.
Memorial Book of the Community of Sarny
(Sarny, Ukraine)

51°20' / 26°36'

Translation of
Sefer yizkor le-kehilat Sarny

Edited by: Y. Kariv

Published in Tel Aviv, 1961


 


Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Esther Gilbert

 

Translations by Jacob Solomon Berger

 


This is a translation from: Sefer yizkor le-kehilat Sarny (Memorial book of the Community of Sarny),
Editors: Y. Kariv, Tel Aviv, Former Residents of Sarny and Vicinity in Israel, 1961 (H, Y, 540 pages).

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


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Acknowledgements

by Esther Gilbert, Project Coordinator

The first vote of thanks must go to Yosef Kariv and the “Former Residents of Sarny and Vicinity in Israel” with whom we are privileged to walk the streets of Sarny and meet its Jewish residents, who from their memories of life and loss wrote this Yizkor book. Their burning memories of their little town and its 42 years of Jewish life have inscribed in our hearts the vibrancy and love of their shtetl and its people. We are indebted to the care they took to recall and to record not only what Sarny added to the Jewish world of then-Poland, but to Israel at its birth and early years. Special mention must be made of Miriam Bergman who with great courage retrieved the passport photos and gave them to A. B. Feld who brought them to Israel, which were included in the Yizkor book. These 1,856 photos, 1,063 of them named, give a face to our murdered families, and a picture of the magnitude of loss of every community destroyed in the Shoah. Yad Vashem kindly allowed us to translate and make this translation available.

In addition to individual donors, the translation was made possible by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter which seeks to promote awareness of periods of peaceful coexistence in Ukrainian-Jewish relations and to facilitate knowledge and understanding during periods of crisis. I am grateful to Alti and Berel Rodal, to Raya Shadursky, and to the visionary and mentsh James C. Temerty for their work in supporting exchanges between two peoples and cultures with deep historical roots and connections.

The translation was prepared by Jacob Solomon (Jack) Berger who endeavoured over a period of years to get this translation right and as clear as possible. Tragically, during this period, Jack suffered the loss of his dear wife Carol Lynn Berger z”l and I the loss of my husband, Sir Martin Gilbert z”l. In the dedication of this Yizkor book translation to the martyrs and survivors of Sarny and its vicinity must be added the names of Carol Berger and Sir Martin whose loss we both feel every day.

The translation was edited by Sheryl Bronkesh, daughter of Sarny survivor Bronia Bronkesh z”l, granddaughter of Sarny-ites Alter and Chana Pasman z”l, and JewishGen volunteers Jane S. Gabin, Alisa Klaus and Karen Leon who sought to make the voices of the writers heard and accessible. Shalom Bronstein translated the necrology list which has a wealth of information on family connections; Zygi Boxer transliterated the photo gallery names which I have tried to match with the spellings on the necrology list; Jonah Cowen translated the Errata page. If there are corrections and further photo identifications, please let me know.

JewishGen has done a huge service to bring the wealth of Jewish history and life that had been locked in these Yizkor books to the English-speaking world. We are all indebted to the many volunteers whose scholarship and expertise has helped us research and memorialise. My own thanks go to Lance Ackerfeld who with patience and determination managed to tie the disparate threads together to see the translation of this Yizkor book finished, posted, and available to the English reader online. It would not have happened without him.

The destruction of the Sarny Jewish community and that of its surrounding towns and villages took place on 27 August 1942, the 14th of Elul, 5702. In 2022 this English translation of the Yizkor book is completed on its 80th Yahrzeit.

 

Foreword The Editorial Committee 5
Introduction Nachman Blumenthal - “Yad Vashem” Administration 9
The Origins and Configuration of Sarny Prof. Ben-Zion Dinor 13
 
Between Swamps and Forests
 
Wolhyn Jewry Yitzhak Lamdan 19
The Ambience of Sarny Ber'l Frimer 20
My City, Sarny Yaakov Tzuk (Kottelczuk) 21
That Was the Sarny of the Past Aryeh Avtikhi 22
Memories from the First Days Dr. Jonah Glick 24
Sarny – Its Creation, Existence and Destruction Shlomo Zandweiss 27
Sarny – Its Creation, Existence and Destruction [Y] Shlomo Zandweiss 82
From the Beginning to the End Baruch Raks 155
Pogroms [Y] Moshe Yuz157
During the Days of Petlura and the Haidamaks Moshe Borko 158
With the Changes in Regime Ari Moor (Moorik) 161
Between One War and the Next Aryeh Attstein 163
An Emissary to Wolhyn in 1930 Ber'l Lukar 166
My Visit to Sarny in 1935 Ber'l Lukar 170
This Is How We Grew Up, This Is How We Matured Levi Bikowsky 171
 
