Rafalovka, Ukraine

Memorial book for the towns of
Old Rafalowka, New Rafalowka, Olizarka, Zoludzk and vicinity
(Rafalovka, Ukraine)

51°19' / 25°59'

Translation of
Sefer zikaron le-'ayarot Rafalowka ha-yeshenah,
Rafalowka he-hadashah, Olizarka, Zoludzk veha-sevivah

Edited by: Pinhas and Malkah Hagin
Tel Aviv 1996

Acknowledgments
Project Coordinator

Our sincere appreciation to Ms. Shlomit Mizrachi, of the Organization of Rafalovka Émigrés,
Israel for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

Our sincere appreciation to Jay Snider for the submission
of translations for placement on the JewishGen web site.

Our grateful thanks to Stefanie Holzman and Sondra Ettlinger
for obtaining the pictures to be included in this translation.

This is a translation from: Sefer zikaron le-'ayarot Rafalowka ha-yeshenah, Rafalowka he-hadashah, Olizarka, Zoludzk veha-sevivah
(Memorial book for the towns of Old Rafalowka, New Rafalowka, Olizarka, Zoludzk and vicinity),
Editors: Pinhas and Malkah Hagin, Tel Aviv 1996 (H,Y, 530 pages).

Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Rafalowka

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.
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JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
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Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

Hebrew translated by Sara Mages

Yiddish translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund

Eternal Flame
Map of the region
The editors, the planning team, the names committee, and the final setting

With the publication of the book	Arye Pinchuk	א – I
Words from the editors	Pinchas and Malka Hagin	ג – III
A Vow	Avraham Shlonsky	ז – VII
These I will remember and for these I will yearn		ט – IX
Words from a commemoration event	Yaakov Wiener	יא – XI
Words from the unveiling of the monument at Kiryat Haim	Mordechai Menin	יב – XII
Testimony	Leah-Lilli Rog	יג – XIII
Testimony	Malka Lederman	יד – XIV
Protocol, the Rafalovka Area Committee		טו – XV
A Ukrainian journalist wrote about the murder of the Jews of the Rafalovka ghetto	Shlomo Efrat	טז – XVI

The Visit
Rafalowka of 1988	Aryeh Pinchuk	3
The visit	Yehudit Mutznik	10
That Hill	Ada Sidelman	12
One day in Rafalovka, and a few words to its lovers	Yael Yisraeli	14
The visit to Stara-Rafalovka	Shmuel Efrat	16
A special meeting	Arye Pinchuk	18
My visit to Rafalowka and closing the circle	Penina Shavit	20

Escape – In the shadow of the German occupation, in the villages, in the forests and in battle
A ray of light in the darkness	Malka Hagin	25
Survival	A. Schwartzblat – Sarid	27
Massacres, resistance and escape in Vohlin, August 1942 (map)		28
An event engraved in my memory	Sara Amas	29
On the road from Rafalovka Ghetto to Sopachiv	Avraham Appleboim	30
In the forests and in the villages with people from Rafalowka and the surrounding area, in the years 1942-1944	Sender Appleboim	48
The story of the rescue	Shmuel Efrat	54
I escaped from Ukrainian policemen	Shmuel Efrat	59
An explosion in the forest	Shmuel Efrat (Appelboim)	63
Bereavement and wandering	Yakov Bas	67
Memories of running away from the ghetto	Haim Ziskin Brat	93
We didn't find a survivor	Meir Goldverin	95
The Escape	Ahuva Hendlsman	98
Fania, My Angel	Masha Wolsptel	99
Memories of Our Stay in the Forests	Chana Windrowich	101
I didn't go to the“station”	Arye Weisblat	106
Escape from the forest	Shlomo Weisblat	107
Persecuted	Zipora Zalzman	108
Childhood in the shadow of death	Malka Lederman	109
I parted from my mother	Sheindil Leiserov	114
Wanderings, separation and reunion	Reuven and Leah Portnoy	115
Two orphans in the villages and in the forests	Rachel Fliegelman, Chaya Meshulam	117
In the shadow of the German occupation	Tzvi Kreizer	119
Survival	Tzvi Kreizer	121
The escape from the Ghetto	Rivka Rozman née Swarcblat	125
In the marshes and forests of Polesie	Alexander Sarid (Schwartzblat)	127

Testimony
I am here in Germany	Sara Amas née Burko	141
Testimony	Sara Amas née Burko	143
Grandma Fanya tells her grandchildren	Fanya Bas	161
Rafalowka, the Ghetto and the escape to the forest – A testimony	Gershon Gruber	176
Testimony	Leah Tziger	179
Testimony of Penina Shavit née Brat from Rafalovka	Penina Shavit	187

There were towns - Old Rafalowka, New Rafalowka, Olizarka, Zoludsk and the vicinity

Old Rafalowka
Old Rafalowka	Moshe Appleboim	213
Memories from Rafalowka	a recorded conversation with Yaakov Sarid Schnieder, written by Aryeh Pinchuck	215
In memory of the Jews of Bil's'ka Volya	Zev Lufta	226

New Rafalowka
Rafalovka – for the day of commemoration (poem)	Moshe Murik	231
The home that was and no longer exists	Ajzik Bret	232
My Rafalovka	Hadassah Avtalion	233
About Rafalovka the Station, when it just began	Michael Gilboa	234
Rafalovka the Station, before and after WWI	Rifka Oyra	249
A few lines to the image of Rafalowka-Station in the period between the two World Wars	Yitzchak Brill	251
The old home – the landscape of youth	Yakov Wajner	257
Memories of a Rafalowkian in America	Yosef Barat	261
Education and Culture in Rafalovka – the Station	Rachel Gilbo'a	264
I Sang with the Cantor Bulba	Mote'le Hevroni	265
The BEITAR Movement in the Two Republics	Aharon Shavit	266
Rafalovka	Lipa Goz	268
Rafalowka, a Jewish-Hebrew town	Ziskin Chaim Bret	268
The Martyrs of Rafalovka, Zhlotchek and Olizarka	Aizik and Baruch Bart	270
In Rafalovka in the Years 1937-1941	Sender Appelboim	271

