Translated by Yocheved Klausner

Introduction	Yehezkel Ereli (Erlich)	13
Foreword	Yehezkel Erieli	15
History of the Town and the Jewish Community
On the Rivers of Ostroweic	M. S. Geshuri	17
On the Rivers of Ostroweic	M. S. Geshuri	37
Rabbis and ADMORs in Ostrowiec	M. S. Geshuri	59
The Rav and ADMOR R'Meir Yechiel Halevi Halstock
Rabbi Yechiel Meir Halevi	Rav Yitzhak Yedidya Frenkel	70
The poor people's ADMOR, standing firm against the powerful	Yehoshua Altman	71
Hassidim telling stories about their rabbi	Yehuda Leib Zuker	72
Lover of people	Yoske Apter	74
The man who has become a legend	Yakov Hocherman	79
Meetings with the rabbi	A. Halevi	80
Din Tora [trial in a religious court] at the Ostrowiec Gaon	Yehoshua Altman	81
The Ostrowiec method of study	Rav Isser Frenkel	83
The greatness of the ADMOR	Yechezkel Ereli (Ehrlich)	85
The Ostrowiec rabbi (poem)	A. N. Stentzel	86
The Ostrowiec rabbi and his environment	Leizer Kuperman	87
The Ostrovtser	Y. Opatoshu	93
The Ostrowiec Rabbi Foresees the Holocaust	Dr. Chaim Shashkes	95
Ostrowiecer Gaon [Genius]	Sh. Pietruszka	97
Good words from the rabbi	Ben-Zion Ratler	98
The great holy man from Ostrowiec	Hillel Zeitlin	100
A forty-year struggle against the body	S. Palmoni	102
The last minutes of the Ostrowiec Gaon	I. Bronstein	103
Bibliography on the Ostrowiec Gaon	M. S. Geshuri	106
The Rav ADMOR Rabbi Yechezkel'e, May God avenge his blood
The Last of the Ostrowiec Rabbis	Chaim S. Palmon	108
Rabbi Yechezkel in the days of fury and destruction	A. R.	110
The last hours before he was executed	Moshe Friedensohn	112
A lament for the Rav Rabbi Yechezkel	S. Almoni	113
The Martyrdom of the Last Ostrovtser Rebi	Aron Tsaytlin	116
The death of a martyr, the last ADMOR of Ostrowiec		118
There Once was a Jewish Town…
Ostrowiec, the town where I grew up	Simcha Mintzberg	122
Ostrowiec in the eyes of a visitor	Yosef Wishnograd	127
Two worlds in one town	Yakov Bildreich	128
My Ostrowiec	Yehoshua Altman	130
A town between two rivers	Eliezer Kuperman	133
Pastime of the Jewish youth	Yechiel Magid-Rosenberg z”l	141
The town of my childhood	Max Grossman	143
The Shul–hoyf – The Center of Jewish Life	Efrayim Vartman	145
A vanished world of the past	Miriam Wattman-Rosenberg	146
Streets and People in Ostrovtse	Shmuel Shtraytman	148
From my childhood years	Aharon Urbass	149
A story	Yehoshua Altman	152
“Sabbath and Holyday Jews”
Deep-rooted Jews with an original way-of-life	Pinchas Soroka	155
An incident caused by the “Blessing after meal” [Birkat Hamazon]	I. Birnzweig	156
Sabbath at my home	Feigush Weintraub-Fertzig	158
My father on Sabbath	Aharon Urbass	158
A mute prayer	Chaim Goldsatz	159
The Days of Awe in Town	Mendl Hartshteyn	163
Shabes and Yontiv in Ostrovtse	Yekhiel Magid–Rozenberg	165
Kol Nidrei	Chaim Goldsatz	169
All the people escorting a Torah Scroll to the synagogue	Yechiel Magid-Rosenberg	170
My grandmother's prayer	Chaim Goldsatz	174
Figures and Types
R'Meir Ehrlich, may God avenge his blood	Arie Liebman	175
The Community activist and Public worker Moshe Lederman z”l	Yechezkel Arieli	176
R'Chaim Aharon Silberberg	Arie Zhavner	177
R'Aizik Mendel Shochet (slaughterer)	Pinchas Soroka	178
R'Mordechai Shimonowitz	Pinchas Soroka	179
R'Mordechai Shimonowitz	Rav Dov Zeid from Zwiehl (Berl Zwiehler)	179
Esther, the modest and humble widow	Moshe Rosenberg	180
The Rav R'Blankman, may God avenge his blood	Rav R'Avraham Goldshmidt	181
Rav Avrehme'le Brieftreger (postman)	Yehuda Leib Zucker	182
R'Mordechai Alter	Naftali Alter	183
R'Yehoshua Riba		183
R' Leibush Pesach and Chaya Fuchs	Shprintza Matel Blumenfeld	184
Leon Beigelman	Helena Vasko	185
R'Chaim Yakov Yosef Nagel z”l		186
Henech Halpern	I. Birnzweig	186
My friends	Chana Hurwitz	186
Yiddish Section
Figures and Types
Yochanan's Shtiebel (Hassidic synagogue)	Yehoshua Altman	187
R' Leybush Halshtok of Blessed Memory	Iser Boymfeld	188
