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The city of Ostroh sits on the banks of the Horyn River and is renowned as an ancient city with great historical significance. In particular, it acquired a reputation in the Jewish world due to the great and ancient synagogue in whose walls the great Ostroh genius, the Maharsha [=Ha-Rav Shmuel Eidels, 1555-1631] z”l, the Maharshal [=Rabbi Shlomo Luria, 1510-1573] and his students, the holy Shelo [=Rabbi Isaiah Ha-Levi Horowitz, 1558-1630], and other geniuses, the great tzaddiks, prayed.

The history of the city is divided into three periods:

The ancient period, from the day of the founding of the city until about 300 years ago, is wrapped in shadow. Time has swept away the entire history of the city and its events in ancient days. The hand of nature has taken all the old writings, which could have served us as a source to investigate the past, because - according to old tradition and also the testimony of a son of our city, the researcher of the history of Ostroh and its people, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Biber in his book, “A Keepsake of the Great Men of Ostroh,” there occurred about once in every forty years great fires that destroyed and left no trace. The last dates of the fires are known: 1765, 1808, 1847, 1888, 1909. Even the ancient registry of the community of Ostroh was food for the fire and thus all sources were blocked and you don't know what happened to the Jews of our city over approximately 700 years.

We do not have clear attestations as to the beginning of Jewish settlement in this city. But according to what our ancestors have told us, there is reason to believe that more than 800 years have passed since the founding of the city by the Jews who fled from Germany to Poland under the pressure of the persecutions of the Crusades and various decrees. It is also believed that Leszek, a Polish prince, who permitted the Jews who arrived from Germany to stay in Poland and even gave them rights, permitted their settlement in the region of Volhynia at the end of the 9th century.

In later sources, the city of Ostroh is remembered with different nicknames: the capital, the great one, the holy one, and so on. Because from among the four communities in the region of Volhynia at that time (Ostroh, Ludamir [=Volodymyr Volynskyy], Lutsk, and Kremenets), it was the first, the large, and the important one in the entire region. It was known from the earliest times as “the premier city of the region of Volhynia and Ukraine,” the metropolis of the 282 large and small settlements, which derived its significance from the regional Presiding Judge who lived at that time in the city.

The name, “The Sign of Torah,” which was given to it by our ancestors, testifies to ancient days when it was full of geniuses, wise men, tzaddiks, and hasids. Over time, the name of Ostroh (fortress) was changed among the gentiles and the latest of them changed its name as a joke to “oys-Torah,” that is to say: there is no Torah.

An ancient tradition concerning the registry of the very old Hevra Kadisha [=burial society], in which were listed stories and happenings, miracles and marvels, and thus all the things that occurred in our city over several hundred years, was widespread among the people. Thus from one of the remnants of an old registry from 235 years ago, clarified as truth by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Biber, that, in fact, there was a very old registry that had burned many years earlier and that the new one from the year 1709 was only to fill the gap and to continue the chain.

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It is interesting to note that, in every place that someone from Ostroh happened to come, they would immediately ask him about the matter of the “ancient registry of Ostroh.”

The second period begins at the end of the 16th century and ends with the end of the 19th century. Despite the fact that the last 60 years marked crucial changes in values in the lives of the Jews, who abandoned their ancient patriarchal form and took on a new, different form, still we will not speak at length about them and we will just be satisfied with transmitting these changes in their place and in their time.

Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov zatsuqa”l [=of blessed and pious memory] during his visit to Ostroh

Hevra-Kadisha. This group, which was also called Gahsh”a [=true loving kindness], was a kind of general popular organization, in which not only did the rabbis, the presiding judge, the Ra”m [=Rav Melamed, teacher], and the important community leaders take part, but rather every Jew saw upon himself a holy obligation “to come before the pure table, in honor of the leaders of the Hevra Kadisha” and to propose to them “what his heart was set on” to fulfill under difficult conditions, like compulsory service for three years, a down payment on all that will be drunk for him, and upholding the rest of the ordinances, so that he would be honored “to join the registry of the holy” of the Hevra Kadisha.

It is possible to see how dear and loved and, in truth, holy this group was in the eyes of the Jews from the fact that many Jews dedicated their sons and grandsons while they were still toddlers, and sometimes even on the day that they were circumcised, to be borrowed for the holy work of the Hevra Kadisha, in which they would serve until they married. There were also some cases that honored women were accepted into the group and their standing was just as all the members of the group, except for the honor of being chosen “as not in the custom of this country.”

Year after year on Hoshana Rabbah, those who could vote gathered and chose seven gabbais (seven community leaders), of whom six funded the Hevra over the year, each gabbai for two months (month supporter) and the seventh who was called “in place of everyone,” who would take the place of any one in case of illness or some other reason. Apart from the gabbais, one man from among the important people of the city was chosen to be the “ne'eman” [=authorizer] of the Hevra, who was different from the aforementioned treasurer just in this that he was responsible for paying any amount of money according to a written order from the month supporter, even if there was no cash in the box, which he would get back at the end of the year of his appointment.

Beyond the direct tasks of the Hevra Kadisha, the Hevra was responsible for providing for all the needs of the city, beginning with the rental of holy objects up to the strengthening of the institutions of the city with regards to Torah and charity and including incidental expenses, such as giving money to every tzaddik, preacher, and poor person from a good family who came to the city, redemption of captives, burial of holy ones, gifts to the masters of the city, charitable donations for Passover, and so on.