The Way of Life
 
What I Will Tell My Son Sarah Turkenitz–Katzman 177
 
Education and Culture
 
Teachers & Educators Yaakov Tzuk (Kotelczuk) 179
My Father, Joseph Nyavozhny [Y] Tzvetel Nyavozhny 182
My Rabbi Mordechai Peczenik (Mordechai Edelstein) 183
Education in Polish Wolhyn Shmuel Rosenhack 183
The Educators of the Young Generation in Sarny Abraham-Isaac Murik 186
Integration During the Development of Education Sarah Turkenitz–Katzman 188
The First Hebrew School in Sarny Yitzhak Idan (Zeldin) 191
In the Tarbut School Issachar Bestus 192
The ORT School A. N. Meshorer (Zingerman) 194
Sarny Youth in the Centers of Learning Moshe Yuz 194
Cultural Activities in Sarny Moshe Yuz 195
The First Sarny “Spectacle” Yekhiel Salutsky 198
 
Movements and Parties
 
Zionist Sarny Israel Rituv 198
A Clandestine Zionist Assembly in Czarist Times Yekhiel Salutsky 201
Zionist Youth Organizations Ephraim Schneider (Munya) 202
Hashomer HaTza'ir in Sarny Ephraim Schneider (Munya) 204
The Mizrahi Movement in Sarny Baruch Rabinovich 206
The Revisionist Movement in Sarny Asher Miasnik 208
The Jews of Sarny and the Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael (Jewish National Fund) M. M. Horowitz 209
The Communist Movement in Sarny [Y] Mordechai Peczenik 211
 
Torah & Hasidism
 
The Houses of Worship in Our City Abraham-Isaac Murik 212
The Synagogue of the Hasidim of Stolin-Karlin Asher Miasnik 213
The Hasidim of Stolin-Karlin Dr. Ze'ev Rabinovich 216
Hasidic Customs in My Father's House Shlomo Zandweiss 218
How I Earned a Portion in the World to Come [Y] Moshe Borko 220
The Dynasty of the Berezne ADMo“R's Rabbi Aharon Peczenik 222
The Berezne Rebbe and His Hasidim in Sarny Y. L. Yonatan, z”l 223
The ADMo”R, R' Joseph Peczenik Mordechai Peczenik 226
The Headmaster of the Yeshiva [Y] E. Kast 227
Between the Lines of a Letter Dr. Esther Tarsi 230
The Rabbi R' Nahum-Yehoshua HaLevi Peczenik Rabbi Aharon Peczenik 231
The Rabbi, R' Chaim-Moshe Hechtman Yaffa Hechtman-Barbado 232
The Rabbi, R' Aharon Kunda Sh. Ben-Zadok 233
 
During Weekdays and Festivals
 
The Market Day in Sarny Abraham Murik 234
Czar Nicholas II in Sarny [Y] Shlomo Zandweiss 235
Tragic Encounters Yaakov Tzuk (Kotelczuk) 236
Sarny Comedians [Y] Shlomo Zandweiss 241
Sabbath in the Town Rachel Tarass–Zuckerman 242
The Night of the Seder in the Home of My Parents Yaffa Hechtman–Barbado 242
The Day of Judgment Pua Golomba–Yanait 243
Sarny Youth in France Nehemiah Gildenhoren 246
From the Memories of One of the First Who Made Aliyah Penina Glinansky–Barzilai 246
‘The Concealed [Righteous] One’ Mordechai Peczenik 246
 
In the Neighboring Settlements
 
Jews in the Villages of the Sarny Area Meir Walkin 248
From the Way of Life of the Jews in the Villages Nehemiah Gildenhorn 248
Klesów – The Village, Its People and Fate Joseph Zuliar 250
How the Kibbutz Was Established in Klesów Gila Turkowic–Salutsky 251
The Establishment of the Kibbutz in Klesów Sh. Evven–Zohar 252
A Portrait of the Klesów Man Yitzhak Tavenkin 254
The Jews of the Village of Karpylivka [Y] Yentl Burko–Pearlstein 256
The Antonovka Train Station Aharon Shavit (Stern) 259
 
