal - “Yad Vashem” Administration	9
The Origins and Configuration of Sarny	Prof. Ben-Zion Dinor	13
Between Swamps and Forests
Wolhyn Jewry	Yitzhak Lamdan	19
The Ambience of Sarny	Ber'l Frimer	20
My City, Sarny	Yaakov Tzuk (Kottelczuk)	21
That Was the Sarny of the Past	Aryeh Avtikhi	22
Memories from the First Days	Dr. Jonah Glick	24
Sarny – Its Creation, Existence and Destruction	Shlomo Zandweiss	27
Sarny – Its Creation, Existence and Destruction [Y]	Shlomo Zandweiss	82
From the Beginning to the End	Baruch Raks	155
Pogroms [Y]	Moshe Yuz	157
During the Days of Petlura and the Haidamaks	Moshe Borko	158
With the Changes in Regime	Ari Moor (Moorik)	161
Between One War and the Next	Aryeh Attstein	163
An Emissary to Wolhyn in 1930	Ber'l Lukar	166
My Visit to Sarny in 1935	Ber'l Lukar	170
This Is How We Grew Up, This Is How We Matured	Levi Bikowsky	171
The Way of Life
What I Will Tell My Son	Sarah Turkenitz–Katzman	177
Education and Culture
Teachers & Educators	Yaakov Tzuk (Kotelczuk)	179
My Father, Joseph Nyavozhny [Y]	Tzvetel Nyavozhny	182
My Rabbi	Mordechai Peczenik (Mordechai Edelstein)	183
Education in Polish Wolhyn	Shmuel Rosenhack	183
The Educators of the Young Generation in Sarny	Abraham-Isaac Murik	186
Integration During the Development of Education	Sarah Turkenitz–Katzman	188
The First Hebrew School in Sarny	Yitzhak Idan (Zeldin)	191
In the Tarbut School	Issachar Bestus	192
The ORT School	A. N. Meshorer (Zingerman)	194
Sarny Youth in the Centers of Learning	Moshe Yuz	194
Cultural Activities in Sarny	Moshe Yuz	195
The First Sarny “Spectacle”	Yekhiel Salutsky	198
Movements and Parties
Zionist Sarny	Israel Rituv	198
A Clandestine Zionist Assembly in Czarist Times	Yekhiel Salutsky	201
Zionist Youth Organizations	Ephraim Schneider (Munya)	202
Hashomer HaTza'ir in Sarny	Ephraim Schneider (Munya)	204
The Mizrahi Movement in Sarny	Baruch Rabinovich	206
The Revisionist Movement in Sarny	Asher Miasnik	208
The Jews of Sarny and the Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael (Jewish National Fund)	M. M. Horowitz	209
The Communist Movement in Sarny [Y]	Mordechai Peczenik	211
Torah & Hasidism
The Houses of Worship in Our City	Abraham-Isaac Murik	212
The Synagogue of the Hasidim of Stolin-Karlin	Asher Miasnik	213
The Hasidim of Stolin-Karlin	Dr. Ze'ev Rabinovich	216
Hasidic Customs in My Father's House	Shlomo Zandweiss	218
How I Earned a Portion in the World to Come [Y]	Moshe Borko	220
The Dynasty of the Berezne ADMo“R's	Rabbi Aharon Peczenik	222
The Berezne Rebbe and His Hasidim in Sarny	Y. L. Yonatan, z”l	223
The ADMo”R, R' Joseph Peczenik	Mordechai Peczenik	226
The Headmaster of the Yeshiva [Y]	E. Kast	227
Between the Lines of a Letter	Dr. Esther Tarsi	230
The Rabbi R' Nahum-Yehoshua HaLevi Peczenik	Rabbi Aharon Peczenik	231
The Rabbi, R' Chaim-Moshe Hechtman	Yaffa Hechtman-Barbado	232
The Rabbi, R' Aharon Kunda	Sh. Ben-Zadok	233
During Weekdays and Festivals
The Market Day in Sarny	Abraham Murik	234
Czar Nicholas II in Sarny [Y]	Shlomo Zandweiss	235
Tragic Encounters	Yaakov Tzuk (Kotelczuk)	236
Sarny Comedians [Y]	Shlomo Zandweiss	241
Sabbath in the Town	Rachel Tarass–Zuckerman	242
The Night of the Seder in the Home of My Parents	Yaffa Hechtman–Barbado	242