The registry of the Hevra Kadisha was considered the registry of the community, in which requests from the members, decrees of the Hevra for the good of the public, ostracism that was meted out to transgressors, and so every event and occurrence in the life of the community that seemed suitable to note, were registered and approved. Not for nothing was this registry considered an important document and of historical value.

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In 1926, the Hevra Kadisha of Ostroh opened a new registry, which included a list of members and Hevra decrees, the pattern of the earlier registries.

Of all the troubles, the destruction, and the panics that came upon the heads of the inhabitants of our city from period to period, as are found listed in the registry of the community and also in books of researchers of history - the destruction of Ostroh in the days of Khmelnytsky, which occurred during the years of 1648 and 1649, rise above all the others.

The ways of Khmelnytsky who, in his march of blood, drowned the cities of Ukraine and Poland in rivers and streams of blood, are sadly known. The cup passed over the city of Ostroh, too, and more than 7,000 were martyred, dying strange and cruel deaths. Only individual survivors fled the city and among the escapees were Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon R. Natan Neta Kahana, presiding judge of the area and the great genius, author of the Turei Zahav [=Rabbi David Ha-Levi, 1586-1667], although not all the geniuses and tzaddiks who were among those slaughtered were counted, known to us by name.

The great storm quieted in 1649 and the refugees from the city who had hidden in the forests began to return to their destroyed homes and to rebuild their lives. But the gentiles, residents of the city, surreptitiously reached out and informed the Cossacks about the Jews' coming. The murderers, thirsty for Jewish blood and craving their property, did not delay in coming and killed the rest of the refugees and turned the city into a heap of ruins. Only five houses and the great synagogue remained of all the houses of the Jews in the city.

There remain until today some isolated graves in the streets of the city, in which, according to ancient tradition, are buried victims of 1648 and 1649 and every year on Tisha B'Av when they go to visit the great cemetery according to local custom, they visit, too, these isolated graves and scatter garlic over them according to a mysterious practice.

The author of the Turei Zahav [=Rabbi David Ha-Levi, 1586-1667], who escaped to the city of Olyka, organized and improved special Selichot for the 26th of Sivan (in addition to the public fast and the Selichot that are on the 20th of Sivan) in memory of those bitter days and also in memory of the miracle that the community of Olyka was saved from the armies of Khmelnytsky who besieged it for several days and did not succeed in defeating it. Thus historians of 1648 and 1649 recount in their books the destruction of Ostroh and the great slaughter that took place there.

In the book, “Sorrow of the Multitudes,” by Ha-Rav Avraham Ashkenazi (the literary anthology of 1888), one reads:

“Damned pure ones came to the holy congregation of Ostroh —-
And there were many tzaddiks and geniuses there.
Wise men and sagacious men, generous men and leaders —-
And all were killed with arrows and spears.
Seven thousand, big and small.
And in the marked synagogues and Batei Midrash [=houses of learning],
Beasts and horses entered, —
And the holy writings wickedly lay on the ground
And with arrogance, they trampled them. —
They killed and did not want to take hostages,
But rather being sentenced to horrible deaths,
And they hung fathers and sons from a tree.
Righteous people still thought, as in days of old, to be builders of the holy congregation of Ostroh.
And the doves came again
And killed big and small,
And ruined the groom's marriage canopy.
And the rulers raped many women and girls
And defiled and tortured them —-

Four Hundred Great Geniuses

As the storm ceased, after the periods of sorrow of the years 1648 and 1649 in which the cruel Khmelnytsky killed and had no pity until only five homeowners remained out of all the Jewish inhabitants of the city, Ostroh quickly shook off the dust of emptiness and took off its widow's weeds and became again a large, splendid congregation with great rabbis as of old.

The first rabbi who renewed the position of the Presiding Judge and the Rav Melamed in Ostroh after the destruction was R. Shmuel Shmelke, son of R. Meir za”q [=line of holiness], of the family of the Maharal of Prague [=R. Yehuda Loew ben Bezalel]. He built the enclave with his own money and returned the Torah to its lodgings and this synagogue bears his name. Likewise they were led by his acts of kindness for all the Presiding Judges and Rav Melameds from then on came only from his descendants. His name remains engraved as a reminder

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on the large lamp that stands in the Maharsha synagogue, a gift of his daughter and son-in-law, R. Naftali, son of R. Yitzhak Katz, Presiding Judge and Rav Melamed here and in the region, in honor of their going to Pozna [=Poznan] in 1690.

The entire chapter of the greatness of close to 400 rabbis and geniuses, founders of the world, presiding judges and rav melameds, heads of countries, leaders and funders who, with their Torah and their righteousness, placed a crown on the head of our city that adorned it until the last generation - isn't it written in the book, “A Keepsake of the Great Men of Ostroh,” by R. Menachem Mendel Biber z”l, a resident of our city and historian? We will mention here some of them whose memory remains engraved on the hearts of all the residents of Ostroh until today:

Ha-Rav Ha-Gvir Yuzpa, son of R. Shmuel R. Jacobs, who dedicated a large stone house close to his home for the purpose of a synagogue that is named after him, “Beit ha-Midrash of R. Yuzpa” (died in 1765).

Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon R. Meir, son of R. Zvi-Hirsch Margaliot, author of “Meir Netivim” volumes 1 and 2, “Sod Yakhin u-Voaz,” “Ha-Derekh ha-Tov ve-ha-Yashar,” “Kotnot Or.”

Ha-Rav Ha-Tzaddik R. Yaakov-Yosef, son of R. Yehuda-Leib (R. Yaivee) [=R. Yaakov-Yosef ben Yehuda], the Maggid Mesharim of the city, author of the book, “Rav Yaivee.” The synagogue in which he prayed was named after him, “the Beit Midrash of R. Yosel” (died 1790).

Ha-Rav Ha-Kadosh R. Yona'le ha-Tov (der Guter) [=the Good One], a friend of the famous tzaddik, R. Leib Sarah's. The Beit-Midrash at the head of Tatarsky Street was named after him, “Beit ha-Midrash of R. Yona.”

Ha-Rav Ha-Nagid R. Shmuel-Shmelke, son of R. Zvi ha-Cohen, great-grandson and grandson of the Gaon, R. Shmuel-Shmelke z”q [=line of holiness]. In 1779, he rebuilt the enclave that had fallen down over the years.

Ha-Rav R. Yaakov, son of R. Chaim ha-Cohen Rappaport. The Beit Midrash in Synagogue Street is named after him, “The Rabbi's Little Shul.”

Ha-Rav Ha-Kadosh, our Teacher, our Rabbi, ha-Rav, R. Pinchas, son of R. Avraham Shapira, known by the name “R. Pinchas'ele Koretser,” an outstanding student of the Besht [= Israel Ba'al Shem Tov], came to Korets from Shklow fleeing from false accusations. He didn't stay very long in Korets and afterwards settled in Ostroh. Many students streamed to him to hear his good principles and his Torah. He prayed in the Beit Midrash of R. Yuzip and his special customs in prayer remain there until today. Many stories of miracles concerning this tzaddik were common among the elders of our city.

There were twenty-six prayer houses in Ostroh. With the exception of those that we mentioned above, there were another seven regional ones: “Har-Shefer” synagogue (Krasnogurer Shul), the “Me-ever la-Armon” Beit Midrash (unteren Schloss), the cemetery, the synagogue of the New City, two Batei Midrash of the New City, the Beit Midrash of the Zussmans; five occupations: of the butchers (“Zivhei Tzedek”), of the tailors, of the shoemakers, of the whitewashers, of the rag merchants; five of rabbis: of R. Alter'oni, of R. Yoseleh, of R. Simcha'le, of the Rav of Shums'k, and of R. Yechezk'ele; and another three synagogues just so: “Batei Midrash,” of the Hollanders (?), and the Shabbat House (Shabbat shtub).

This period, the third and last of the count that was established at the beginning of this list, began at the end of the previous century and ended, or more accurately, its end came as a grab by the hands of a tyrannical, cruel, and murderous enemy. This period is short, only 50 years, in comparison with the earlier years, which numbered 500-600 years each. This period is also poor in spirit compared to those earlier ones, but it is very rich in actions of a completely new type, which our ancestors did not have: spiritual courage and physical progress according to the spirit of the new age, on which the mark of the national idea is struck.

Many roads lead to Ostroh, but the best known of all recently is the one opposite the Ozhenyn train station, the route of the Khoriv and Rozvazh villages coming to Tatarsky Street. The view of the city is very lovely when it is all revealed in front of us from afar. Knowledgeable visitors expressed their opinion that the scenery is like a lovely Swiss city.

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But as the traveler gets closer and closer to the city, this lovely feeling slowly dissipates. And as we move forward and enter the city itself, the impression mounts that we have encountered a dwelling place that was sentenced to downfall. The expression of apathy on the faces of passers-by indicates that they have nothing to gain or lose in this place and the young people are all sitting on their packed suitcases and waiting for immigration certificates for Israel.

The general population of Ostroh, and with it the Jewish population, has known changes and alternatives as a result of the alternating Russian and Polish regimes and other events. At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of residents was estimated at 13,000-15,000, among whom were 8,000-9,000 Jews living in areas of the old city by the Horyn River and in the New City and in the “Little Mezhyrich” suburb on the Wilja River.

According to the terrifying news that reached us from the valley of slaughter, about 8,000 Jews were murdered there in three “ actions” and only 300 were able to escape into parts of Russia and 48 who survived in the city itself have almost all left.

In all the known encyclopedias, the first Jews of Ostroh are remembered as cattle merchants who brought them from Wallachia in order to export them to other places. But with the growth of the population, Jewish commerce expanded into produce and fruit, animals and chickens, forests and trees and skins and so forth. Likewise industry developed in the city. Two sawmills, tanners, a factory for candles, furniture workshops and so forth. There were also a large number of artisans. Over a long period, Ostroh became a commercial center for the entire area and it had good chances of further development with the laying of the southwest railroad that was supposed to pass through the city. However, the Zussman family, famous for its wealth and influence, for reasons of security, dissuaded the central authorities from doing this and the line was established at a certain distance from the city (the Karivin station 18 kilometers away and the Ozhenyn station 12 kilometers away). From that point, the Ostroh's fate of downfall was set and the young Rovno [=Rivne] inherited its position and even surpassed it and quickly became a major center and supplier of Volhynia.