Ruben and Khay'ele Shpilman of Blessed Memory	Yehude and Mordkhe Rozenberg	189
R'Israel Rosenberg	Yehuda and Mordechai Rosenberg	190
The Rise and Destruction of a Family	Moshe Zaltzman	192
Ostrovtse Barber–Surgeons	Mayer Blankman	196
Types from Ostrowiec of old times	Aizik Beinerman	198
Ostrowiec types	Meir Blankman	203
Nothing will be lost	Chaim Goldsatz	205
The Ostrowiec water-carriers	Meir Blankman	207
The Ostrowiec insane	Meir Blankman	209
Mother, I can never forget you! (poem)	Yehoshua Urbass	212
Heders and Yeshivas
The Ostrowiec melamdim [teachers]	Meir Blankman	214
A Town of Bote–medroshim and Khadorim	Yekhiel Magid–Rosenberg	218
The Yeshiva of the Moralists “Bet Yosef”	Yechiel Rozenberg	220
Ostrowiec Becoming Modern
The Development of Modern School Systems	Iser Boymfeld	224
Charitable Jewish Institutions in Town	Paltiel Brikman	227
Chevra Kadisha [burial society] is asking a price	Ch. Fleischman	229
Parties and Associations	Eliezer Kuperman	230
The socialist movement	Aizik Beinerman	232
New Winds Are Blowing	Isser Boymfeld	233
Ostrowiec is becoming modern	M. Piltzmacher	235
Jewish Labor life	Eber Beinerman	236
Social movements in town	M. Piltzmacher	239
Hechalutz wins over the youth	Moshe Rosenberg	245
The activity of young people in our town	A. Halevi	246
“The Zionist Youth” Arouse the Jews to Aliyah	Moshe Blajberg	248
Hashomer Hale'umi	Feivel Kerschenblatt	252
The Revisionist Zionist Movement in Ostrowiec	I. Birnzweig	252
Mizrahi and Tze'irei Mizrahi as reflected in the press		253
Agudat Israel as reflected in the press		257
Holocaust and Destruction
Eli Ostrowiec (poem - lament)	Yakov Baharir	258
My life and experiences in the Nazi hell	Shlomo Horwitz	261
The beginning	Yehoshua Urbass	271
Chelunia! (poem	Aizik Beinerman	276
The liquidation of the Ostrowiec ghetto	Leibush Millstein	277
The Zabchinski brothers	Friedman	294
The Szczebrzeszyn rabbi dies as a martyr	I. Bernstein	295
Burying the Torah Scrolls in the days of terror	Chana Wittenberg-Gutholz	296
A mother's eulogy	Bina Weintraub-Shapira	297
The destruction of Ostrowiec (poem)	Yehoshua Urbass	298
Our Attic	Machtche Zilberberg-Zhabner	305
Hazkarat Neshamo [Memorial Service, lit. remembering the souls]	Aizik Beinerman	309
My Uncle Reb Chaim Aaron Silberberg	Leibel Zabner	311
Photographs of the Ostrowiec Ghetto	Simcha and Itche Meir Birnzweig	313
The Tragic Death of Reb Mordechai Shimonovitch, May His Blood Be Avenged	Leibel Zhabner	315
My Mother Goes to the Marketplace	Leibel [Arie] Zabner	318
Ostrowiec my home	Mordechai Rosenberg	320
The Night of Slaughter April 28	Mokhtshe Zshabner–Zilberberg	321
The Night of the Execution	Yechiel Magid–Rosenberg	322
The Gruesome Bartholomew Night	Yisroel Aaron Friedental	323
My father's Yahrzeit [memorial day]	Yechiel Magid-Rosenberg	326
The Lipsker Tzadik	Aharon Urbass and Yehuda Rosenberg	327
Memorial to the soul of Moshe Lederman z”l	Yechezkel Arieli	328
Reb Moshe Yaakov Toppel Brings Victims to Kever Yisrael [Jewish Burial]	Mordechai Zev Toppel	329
An orphanage in the ghetto	Yechezkel Mandel	330
I remember	Isser Gerber	335
The Savers	Yehuda Rosenberg	340
The bunker	Rachel Gutholz- Kamsinski	342
Ostrowiec youths fighting in the Warsaw ghetto		345
Ostrowiec in the days of the Holocaust	Bella Schribner	346
Ostrowiec, I shall never forget you	Malka Appelboim	351
Only ruins have remained	M.Grossman	354
Polish Murderers	A. Almoni	355
Ostrowiec during the Holocaust years	Nechemia Warman	356
The young mother from Badzhichov camp	Aizik Beinerman	363
Gutholz's heroic death in the labor camp	M Bromberg	365
The Nazi roll-call (poem)	Yosef Rosenberg z”l	366
The Maker of Aryan Papers	Berish Brikman	368
In the forced-labor camp in Germany as Christians	Helena Pirkawska	369
A letter to my sister	ShamayKodlowitz	370
Among Christians in Warsaw	Helena Kaletzka	376
Poems and improvisations in the ghetto	Amnon Eisenstadt	388
