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C. The Holocaust

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“After the Temple was destroyed, the ascetics increased in Israel. They did not eat meat and did not drink wine.” (Tosefta Sota, 15:11). In this way, they wanted to demonstrate their mourning over the destruction. The sages came and said: “A person should eat his meal and leave over something small in memory of the destruction.” “Everyone should chock their houses with lime, and leave over a small area in memory of Jerusalem.” (Tosefta Bava Batra 2:17).

The sages of the Talmud were concerned that people would begin to forget the destruction of the Temple after a brief time, despite all the prayers and elegies. Therefore, they enacted that a memorial to the destruction should always be opposite the eyes of a Jew in his day-to-day life, so that he will remember the destruction and await the redemption and the return to Zion…

Our generation, whose eyes witnesses the destruction in its ruins – the annihilation of a third of the nation, the splendor of Jewry, Torah greats and bearers of culture, the youth, children – and nobody knows their burial place… What is such a “memorial to the destruction”?!…

… It is our duty to remember and to cause our children and grandchildren to remember, until the end of generations, that which the Amalek of Amalekites did to us. This is no longer by leaving a small area unpainted in our houses, for the lime of our days is no longer white, but rather red – blood!… With the blood in our hearts we will write, and forever recall the spilled blood. It will be remembered in the Yizkor Books, which we will set up as a memorial monument to those who were slaughtered and burnt. Each of us should remember and cause to be remembered their city in its glory and in its ruin…

My Town Przytyk

Przytyk my town, the cradle of my childhood – how did I love thee! How did I love your elderly ones, your sons, and daughters – good, upright, dear!… All of them pass before the eyes of my spirit as living images – those who learned Torah, merchants, tradespeople, the poor, the dwellers of small, deep houses in the alleyways, not far from the water that surrounded the town. All of them, all of them I see now – living lives of toil and creativity, toiling with the sweat of their faces for their meager livelihood, working and satisfied with their lot. They toiled and awaited a better day that would bring them to the future hidden in its mysteries…

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All of them, each according to their way, guarded the Divine image that was within them. The Jews of the synagogue found their spiritual satisfaction by listing to a chapter of Mishnah or Ein Yaakov from the mouth of the rabbi or rabbinical judge. On the Sabbath eve between Mincha and Maariv, they would recite chapter off Psalms in pairs or as individuals. They would recite with great devotion the daily Psalm from the book of Psalms. Their difficult situation never stopped them from concerning themselves with traditional education for their children or from extending assistance to their fellow during times of difficulty and tribulation.

The concern for the poor and needy was a priority for the city administrators and for all the residents. The righteous women occupied themselves with giving gifts [to the poor] in a discreet fashion, providing food and clothing for those in need, providing for poor brides, household concerns, and making matches for the youth…

One by one, they ascend before my staring eyes, guests not from this world…

… Behold, here is the tailor Zissel, who earned his livelihood with difficulty, humming popular songs as he ironed the linens with the coal powered iron. He would go to the nearby villages, spend weeks and months there, and bring back his meager earnings to his large family.

… Here is Menashe the blacksmith together with his son, banging the white-hot iron with force and joy, forging the horseshoes, fixing wagons and implements for the farmers who would come from the village and who looked with astonishment on the brave actions of the father and son.

… Shimon and Moshe the carpenters would bring happiness to themselves and others in the workshops with the cantorial melodies that they would sing as they worked, as they hammered the nails into the boards, with the joy of creativity, as they made tables, chairs, benches, and beds.

… Beinish the porter would walk hunched over under his load, beneath the heavy sacks of flour that he transported to the bakeries.

… The merchants, money changers, and peddlers, who got up early every Monday, which was market day, and ran quickly to the marketplace to set up their tables and stalls to display their meager merchandise, as they waited impatiently for the farmers to come from the village and purchase something from them after they finished selling their agricultural produce. The voices of the merchants blended in musical harmony with the crowing of the chickens int the farmers' wagons…

… The butchers in their butcher shops, with their hands and clothes stained with blood, as they haggled loudly over the price with the women who come to purchase meat.

… And between the shops, and from house to house, the paupers pass by. Their livelihood came from collecting donations, going door-to-door, “gathering” their coins, thanking with deference their benefactors who gave them a coin, or at least a piece of sugar…

… Chaya Sara (humorously nicknamed Chayei Sara^[1]) would walk through the town, announcing with her creaky voice her cakes covered with poppyseeds. That was in the summer. In the winter, she would carry her merchandise in a pot covered with a heavy blanket to maintain the heat of her goodies, made with wheat flour

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mixed with brown groats. The school children, who would smell the taste of the delicacy from afar, would reluctantly part with their half kopeck, a gift from their mothers. They would place their “treasure” into Chaya Sara's hands, and gain a pleasant delicacy as well as plentiful blessings from the saleswoman.

… Reb Shlomo Zalman the teacher of young children would spew forth his wrath regarding his suffering upon the tender backs of the children, who had just started their studies and were having difficulty with the aleph beit. At times, the sounds of the screams of the children from the pain of the pinches and beatings that they would receive from their rebbe burst forth outside.

… Boys and girls would hover around the threshold of the stores that were closed for the Sabbath, as they watched the passers by and mocked them. The eyes of the girls exuded jealousy over every new dress that passed before their eyes on the backs of their friends.

… Meir Yechiel the veker – who woke up those slumbering – would go to the outskirts of Przytyk during the Selichot days and the winter nights, with a lantern in one hand and a stick in the other, calling out with a weak, trembling voice, “Arise, Jews, to the service of the Creator!” … the weak lights of kerosene lamps would be lit one after another on the narrow, tortuous alleyways, as personages looking like shadows would head in the direction of the Beis Midrash. The light of the small lanterns would burst forth but would not light up the darkness that enveloped all of creation. Their weak steps would not break the silence of the night. They would hasten to the Beis Midrash, lovingly and with holy awe holding their tallis bags close to their body. They hurried so that they would not be late, Heaven forbid, for the Selichot service or the daily recitation of Psalms…

Equal rights pervaded in the synagogue – the voices of Hassidim and scholars turning to the Master of the World boldly and with the language of supplication, would blend with the murmurings of the verses by the simple folk, who uttered their supplications and prayers with a weak voice. Everything together created a heavenly harmony of sublime spirit… Together, they all together were children of the Creator of the World. The elders of the community, dressed in atlas kapotes and wearing streimels on their heads, with their leisurely gait, with heads high, and rays of the light of the splendor of the Divine Presence radiating from their eyes, alongside those praying for the health of their families, for a bit more, a bit more livelihood-these and those, their prayers ascended on high…