Ostroh was hit with a second and decisive blow due to the placement of the Russian-Polish border next to the city, something which disconnected it on almost all sides. And again, for security reasons, the government removed all of its administrative institutions from the city to the nearby town of Zdolbuniv. Also the practice of tax blackmail from the time of Grabski and onward and the general war against the Jews and the wildly antisemitic behavior during all the years of Polish rule truly left their mark on the depleted body of Ostroh Jewry.

Jewish public activity, under the government conditions that prevailed during the days of Czarist Russia, was limited to only the areas of charity and lobbying, as is known. The custom that came from the education of generations became second nature to Russian Jews and they did not feel a lack of freedom of action, in fact they did not know what it was like. The people with excess energy were completely fulfilled through struggling over the management of the synagogue, with arguing camps and “sides” about the appointment of a rabbi or a ritual slaughterer or the rest of the kinds of arguments and disagreements that come from this, the essence of life in the diaspora. The last Posek [=adjudicator of Jewish law] in the questions in dispute were in general the authorities, who taught practical Halacha [=Jewish law], if one might say “Praise to [unintelligible] and “Blessed be He who said [unintelligible] and likewise whose slaughtering was kosher, etc. And from the beginning of the present century when the national idea came to our city, it did not succeed with more than a small group from among the Jewish intelligentsia who worked secretly, away from the eyes of the Russian police and of the suspicious Jews.

The public institutions in our city in those days were those that are so well known from the descriptions of “Mendele Mocher Sefarim” [=Sholem Yankev Abramovich, 1836-1917] and that were supported in part by money from the “Korobka” (taxes levied on kosher meat) and in part by charitable donations. The following public institutions are well remembered:

1. The “Bikur Cholim” hospital, founded by R. Moshe'ke Zussman.

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2. The “Talmud Torah” house, which was built with money from the rich woman, Mrs. Bila'ke, wife of R. Kalman Frenkel, from the family of R. Zalman-Ephraim Zussman.
3. The inexpensive kitchen, “deshaveh koch,” founded by a donor by the name of Herman.
4. The “Yeshiva” house, which was built with money from the widow of R. Shammai Sheynerberg. This yeshiva was founded by Ha-Rav R. Fishel Itzi-Wolfs Greenberg, who served as the principal of the yeshiva. This institution drew students from all the towns of Volhynia.
5. “Elder Residence,” which served also as a synagogue for guests.
6. Organizations and committees of fixed institutions that did not have their own building, such as: “Linat ha-Tzedek,” “Gmilut Hasadim,” “Hakhnasat Kalah,” and so forth.
7. The “Melaveh ve-Hisachon” firm, the only bank in the city and the area, whose founding was by a number of local rich people whose original capital was enlarged through membership subscriptions.
8. The only progressive institution in the city, which is the city library with thousands of volumes in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Russian, to which many of the residents of Ostroh owe their good familiarity with general knowledge.

Finally, we should note one more institution, which, although not public, still, its mark on the Jewish public in the city was very substantial and that is “The Jewish School for Beginners under the auspices of the government,” where the language of instruction was Russian. Generations of Jewish youth received their education in this educational institution, which lasted for many years until the time of the Poles. Among the teaching staff, Tanchum Zabin, the principal, and Moshe Tolpin, the Russian language teacher, both residents of Ostroh, are principally remembered. This institution had a branch for girls and it was named after its principal, “The Slief School.”

The activists of “Orphan House” in Ostroh Sitting in front: Akiva Horowitz, Esther Iojzips, Chaim Davidsohn, Riva Bokimer, Chaya Viderman, and Hanusia Frenkel Sitting in the middle, from the right: Golda Bramnik, Shlomo Katzenblit, Nechama Greenwald, Leibush Biber, Pola Oderman-Fogel, H. Semstein, Feiga Liss-Biber Standing in back: the son-in-law of Yechiel the doctor, Yosef Lichtikman, Hershel Treiber, Avraham Dishel, Yaakov Zigelboim, Zusia Greinims

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The administration of “Orphan House,” activists and teachers: Shlomo Katzenblit, Miriam Holbart, Sofia Frishberg, H. Zussman, Sonia Samik, Sarah Rappaport, Lyuba Meltzer, the teacher Moshe Tolpin, Akiva Horowitz, Sonia Kaplan, Chaya'ke Viderman, Nesia Goldberg, Chava Leibel, Yaakov Perlmutter

The transition period, full of suffering and hardship, preceded the last period of peace (1918-1939), which ended tragically before our eyes.

The years of the First World War (1914-1918) held no particular happenings for the city of Ostroh. In fact, our city got a real pogrom, in the vernacular, after the first Russian Revolution (1917), after the victory of the forces of light and progress, seemingly because of the black reaction in Czarist Russia.

The period of the Ukrainian Hetman, Skoropadskyi, who ruled under the patronage of his German partner, passed generally in peace. But with the fall of the Hetman and the expulsion of the Germans, the regimes began to change frequently and each change in regime brought victimhood to the Jews of Ostroh.

The first Bolshevik occupation (1917) caused the sacrifice of two families, the first was the family of Motl Richter, which was entirely slaughtered except for one little girl who hid (currently in Israel), and the second was the family of Aharon Beliak, whose two sons were shot. The Petliuras abused one Jew and killed him with cold steel because he unintentionally removed an announcement by his shop and the Poles cut off a woman's hand (Ginker), apart from what the soldiers of General Haller did to the Jews, plucked the hair of old men and the like.

