piątek, 26 kwietnia 2019

"Skład mąki i różnych kasz"

Skład mąki - Berek Rozenholc, Jędrzejów

Skład mąki i różnych kasz - Berek Rozenholc, ul. Kielecka 3
[księga adresowa z lat 30.]

Źródło:
Archiwum Państwowe w Kielcach

Siostry Kukiełka - getto w Będzinie

Ir HaMetim (Town of the Dead- The Extermination of the Jews in the Zaglembia Region). Translated by A. Sz. Sztejn. Tel Aviv 1946. Translated to English by Ada Holtzman.

Dedicated to the memory of the comrades
Dora Hercberg
Aliza Zitenfeld
Sara Kukelka
Szmuel Rozencwajg
The modest heroes who died on a foreign land on their way to Eretz Israel

(...)

INDEX compiled by Ada Holtzman
(...)
119. Kukelka Renia - member of "Dror"; sacrificed herself for the underground.
120. Kukelka Sara - sister of Renia; heroine of the underground.

(...)

DEFENCE
pages 123-129

On the outside, it seems that the Ghetto returns to its routine, to its worries and sufferings, as before, but it was not but a delusion. We lacked peace of mind. The methods of the Germans were now transparent: first use the power and labor ability of the young; then rob all the Jewish property; and finally take the soul.

There are some who ask why didn't you escape? Those who ask this question ignore the fact that there was no where to run away in this world full of hatred and animosity. We thought we are the last Jews of Europe, and sometimes we saw ourselves, here in the Ghetto, the last Jews of the world' short of any help and assistance, isolated and cut off human ties, and we cannot trust but ourselves - us, few Jews, weak in body and broken in spirit' after four years of torture and oppression, starvation and humiliation under the Nazi boots, surrounded by the armed enemies, equipped with the newest and technologically the most advanced arms. And in spite of this, the Jewish youth of Zaglembia who survived decided to fight and defend himself. Unfortunately we did not know that a very short time was left before the next Aktion (akcja), and we truly had faith that we shall materialize our plans - and we had grand plans, like the plan to encircle the Ghetto in a belt of mines and blow it together with the Nazis. The comrades from Warszawa sent us instructions to make bombs and mines - but the storm of the deportation prevented us from fulfilling it.

The groups who prepared themselves to the defense and uprising were from members of the youth pioneer movements ("tnuot hanoar hakhalutziot"): "Gordonia", "Hashomer Hatzair", Kibbutz "Dror", "Hanoar Hatzioni" and "Hashomer Hadati". But we had no arms. In spite of that, preparations were made to self-defense, even before the last deportation and by the guidance of members of the Kibbutz we started training of the use of weapons. To get the desired arms we were forced to send members to Warszawa - a matter of great danger and huge difficulties; we worked to obtain foreign false passports bearing Christian names, smuggling the border in Zarki and more.

Three young women volunteered to sacrify their life for this holy mission: Edza Pesachson, Una Gelbard ("Hashomer Hatzair") and Renia Kukelka ("Dror"). The first one, Edza Pesachson, was caught in a train station at Czestochowa and severely tortured, but did not reveal who was she, for whom and for what did she carry the weapons. According to what comrades from Czestochowa told us - she was hanged in the local prison as a Christian. Second one, Una G, (...) finally failed and was caught in Zawiercie and there she was shot. R[enia] was captured while she traveled for the second time to Warszawa and succeeded, after four months of torture, by the help of her courageous and heroine sister Sara (member of Kibbutz Bedzin) to escape from the prison in Myslowice.

(...)

Źródło:

poniedziałek, 22 kwietnia 2019

Irena Gelblum i siostry Kukiełka

(...)
[Marek] Edelman: - Każdy jej [Ireny Gelblum, łączniczki Żydowskiej Organizacji Bojowej] numer był sensacyjny. Wysłaliśmy ją do Będzina, żeby sprawdziła, czemu nie wracają stamtąd kolejne łączniczki. Sforsowała zieloną granicę, zlokalizowała dziewczyny w obozie pod miastem, jedna to Sara, drugiej nie pamiętam. Skołowała strażnika, weszła do obozu, dała im cywilne ciuchy, wyprowadziła je, dowiozła do Warszawy. Ta akcja zakrawała na cud. 

(...)