… Reb Chaim Zalman the shochet, a portion of whose livelihood came from grinding the grits that the farmers of the area would bring him from time to time: with his voice creaky from the flour dust that stuck to his throat. He had the custom of singing at the third Sabbath meal from the holy Zohar, about the mysterious secrets. Those gathered around the table would enthusiastically sing after him, “A Psalm of David, the L-rd is my shepherd, I shall not want.” [Psalm 23] Everyone was filled with faith and belief that “He Who gives life will give food.”… The Jews would sway as their eyes were affixed to the morsel of bread on the table. The setting sun would cast its red, evening rays into the shtibel of the Białobrzeg Hassidim in the narrow alleyway next to Yite Beila's bakery…

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… And other personages, images of the youth who were caught up in new crafts that spread through the world especially after the First World War. They too were filled with pure and holy enthusiasm in accordance with their ways. There “rabbis” came in the form of preachers from the big cities, representatives of various parties – the parties and outlooks were many and diverse: Zionists who wished to redeem the Land of Israel prior to the coming of the Messiah; young Mizrachi, who blended the aspiration for redemption with religious faith; Bund, which aspired to the redemption of Jewish culture on the soil of Poland; Communists, who believed with full faith that the redemption of the Nation of Israel would come with the redemption of the entire world from injustice and evil.

The debates between the representatives of the various parties increased from day to day and filled the space of the town with the shouts of the victors.

The debates especially increased during the times of the festivals, when the entire movement and party received a “reinforcement” from the students or workers who were in the big cities and returned to their towns to celebrate the festival with their families. This also happened during their vacation periods. They arrived armed with doctrines that they absorbed from the famous orators in Warsaw, Łódź, and other major cities.

The words of the guests for the festivals were listened to with great concentration and respect by both the followers and opponents. From among the chief speakers, I recall Moshele Yosef Hitel Macher, Moshe Henche's, Chaim Zeida, Yisrael and Yechiel Ryba, Yaakov Goldszewski, Yosef Doji, Meir Meizels, Ovadia Langa, Yitzchak Kurant, Leibish Mendel Zeida, and many others…

People would gather in the forest after the festival meal. Each group would go to its own area around their lecturers. After the lectures, they would burst forth in song. The sounds of song would compete with each other – the Internationale song calling for the freedom of the worker enslaved by the bourgeois; and, on in contrast, “Raise a flag and banner toward Zion, the flag of the camp of Judea!”… Both together were prepared for self-sacrifice, each for their ideal, for they were alike in one way – in the pure faith in the heart. There was opposition, there was a sense of victory, but there was no personal animosity…

The personal dream of these youths was to wander, to wander afar. Some dreamed of traveling to a high level Yeshiva to study Torah, others to work in a factory, others to university studies, and some to a tortuous journey to the and of Israel to build the Promised Land with their own hands. A significant group of the youth left not only Przytyk, but also the boundaries of Poland, to France, to the United States, and to other countries. Each of the youth realized their dreams despite the opposition of the parents.

The flame of factionalism also fell upon the cedars [i.e. the mighty ones], the householders, and the middle class. From these people as well came Zionists, Mizrachi followers, and Agudas Yisroel followers, who opposed hastening the end, and called out to wait patiently with prayers for the advent of the Redeemer…

… Murder in Przytyk! One of the prominent men of the city, the Zionist activist Reb Berish Dov Langa, traveled

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on a Zionist mission to the city of Klwów prior to the Polish Sejm elections, and a young Polish hooligan threw a rock at his head and murdered hm…

… The murder of one Jew! What a terrible atrocity! What a strong impression did that make, when we lived with the concepts of the pre-Holocaust period… And now?…

… Now, when they are all no more, they pass before my eyes in their masses, like ghosts…

How is it possible to forget them? I will remember them until my last day. I will remember my city Przytyk…

Translator's Footnote

1. The name of a weekly Torah portion from the book of Genesis. Return

The Expulsion of the Jews of Przytyk

In 1941, Przytyk had a Jewish population of approximately 2,700 (625 families, including approximately 300 refugees) out of a general population of 3,500. The occupation government issued an edict that the entire population living in Przytyk and the 160 villages in the region must leave their present places of residence by March 5, 1941, without exception. This expulsion was connected to the decision of the German army to create a military training field in this area on the left bank of the Wisla as a preparation for the attack on the Soviet Union. The expulsion of the entire Jewish population was carried out by the Przytyk Judenrat along with the provincial division of the Radom Judenrat, which received the authority for this from the Hitlerist government authorities.

The wealthy Jews left Przytyk on their own accord, moving to relatives of acquaintances in other towns. The poor people literally had nowhere to go. Only on April 2, did the Judenrat grant “certificates” to the poor people, in accordance with an edict of the Hitlerists, who were eager to accelerate the expulsion. Thus, the expulsion of Przytyk was completed almost one month after the date planned by the Germans.

The Jewish population of Przytyk was deported to the following places: Bialobrzeg (53 families), Przysucha (101), Skaryszew (46), Wysmierzyce (40), Wierzbica (28), Wolanow (26), Zwolen (24), Kazanow (26), Jedlinsk (30), as well as Lesromiec and Gniewoszow.

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The Germans Take Interest in the Jewish Defense in Przytyk of 1936

The fighting tradition of the Jewish masses in the Radom region, especially their vigorous stand during the time of the fascist anti-Semitic pogroms that were organized by the Sanacza rulers during the 1930s, was known to the German conquerors and was a source of discomfort to them. In particular, the Hitlerist authorities were concerned about the Jewish self-defense in Przytyk during the well-known pogrom of 1936. It was no coincidence that in the latter half of January, 1942, that is to say immediately following the famous Wanassee Conference that took place in Berlin, the ruling authorities of the Generalgouvernement in Krakow began to take interest in the events of Przytyk. The information in our hands strengthens our belief that the occupier, before commencing widespread activities for the annihilation of the Jews, decided to research the sources, the causative factors, the action itself, and the conditions and the reasons for the formation of the self-defense in Przytyk, in order to ensure that all possibilities of organized Jewish self-defense would be thwarted while there was still time, not only in the Radom district, but also throughout the Generalgouvernement. Support for this comes from the fact that in that time frame, that is at the end of January 1942, any other explanation for the interest of the occupiers in the history of the Jewish settlement in Przytyk makes no sense, for at that time there were not even any Jews in that town. As we had said, the last of them were expelled from their town in March 1941.