Olizarka
My town and my home	Henya Burko	277
Olizarka	Tamar Zuc	279
My town Olizarka	Sara Rozenfeld	280

Zoludzk
You were pleasant to me Zoludzk	Aharon Goz	287
My town Zoludzk	Arye Galon	289
Figures in Zoludzk	Arye Galon	290
Industrious and Kind	Rachel Tzur	296

Our Families – For our children and for future generations
Memories from my father's home	Lipa Goz	299
For my family	Tzila Gorodinski	300
The Gruber family, Meir and Chaya Sara	Rachel Gilboa	301
A warm Jewish home	Rachel Vitas	303
May their memory be blessed	Henya Zlishnik	304
The Reizil Dichter family	Sheindil Leiserov	305
In their memory and for the sake of future generations	Tzvi Lesnik	306
The Lechetz family	Yehudit Mutznik née Lechetz	308
The family of Shlomo–Yakov and Batya–Leah Gruber	Bella Mendelson née Gruber	309
In their memory	Ada Sidelman	310
Memories	Miriam Plum	314
My family – My parents Bracha and Nachman Friedman, my sister, Freidka	Yosef Friedman	315

Our Beloved Ones, May Their Memory Be Blessed
Menachem Sossel z”l	Sender Appelboim	319
The Aunt that I didn't Know	Penina Besserglick nee Menin	320
My grandfather Isaac Meir Zuk	Pnina Beserglick	321
In Memory of R'Yitzhak Meir Zhuk	Arie Yadoshlibi	322
Rabbi Isaac Meir builds a 'small temple'	Haim Fikersh	322
In memory of my grandfather Yakov Bass z”l	David Brill	326
My brother David Bass z”l	Rivka Brill	327
Shaul Katz – the preacher at the gate	Yitzchak Brill	328
Yosef Gadish z”l		330
R' Mates Gayer Sheines of Olizarka z”l	Lipa and Leibel Goz	331
To Chaim Bratt z”l – a member, brother and friend	Yitzchak Gurfinkel	332
My wife	Natan (Neta) Dov Velman	333
The life story of Yakov Shmuel Wiener z”l	Ziva Wiener née Resher	334
R' Michel Bebchuk z”l	Yakov Wiener	336
In memory of Yakov-Bar Zalzman	Arye Yedushlivi	337
Words in memory of our father, Yosef Goz z”l	Ma'anit Levinger, Bracha Zilberstein and Nava Spenov	338
My brother Moshe Dichter (Moshka)	Sheindil Leiserov née Dichter	339
My wife Rachel	Mordechai Menin	340
In memory of Reizil Dichter	Mordechai Menin	341
In memory of my son	Rivka Rozman née Schwartzblatt	342
My Brother	Penina Shavit née Brat	343
Herzl Dudik z”l	Penina Shavit née Brat	344
Leah and Aharon Goz z”l	Zipora Shazar, Sara Friedman	344

Yiddish Section

*To the Memory of the Shtetlekh* [Towns] Old Rafalovka, New Rafalovka, Olizarka, Zholudsk (Zhelutsk) and Vicinity**

They Live With Us	Yitshak Brat	349
The Horrific War Years	Arye Yadushvili	353
The Old Rabbi Issues a Kherem	Arye Yadoshivli	366
What I Have to Tell	Yitzhak Meyer Shzuk	372
A Sole Survivor from an Entire Family	Eliezer Schwartzblatt	376
The Chaim Goz Family from Rafalovka	Arie (Leibl) Goz	378
Almost a Last-Will-and-Testament from my Mother z”l	Penina Besserglick	379
Jews from Old Rafalovka	Arie Yadoshlivi	381
The Village-Jews Around Old-Rafalovka	Arie Yadoshlivi	387
The Rudi Family from Olizarka	Baruch Smali	389
Olizarka, My Shtetele [Small Town]	Ester Mazor	392
Olizarka in Two World Wars	Ester Mazor	403
Yahrzeit [Anniversary of a Death]	Sara Ams (Burka)	417

Yizkor
And these are the names of our beloved martyrs, residents of our towns - Old Rafalowka, New Rafalowka, Olizarka, Zoludsk and the vicinity, who were annihilated in Rafalowka's Ghetto, murdered and slaughtered in the neighboring villages and forests.		421

In memory of our heroes, residents of our towns, partisans and fighters in the Red Army and the Polish Army, who fell in the battle against the Nazi enemy and its helpers during the Second World War or passed away after the war		432

To Safety
From Olizarka to Rishon LeZion	Penina Holland nee Bart	435
Memories	Zipora Goldberg	436
I survived	Motale' Hevroni-Portnoy	439
My Parents and My Sister Did Not Come	Nisan Chizhi	441
Two stories	Arye Pinzuk	442

Photos
People of Rafalowka and the surrounding area		449
The visit to New Rafalowka		483
Next to the mass grave		486
The old cemetery in New Rafalowka		496
“Heder” in Old Rafalowka		500
“Tarbut” School in New Rafalowka		503
Pioneer Youth Movement in New Rafalowka and the vicinity		506
Youth and young people		512
Buildings and Streets		517
Fighters		523
On the way to the land of Israel		528

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