How It Was Destroyed
 
  *  *  * Yitzhak Katznelson 263
The Calendar of the War and Holocaust in Sarny   264
The Memorial Day [Y] Joseph Pearlstein 264
From the Beginning of the War to the Nazi Conquest Mordechai Peczenik 266
The Illusion of the Power of Money to Effect Rescue Yitzhak Greenbaum 269
 
In the Ghetto and in the Extermination
 
The Destruction of the City of Sarny Yitzhak Geller z”l 271
The destruction of the city of Sarny [Y] Yitzchak Geller z”l 285
The Ghetto – the Beginning of the End [Y] Zvi Pearlstein 305
A Little Girl in the Ghetto Jonah Borko-Sherman 311
Life in the Ghetto [Y] Joseph Wolf 311
The Liquidation [Y] Abraham Freilich 312
Death [Y] Israel Kruk 314
On the Extermination Field Yosef Wolf 315
The Arson That Was Not Implemented Baruch Krimsky 316
I Was Fifteen Aryeh Turkentiz 317
The Regional Commissar (Gebiets-Kommissar) Promised Pinchas Neuman 320
Saved By a German [Y] Feiga Schwartz-Sherman 322
Notes to the Story of My Sister Feiga k”zM. Yitzhak Schwartz 329
From the Ghetto to the Partisans [Y] Ber'l Bick 331
 
In the War for Rescue and Life
 
How I Was Saved from the Killing Valley in Sarny Israel Pinczuk 334
The Extermination and the Rescue Leah Teich–Minkowsky 336
In a Partisan Division [Y] Zalman Perlmutter 347
In the Soviet Army [Y] Issachar Bastus 349
My Revenge Against the Exterminators of Sarny Jewry Meir Walkin 350
Revenge Taken Against the Murderers Abraham Feinberg 352
A Jewish Partisan Esther Zolotow-Ivri 353
Like a Pursued Animal in the Forests Rosa Wachs-Steinberg 354
Saved Jewish Children [Y] Zvi Olshansky 364
A Doctor in the Forest [Y] Dr. Chanan Weinberger 366
The Killed and the Saved [Y] Dr. Shimon Zweiman 368
 
After the Victory
 
The Killing Valley in Sarny Meir Walkin 370
The Mass Grave Joseph Wolf 372
An Encounter in Central Asia Raya Kramer–Huberman 373
On the Ruins of Sarny Bruriah Begun–Zilberg 375
The Rescue of Torah Scrolls Joseph Fabrikant 375
How Pictures of the Martyrs Were Obtained from the N.K.V.D. Miriam Bergman 376
From Sarny to the Land of Israel [Y] Yaakov Niemoy 377
From the University to Siberia Moshe F. 388
Through the Ponary Pit and Exile to Kolyma Tzivia Nabozhny–Wildstein 389
Sarny – 1957 Bluma Zweiman 394
From That Inferno [Poem] Chaim Guri 397
 
The Candles Dedicated to Memory
 
Those Who Fell in the Holocaust 401
    The Attstein family Chaya Attstein–Talit
    Benjamin Edelstein Yekhiel Salutsky
    Joseph Barzam Aryeh Barzamy
    Pesach & Yehoshua Borko Shlomo Zandweiss
    Yaakov Bryk Moshe Yuz
    The Family of Shmuel Geifman Shlomo Zandweiss
    Esther Goldman Simcha Banorat (Averbukh)
    Yehoshua Glauberman Boaz Eisenberg
    Chaim Glick Moshe Yuz
    Aharon Godel Groszko Zvi Kahana (Groszko)
    Shmaryahu Gerszunok Shlomo Zandweiss
    Abraham Dichter Shlomo Zandweiss
    Chaya Danenberg Yekhiel Salutsky
    Shmuel Walkin Dr. Yom–Tov Lewinsky
    Pinchas Zandweiss Esther Zandweiss–Fish
    Ahar'l Zandweiss and His Wife Rivka Yekhiel Salutsky
    Penina Zandweiss Moshe Yuz
    The Jewish Watchman P”Z
    Mindl and Lejzor Zhuk Joseph Sharoni (Zhuk)
    The Family of Zvi Zuliar Yaakov Tsuk
    Velfl Zinger Bruriah Zinger–Koren
    The Family of Itzia Zinger Mordechai Piczenik
    Mendl Zindl Moshe Yuz
    Chaim Khaniss Nechama & Pesach Khaniss
    Abraham Turkentiz Israel Karny (Korowoczka)
    Aharon Miasnik Yehudit Miasnik–Dobrowicky
    The Nissman Family Aharon Nissman
    Alter Pasman Sh. Zweiman
    Ze'ev Pikman Shlomo Ben–Tzadok
    Tirza Peczenik Mordechai Peczenik
    Chaim & Lyuba Pearlstein Yekhiel Salutsky
    Benjamin Kantorowicz Adina & Joseph
    Reuveni'kheh Pua Golomba–Yanait
    Israel & Chaya Rosenfeld Yaakov Rosenfeld
    Aharon Rosenberg Relatives in Israel
    Yitzhak Raks Baruch Raks
    Ze'ev Szur Yekhiel Salutsky
    Riva Szpanerflieg Shimon Zweiman
Out of All the Nations [poem] Natan Alterman 432
The martyrs of the Holocaust in Sarny 433
 