From the fragments of information it seems that the Hitlerist rulers asked Jozef Diamant, an adviser to the ruler of the Radom District, to find the information on Przytyk that interested them, through the means of the leaders of the Jewish self-help in Przytyk. The telephone conversations between the leaders of the Z.S.S. In Krakow (Magister Stern) and the representatives of Radom (Magister Wiener) did not produce any results, for in Radom they did not understand at all what was of interest to the Germans, for Przytyk had no Jews already for some time. It seemed that the conquerors wanted to obtain the information that interested them as quickly as possible, for already on February 2, 1942, the Z.S.S. of Krakow informed J. Diamant what was interesting the Hitlerists. We bring down the letter in its exact words to demonstrate the characteristic form of this letter:

“As a result of our telephone conversation, we are pleased to inform you that the assessor Heinrich of the Department of Population and Social Assistance in the Generalgouvernement requested that we find for him all the material related to the Jews of Przytyk for scientific work (?...) In this instance, this is not only referring to the actual material up to the time of the expulsion of the Jews from there last year, but also to historical data about the beginning of Jewish settlement in Przytyk. It would be beneficial if this material also includes data on the Jewish economic situation in Przytyk, life, general awareness, etc. In short -- data from all areas related to the Jews of Przytyk.

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We note that we gave over the information relating to the expulsion of the Jews of Przytyk immediately after we were asked.”

It seems to us that the “scientific” interest of the Assessor Heinrich of the Generalgouvernement was undoubtedly related to the widespread tradition of degradation toward the Jewish population. This confirms the well-known assumption that all of the crimes against humanity of the Hitlerists were at first researched and studied in a “scientific” manner in special institutions and offices. It is clear that we do not see any possibility that the Hitlerist “scientists” used any historical material from any other Jewish centers at that time in their research into the sources and powers of resistance of the Jewish masses in Poland. In any case, the disturbances in Przytyk that the conqueror dug up from the annals of history in 1943 take on a different connotation and testify to the fear, and literal panic, of the Hitlerists of the possibility of resistance from the Jewish masses...

I was born in the city of Przytyk in 1911. My father was a shoemaker, and I had three brothers. We were all shoemakers, as was the tradition in the town. The majority of the Jewish residents worked in trades. Among them were shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, and shopkeepers. In total, about 1,500 families lived in Przytyk. Approximately seventy percent of the residents were Jews. The town was like an island. One crossed a bridge as they entered the town from the direction of Radom, and one crossed another bridge at the other end as well.

When the Germans entered, they burned one bridge. Therefore, there was no possibility of escape from the place other than through the water. The name of the river was Radomka. There were cheders in the city as well as a Polish school in which Jews and gentiles studied together. Some of the Jewish youth played sports. There were also Zionist communal organizations such as Poalei Tzion. There was also a professional union (Profesionaler Farein). The religious Jews had their own Beis Yaakov school in addition to the Talmud Torah. There was also a chapter of the Beitar Movement, headed by Yitzchak Frydman.

The anti-Semitic incitement began in 1934 through the initiative of a gentile, Jan Korczak. He began to organize bands of gentiles to disrupt Jewish commerce. They set up guards next to

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the shops and stalls of the Jews, and did not permit the gentiles to purchase from Jews. The Jews turned to the police, but the police did not do anything against the gangs. When the police approached one shop, the gang members would move to another one. Later, they also brought activists from Radom, and disseminated the anti-Semitic Falanga newspaper. Jan Korczak was one of the Falanga people.

Young Jews fought with the gangs and administered beatings to them. After some time, the activities stopped. Police arrived from Radom to preserve the order; however, the anti-Semitic incitement did not stop. We saw that there would be no end, and we decided to organize along with the members of the P.P.S. (Polish Socialist Party). They had many members, and the interfered with the efforts of the anti-Semites. The two sides would fight among themselves. Among the members of the P.P.S. were youths who did not have what to eat. Those I knew included Staszk Culcyk, Robert Szredniewski, Walack, and others.

There were no Jewish members of the P.P.S. but our members would come every time they had a meeting to stand at their side against anti-Semitism. I recall that we participated alongside them during the visit of the head of the city council of Radom, Gzsznierowski. On Sundays, the Socialist youth would go to the villages to organize P.P.S. groups to arouse local opposition against the villagers who would go to the city to participate in the anti-Jewish boycott.

That is how the situation was until 1936. That year, the gentiles used force. When a gentile entered a Jewish store, they would beat him and forcibly prevent his entry. One Saturday night, gentiles came and said that an anti-Jewish pogrom would be taking place that night. The Jews informed the police, who alerted the police in Radom as well as the police school of Kielce. Because of this, two busloads of police arrived. We also organized and prepared for what was to come. Every lad had some implement in his hand. Some lads were armed with guns, and others held bayonets in their boots. No youth slept at their home that night.

When the police saw that the hooligans did not appear, they went out on the road that led to the town of Klwów, and stumbled across a roadblock of large stones. The police got out of their vehicles, entered the adjacent village, removed several gentiles by force, and ordered them to dismantle the roadblock. The gentiles did not want to obey, but the police forced them to fulfil the command. After the police lit up the area, they saw that many villagers had gathered in a nearby field, and were avoiding going up to the road out of fear of the police. A rumor immediately spread that machine guns had been placed upon the roofs in Przytyk. The gentiles became afraid and returned to their homes. Thus, the night passed quietly.

Several weeks went by. The market day in the town took place on Mondays. Once, Jews from Radom, Klwów, and Odrzywół arrived, bought and sold, and engaged in business. Among others there were tailors from Radom. They set up tables in the marketplace, displayed their products, and the gentiles came and purchased.

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There was a merchant from Radom who was known for his bravery and lack of fear. He was called Moshe Schecter. He also had two sons, as brave as he was. Some gang members started up with him, but disappeared quicky. One of our members, Yisrael Spiritus, the son of the baker, stood next to his stall and sold challos and rolls. Yisrael was the gatekeeper at our Maccabee group. Several of our members stood next to him. When the gentiles came and overturned the table with the merchandise, a scuffle broke out. Eliezer Kirszenzwajg participated in this scuffle from our side, and we were joined by two members of the P.P.S. who were helping us. The gentiles escaped, ran straight to Moshe Schecter's stall, and overturned it. Moshe and his sons began to administer beatings to them. The gentiles escaped, but on their way, they beat any Jew who came in their path. Yitzchak Frydman from Beitar was also there. Kirszenzwajg saw that the situation of the Jews was not good, and told his friend, “Give a shot.” A shot went forth that killed one gentile who was part of the gang that attacked Jews. It became clear that the Pole who was killed was the organizer of all the gangs. After he fell, the beatings continued, and the hooligans disbursed.