Z tego, co mówi Irka, wynika, że Edelmana zawodzi pamięć, jeśli chodzi o akcję będzińską. Wysłano ją tam w grudniu 1943 roku nie na poszukiwanie łączniczek, ale ukrywających się niedobitków z sierpniowego powstania w tamtejszym getcie. Miała im dostarczyć pieniądze na ucieczkę do partyzantki. Na trop jednej z zaginionych łączniczek, Reginy Kukiełki-Herszkowicz, wpadła przypadkiem. Namówiła jej siostrę Sarę, by pojechały do Mysłowic (...), do obozu leżącego w pół drogi między Będzinem a Oświęcimiem. Gdy tam odnalazły Renię, Irka narzuciła jej na ramiona swój skórzany czarny płaszcz (ten, który tak się wbił w pamięć jej kolegom z konspiracji) i kazała im wyjść: "Nikt się nie połapie. Weszły dwie, wyjdą dwie, jedna w długim czarnym płaszczu". "A ty?" - pyta Renia. "Poradzę sobie". I poradziła. W Warszawie najpierw dostanie opieprz za brak subordynacji, a potem dopiero pochwałę za bohaterstwo. 

(...)
Źródło:
Artykuł Joanny Szczęsnej - Wysokie Obcasy nr 92, wydanie z dnia 19/04/2014 TWARZE, str. 16

piątek, 19 kwietnia 2019

Regina Kukiełka-Herszkowicz - Renya Kulkielko

Członkini kibucu Droru w Będzinie. Łączniczka ŻOB na trasie Zagłębie-Warszawa. W czasie jednej z podróży wpadła w ręce Niemców i została uwięziona w Mysłowicach. Wydostała się stamtąd dzięki pomocy siostry Sary i łączniczki ŻOB w Warszawie Ireny Gelblum. Przebywa w Izraelu.
[Cywia Lubetkin - "Zagłada i powstanie", Warszawa 1999]

Źródło:

Renya Kulkielko - Escape From the Pit

Renya Kulkielko - "Escape From the Pit"

Renya Kulkielko - "Escape From the Pit", Sharon Book, New York, 1947

***
p. 131.
(...)
Renya Kulkielko, a teenager in Jedrzejow, about 50 miles from Krakow, felt the panic that spread with the German attack. People streamed from the cities to the countryside and ran from one town to another, hoping to find safety. Wounded people and cattle lay on the roads; low-lying planes sprayed bullets. She described the heart-rending cries of babies whose mothers had been killed, the stench of dead bodies, and entire villages in flames. German tanks appeared, then German soldiers, who entered houses and took whatever they fancied. In Kulkielko's town they surrounded the Jewish street, locked a group of Jews in the synagogue, and lit it on fire. Similar scenes occurred all over (...) Poland.
(...)
[Doris L. Bergen - War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016]
 


Źródło:
https://books.google.pl/books?id=AEeLCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131&lpg=PA131&dq=renya+kulkielko&source=bl&ots=y0LGGOyiBz&sig=ACfU3U35GsdvLRYhieAmgHHbyc5tbFG9Zg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-sM7HodzhAhVwAxAIHVQmC4g4ChDoATAFegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=renya%20kulkielko&f=false

***
 

p. 24
(...)
Kulkielko was born near Kielce into a prosperous family with a Zionist outlook. Her account, which takes the form of a diary, extends from the outbreak of the was through her involvement in the Jewish resistance, to her arrival in Palestine in March 1944. It was written in Kibbutz Dafna in the summer of 1946, then sent to America where it was published in New York in 1947 by a small Zionist publishing house. Even so, it carried a foreword by the well-known author Ludwig Lewisohn.
(...)
[David Cesarani - "After the Holocaust: Challenging the Myth of Silence", Routledge, 2011[
 


Źródło:
https://books.google.pl/books?id=qYeoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=renya+kulkielko&source=bl&ots=BSDEjiIDP-&sig=ACfU3U2Iw4Jr72mBV3uaCgskjZhajcMSNA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-sM7HodzhAhVwAxAIHVQmC4g4ChDoATADegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q=renya%20kulkielko&f=false
 