Of all the other cities in the region of Volhynia, which suffered principally from the Petliura murderers who annihilated the Jewish population with all sorts of strange deaths and whose blood harvest cost the Jews of Ukraine half a million victims, a very sad summary by the terms of those days, Ostroh, therefore, came out of the changes of regime almost peacefully.

The Poles took hold of our city in 1918-1919 and this occupation lasted until September 17, 1939. The period of the Poles in Ostroh, as throughout the half of the region of Volhynia that fell to them, began with new hopes of economic recovery and national revival and ended in spiteful prosecution, oppression, decrees, and disappointments.

In the first period, when the Poles needed the Jews' money in order to fill their empty coffers and in order to assure

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for themselves loyal citizens from among the Ukrainian masses who were not happy with the annexation, they gave the Jews a certain amount of freedom to engage in commerce and work and even in social and national activities. The impression was created that normal life had begun to return to its course.

At that time, the good news of the Balfour Declaration reached our city and the national activity captivated all hearts. The Zionist organization, which had continued to operate secretly during the emergency years after the war, came out into the open and gathered to it the best of the local youth. A branch of “He-Halutz” [=a Zionist youth movement] was formed, which sent the first immigrants to Israel.

The secure way of life, as it were, and the freedom of commerce, the national activity, captivated the Jews who remained on the other side of the border (“behind the wheel”) - at the edges of the city of Ostroh, which became a way station for refugees. Hundreds of Jews flooded the city and their faces were toward the wide “open” world and to Israel. A minority of them also remained in the city in order to settle there. And Ostroh was enriched with important and active citizens, among whom were: Ha-Rav Yosef Wertheim, Shmuel Shrira, Yisrael Fogel (who emigrated to Israel), Dov Tolchinsky, and others.

Among the city institutions that were active in Ostroh in those days should be noted:

1. “The American Va'ad ha-Hatzalah” [=American Rescue Committee], which was active in the last years after the war in offering urgent aid to Jews depleted by the years of the war and the frequent reversals. At the head of the action were: Ha-Rav Y. Wertheim, Leib Spielberg, Zalman Gerschfeld (Israel), Leibush Biber, Shlomo Komandant, Hirschel Rabinowitz (America), Zunder (Israel), and others.
2. “The Orphan House,” an institutional department of the widespread network of shelters for abandoned children, which opened throughout the region right after the war. At the head of the institution were the go-getters and the workers: Kalman Frenkel (honorary chairman), Chaim Davidsohn, Yaakov Perlmutter, Chaya'ke Finkelstein-Goldin (Israel), Riva Bokimer (Israel), Sonia Liss-Kaplan, and others.
3. “The Jewish Hospital,” with a pharmacy alongside, which offered medical help to the poor of the city. At the head of the institution were: Dov Tolchinsky, Yoel Abrach, Mordechai Kaplan, Mrs. Bramnik, and others.
4. “TAZ,” a group for the maintenance of the health of the Jewish population headed by the dentist, Dr. Yosef Rozenszturm, D. Tolchinsky, Farkus, and others.
5. “Ludowy Bank,” (of the people), the first cooperative financial institution in the city after the dissolution of “ Melaveh ve-Hisachon” from before the war. At the head of the institution was Moshe Abelman, a learned Jew from among the important people of the city and its veteran go-getters. He was active in all the communal and national institutions, having personal esteem and ancestral pedigree (he is mentioned in the Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopedia), owner of a former candle factory. From among the employees should be mentioned: Yaakov Leikechmacher, Muni Fiedler, Leib Ginker, Niyuni Perlmutter (Israel), Shmukler (Israel), and others.
6. “Kopiatzky Bank,” (commercial), this is the merchant bank founded by Sender Gonik and other merchants. Among the employees: Yeruham Bramnik, Yehezkel Finkelstein, S. Tsitrinel, Ashkenazi, and others.
7. “Spó³dzielczy Bank,” (cooperative), the third financial institution serving merchants in the city with a disorganized proprietor. The founders and directors of the bank were: Mannes Gonik, Moshe Oderman, and Benzion Baranik. Of the employees: Binyamin Grines, Yosele Dukotliver, Simes, and others.
8. “The Merchants' Organization (the large ones),” under the direction of Nissel Lukatsh, who was a “Starosta” during the time of the Russians, an elder of the Jewish community, and responsible for the birth and death records of the Jews in the municipality. The secretary of the organization - Icht. Chaya. There was also an organization of small merchants under the leadership of Kroit.
9. “The City Council,” the Jewish representatives (“lavnikes”) to the council of the municipality. The representatives that served Jewish interests during the Polish occupation were: M. Abelman, S. Gonik, M. Gonik, Shlomo Vilker, Bezalel Bramnik, Yaakov Greenberg, L. Ginker, Motl Goren - the representative of the workers, whom the Poles exiled for seven years of hard labor being suspected of Communism. During the last Russian occupation of 1939-1941, Motl Goren served as mayor. The most active person among the Jewish representatives to the committee was Avraham Komandant, a veteran go-getter in the area of community action.