There was one other youth there, the son of the tailor Lasko. His father saw the commotion from the second floor of the window of his home, and a shot echoed through the air. The gentiles paid attention to the location and summoned the police. When the police went up, they found the gun mount, and accused Yechiel Lasko of the murder of the gentile.

In the meantime, the gentiles escaped to the edge of the town. They entered the home of Yosef Minkowski, whose son was my best friend. He lived in the house of a gentile at the edge of the city. The gentiles murdered him and his wife with an axe. They beat their young child who was hiding under a bed. They fled when the owner of the house raised his voice in a scream.

Why did they specifically attack Minkowski? A doctor lived next to his house, and the gentiles brought the dead person to the doctor to confirm his death. Minkowski was the closest Jew to the house of the doctor, and they decided to take revenge upon him for the death of their friend. When we heard about what happened in Minkowski's house, we ran to the place, but the gentiles preceded us and escaped from the city.

They immediately brought the young child to the Jewish doctor of the city, and the gentiles began to return to the city and perpetrate a pogrom. They entered Jewish homes and broke everything that came their way. The residents of the houses escaped from them.

I hurried home to my father to stand guard but when I saw that the hooligans had not reached us, I ran to my sister's home to see what was going on there. My sister lived in the same place where the hooligans were operating. Along the way, I met my friend Czesław Jufek. I told him that I was running to my sister to protect her in the event that the hooligans come. Czesław told me to return to my father's home and protect him, and he and his friend would hurry to my sister to protect her house. When they returned and told me that no danger was awaiting her, I left our house and saw that the gentiles were returning and entering

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the city. We also saw that the police who had come from Radom were not interfering with them at all. On the other hand, the police chased the Jews out of the narrow alleyways so they would not go out to the streets. My friends and I did not pay attention to the police. We administered beatings to the best of our ability until the gentiles escaped from the city.

The next day, the police came from Radom and began to collect testimony. Many witnesses came forth and told about the details of the events. First, they arrested Lasko, since the gentiles testified that the shot that hit the gentile came from his window. Then they arrested Kirszenzwajg, Yitzchak Frydman, and others. They also arrested Shaul Korngel, Yitzchak Bande, and the brothers Moshe-Chaim and Avraham Cuker. All of them were freed because there was no testimony against them.

During the time of the court case in Radom, judges arrived in Przytyk to reconstruct the events. They wanted to know that the Pole was killed by a bullet that came from behind. Since Lasko shot from the second-floor window, it was clear that had the victim died from his shot, the shot would have reached him from the front rather than behind. The judges could not confirm his guilt definitively. Lasko also claimed that he had shot in the air in order to frighten the masses. When they requested his gun, he claimed that he threw it into the water. The gun was not found.

The gentiles accused Yitzchak Frydman of arranging for the killing of their comrade, He was sentenced to five years of jail. He only sat in jail for three years. He made aliya to the Land and fought in the brigade during the last war^[1]. Kirszenzwajg was also sentenced to five years. He escaped to Russia during the war, and I was informed that he was killed in a train ambush. The Jews were sentenced to jail without proof. The police wanted to prove that the Jews were guilty, as usual, for the pogrom that was perpetrated against them…

The Germans entered the town one week after the outbreak of the war. The gentiles burnt the bridge on the road to Radom. This was on a Friday evening. The next day, the Germans entered on their way to Warsaw. They passed through the city and related to the residents politely. They spoke to them, took pictures with Jews who had full grown beards, and distributed candies and treats to the girls. Since the bridge had been burnt, they continued along the route without a road. They left several Germans behind to begin to set up their rule over the town.

There was a young lad, a Volksdeutsche, with us, named Mirecki. Before the war, nobody knew that he was a Volksdeutsche. He was a painter and knew all the residents. He knew which of the residents was affiliated with the Communists. When the Germans entered, he put on the swastika and began to show them the houses of the wealthy Jews and to tell them of their deeds.

There was a veteran Zionist in the town named Chaim Berkowicz. After the pogrom, he traveled to Warsaw and met Grynbaum and other Jewish delegates of the Polish Sejm. He was a capable man,

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who concerned himself with the victims of the pogrom. When the Volksdeutsche began to cause trouble, Berkowicz collected money which he gave to him as well as to the Germans, but the tribulations did not stop.

One week after the Germans entered the town, they ordered all the Jewish men to gather in the center of the town and informed them that they were being drafted for work. Everyone ran home to fetch a spade or a pitchfork for the work. I did not want to go, so I hid in the attic. After pressure from my wife, who claimed that if the Germans found my hiding place they would kill me, I joined those who were going. As I passed by the synagogue, they shot at me, but they hit Gelibter (he has two brothers in the Land, one of whom works in the Tel Aviv city council). Miraculously, the lad was not hit, but when we reached the worksite, I was informed that the Germans had shot and killed Shlomo Broitman. Only his relatives were permitted to attend his funeral. His wife survived and lives in Haifa. Broitman and his father were among the wealthy ones. Only his uncles participated in his funeral. We worked, and we were not permitted to join the funeral procession as it passed by.

Our work was to cover the marsh areas with earth so that the Germans could advance with their tanks. During those days, we would collect money and give it to the Germans, with the expectation that the tribulations that the perpetrated upon us would ease.

After several days, the Jews again gathered in the middle of the city and were enumerated. A Polish police officer, Kornapl, would go to the houses and order the men to clean the yards or the area of the street near the house. Berish Zeida did not want to listen to him, so Kornapl gave him over to the Germans. The Germans brought Zeida to the center of the square, which was full of Jews, stuck his head between the legs of a German, and began to beat him on all parts of his body. They only stopped when blood flowed from his wounds and it seemed that he was dead. His mother and other women who leaved nearby ran out to the porch and began to scream. The Germans threatened to shoot them if they do not go away. The women entered the house, and all the men dispersed. Zeida survived and maintained his stand with all his suffering.