***
 

p.341
(...)
And as if all this wasn’t enough to handle, Ludwig wrote the introduction to Renya Kulkielko’s Holocaust memoir of resistance as a ghetto fighter and survival in prison, Escape from the Pit, one of the earliest accounts in a literature that was to grow slowly until several more decades would pass. This “new literature of martyrdom,” Ludwig [Lewisohn] wrote, was unlike the earlier Jewish memorial books, for “It was, it is, an heroic literature ... of a people that has a great, a burning, a triumphant will to survive—to survive not only in the body, but by its survival to cause goodness and justice and the free spirit of man to triumph over all the foul fury of the powers and
p.342
principalities of earth.”
(...)
[Ralph Melnick - "This Dark and Desperate Age", Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1998]

Źródło:
https://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:WayneStateUniversityPress4496/file/HTML_FULL

środa, 17 kwietnia 2019

Bławaty - M. Śledzik

Manufaktura i przybory krawieckie - M. Śledzik, Jędrzejów
Bławaty - M. Śledzik, ul. Klasztorna
[księga adresowa z lat 30.]

Źródło:
Archiwum Państwowe w Kielcach

poniedziałek, 15 kwietnia 2019

A writer gets his due

Israel Zarchi, 20-th century author, translator and Polish immigrant to Palestine who advocated a blend of political and cultural Zionism, is the subject of a forthcoming book by history professor Nitzan Lebovic.
The Internet’s search engines are usually more than adequate to the challenge of finding information sources.

Such, however, is not the case with Israel Zarchi, a writer and translator who divided his short life between Poland and Palestine in the first half of the 20th century.

At the top of the Google search results for “Israel Zarchi” is a Wikipedia article about his daughter, Nurit Zarchi, an award-winning Israeli poet and journalist. Zarchi himself merits scant attention. Two sites on the first screen of Google results list the Hebrew titles to some of his works. An author page in Hebrew is virtually empty. The last item on the screen links to a brief discussion about Zarchi in the Romanian translation of A Tale of Love and Darkness by the acclaimed Israeli novelist Amos Oz.

Otherwise there is nothing—no clue that Zarchi wrote six novels and seven collections of stories, no hint that he made a major impact on the literary life of Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s, no suggestion that his insights and observations might still be timely, seven decades after his premature death.

Nitzan Lebovic, assistant professor of history, hopes to give Israel Zarchi his due when his second book, Zionism and Melancholy: The Short Life of Israel Zarchi, is published later this year.

Lebovic, the Helen and Allen Apter ’61 Chair in Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values, was introduced to Zarchi’s works when a professor at the University of Tel Aviv recommended that he read the only one of Zarchi’s novellas that has been reprinted since the 1940s.

“That novella portrays German-Jewish refugees who escape from Germany and arrive to a small hostel in Jerusalem during World War II,” says Lebovic. “They are not able to speak Hebrew and no one around them speaks German. The novel is an amazing piece of literature.”

“I was curious—why had this amazing author never been explored or analyzed? Why did no one know his name?”


Zarchi's final novel, written as he battled depression and cancer near the end of his life, follows a group of Yemenite Jews who hold onto their religious ways after immigrating to Palestine.

Three years ago, Lebovic discovered Zarchi’s lost literary archives when the central literary archive in Israel was moved to a new location. Last year, with funding from a Humanities Center grant, he spent the summer examining the archives, which contained letters, diaries and unpublished manuscripts. The work was completed during a pre-tenure leave Lebovic took in 2013-14.

“Reading Israel Zarchi,” says Lebovic, who was born and educated in Israel, “you can gain a window into the life and culture of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. The Jewish world of that time was much more varied than we tend to believe. There was an open debate then, all parties participated.

“Certain ideas that seem really radical or even treasonous to us now—Jews and Palestinians living together in the same political structure—were possible, fine, in early 20th-century Palestine.”

A time of tumult and melancholy
Israel Zarchi was born in Poland in 1909 and immigrated in 1929 to what is now Israel and was then the British protectorate of Palestine. Like many Jewish immigrants to Palestine, he made his living doing physical labor—farming and building roads.

The late 1920s and 1930s were trying times for Jews: the Great Depression had started and fascism was ascending in Europe. The countries from which Jews were emigrating were becoming increasingly anti-Semitic. But in Palestine, says Lebovic, the hopes of many Jews would be dashed.

“The early settlers arrived to find a desert. There was no basis to the myth of a land of milk and honey. The immigrants received very little support from Jewish communities around the world. Many became desperate and sad. According to one historian of medicine, 10 to 12 percent of the Jews immigrating to Palestine committed suicide.