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The representatives of the Jews to the City Council Standing right to left: Nehemiah Gairman, Grisha Band, Leizer Ginker, Shlomo Komandant, Mordechai Y. Nordman, Yankel Bronstein Sitting: the second and third from the left: Zigmunt Zussman and Moshe Abelman

During the existence of the council, these served as deputy mayor: Yosef Kamerman - a Jewish officer in the Polish army (Israel), Chaim Davidsohn - an active and devoted Zionist, a talented public servant and outstanding speaker in the city, who was also executed by the Nazis as soon as they entered the city (1941), who saw in him a man liable to organize public opinion against them. The sole Jewish clerk was the municipal bookkeeper, Gandelberg.

10. “The Community Committee,”^[a] this characteristic Jewish diasporic institution was missing in our areas since the days of the “Shtiebel community” of the earlier centuries. Only in 1930 did the Polish government authorize Jewish community regulations giving authority over all Jewish matters with permission to collect special taxes to strengthen the community mechanism and its religious and social institutions. The organization of the community and its founding was put in the hands of Chaim Davidsohn who was its driving force and its actual administrator. The members of the Community Committee were: R. Yoseleh Sfard (of Ha-Rav R. Alteroni), Chaim Gelberson, Yoseleh Hornshtein, Motl Rabinowitz, Leibush Biber, Berel Linsky and others. The secretary of the community - Ovadia Balin.

During some years a unified Zionist federation existed in Ostroh that brought together the best of the active forces in the area of the Zionist movement and occupied the home of Chaya Kuperstein in “Vilbiyoner Grabli” Street. Those in charge of it, who filled a huge organizational and educational function, were those who rose up from the Zionist underground movement, experienced and strong-willed to train a new generation for the building of the country and the people.

Among them are known to us: Leib Spielberg, Leib Frielich,

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Zalman Gerschfeld (Israel), Chaim Davidsohn, Leibush Biber, P. and Z. Rashish, Z. Shulvug, A. Radoshcher, Bezalel Bramnik, Grisha Band, Moshe Botzman (Israel), and joining them later, Shmuel Shrira, Yisrael Fogel (Israel) and others.

The entire Zionist federation in Ostroh was under the spiritual patronage of Zvi Bokimer, who was cut down in the spring of his life and never was lucky enough to get the good news of the national homeland and of recognized and wide-ranging Zionist work. His picture was displayed in the meeting hall between the pictures of Herzl and Nordau, like whom he believed that if you will it, it is not a dream.

The Zionist library in the city was also named after him to perpetuate his memory. From the days of the revolution until the end of his life, he served as vice-mayor of the city of Ostroh and, under his watch, demonstrated special ability to maintain the interests of the city as a whole and of the Jews in particular. He was among the organizers of the democratic community in Ostroh and stood at its head until it broke apart with the entry of the Bolsheviks. He also organized workshops to train for emigration to Israel and himself received training from one of them as a pioneer at the Rosenberg welding workshop and was the driving force in Ostroh.

The members of “Dror” in Ostroh First row above: Milia Biber, Yisrael-Hirsch Kagan, Golda Litwin, Liza Frielich, Mordechai Gerschengorn, Munya Raichis Second row, sitting from right to left: Batya Tsitrinel, Roza Finkelstein, Chaim Davidsohn, Pola Fogel, Yisrael Fogel, and Esther Iojzips Third row, from right to left: Benzion H. Ayalon, Nyonia Tsitrinel, Buzia Schachter, Frumke, Doizik Barak

With the rooting of the Zionist idea among the circles of the community, opinions differed as to how to make it happen. The Zionist federation ceased to exist as a complete division by itself and, in its place, many movements arose, as is known. These were:

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1. “Hit'achdut,” at its head, the Zionist activist, Leibush Biber, and, with him, his friends: Elazar Avrahami, Yaakov Zunder, Yisrael Halprin, Chaim Guberman (all of these in Israel), Moshe Frielich, Nehemiah Bernstein, Yehuda Chorovsky, Yaakov Linsky and others.
2. “ Tze'irei Tziyon,” under the leadership of Bezalel Bramnik and, with him, his friends: G. A. Sadeh, Yaakov Greenberg, Eliyahu Biber, Ovadia Balin, Michal Schneider (Israel) and others.
3. “General Zionists,” among them the activists: Avraham Bokimer, Mendel Bokimer (Israel), Grisha Band and others.
4. “Dror,” a leftist radical organization, which, under the framework of its general program, captured a very important place in educational activities. Under the spiritual leadership of Yisrael Fogel (Israel) and with the participation of the veteran Zionists: Chaim Davidsohn, A. A. Guberman and others, “Dror” gathered around it a group of intellectual youth, among whom were: Chaim Biber, Fruma Gairman, Buzi Takser, Munya Raichis, Pola Oderman-Fogel from among the activists of the Orphan House in the city, David Barak, Golda Litwin, Leah Frielich, Motl Gerschengorn, Mili Biber, Benzion Baranik (Ayalon), Sonia Schaffnerflieg-Bokimer, Roza Ginzbursky, Nyonia Tsitrinel, Roza Finkelstein (the last five in Israel) and others.
5-6. Likewise “ Poale-Tzion” was not absent - right and left - and others, and all together they sent representatives to the “Central City Committee” and similarly continued to maintain over a certain period, a unified Zionist federation. Apart of those mentioned above, there were several independent Zionist organizations in Ostroh. Such as:
7. “Mizrahi,” with members Moshe Abelman, Mordechai Rabinowitz (America), Pinchas Takser (may his soul be in heaven, Israel), Aharon Barak, Yitzhak Lizak, Dov Linsky, Pinchas Polikoff and others.
8. “The Organization of Zionist Women,” founded by Ms. Tyras, in which were the activists: Feiga Vidro, Sarah Bard, Mina Shchugol, Sonia Smik, Ms. Linsky, Ms. Barak, Chaya Viderman, Mina Finkelstein, Rachel Glantz, Sonia Rodman-Karner, Miriam Baranik, Zelda Treiber, Rachel Gerstein (the last 3 in Israel) and others.
9. An issue in and of itself was the “ Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir” nucleus in Ostroh - a Jewish scouting organization based on national Jewish foundations without any political party connection, under the leadership of a group of students from the upper classes of the secondary school: Yosef Wexler - head of the nucleus and the principal guide, Bezalel Baranik - head of the brigade and education leader, Yesha Bokimer, Grisha Grinimes, Ezra Tolpin - members of the leadership, Yonatan Abelman, Leib Lukacs, Golda Gurwitz, Gittel Rabinstein, Simcha Biber, Yosef Bokimer, heads of groups, and others.
This organization drew to itself all the Jewish youth in the city and conducted a very wide ranging educational-national action in addition to the scouting-athletic activities, beginning with learning the Hebrew language to learning Jewish history, the geography of Israel, Israel holidays, the history of Zionism and the important values of Judaism that emerge from this. More than any other Zionist organization, “ Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir” was, as a special youth organization, with drilling exercises and sport, discipline and splendid parades accompanied by Hebrew marching songs - the source of a deep experience for the Jewish diaspora young person, in whose ranks he began to see himself as a member of a new generation, standing upright and proud of his reviving Judaism.
10. Over time, with the scattering of the organizing forces because they were drafted into the Polish army, a crumbling of frameworks and change in outlook came to “ Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir,” and again, the veteran members left and organized in its place an athletic organization as a branch of “TAZ” (from hereon the name, “Sports Section”), which also succeeded in bringing into its ranks most of the local youth. The organizing members were joined by: Avraham Waltman, Yoni Klorfein, Musia Soroca and others.

The Institutions of the Zionist Federation

1. “Tarbut” - the Jewish school that existed in breaks over many years and graduated many students. In the first periods of the existence of the school, the veteran Jewish teachers taught there: Rimmel, whose house was the only one in the city where Hebrew was spoken, something that was a great miracle

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in those days, Y. Finkelstein, S. Shrira, Y. Fogel, A. A. Guberman, and others. After a long break that came as a result of the elimination of the American aid committee, the school opened again for the last time (1928) due to the private initiative of the writer of these columns. The last school progressed quickly and became a secondary school that lasted until the last war. Among the teaching staff to remember: Lola Isserles (principal), Feiga Liss-Biber, Leah Toibis, Betty Eisenstein-Kaplan and others.
2. “Evening Hebrew Lessons,” which took place next to the school, introduced the Hebrew language to hundreds of students, young and old. The teachers: G. A. Sadeh, A. A. Guberman.

The committee of the Drama Circle in Ostroh Standing from right to left: Zindel Grines, Chaim Zeigerson, Lova Kornblit, David Stolrov, Basik Soroca, Gedaliah Gedalivsky Sitting from right to left: Aharon Waldman, Michael Oxengorn, David Shtulmeister, and Fania Karkar

3. “Courses in Zionist Education,” in which were given a series of lectures covering the history of Zionism and Socialism according to their ideologies. These courses were administered by Y. Fogel, who lectured in a scientific manner before a more intellectual circle, and by L. Biber - in a popular manner for broad circles. These courses - the fruit of the activities of the Zionist federation in Ostroh - successfully brought in the audience to be good members of the Zionist movement and those among them who were accomplished - to head positions in the movement in place of the veteran members who had left the ranks, whether through emigration to Israel or through moving to central places of action.
4. “Drama Troupe,” which put on plays and arranged literary events and the like in order to fill the gap in the treasury of the federation. Likewise, a series of annual bazaars during Hanukkah and occasional parties with funny living newspapers that were very popular and succeeded in pulling in a large audience. Among the remembered beloved actors: L. Spielberg, C. Davidsohn, Feiga Botzman, Buzi Gilbord, Esther Iojzips-Spivack

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(the aforementioned in Israel), Yoni Klorfein, Riva Bokimer. To them were joined the popular actors of the private drama troupe: Kozir, Kogant, Abrach and others.
5. “He-Halutz,” with the active members: Shlomo Bokimer, F. Gairman, R. Finkelstein, Yisrael Halprin, Shlomo Rikman, Shlomo Schwartz, Zusia Shamban, Naftali Schenker, Drobnes, Sarah Schneider, Chaya Barak, Ida and Manya Vaskovoinik, Michal Schneider, Leib Gulik, Yoni Goltsman, Shlomo Tolpin, Aharon Boimblatt. Most of them are in Israel.
6-8. “He-Halutz Ha-Tza'ir,” “Gordonia,” “ Ha-Shomer Ha-Leumi,” and other youth organizations with the members: Herz Oderman, Motl Shkolnik, Zvi Mandelzweig, Eliyahu Ashkenazi, Dov and Izzy Bokimer, Zelda Vaskovoinik, Meir Zilberstein, Popa Schnieder, Aharon and Chaim Finkelstein, Neta Chorovsky (most of them in Israel) and others.
9-10. The committees of Keren Kayemet [=Jewish National Fund] and Keren Ha-Yesod. The activities of L. Spielberg, who organized the Keren Kayemet committee in Ostroh and was its driving force, will be particularly noted. Y. Fogel worked as the manager of Keren Ha-Yesod. Among the rest of the go-getters active in the aforementioned committees should be mentioned: M. Y. Abelman, Bezalel Bramnik, S. Bokimer, Yaakov and Mordechai Kaplan, B. Linsky, deputy M. Frielich and others.