After a few days, the Jews were again gathered into the market square, and the Germans enumerated them and registered their names. One gentile who was my friend came to me and advised me to not give my name, since the Germans were looking for me. There was another lad who had the same name as me, Yisrael Cymbalist. The asked him for his name, and he gave them his correct name, but the Germans did not believe him. When they reached me, I gave them a different name. Later, I found out the entire matter from a friend who had played basketball with me. The gentile who had advised me to conceal my name reported that I had protected the Jews during the time of the pogrom, had made sure there were weapons, and other such matters regarding me that were not true. They said that the Germans wanted to capture me because I might have hidden weapons. When I heard that they were following after me, I told me friend, “Friend, tomorrow I will already not be here.”

One German who had a stick with a round handle, placed his stick on the throat of the Jews, and called to them, “Follow me.” In that manner, he took fourteen men to an area behind the city, near the place

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where there was an office of the local council. He ordered the men to strip off their clothing, to pour benzene on the clothes, and to dance around the campfire. They were beaten as they danced. When we were told this, we found out that that there were only three Germans. I advised my friends to try to free the Jews. When we approached the place, we saw that they were returning beaten and with blood flowing. They were older. There were only two or three youths among them. I realized that we were not to continue to remain in the town.

The Volksdeutsche began slandering again: so and so has money, so and so has merchandise. The German would find everything that he told them about. Thy demanded boots from the shoemakers, and they would open up the pits in which they stored entire hides. Finally, the Jews collected money and gave it to the Germans so that they would arrest the slanderer. They freed him after a few days, and he continued to cause much tribulation. Later, when I was in Russia, I was informed that he was killed while in jail.

He was not killed at the hands of a German, but rather by a Gentile who was the brother of my friend. That gentile was a smith, and when he [the Volksdeutsche] ordered him to do some work, he refused and killed him. That is what I heard.

I gathered four other people, and we went to Radom by foot with the intention of continuing on from there to Russia. We encountered many tribulations along the journey, but I am holding back from describing them now. We were arrested when we reached the Russian border, and were under detention for eight days. After we were freed, I said to my friends, “You are bachelors, and I have a wife and a daughter… I must go back to get my wife and daughter.” There were other people who returned. I did not recognize them, but I do know that they returned to the occupied zone.

I returned to Warsaw. From there I traveled to Radom on a German transport (I paid them money). In Radom, I met my wife, who was living with my brother. I also invited my brother and brother-in-law to travel with me to Russia. They all agreed, but my brother-in-law's brother claimed that during a time of war, one should not move about, but rather remain put in a single place. My brother-in-law listened to him. I succeeded in taking my brother's son, Ephraim Cymbalist, with me. We reached Bełżec by taxi. There, there were many people who I knew, but they were afraid to cross the border. Thy said that they had tried several times, were caught and beaten by the Germans and returned. Nevertheless, I decided to try even once to cross. I tried and succeeded. I brought my wife, my daughter, and my nephew with me.

From there we traveled to Rava Ruska, and then to Lwów. From Lwów, we traveled to Russia.

I wish to return to one story that I skipped over. During the time of the war between the Germans and the Poles, soldiers from a Polish brigade were stationed in the forests around us, and the Germans were already close. A gentile came to me and said that the farmers are dividing up the Polish soldiers among the villages; however, there are many Jewish soldiers among them, and it would be appropriate to concern ourselves with them. We immediately went out to the forest and gathered the Jewish soldiers, some of whom had been wounded. We divided them up among Jewish families, and concerned ourselves with civilian clothes for them. Approximately twenty to thirty soldiers were with us for about two or three weeks. Before they took leave of us,

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they left us their addresses, and went home on foot. One of them lived in our house. I recall one, Burka Openhartz from Lida, who lived in my sister's house.

After several weeks of wandering in the Russian occupation zone of eastern Poland, we ended up in the town of Yalovka Volvolkovisk. In Yalovka, I became interested in whether we would find the soldier who had lived in our house. I went to the father of that soldier. I told him about his son who had been in our house, and he confirmed everything, for his son had told him the same thing. The soldier himself was at the movie theater, and his father sent for him. The soldier was very happy to meet us and invited us to live in his house until the end of the war.

His father was a baker, and he promised us that we would not lack bread as long as we live with him. He began to search for work for me, but I claimed that the place was close to the border, and I wished to continue on. I left my family members there and went to Lida.

I arrived in Lida at 11:00 p.m. I remained in the railway station. I wanted to remain until the morning and search for the address of Burka Openhartz the next day. He was the wounded soldier who had lived with my sister, and she tended to his leg until he recovered. As I was wandering around the station, a police officer with a red band on his arm came, grabbed me from behind, and asked, “What are you doing here?” I turned around and saw that he was the same Burka Openhartz, even though he was holding a gun in his hands. I told him that I had escaped from the Germans, who were causing troubles for us. He immediately asked me about my sister who had cared for his leg when he was wounded. I told her that she remained at home with her family, and I had escaped with my wife, daughter, and nephew, who are now in Yalovka with Eli Heidmak. He immediately said, “You will not be there, I will give you a room, and you will stay with us.”

He gave the gun to his captain and told him that one of the people who had saved our soldiers had come, and he had to take him home. He took me to his home. All night, he told me about how they had made their journey, and I told him about everything that happened to me after the soldiers left our town.

I remained with him for several days. Then I told him that I had to travel to Yalovka to bring my wife here. He agreed to my travel on the condition that I return to Lida. The next day, I returned to Lida with my family. After a few days, I went out on the street and again met lads from Lida whom we had saved. Once I saw a man who was dressed in elegant fashion. He was walking on the second sidewalk, and called to me, “Sir, come here, from where do I know you?” I told him that I also recognized him from somewhere. Then, he asked me if I was not from Przytyk. After I confirmed that I was, he grabbed me, began to kiss me, and told me that I had to come home with him to see his home. He lived twelve kilometers outside of Lida in a small town called “Little Paris” – Beinikonia.

They had a restaurant there, to which the Russian soldiers would come to eat. His father was in the flourmill at that time, and he heard that someone had come who had saved his son's life. He

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ran home, grabbed me, began to kiss me, and told him that he would give me a room, and I must live with him. I thanked him, and told him that I do not want to live with him because I have a family, but I am prepared to rent a dwelling and live in that city. That is what happened. He took me to his relatives, from whom I rented a dwelling. I brought my family, and we remained there.

At the beginning of 1940, the Russian authorities began to make a list of the foreigners who were not among the locals. We did not know the meaning of this list. They told us to show our identity cards. We did not want to receive Russian identity cards. One night, police came and took us out of the house. That night, they removed approximately a quarter of a million people from Byelorussia and Ukraine and sent them to Russia. They sent us to work in the forests. We remained there for about a year and a half.