“At this time, Palestine had few cities. Jerusalem was poor, Jaffa and Haifa were mostly Arabic, and Tel Aviv was just getting started. There were not many options for the settlers. Either you worked the land or you lost out.”

Many Jews in Palestine, says Lebovic, suffered from melancholy, which he defines in Freudian terms.

“Freud, in a 1917 essay, described melancholy as a pathological version of mourning. Mourning itself is healthy; there are different stages you go through and you can differentiate yourself from what you have lost. Melancholy is the inability to separate the self from the lost object, which can be a person, a past life, something left behind.”

The Zionist demands on the Jewish immigrants to Palestine deepened their sense of melancholy, says Lebovic.

“One core demand of political Zionism was that immigrants leave behind traditional Judaism and stop their involvement with the old Jewish exilic life. Zarchi felt this—he was a Yeshiva student, educated in the traditional Jewish way. He had to secularize, to negate his past, to experience Freud’s definition of melancholy: if you cannot mourn the past and you have to suppress it, this causes a repetition of the pathological inability to separate from the past.

“At the same time, Zarchi made a major contribution to the creation of modern literature in Hebrew.”

The three sub-schools of Zionism
Complicating matters for Jews living in Palestine were the conflicting interpretations of Zionism, and the debates they triggered.

Zionism, says Lebovic, is defined by its adherents as “an ideology of finding the Jewish people a home in the historical territory of Palestine that is identified with the biblical Israel.”

Three “sub-schools” of Zionists existed in Palestine and persist today, says Lebovic. Political Zionism “strives to bring together the Jewish people, after 2,000 years of exile, and give them a national collective identity. The unofficial discourse claimed to make Israel ‘a nation among the nations,’ or to normalize Jewish existence on the basis of national, secular identity. However, that approach—identified with Theodor Herzl and David Ben-Gurion, the fathers of Zionism—has given way to a reactionary interpretation of Zionism.”

The second sub-school, says Lebovic, is a “right-wing revisionist interpretation of Zionism that seeks not just to bring Jews back to Palestine but also to fulfill the theological and prophetic promise of living in the Biblical territory of Israel—thus requiring the expulsion of the Arab population.”

Lebovic describes the third sub-school—cultural Zionism—as “a peaceful, peacenik attempt to bring back Jews collectively to Palestine on a confederative basis, with a binational parliament giving equality to the Zionists and to the Palestinian people.”

Zarchi, says Lebovic, advocated a blend of cultural and political Zionism and criticized the treatment of Arabs by Jews and more so by the British.

“Zarchi was very critical of any form of colonialism, especially British colonialism and those British colonial elements that transferred to political Zionism,” says Lebovic. “In 1946 he wrote a novel, And the Oil Streams Flow into the Mediterranean, that showed how colonialism robbed the indigenous population of its natural habitat and resources.

“The critics were really baffled by this novel; they didn’t understand what Zarchi was trying to achieve. I think Zarchi had a sense of the paradigmatic change—political and economic—that was about to occur. He foresaw the change as clearly or more so than the politicians of the time.”

Like Lebovic, who speaks Hebrew, German and English, Zarchi was a polyglot. He wrote in Polish, German and Hebrew, and he translated literary works from German and English to Hebrew.

Toward the end of his life, Zarchi battled both depression and cancer. But his final novel, which was published posthumously, ends optimistically, Lebovic says. It follows a group of Jews emigrating from Yemen who choose to live a life of “pseudo-mythological conditions” in Palestine.

“Their attitude was ‘love your stories, not your life; live the life of literary figures, not your actual life.’ According to Zarchi, Yemenite Jews never assimilated to secular Zionism…They kept their distinct mythology and their own folklore. For Zarchi, this opened up a new way to thinking about existence as a whole—you can live in your own literary mind.”

(...)
Story by Kurt Pfitzer

Źródło:

niedziela, 14 kwietnia 2019

Zvi Grundman - Tale of Seven Beggars

Zvi Grundman - Tale of Seven Beggars

Tale of Seven Beggars. Wonder tale by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov with 8 lithographs by Tzvi Grundman. Jerusalem, 1966. Artist's inscription and signature. Rare.
(...)
R' Nachman's wonder tale about seven beggars accompanied with 'expressive' creations of Tzvi Grundman. Each of the seven sections of the story is depicted with an illustration that is signed by the artist in the plate. An additional, colored, illustration serves as the title page (also signed).
This is one of the only 200 copies that the artist printed. The work was dedicated to author Shai Agnon and opens with the preface of author-playwright Yehuda HaEzrachi.
(...)