The Day of Judgment	Pua Golomba–Yanait	243
Sarny Youth in France	Nehemiah Gildenhoren	246
From the Memories of One of the First Who Made Aliyah	Penina Glinansky–Barzilai	246
‘The Concealed [Righteous] One’	Mordechai Peczenik	246
In the Neighboring Settlements
Jews in the Villages of the Sarny Area	Meir Walkin	248
From the Way of Life of the Jews in the Villages	Nehemiah Gildenhorn	248
Klesów – The Village, Its People and Fate	Joseph Zuliar	250
How the Kibbutz Was Established in Klesów	Gila Turkowic–Salutsky	251
The Establishment of the Kibbutz in Klesów	Sh. Evven–Zohar	252
A Portrait of the Klesów Man	Yitzhak Tavenkin	254
The Jews of the Village of Karpylivka [Y]	Yentl Burko–Pearlstein	256
The Antonovka Train Station	Aharon Shavit (Stern)	259
How It Was Destroyed
*  *  *	Yitzhak Katznelson	263
The Calendar of the War and Holocaust in Sarny		264
The Memorial Day [Y]	Joseph Pearlstein	264
From the Beginning of the War to the Nazi Conquest	Mordechai Peczenik	266
The Illusion of the Power of Money to Effect Rescue	Yitzhak Greenbaum	269
In the Ghetto and in the Extermination
The Destruction of the City of Sarny	Yitzhak Geller z”l	271
The destruction of the city of Sarny [Y]	Yitzchak Geller z”l	285
The Ghetto – the Beginning of the End [Y]	Zvi Pearlstein	305
A Little Girl in the Ghetto	Jonah Borko-Sherman	311
Life in the Ghetto [Y]	Joseph Wolf	311
The Liquidation [Y]	Abraham Freilich	312
Death [Y]	Israel Kruk	314
On the Extermination Field	Yosef Wolf	315
The Arson That Was Not Implemented	Baruch Krimsky	316
I Was Fifteen	Aryeh Turkentiz	317
The Regional Commissar (Gebiets-Kommissar) Promised	Pinchas Neuman	320
Saved By a German [Y]	Feiga Schwartz-Sherman	322
Notes to the Story of My Sister Feiga k”zM.	Yitzhak Schwartz	329
From the Ghetto to the Partisans [Y]	Ber'l Bick	331
In the War for Rescue and Life
How I Was Saved from the Killing Valley in Sarny	Israel Pinczuk	334
The Extermination and the Rescue	Leah Teich–Minkowsky	336
In a Partisan Division [Y]	Zalman Perlmutter	347
In the Soviet Army [Y]	Issachar Bastus	349
My Revenge Against the Exterminators of Sarny Jewry	Meir Walkin	350
Revenge Taken Against the Murderers	Abraham Feinberg	352
A Jewish Partisan	Esther Zolotow-Ivri	353
Like a Pursued Animal in the Forests	Rosa Wachs-Steinberg	354
Saved Jewish Children [Y]	Zvi Olshansky	364
A Doctor in the Forest [Y]	Dr. Chanan Weinberger	366
The Killed and the Saved [Y]	Dr. Shimon Zweiman	368
After the Victory
The Killing Valley in Sarny	Meir Walkin	370
The Mass Grave	Joseph Wolf	372
An Encounter in Central Asia	Raya Kramer–Huberman	373
On the Ruins of Sarny	Bruriah Begun–Zilberg	375
The Rescue of Torah Scrolls	Joseph Fabrikant	375
How Pictures of the Martyrs Were Obtained from the N.K.V.D.	Miriam Bergman	376
From Sarny to the Land of Israel [Y]	Yaakov Niemoy	377
From the University to Siberia	Moshe F.	388
Through the Ponary Pit and Exile to Kolyma	Tzivia Nabozhny–Wildstein	389
Sarny – 1957	Bluma Zweiman	394
From That Inferno [Poem]	Chaim Guri	397
The Candles Dedicated to Memory
Those Who Fell in the Holocaust		401
The Attstein family	Chaya Attstein–Talit
Benjamin Edelstein	Yekhiel Salutsky
Joseph Barzam	Aryeh Barzamy
Pesach & Yehoshua Borko	Shlomo Zandweiss
Yaakov Bryk	Moshe Yuz