After the agreement between the Russian government and General Sikorski, we were freed from our living place. Every deportee was permitted to travel anywhere they wanted. We moved to central Asia, and remained there until the end of the war. We returned home to Poland from there. We were in Stettin. A daughter was born to us on the train to Stettin. I took my wife and baby off the train in the city of Złoczew, where they remained in the hospital for a few weeks. I continued along the way with my older daughter. After I prepared a house, I returned. We remained in Stettin for about two months. Then we decided to travel to Germany.

In Germany, we lived in the Neu Ulm Camp. That was a refugee camp of UNRRA [United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Organization]. We remained there for about two and a half years. Then, then, we made aliya to the Land of Israel with the Second Aliya.

We heard about the fate of our family members from the survivors of Przytyk. The percentage of Jews of Przytyk who survived was higher than the average percentage of Jews who survived the Holocaust. The reason was that the Jews of Przytyk were healthy. They worked at various jobs and succeeded in remaining alive.

My brother Yaakov was active in the Communist party. He was sentenced to five years of prison at his final trial. Aharon Berman, who lives in Russia today, was sentenced along with him. Gordon of Katowice was also involved in that trial. I no longer recall the rest of the names of the accused. Berman was sentenced to eight actual years and five conditional years. The Poles traded him with the Russians, and sent him to Russia. My brother remained in prison along with the rest of his friends. That was before the war. At the outbreak of the war, when the prison was broken into, he too went free. I asked him to travel together with me to Russia, but he did not want to do so. He said that he wished to die in his bed. He did not merit to die in his bed, but was rather killed in a special camp for Communists in Buchenwald, Germany. Leon Blum and Ernst Tolman from Germany were also in that camp. One hundred and fifty people from that camp were taken

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to a place near Stuttgart. They dug a pit there and were buried in it. The Germans shot them and tossed them into the pit. One police officer who was with us in the camp after the war told us about this. I do not know what happened to his wife and three children.

I also cannot tell anything about my brother Yitzchak. My brother had five children. I asked the survivors of the town about them, but I could not find anyone who knew of their fate. Regarding my brother Mendel, whose son I took to Russia, I was told that he was in the Radom ghetto. Later, they were taken out of the ghetto and taken to Auschwitz. Nobody of the family survived.

My sister Ita, who lived in Sosnowiec, was in the Sosnowiec ghetto together with her entire family for a long time. When they realized what was awaiting them, they built a hiding place in their cellar. They had a bit of silver and gold, which they hid in a certain place. They said, “Anyone of us who survives can come here, remove the stones, and take this gold.”

From the entire family, only one son survived. Even though he was in Auschwitz, he survived and arrived in Germany. There, he purchased hides and other merchandise. He wanted to go to Poland to sell them, and utilize the opportunity to retrieve the gold. He had an acquaintance there who was an active Communist, who promised to take him to that house to retrieve the gold. However, to his bad luck, the M.P. came, stopped the train, and stole all his merchandise. My brother^[2] returned home, but he did not succeed in retrieving his parents' gold.

I was told regarding my sister Zisla, that when they deported the Jews from our city, she traveled to Skarżysko, for they had destroyed all the houses in our city. The Germans wanted to make an airfield there, but they did not succeed. When they began to take the Jews of Skarżysko to the ghetto, many Jews wanted to escape to the cemetery. The Germans came to the cemetery and shot and killed the Jews who were there. My sister, her husband, and their five children were among the victims.

Regarding my father, I was told that since he was a native of Przysucha, located about eighteen kilometers from our city, he escaped to there. His family was there. The hunger was great, and the Jews did not have anything to eat. My father was already elderly, older than seventy. As I was told, he died of hunger there.

Translator's Footnotes

1. Jewish brigade from Mandatory Palestine during WWII. Return
2. He probably meant “nephew.” Return

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A truck loaded with German soldiers set out from Radom. The driver asked the gypsies that he met along the way whether the road to Przytyk was open. After he received a positive response, the Germans continued on their way toward the town. The Germans, like the gypsies, did not know that the bridge had been destroyed. When they arrived at the bridge, the truck overturned, and several soldiers were injured and killed. The ones who survived arrived in Przytyk. A Polish soldier, Janek, told the Germans that the Jews were the ones who had caused the death of the soldiers.

The conquerors ordered the Jews to gather in the Beis Midrash. Many Jews gathered there. It was more crowded than on Yom Kippur. That Pole tortured the Jewish elderly, women, and sick people by swiping their tallises and cutting their beards. Finally, the Germans informed them that the Jews must pay a ransom of 80,000 zloty within a few days. The Germans arrested several Jews as hostages in order to assure the payment.

A Judenrat was set up a short time after that. Its members were David Ryba, Shemaya Szedry, Ezriel Bernsztejn, Yaakov Leib Zeida, Chaim Aharon Berkowicz, Moshe Reuven (father-in-law of Rivka the Hunchback), and others.

The first task of the Judenrat was the liquidation of the Polish army apparatus. The shoemaker Moshe Rozen and the tailor Mordechai Honig gave a gift to the German captain – a pair of boots and a suit – and the captain ordered an investigation of the Pole. They found two passports with him, a German one and a Russian one. Of course, the passports had been placed in the house of Jews to trap them. The operation succeeded, and the Pole was liquidated by the Germans.

The Germans continued to restrict the movement of the Jews through decrees, beatings, forced labor, and murder. The Judenrat provided the Germans with butter, eggs, furs, and sums of money in order to lighten the decrees, but this did not help very much.

The pressure on the Jews was great, and the Judenrat opened a kitchen for the needy, headed by Yosef Frydman and Mindel Klejnbaum. The kitchen received support from the JOINT, which had its headquarters in Warsaw.

The situation lasted that way, more or less, until March 5, 1941. That day, the Jews were commanded to leave the town and scatter in the nearby area. They were forbidden from moving to Radom, Lublin, or Warsaw. All the Jews of Przytyk, along with Jewish refugees who had arrived in the town after 1939, were deported and scattered throughout thirty towns and settlements in the Radom region. Later, the Germans ordered the Jews to gather in the towns of Przysucha and Szydłowiec. Many Jews already knew that the end result of this concentration would be deportation to the

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Treblinka death camp. Anyone who was daring enough to escape, and had the necessary means, escaped to the Wilanów camp. The Jews of that camp who worked at various forced labor jobs assisted the Jews of Przytyk greatly.