Źródło:


Zvi Grundman

Zvi Grundman stands next to wooden chairs for sun care in the Beit Havraah sanatorium in Davos. Ca. 1946-47.
Zvi Yehuda Grundman was the son of Aharon Pinchas and Hinda (nee Goldsher) Grundman. Zvi was born in September 1917 in Jedrzejow, Poland where his father was a synagogue artist. To make a living he also painted commercial signs. Zvi had three older siblings: Malka Raisel, Sarah (b. 1911) and Nathan. Hinda died when Zvi was a baby, and his father remarried her sister Devorah as was the custom. They then had four more children: Shmuel Josef, Yaakov, Eliyahu and Hinda. Prior to WWII the family lived in Sosnowiec and Katowice. Zvi attended the Mizrahi religious Zionist high school in addition to yeshiva once a week. He studied there all night on Thursdays and returned home on Friday afternoons. Zvi also did Hachshara training to prepare for his eventual immigration to Palestine. When Zvi was 17 he was drafted into the Polish army and put into an artillery unit taking care of horses. Since he was good at mathematics, officers assigned him the task of calculating the direction and distance for shooting cannons. Local Jews provided him with kosher food. After the German invasion of Poland, Zvi was taken prisoner; he was housed with other Jews under decent living conditions. Three tailors took him under their wing and taught him how to refurbish old uniforms. Zvi stayed there for approximately one year. He also was able to correspond with his parents and knew that they had been sent to the Sosnowiec ghetto.

After his release from the POW camp, Zvi visited his parents in the ghetto and volunteered to work as a graphic artist. He even received a salary from the Germans. He next was sent to a forced labor camp Pozemiece where he was put in charge of painting signs, with the names and illustrations of the wild animals such as boars, deer which were raised in the nearby forest. Occasionally the Germans asked him what supplies he needed to enhance the signs, and he often told them that butter and eggs would make the paint shine. The commandant of the camp was a brute but another captain protected him; even allowing him to pray. The carpenters who worked there built the captain a coach and asked Zvi to paint it in red and black, the Nazi colors. In reward, he twice received a two-day pass to visit his parents. He managed to see them the first time, but when he returned the second time, he found the house empty. He took three photos with him and returned to the farm where he heard artillery fire coming from nearby Russian troops. He had hoped to be able to remain where he was until he was liberated by the Russians, but instead he was evacuated and sent west to Buchenwald. He took his tefillin and a few photos with him.

Standing at roll call, he heard someone calling "Hey Goldsher "and turned to see his younger brother Shmuel. Shmuel told him that he had met another brother Yaakov in another camp who relayed what happened to the elderly and children. Their father and sister perished in 1942; Yaakov later succumbed as well. In 1945 Zvi and Shmuel were sent on a death march from Buchenwald where they walked westward for weeks. One morning Zvi woke up to find that his clogs had been stolen; without them he could not continue. Since they had been sleeping in barns along the way, his brother found one with a loft that had a ladder and straw and said he would bury him there. The next day when four or five people did not answer at the roll call; the Germans shot two who tried to hide in the barn. The Germans searched the barn and felt around in the attic but did not find Zvi. Zvi remained buried for 17 days. Although he heard voices calling and telling him that the war was over he was afraid to go down until he could no longer stand being alone.

Jewish displaced persons recover in a sanatorium in Davos after the war.
Zvi Grundman is pictured in the front center reading a book.
After liberation he met an American Jewish chaplain, Gelber, who took care of him; giving him underwear, clothes, tefillin and a wrist watch. From there he went to DP camps looking for his brother Shmuel, writing to the Red Cross and searching in the German and Russian zones for survivors, family and friends. He joined with a group of other survivors who fabricated a story saying they were British prisoners of war from Palestine. The Russians believed them and fed them. Zvi helped create false documents to prove their story. The Russians provided them with a train that took them to the English zone. Some of the men, including Zvi were put in a hospital and taken care of by nuns. From there they were sent to Davos to recuperate staying in "DasBayit" and then in a pension "Eitanya". After his recuperation Zvi went to study graphics in Basel. In Switzerland Zvi read an article in the Jewish Chronicle written by his cousin Harrendorf and discovered that his brother was alive and studying at the Bezalel art academy in Palestine. (His brother Nathan also survivied after being sent to Siberia.) In 1949 Zvi sailed to Israel on the "Transylvania" and lived with his brother Shmuel in a small apartment in Talpiot. Shmuel married and moved to Tel Aviv; Zvi married Lea Crancurs in 1958 and started a career in synagogue decoration, as a tribute to his murdered parents and family. Later he became famous for his paintings based on religious themes. Zvi died in 1995.