Those Who Died During the Illegal Immigration, in the Haganah, & in The War of Independence 451
    Aharon Aharoni (Gir)
    David Attstein (Duntzia) Y. Roznick
    Fradl Barman Adel Barman-Shapiro
    Hananiah Gurewicz
    Shlomo Gittelman (Sioma) Meir Walkin & Yerakhmiel Roznick
    Joash Zuliar D. Dikhter
    Mordechai Feldman
    Pinchas Roitelman Rachel Roitelman
The Fallen in the Second World War, in the Ranks of the Partisans, or Having Died in Their Wanderings 459
    Abraham Zolotow  
    Shlomo Ben Yaakov Zandweiss  
    Gershon Kharpak Gissia Kharpak-Guszkes
    Levi Muszyn Chaya Hershman
    Szifra Murawinsky (Die Pohosterin) Moshe Yuz
 
In Memory of the Missing
 
Passed away in Israel and abroad 465
Those Who Died in the Land of Israel 469
    Sarah Edelstein Abraham Shapiro
    Eliyahu Burstein Yehoshua Katzman
    Son'keh Geifman Ronya Tress-Zuckerman
    Abraham-Aharon Dworetzky Moshe Yuz
    Alta Hurwicz Moshe Yuz
    Ze'ev Zuliar Joseph Zuliar
    Shmuel Zingerman M. Zingerman
    Yitzhak Isaac Zalman Sh. Zandweiss
    Shoshana Chaimowicz Sh. Zandweiss
    Joseph Kharpak Eliyahu Kharpak
    Shy'keh Trilsky Sarah Turkentiz
    Baruch Tarass His Sons
    Mindl Yuz Yaakov Cuk
    David Yuz M. Zingerman
    Yitzhak Levin Moshe Yuz
    David Levin Eliyahu Kharpak
    Meir Levin Rachel Levin-Glick
    Avigdor Murik Sonya Tarass
    From the Accounting of the Life of Avigdor Murik Sonya Tarass
    Rachel Price Zippora & Joseph
    Moshe Kolodny Sh. Zandweiss
    Nechama Kolodny Moshe Yuz
    Asher Rabin D. Attstein
    Shmuel Zvi Sadah Yekhiel Salutsky
    Meir Stein Moshe Yuz
    Aharon Szmukler Shlomo Nevo
 
Those Who Died in the Diaspora 492
    A. Z. Berlinsky Shlomo Zandweiss
    Moshe'l Gamerman Yekhiel Salutsky
    Yitzhak Glekl Yaakov Cuk
    Miriam Gittl Gendelman Sh. Zandweiss
    Zadok & Kars'l Zandweiss Shlomo Zandweiss
The Organization of Emigres from Sarny & Its Vicinity in Israel The committee 508
A List of Settlements Belonging to the Sarny Community   511
 
Gallery of Passport Photographs

 

  • The calendar of the war and the Holocaust in Sarny and the lists were created by Ari Mor.
  • The map of the city was created by the members: Graetz Barzas, Yisrael Brick, Chaim Geipman, Natan Bick, Yosef Wolf and Arye Turkenich who traced the boundaries of the ghetto.
  • The drafting of the map was carried out under the guidance of the member Yakov Kolakowski.

 



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