One Sabbath day, we found out that the Wilanów camp was not secure at all. S.S. men appeared in the morning and murdered about 130 Jews, most of them from Przytyk. Feiga Frydman, Eizenman, and others were among those murdered.

Yosef Meizels (Shmuel-David's son) was in charge of food distribution in the camp. When he realized what was taking place, he hastened to the women's camp to alert them. He told them to hurry, to get dressed up, and beautify themselves so that they would appear prettier, and thereby they might save their lives. When he returned to his place, he encountered a German who shot him. Yosef was murdered on the spot. May his memory be a blessing.

Shmuel David the son of Yoel was sitting alone in his house. He was reading a book. There was no work. Several weeks had already passed since the Germans entered Przytyk. The army was marching far from here. In its place came a German police force and S.S. men. The situation grew more serious from day to day. The tribulations were growing from hour to hour.

Suddenly, shots were heard. Shmuel David's mother entered immediately and said, “Shmuel David, go to the market square. They shot Shlomo Meir to death and issued an order that all men appear in the market square.” Shmuel David saw the tears and fear of his mother – and went out.

Many men were already standing in the market square. Armed Germans dragged more and more Jews out of their houses. One of the Germans gave a sign and ordered, “Enough! Arrange yourselves in a circle, accursed Jews!” That is what the commander, the Volksdeutsche house painter, ordered. Several Jews were cruelly and murderously beaten in the middle of the circle, so that everyone would see and be afraid…

The traitorous house painter had lived in Przytyk already before the war. He would paint the houses of the Jews before the holidays. Now he literally took leave of his senses so as to demonstrate to the Germans that they could depend upon his cruelty for causing tribulation and torment to the Jews. Almost nobody listened to him before the war. However, when the Germans gained victory after victory and conquered Poland, lowlifes such as the painter felt that their hour had come.

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The sadist divided the Jews into several groups. Every group was taken to backbreaking work in a different place. The work was not needed at all. Rather it was only to degrade and torture the Jews.

Shmuel David went together with his group to the house of Avrahamche next to the synagogue. There, they forced them to drag heavy furniture from Avrahmche's house to the fire station.

It was already dark after the end of the backbreaking work, but this was not sufficient for the scoundrel. He continued to torture the Jews. Next to the Radom bridge, he ordered the Jews to lie on their bellies, to get up, and jump. The deep impression of the death of Shlomo Meir Broitman was still etched in everyone's memories. He was shot by the bullet of a German for daring to retort. And now the painter commander, as if overtaken by insanity, was shouting, “Kneel down! Get up, run, stand!” One had to fulfil the commands; one must not dare to oppose…

Suddenly, the wicked one got tired, and ordered everyone to lie down face down.

Shmuel David took advantage of these several free moments to immerse himself in thoughts. He recalled that it says in the Talmud, “Whoever embarrasses his fellow in public it is as if he has spilled blood.” More than two thousand years ago, the sages of Israel stated that it is forbidden, Heaven forbid, to embarrass anyone in public. David recalled that the previously he had read about human feeling in the famous work of Kant “Critique of Pure Reason,” which he had borrowed from the Przytyk library. He did not understand everything in it, even though the Yiddish translation was proper; but the idea of respecting human honor had made a deep impression upon him.

The painter began again to utter his commands, “Get up, accursed Jews! Kneel down! Run on your knees!” David did everything in a mechanical fashion, even though his mind was functioning but did not have the power of comprehending. Now he began to think in a more practical fashion. He recalled the pogrom of Przytyk that had taken place several years previously. There was a meeting of the Przytyk youth of all factions on a Sabbath afternoon – the Sabbath immediately preceding the pogrom. It was decided to set up resistance. Two days later, on Monday, the day of the fair, when the incited villagers began their dark work, David had sprung out of his house and went to help the Jews repel the attacks. He was fifteen years old at the time. His mother tried to prevent him from going, but it did not help. What should he do now?

“Get up! Run! Kneel down! Run on your knees!” shouted the sadist. David remembered what had happened some time ago regarding the defence in the Land of Israel. He did not believe in the work of annihilation or extinction. He did not hate another nation. However, to defend oneself – that is a different matter entirely. That is a holy duty. He thought about aliya to the Land of Israel in a legal or illegal fashion, where he would defend the settlement with weapons in his hand. And now! For how long could he look and see human honor and Jewish honored by trampled by a heavy foot? “For man was created in the image of G-d” – and now a mauling beast was standing before him on two feet and degrading him and his friends, treating them worse than dogs.

When the painter passed by him, David raised a stone and wanted to hit him directly on the head, to remove

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the gun from his hands, and to kill the scoundrel. What would be afterwards, what would happen – David did not think about that. He was only eighteen years old – what value did his life have?

However, a sense of responsibility immediately overtook him. He had read a great deal about the Nazis. He knew very well that tens, if not hundreds, of Jews would be killed as a result of his deed. Every Jew of the city would be held responsible for the death of one despised person. The main thing was his conscience. Was he permitted to endanger the lives of hundreds of Jews of Przytyk?

With clenched teeth and burning anger, he cast away the stone and thought, “May the G-d of vengeance repay you your due!”

The synagogue was completely aflame. The ancient synagogue of Przytyk had stood for five hundred years – until the German vandals set it on fire.

Moshe Yitzchak the shoemaker was the first to come running to the fire. He jumped into the burning synagogue wanting to save the Torah scrolls from the flames. For generations upon generations, Jews had risked their lives for the Torah. However, the German soldiers pushed Moshe Yitzchak aside and chased him off to work. That same thing happened to other Jews whose sole intention was to rescue the Torah scrolls. All of them were chased to the small stream behind the synagogue in order to extricate a German tank.

When the walls of the old synagogue could no longer stand up from the heat and the fire, and they caved in, the Germans also ignited the Beis Midrash which was next to the synagogue and had been built not too long before. The German soldiers stood guard to ensure that the Jews would not extinguish the fire. The Germans only allowed the fire to be extinguished after it spread and threatened the nearby houses. In the panic that ensued, Hershel succeeded in saving the Book of the Zohar. After everyone dispersed, Hershel took the half-burnt book.

At night, Hershel asked the emissary (who lived in their home since the outbreak o the war) to teach him the Zohar, but nobody knew about this. Hershel's father, a pious man who hosted guests, certainly would not agree that his son study books of Kabbala. He had a firm belief that the redemption would come one way or another. Hershel was also a believer, but not like his father. He was curious to know what the Zohar wrote about redemption. His desire to study the Zohar was particularly strong since it was said that it is forbidden to peruse that book until one reached the age of forty, lest one stumble, Heaven forbid.