Źródło:
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1168206

sobota, 13 kwietnia 2019

Fela Schnittlich - relacja

Urodziłam się w małym miasteczku obok Kielc. Do zamążpójścia mieszkałam w Kielcach i tam urodziła się córeczka moja Sabcia. Ja jestem jedną z ofiar hitlerowskiej bestii. Ja z córeczką moją cudem uratowałam się z paszczy hitlerowców. Przeżyłam gehennę, którą trudno opisać i która zostawiła mi ślady na całe życie.
Tak jak zaznaczyłam, podczas wojny mieszkałam w Kielcach. Kiedy w 1939 r., we wrześniu wkroczyli Niemcy, zaraz na początku aresztowali mojego męża z wymówką, że ukrył towary (miałam sklep tekstylny). Widocznie ktoś nas zadenuncjował i zabrali go na posterunek, który znajdował się w Hotelu Polskim. Tam znęcali się nad nim, bili i katowali i na wpół żywego wyrzucili na podwórko żądając wykupu 10.000 złotych, ale ponieważ nie mieliśmy żądanej sumy, wówczas zabrali także mojego teścia i teściową. Teść mój dzielił ten sam los co mój mąż, bili go i wyrwali im brody i posłali do domu. Nazajutrz przyszli znowu i chcieli zabrać także mnie. A ponieważ trzymałam maleństwo mocno w ramionach wyrwali mi dziecko z rąk i zaczęli kopać nogami. Ja strasznie płakałam i walczyłam z nimi, jak lwica. Ale w końcu zabrali mnie z sobą, a niemowlę oddali sąsiadce, gojce. Trzymali mnie tam przez całą noc a z rana mnie wypuścili.

To był tylko początek mojej gehenny. Zaraz potem zrobili „ghetto” w Kielcach i wszyscy musieliśmy się przenieść do getta. W getcie było strasznie ciasno, ale jakoś się żyło. To było 1940 roku, zamieszkaliśmy razem z teściami i jeszcze jedną rodziną z Łodzi, nazywali się Machtinger, z dwojgiem dzieci. Stale były łapanki mężczyzn do pracy. Od czasu do czasu Niemcy wpadali, rabowali, bili.

Aż postanowiliśmy uciec z getta do Sędziszowa. Była to osada i węzłowa stacja, stamtąd pochodził mój mąż. Po długich wałęsaniach dostaliśmy się do Sędziszowa. Tu było stosunkowo cicho, mieszkaliśmy u Polaka, ponieważ ja miałam aryjski wygląd, chodziłam bez opaski, aż do roku 1942. Rok ten zostanie zapisany krwawymi literami w historii ludzkości…

Wszyscy czuliśmy, że zbliża się nasz koniec. Wszyscy chodzili bladzi, jak trupy. Położenie moje było jeszcze gorsze, bo byłam w ciąży i to równało się ze śmiercią. Nie mogłam przewidzieć, że właśnie położenie moje uratuje mi życie. W tamtym czasie każden szukał jakąś pracę dla Niemców, bo sądzili, ze pracując nie wyślą ich do lagrów. Ja byłam już w 9-tym miesiącu i nikt nie chciał mnie przyjąć do pracy i to wówczas zapieczętowało mój los. Przed Jom Kippur Niemcy dali rozkaz, aby wszyscy Żydzi zebrali się na placu.