A prayer (poem)	Mordechai Rosenberg	390
Surviving the Nazi hell hiding in a grave	Yerachmiel Waldman	391
Oh, How bad I feel! (poem)	Mordechai Rosenberg	394
The sole survivor from Kinev	Shmuel Nudelman	396
Extermination Camps
Ostrovtse Jews Are Transported to a Death–camp	Paltiel Geshri–Brikman	401
I “Was” in Treblinka	Miriam Gutholz–Feldman	403
“We have not lost our hope” (the Jewish anthem)	Aizik Beinerman	412
I Survived the Nazi hell	Azriel Urbass	415
Out of the gas chamber and down from the gallows	Menashe Unger	419
At “Kever Avot” (parents' grave) in Majdanek	Meir Blankman	422
A visit in Auschwitz	Meir Blankman	425
Graves	Israel Gurfinkel	430
Ostrovtse Partisans	Wolf Fajnsztadt	433
A group of partisans from Ostrowiec		435
Murders by the Polish partisans	Shlomo Zweigman	436
Reports from the labor camp	The Testimonies Committee	440
Official Documents Concerning the Extermination in Ostrovtse		443
One Righteous in Sodom - the Christian Eva Shaminska	Ariela Reuveni	446
Ostrowiec without Jews
The First Memorial Day in Ostrowiec	Y. Baharier	449
At the grave of the Jewish partisans		452
The Terrible Disappointment of the “Liberated” Jews of Ostrovtse		455
Ostrovtse without Jews	Dr. Chaim Shoshkes	456
A Visit to a Destroyed Home	Amnon Eizenstadt	459
About the Violated Jewish Cemeteries in Poland	Mayer Blankman	469
My consolation	Mordechai Rosenberg	472
A Report of Nazi Crimes in Ostrowiec (Poland)		474
The Hunt for the Criminals		478
Rievele Spillman's violin	Dr. Yakov Schatzkin	480
Imagination	Eliezer Kuperman	481
A stone	Israel Gurfinkel	482
The Surviving Remnant - Dispersed and Scattered
Israel
Activity of the Organization of Former Ostrowiec Residents	Yechezkel Ereli	487
The Organization of Former Ostrowiec Residents in Israel	Yechezkel Ereli	495
A stormy meeting of the Organization		500
Remember and never forget!	Yechezkel Ereli	502
The destroyer felled our town - massacred without mercy	Yechezkel Ereli	504
The blood of our best sons have sanctified the soil of this land	Yechezkel Ereli	506
Ostrowiecer who fell in Israel's wars and sanctified its soil		508
Ostrowiecer who died in Israel
R'David Toppel z”l	Shoshana Toppel-Israeli	511
Chana Bogyeski z”l	S. Choresh	513
Yafa Rosenberg z”l	Moshe Rosenberg	513
Genia Levi z”l - a noble and fighting figure	Shaul Goldman	514
Dear sister	A. H.	516
Yechiel Meir Levi z”l	Halevi	517
Binyamin Meir Eisenman z”l	Tzipora	518
In memory of a fiend, Shmuel Nafrastik	Yechezkel Ereli	519
Attorney Rabbi Israel Aharon Friedental z”l	Abraham Friedental	520
Simcha Mordechai Zhabner z”l	Arie Zhabner	522
Friendship through the chain of generations		522
Toronto
Ostrowiecer in Toronto	Dr. Chaim Shoshkes	523
A friendship of three generations		524
The Committee for Ostrowiec Lansleit	A. Vilenski	525
Ostrowiecer in Toronto erect a Memorial for the martyrs		526
Ceremonial unveiling of the Ostrowiec Memorial	Eber Beinerman	526
A symbolic tomb of the Ostrowiec martyrs	Shaya Zweigman	528
A well deserved Memorial	Eber Beinerman	529
Ostrowiecer in Toronto helping with the Yizkor Book		532
The Ostrowiec Synagogue in Toronto		533
New York
The lonely Landsman	Eli Rasberg	542
A public call to the New York Landsleit		543
R'Zev-Wolf Weiss z”l	Eliezer Kuperman	544
Brazil
We May Not Forget the Murderers and the Jewish Helpers	A. Boymfeld	547
My Hometown Ostrovtse!	A. Boymfeld	549
We Do Not Pardon the Jewish Collaborators	Eber Beynerman	553
Argentina
Ostrowiecer in Argentina Erect a Memorial to Martyrs	I. Branden	554
English Section
Initial pages		4
An Idea Realized	Yehezkel Ereli (Erlich)	9
A Town Between Two Rivers	M. Sh. Geshuri	13
Surviving Child of Hitler's Regime	Eva (Cukier) Singer	46
The Annihilation of a Jewish Community	Leibush Milstein	47
Ostrowiec Societies in NY & Chicago		99
A Tribute to Our Martyrs	Allan Grossman	105
Ostrovtser Shul in Toronto		111

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