[Page 15]

The bathhouse and the first power station.

Here is the Talmud Torah on the bank of the Pomeraika. It has already been renovated, however there are holes in the chimney. Apparently some guys climbed up onto the roof and took a few shingles to make guns. Now they are “dignified”. They are posing for the camera with their teacher.

A little further, behind the Talmud Torah you can see the tower of the fire station and the church in a rare picture. A Polish nobleman is riding in a carriage drawn by two horses and surrounding him are farmers wearing shoes made of hemp, fur lined coats and characteristic hats.

[Page 16]

A few steps further stands the “Balnitza”, this is what we called the hospital and public clinic. When was this building built? By whom? I think it was one of Yisroel Ozer's accomplishments. He bought it from the Russian authorities.

On the other side of Lisagura, on a hill, is the place where Zhetl buried its dead for over 200 years. Reb Yisroel Ber the undertaker lives in the small house with his family. However, behind the fence, in the shade of many branched trees, 8 generations of Zhetl Jews rest eternally. Oh, if only we could take a peek at the other side of the fence, if we could just copy the texts on tombstones, we would trace our origins back to the 18th century. This is also the place of the mass grave of 2,000 of Zhetl's holy martyrs.

We jump from the new cemetery. Now we are at the banks of the Zhetlka. From a distance we can see the wooden shingled roofs on Slonim Street. Closer, we see three young men from Zhetl posing on the bridge which the Germans destroyed. Back in the olden days, this was a moveable bridge which protected the palace from enemy attacks.

[Page 17]

Here is the Post Office, or as we called it in Zhetl the “Potcht”. This house connected Zhetl with the rest of the world. This is where a package from America would arrive, or a love letter from a young man to his girlfriend. The Party secretaries would rush here to pick up circulars that arrived from the central office.

Four streets meet here. Everyone runs to Yatre's stoop. The kids just smelled the camera and gathered. Maybe you are looking at yourself in this crowd and you don't recognize yourself.

This is what Estate Street looked like. In the distance, the church. Up close, wooden and brick houses. Mordkhai Leybovitch the shoemaker and Issar the baker lived here. The latter folds his arms and smiles.

This is a bird's eye view of Estate Street. It turns like a question mark with many sloping roofs and four cornered chimneys. Generations of Zhetl's Jews lived on these streets, in these houses, on the balconies and stoops. Today, no trace of them remains, just pictures…and a long list of Jews who were killed just because they were Jews!

[Page 18]

Merciful God in heaven, grant perfect repose to the souls of the three thousand members of the holy community of Zhetl men, women and children, who were murdered, slaughtered, burned, strangled and buried alive by the hangmen of Hitler and their evil servants, may their names be erased, during the years 1941-1944; may they be under thy divine wings among the holy and pure who shine bright as the sky; may their place of rest be in paradise. Merciful One, O keep their souls forever alive in thy protective wings. The Lord being their heritage, may they rest in peace and let us say, Amen.

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