Nagle dostałam bóle i bez akuszerki, z pomocą męża i brata urodziłam syna. Strzelanina i krzyki zagłuszyły mój płacz i ból. Mój mąż widząc, że znajduję się w niebezpieczeństwa, znalazł znajomego Polaka i wręczył mu dużą sumę pieniędzy. Polak jednak bał się zbliżyć do domu. Wówczas musiałam wstać z łózka, brzuch podwiązałam ręcznikiem i trzymając niemowlę na ręku, a Sabcię za rękę szłam 1,5 km pieszo, zaraz po porodzie aż do furmanki. Tam czekał na mnie Polak z furmanką i zabrał mnie na wieś Trzciniec. W międzyczasie Polak doniósł mi, że wszystkich Żydów wywieźli w niewiadomym kierunku, a także mojego męża i zostawili 50-60 mężczyzn do ładowania węgla.

Mieszkałam u goja tylko dwie noce, gdyż w nocy nie śpiąc słyszałam, jak mówi do żony: „Ona ma przy sobie ukryte pieniądze”. I rzeczywiście miałam w pasie wszyte pieniądze i złoto. „Trzeba ją sprzątnąć” - mówił. Cała drżąca wstałam z łóżka, a ponieważ spaliśmy w ubraniu zabrałam Sabcię i wyślizgnęłam się cicho z mieszkania zostawiając maleństwo na pastwę losu.

Wieś ta otoczona była lasami. Zaczęłam iść nie wiedząc jak się wydostać z lasu. Zmęczona i chora usiadłam na pniu wraz z Sabcią i zaczęłam płakać. Nigdy nie zapomnę tej nocy… Księżyc świecił jeszcze na niebie, a dookoła lasy, lasy, a nie wiedząc co począć tuliłam Sabcię do siebie i w końcu usnęłam. Jak długo spałam? Nie wiem. Wtem zbudził mnie krzyk. Och Boże!! to pani Wasserowa? To był Polak, który był klientem mojego teścia i znał mnie z widzenia. Strach mnie ogarnął, myślałam że to już koniec… Ale on mnie uspokoił i przyrzekł zaprowadzić do resztki Żydów, którzy zostali. I tu w dwóch pokojach, na podłodze, leżeli wszyscy jak śledzie. Strach ogarnął wszystkich, gdy mnie zobaczyli, bo nie było już dzieci i kobiet. A jednak przyjęli mnie. Prezesem był wówczas kolega mojego męża. Nazajutrz Polak u którego zostawiłam niemowlę zjawił się z dzieckiem i uciekł. Leżałam na podłodze z dwojgiem maleństw i płakałam. Prezes zwróci ł się do mnie mówiąc: „Nie możesz zostać tu z dziećmi, bo Niemcy nas wszystkich powystrzelają. Mam znajomego goja, który cię zaprowadzi na stację i pojedziesz do Jędrzejowa”. Jędrzejów znajdował się jakie 10 km od Sędziszowa.

Nazajutrz zjawił się Polak, zabrałam Sabcię i małą walizkę i bez opaski poszłam na stację, a niemowlę zostawiłam u prezesa. Gdy przybył pociąg nie zwróciłam uwagi, że na jednym z wagonów był napis „Tylko dla Niemców”. Otworzyłam drzwi i ujrzawszy Niemców cofnęłam się. Ale jeden z nich grzecznie mówił „komm, komm”. Weszłam do wagonu, cała drżąca. On chciał wziąć Sabcię na kolana, ale się nie dała. Zaczął mówić do mnie po niemiecku, udawałam, że nie rozumiem. Podróż cała trwała 10 minut, jak zeszłam z wagonu podał mi jeszcze walizkę. Aryjski wygląd mój i Sabci uratował nam wówczas życie.

I tak przybyłam do Jędrzejowa. Było tu już „małe getto”. bo wszystkich Żydów wysiedlono do Treblinki. Ze stacji było 3 km i furmanką wieczorem zakradłam się do getta. Tam miałam jeszcze brata. Getto znajdowało się w jednym z budynków szkolnych. Zostało jeszcze 70 osób. Nazajutrz o godz. 5 nad ranem obudził na straszny alarm, strzelanina i krzyki: „Raus! Raus!” Złapałam Sabcię i przez rzeczkę, która dzieliła getto od aryjskiej strony zakradłam się do domu mojego dziadka. Mieszkanie było puste, oplądrowane. Odzież, naczynia i fotografie wałęsały się na podłodze. Chleb pokrojony leżał na stole, jakby czekał na przybycie mieszkańców. schowałam się w piwnicy i wieczorem, gdy słyszałam, że jest bezwzględna cisza w getcie, wróciłam do getta. Nagle, jak spod ziemi wyrósł przede mną zastępca prezesa Judenratu. On nas pociągnął do jednego pokoju, tam znajdowali się nielegalni Żydzi z dziećmi, którzy przybyli z lasów.

