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…and the Lord said to Moses write this for a memorial book…. for I will utterly blot the remembrance of Amalek from under the heaven

(Exodus XVII, 14)

Year after year we were burdened by the thoughts of our parents, relatives, friends, neighbors, playmates, and studies, which were terminated by the Tzar's hands, and their memories obliterated.

The sacred Wyszogród people were slaughtered, killed, shot, and buried together at the execution sites, in single and common graves, in the streets of defiled Poland, without any monuments over their graves.

Their abandonment left our members restless. The entire community therefore decided to erect a monument that would stand forever, spread out across this land of many graves, and whose bloody letters would recall their sacred names and remind us forever what Amalek [a biblical tribe who set out to exterminate Israel] had committed. There can be nothing stronger and more eternal than a book to serve as a marker for every single or common grave, to recall our dear ones, in our homes and in every location where sons of Wyszogród are found.

Now that the Wyszogród memorial book has been published, we accomplished that which our conscience demanded. Just like our predecessors, we did nor shirk from the task of creating this memorial.

We fulfilled our duty on the day of the publication of this book. It was a day of cleansing the conscience of the generations and easing our pain.

We have now become worthy children of our ancestors. We have revealed the hidden shame of our beloved, and we can state that the memory of Amalek has been erased forever, and the names of the victims of their murderous acts will rest forever in this book, this monument.

This last editorial board of our organization and its participants, dedicated night hours to this important public undertaking to ensure the timely publication of this book. The board used its free hours to rapidly gather materials, verify and prepare them, and to ensure that the book would meet its goal. The content of the book reflects the general interest of all, and not, God forbid, private side issues.

We did our utmost to prevent delaying the publication of the book while also being careful of not progressing too quickly, in order to prevent the omission of names of martyrs and crucial topics, and that every detail and fact would be verified.

So we accomplished an undertaking which our predecessors had attempted, and given up. We pray that our work will be acceptable, and that any errors we made, God forbid, will be forgiven. We are only human, and prone to mistakes and shortfalls. If here and there some details were omitted, or a holy name was missed, if the distorted wording of a story stated an unintended error, we hope to be forgiven as we bore no malicious intent.

We consider the Wyszogród book to be the last diary of a community that has disappeared. We included in it, all of the memories and details

From the right: M. Velfish, B. Gutman, P. Melnik, H. Levin, N.L. Deitch, A. Popovsky

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that we found and carefully double checked, to ascertain fact and truth.

We regarded the Wyszogród book as a book to express the tears of the last generation who suffered the most horrendous death. The dreadful days waiting for certain death behind barbed wires isolated them from the world, freedom and life, but left them watching the murderer stalking them, sharpening his axe, to soon come and exterminate them. We included all of the personal testimonies of most of the survivors of our town so that the world will come to realize how insane it was to oppose the creation of Israel, and what happened to the most cultured people in Europe.

We consider this book to be a monument to Wyszogród Jews and as the guardian of the flame of this holy community which no longer exists. We recorded all of the names of the martyrs and described those survivors as upstanding, exceptional people pillars of their community, and witnesses to the past of this sacred community.

We regard this as a book for all our members in Eretz Yisrael and in the diaspora. We made sure to involve as many participants as possible so that we could state that this gravestone was created by many, and that we all carry the memory of our martyrs in our heart.

Therefore, the book includes a section covering the history of one of the oldest communities in Poland from its beginning until its end. Another section is about the Jews of this community whom we remember. Included is a section about those who created its pure character and deepened its moral and humanitarian life. Another chapter describes the life of the youth, their unrest, longing for the rebirth of the nation, and fixing the flaws of its creation. A chapter faithfully describes the dreadful truth of the Shoah, honestly testifying to all that happened to the sacred Wyszogród Jews.

As we erect this memorial, today is a day of great sadness. It has been three years since the Six Day War, which was a time of trial for the existence and freedom of our afflicted people. Today, our book appears unexpectedly, as witness to the eternal ties between generations and between brothers. It expresses our deep faith that the strength of these links between the future and past of our people, here in Israel, or scattered over the world, will overcome those who attack us. We will wipe out the remnant of the Amamlekites, our biblical enemies who sought to exterminate Israel, and last forever.

The first memorial service organized by Hanoch Levin Camp Poking Waldstadt 6th Tevet 5710 (1947) Standing (from right): H. Levin, Di Bomberg-Alntsoyg, G. Kirshenboim, V. Sheldov, the Cantor, Yoske Levin, A. Rora, A. Gmach, A. Levin-Sheldov, her baby in her arms, G. Levin-Firshtenberg Sitting (from the right); N.L. Deutch, M.M. Schwartz, Sh. Jolson

My Uncle S. Jolson

A number of years ago, I decided to look through some Yiskor books. I was a neophyte researcher at the time and was feeling my way through the maze that is the New York City Public Library. The room I was directed to was small by comparison with only four long desks to sit and work from. I sat across from a frum gentleman who was avidly reading Yiddish text.
The Wyszogród Yizkor book was placed in front of me and I reverently opened the pages. To my surprise, a great number of pages were in English. I read each article word for word. The remainder of the book was written in Hebrew, and while I know the letters and can read the text, I have virtually no understanding of the language. What to do? I searched through the names of those who were lost and found my great grandfather Herschel listed amongst the martyrs. I then decided to look through each photograph searching the captions for names that sounded familiar.
When I got to page 104, I swallowed a scream. I covered my mouth, looked up with what I suppose were eyes that sparkled and saw the gentleman across from me smiling and nodding. I looked back down at page 104 and felt my heart palpitate. There in the bottom of a group photograph was a face that looked like the image of my father. I ran through the caption and there he was: S. Jolson
My father was born to Abraham and Rebecca Jolson in Pittsburgh, PA, and was orphaned early in his life. We had no knowledge of the Jolson family. Many years before, a man called out of the blue and said he was Uncle Sam and lived in Brooklyn, NY. He told us he came to the US via HIAS in the 1950's. This was a photo from 1947. It had to be the same man. I had photocopies made.
In 1999, I found a family descended from Herschel Jolson. To triple check our family connection, I scanned the photo from the Yiskor book and sent it to David Zaitman in Israel who I thought to be my father's first cousin. David recognized the photograph as Uncle Shei who lived in Brooklyn. David remembered his mother writing to her brother Abraham in Pittsburgh. In return, I received a photograph of David's sister and her husband standing in a Pittsburgh home with the couple who brought them out of the refugee camps to the US. As it turned out, that same couple brought my grandfather, Abraham Jolson to the US.

Lois Jolson