The Family of Shmuel Geifman	Shlomo Zandweiss
Esther Goldman	Simcha Banorat (Averbukh)
Yehoshua Glauberman	Boaz Eisenberg
Chaim Glick	Moshe Yuz
Aharon Godel Groszko	Zvi Kahana (Groszko)
Shmaryahu Gerszunok	Shlomo Zandweiss
Abraham Dichter	Shlomo Zandweiss
Chaya Danenberg	Yekhiel Salutsky
Shmuel Walkin	Dr. Yom–Tov Lewinsky
Pinchas Zandweiss	Esther Zandweiss–Fish
Ahar'l Zandweiss and His Wife Rivka	Yekhiel Salutsky
Penina Zandweiss	Moshe Yuz
The Jewish Watchman	P”Z
Mindl and Lejzor Zhuk	Joseph Sharoni (Zhuk)
The Family of Zvi Zuliar	Yaakov Tsuk
Velfl Zinger	Bruriah Zinger–Koren
The Family of Itzia Zinger	Mordechai Piczenik
Mendl Zindl	Moshe Yuz
Chaim Khaniss	Nechama & Pesach Khaniss
Abraham Turkentiz	Israel Karny (Korowoczka)
Aharon Miasnik	Yehudit Miasnik–Dobrowicky
The Nissman Family	Aharon Nissman
Alter Pasman	Sh. Zweiman
Ze'ev Pikman	Shlomo Ben–Tzadok
Tirza Peczenik	Mordechai Peczenik
Chaim & Lyuba Pearlstein	Yekhiel Salutsky
Benjamin Kantorowicz	Adina & Joseph
Reuveni'kheh	Pua Golomba–Yanait
Israel & Chaya Rosenfeld	Yaakov Rosenfeld
Aharon Rosenberg	Relatives in Israel
Yitzhak Raks	Baruch Raks
Ze'ev Szur	Yekhiel Salutsky
Riva Szpanerflieg	Shimon Zweiman
Out of All the Nations [poem]	Natan Alterman	432
The martyrs of the Holocaust in Sarny		433
Those Who Died During the Illegal Immigration, in the Haganah, & in The War of Independence		451
Aharon Aharoni (Gir)
David Attstein (Duntzia)	Y. Roznick
Fradl Barman	Adel Barman-Shapiro
Hananiah Gurewicz
Shlomo Gittelman (Sioma)	Meir Walkin & Yerakhmiel Roznick
Joash Zuliar	D. Dikhter
Mordechai Feldman
Pinchas Roitelman	Rachel Roitelman
The Fallen in the Second World War, in the Ranks of the Partisans, or Having Died in Their Wanderings		459
Abraham Zolotow
Shlomo Ben Yaakov Zandweiss
Gershon Kharpak	Gissia Kharpak-Guszkes
Levi Muszyn	Chaya Hershman
Szifra Murawinsky (Die Pohosterin)	Moshe Yuz
In Memory of the Missing
Passed away in Israel and abroad		465
Those Who Died in the Land of Israel		469
Sarah Edelstein	Abraham Shapiro
Eliyahu Burstein	Yehoshua Katzman
Son'keh Geifman	Ronya Tress-Zuckerman
Abraham-Aharon Dworetzky	Moshe Yuz
Alta Hurwicz	Moshe Yuz
Ze'ev Zuliar	Joseph Zuliar
Shmuel Zingerman	M. Zingerman
Yitzhak Isaac Zalman	Sh. Zandweiss
Shoshana Chaimowicz	Sh. Zandweiss
Joseph Kharpak	Eliyahu Kharpak
Shy'keh Trilsky	Sarah Turkentiz
Baruch Tarass	His Sons
Mindl Yuz	Yaakov Cuk
David Yuz	M. Zingerman
Yitzhak Levin	Moshe Yuz
David Levin	Eliyahu Kharpak
Meir Levin	Rachel Levin-Glick
Avigdor Murik	Sonya Tarass
From the Accounting of the Life of Avigdor Murik	Sonya Tarass
Rachel Price	Zippora & Joseph
Moshe Kolodny	Sh. Zandweiss
Nechama Kolodny	Moshe Yuz
Asher Rabin	D. Attstein
Shmuel Zvi Sadah	Yekhiel Salutsky
Meir Stein	Moshe Yuz
Aharon Szmukler	Shlomo Nevo
Those Who Died in the Diaspora		492
A. Z. Berlinsky	Shlomo Zandweiss
Moshe'l Gamerman	Yekhiel Salutsky
Yitzhak Glekl	Yaakov Cuk
Miriam Gittl Gendelman	Sh. Zandweiss
Zadok & Kars'l Zandweiss	Shlomo Zandweiss
The Organization of Emigres from Sarny & Its Vicinity in Israel	The committee	508
A List of Settlements Belonging to the Sarny Community		511
Gallery of Passport Photographs

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Updated 11 Jan 2025 by LA