Even Hershel's younger brothers believed in the redemption – but of a completely different sort. They believed in a different messiah. They believe in a better tomorrow, a tomorrow of social justice and national liberation that would put an end to all human suffering.

Hershel's parents believed with perfect faith that the days of the Messiah were coming, “The light does not come except after complete darkness,” they would say. As the tribulations grows, so does the faith, as

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the darkness thickens – so grows the hope that the days of light of redemption are approaching. The worst the times are – one must await a miracle even more so.

Hershel's younger brothers believed, as did most of the members of the younger generation, that the redemption will be brought only if they sacrifice themselves for it. “As the generation is, so is its agony,” as Peretz said.

It seems that neither the younger generation nor the adult generation had any conception of the satanic plan that the Nazis were preparing. Older Jews comforted themselves with the fact that various tribulations had been the lot of the Jews since ancient times – and they withstood them all. They literally did not imagine for themselves that the physical annihilation of the nation was being referred to this time. They did not grasp that now, they were dealing with a completely different sort of enemy, unprecedented in history, who plan was first of all to degrade and break them in a physical manner by burning their houses of study, books, and libraries – stealing the book from the People of the Book. Second, it was to starve and torment the body, and then to take their lives.

Thus, the burning of the Przytyk synagogue was the beginning of the tragic end of the Jewish population of Przytyk.

… Hershele peered into the book of the Zohar, and searched for the footprints of the Messiah in it. He comforted himself with all types of obscure matters, and hoped that here… here…

During the High Holy Days, a rumor spread in Przysucha that it is written in the book of the Holy Jew that when great trials and tribulations come upon the Jews, one must bring the book to a Jewish burial. On the intermediate days of Sukkot 1942, the religious Jews conducted a large funeral for the book of the Holy Jew of blessed memory. They waited for a miracle. Jews believed in the holy word in print. However – after Sukkot, on the Sabbath morning of October 28, all the Jews of Przytyk were deported to Opoczno, and from there to Treblinka.

I was actually an eyewitness to the burning of the synagogue and the Beis Midrash, and to all facts connected to that. Shifra Frydman told me the story about the Holy Jew.

It was the autumn of 1946.

I and my brother Mendel were waiting in Radom for an opportunity to travel to Przytyk, even though the Jews of the town warned us not to go, for they had heard that a lad from Przytyk had gone to see the city and was murdered there. The A.K. (Armia Krajowa – underground nationalist army) was operating in Poland, and they had no other issue in life other than to murder the remaining Jews. There was a pogrom in Radom before we arrived there, and the survivors lived in great fear.

At the time that we were waiting for the car to travel to Przytyk, I tried to convince my brother that I was going, for I looked like a Christian and nobody would recognize me. On the other hand, he tried to convince me that it was more worthwhile that he

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should go. In the interim, the transport vehicle arrived, and I, being a bit younger and more agile, jumped quickly on the truck and set out in the direction of Przytyk.

Even though I did not know many Poles in Przytyk, for they had been a negligible percentage with us, I had the impression that the Christians who were traveling with me in the vehicle recognized me from Przytyk.

When we reached the Jewish cemetery near the city, I cast my gaze at it, and it seemed that this caught the eyes of my neighbors in the vehicle. One of them, a sausage merchant (a pig slaughterer as they were called), certainly no lover of Jews, did not avert his gaze from me. I was quiet, so that my Polish would not arouse any suspicion. From their conversation I understood that they were from Przytyk or from the villages of the area. The sausage merchant announced aloud to the non-Przytyk Christians that this is “the Jewish cemetery.” As he did so, he cast a penetrating glance at me to gauge my reaction. I was quiet as if I ignored his words.

Then we arrived in Przytyk. Everyone got off. They followed me with their gazes, and perhaps I was suspecting of proper people. Even though it was a fair day, the marketplace was empty of people. The synagogue and Beis Midrash were almost erased from the face of the earth. Most of the houses in the market square were destroyed. The well in the market square was abandoned. Renovations had begun in some of them already, but the market square had become narrower. I had the impression that they were preparing to turn it into a street.

Instead of hundreds of Jews with stalls, booths, and various types of merchandise, as a mass of villagers – as it was on the pre-ware fair days – there were a few sheds of Poles with textiles, and few customers. One could count the customers and the merchants with the fingers of the hands. I did not feel right in the market square, and I went to Zachenta, which was almost outside the city before the war. It was now filled with booths and customers, even though it could not be compared to the bounty of merchandise, merchants, and customers that filled the fair in Przytyk prior to the war. However, I felt a bit more secure among the crowd. From the church yard, which was now the center of the market and the city, I went to the mill of Itza Meir. I stood next to a group of Poles and listened to their conversation. They said that the local police had been murdered a brief time ago in a nearby city. It was clear that they were escaping from being found.

When I reached the mill and stopped to cast a glance at the river where we would swim prior to the war, and to the meadow in which I frequently went for a stroll, I had the feeling that I was being followed. I immediately returned to the fair, not wanting to endanger my life for sentimental places that were once important in the lives of the Jews of the town. Today, it is an abandoned river…

Next to the church, I blended in with the masses and freed myself from those who were following me. From there, I went quickly to the Radom bridge. Exactly at that moment, a transport vehicle stood there, waiting for additional passengers. I quickly boarded the vehicle, and we traveled to Radom. There, I felt myself more security, and thanked G-d that I had left post-war Przytyk alive.

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In Radom, I met by chance a proper Polish woman – Fanja Gumkowska, a teacher at the school in Przytyk. She recognized me and asked, “Are you not the son of the neighbor of Yaakov Miller?” She told me that the Germans had arrested Mr. Korczak, and that his daughter Jadwiga was already married. Similarly, Ursula, the daughter of the communal official of Przytyk was also married. Both of them had been my Christian friends in the school of Przytyk. Regarding the Jewish girls who were in our class – and they were the majority – Fanja Gumkowska preferred to remain silent. It seemed to me that only one girl, Rivka Lindenbaum, survived of all the Jewish female students in our class.

After some time, Mendel and I met Adamak, the son of the Shabbos Goy^[1] of Przytyk, in Radom. He spoke good Yiddish. The only Yiddish speaker in Przytyk today – is a Pole…

In the Przytyk ghetto (1941), Reb Mendel Malcmacher with his son-in-law Yaakov Palant and their families

1. A gentile who performs necessary work on the Sabbath for Jews, that the Jews are forbidden to perform. Return

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