To complete the list of outstanding Ostroh Jewry, which drank the cup of poison to its fullest until the end, let us mention a few more names of families and individuals who were and are no longer and whose names will be engraved on our hearts for a memorial: Ha-Rav R. Ephraim Guberman, earlier the rabbi of the “Har Shefer” area (Krasna-Gora) during the time that Ha-Rav R. Eliyahu (“the yellow one”) served as the rabbi of the city; after the death of the last one Ha-Rav R. Ephraim served as the chief rabbi for the entire city. R. Alter'oni, of the descendants of Ha-Rav Yaivee, founder of the dynasty of ADMORs [=Our Master, Our Teacher, and Our Rabbi] in Ostroh, his sons, R. Yoseleh and R. Velvel'eh, and others. Ha-Rav R. Berele Kaplan, judge and righteous teacher. R. Yaakov-Yosef, ritual slaughterer and principal prayer leader of the Great Maharsha Synagogue. The Zussman family who were well known in their day for the dispersing of their charity; the survivors of the family recently brought to our attention: Shalom, Heschel, Hezi, Abba Zusia, Meir, Kalman (Frenkel) and others from the line of the brothers Zalman-Ephraim, Moshe'keh and Yaakov-Yehoshua Zussman. Moshe'keh Holbart, a very distinguished family, in which we found Torah and greatness in one place. Avraham Shreier, appointed rabbi and owner of a pharmacy. Yaakov Marshad, music teacher and enthusiastic Zionist from the first echelon whose house served as the committee house for Zionist activities in the days of the prohibition. Fischel Feldenkrais, among the first emigrants to Israel who was killed on the way to Petach Tikva by an ambush. Naftali Lerner, Moshe Rosenthal, Yeshaya Rozen, Moshe Finkel, Yosel Klayman, known merchants, and likewise many others for whom the space is too limited to detail, and about them - together with the entire period of the suffering of the Jews under the enemy regime of the Nazis in Ostroh - it can be spoken of a special period according to the plans of the promoters of “Yad va-Shem la-Gola” [=memorial to the Holocaust communities].

Ostroh, a large and important Jewish city, whose ground drunk more than once of the blood of our brothers and sisters and, in almost every generation, beasts, in the form of savage men, stood against it and annihilated the Jews who were resident in it these hundreds of years; nevertheless, see the miracle, these rivers of blood of the holy and pure ones did not overcome the development of life impressed upon the masses of the Jews in the diaspora and did not prevent them from establishing in this corner an astonishing Jewish community. From among the graves of the martyred and the ruins of synagogues, the sun of the “Great of Ostroh” shone for us that lit up the eyes of the entire diaspora with its Torah; joyful and shining personalities of community leaders and key public figures who led their community with justice and faith; a dynasty of tzaddiks and Hasids, households of charitable people and famous lineages, people of action in the field of public life and the national revival, all these gained for Jewish Ostroh an honored place at the head of the communities of Israel in Volhynia and without.

Nevertheless, the last weighs heavily. Where is the monument that is able to describe the enormity of the Holocaust that poured on our heads during the days of the last war of annihilation, in which Ostroh Jewry found complete destruction, after which there is nothing?! Where is the expression for the great sadness and heavy mourning?! Only the memory of the deeds that were carried out by the filthy and disgusting hands of the evil “goyim” remain for us to shock our hearts to their core for as long as we breathe.

Glorified and lauded Ostroh! Only two mass graves remain of you from which the voice of our brothers' blood cries out to us,

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cries out and implores revenge. Who will give us wings like a dove so that we fly to deal with your ashes, the ashes of our pure victims, pure as the precious stones, and to commune with your holy memory - and perhaps be a little relieved from this for the yearning heart, dying of suffering.

May you be remembered for generations and for eternity!

To the series of the many dates, so filled with anger, in the history of our people in general and in the history of our city, Ostroh, in particular, will be added another new date, seven times more furious than the first ones and that is - the decrees of 1940-1941, the years in which the holy ones of Ostroh perished and released their souls in purity. The memory of these bitter years, which can not be imagined, and the loss of these pure souls, which has no recompense, come before us year after year as days of mourning and weeping for generations for the people of Israel and as the mark of Cain and eternal disgrace for the peoples of evil and crime.

“Ha-Oved” in Ostroh in 1934

1. The Democratic Community existed from March through October 1917 and those who participated in it were: Z. Bokimer, M. Holbart, M. Abelman, M. Tolpin, S. Shrira, Z. Gerschfeld, L. Biber, Y. Lizak and others. Return

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