Na drugi dzień miała być likwidacja i wysiedlenie Żydów z Pińczowa i my zresztą mieliśmy dzielić ich los… Jak bydło gnali nas na targowisko, przez cała drogę bili nas nahajkami i strzelali. Dużo zginęło na miejscu. Na targowisku siedzieliśmy cały dzień na ziemi. Ukraińcy i Polacy pilnowali nas ze wszystkich stron. Deszcz lał, jak z cebra. Wtem przeszedł obok na SS-man, spojrzał na mnie i dziecko, które wówczas miało 3,5 roku i ulotnił się. Wieczorem spędzili nas na stację, na rampę. Wagony niezapełnione stały już i czekały na nas. Nagle zjawił się ten sam SS-man i krzyknął: „Raus! przeklęta, ale prędko”. Nie rozumiałam, co się dzieje, sądziłam że prowadzi nas pod mur, aby nas zastrzelić. Ale on przeprowadził nas na stację osobową pod murem, spojrzał na Sabcię i powiedział: „Ty jesteś tak podobna…” i zostawił nas.

Ukryłam się w krzakach i czekałam, aż się ściemni, a potem szynami wróciłam do getta. Tam było jeszcze kilkunastu Żydów, którzy pracowali dla Niemców, a między nimi był mój brat Zysman. W międzyczasie kobieta Polka przywiozła mi niemowlę, a ponieważ nie było już dzieci w getcie, ukrywałam się na strychu u Polaka, oczywiście bez jego wiedzy. Dziecko płakało bez przerwy, zatykałam mu usteczka, aby goj nie słyszał. I tak w ukryciu byłam 2 tygodnie. Brat mój w nocy przynosił mi jedzenie i picie.

Aż przyszedł do mnie brat i mówi: „Dziś jest cicho, zejdź i ogrzej się trochę” bo było już zimno. Zeszłam z dziećmi i położyłam się w ubraniu. Nagle usłyszeliśmy krzyki strzelaninę: Raus! Raus! Wówczas była akcja, bo Niemcy dowiedzieli się, że są kobiety dziećmi, zebrano nas na placu. Od razu wpadło mi na myśl ratować się za wszelką cenę. Maleństwo przykryłam pierzyną, Sabcię wzięłam za rękę i wyszłam na plac. Wsadzili nas z dziećmi na furmankę i mieli wywieźć nas do Szydłowca. Niemcy dali ogłoszenie, że Szydłowiec będzie Judenstatt i tam Żydzi będą mogli żyć spokojnie.

Targowisko było obstawione SS-manami i Ukraińcami, z daleka przyglądali się Polacy krwawemu widowisku. Jedna myśl mnie prześladowała - ratować się. Nie zwracałam uwagi na nic, zeskoczyłam z furmanki wraz z Sabcią, zaczęłam biec w stronę cmentarza chrześcijańskiego i ukryłam się w jednym familijnym grobowcu. Nie zdążyłam odetchnąć, gdy usłyszałam straszne krzyki: Uciekajcie, bo Niemcy was gonią!! Zeskoczyłam z pagórka z Sabcią i zaczęłam uciekać w stronę ulicy Kieleckiej. Kule świstały mi nad głową i wtenczas stanęłam i dwóch Niemców stanęło przede mną…
Ja stałam, jak wryta i trzymałam Sabcię w objęciach. Naraz machnął ręką i zaprowadził mnie z Sabcią z powrotem do furmanek, które czekały na nas. Niemcy zaczęli wrzeszczeć, dlaczego nas nie zastrzelili. Wsadzili nas z powrotem na furmankę, ktoś przyniósł mi też niemowlę i wywieźli nas przez Suchedniów - Kielce, do Szydłowca.

Szydłowiec! O zgrozo, jeden z 3 Judenstatt’ów, do którego zwerbowali resztki nieszczęsnych, ukrytych po lasach i bunkrach Żydów. Szydłowiec! Były to ruiny zlikwidowanych żydowskich domów, z których wysiedlono wszystkich Żydów, splądrowanych i zburzonych w poszukiwaniu kosztowności i złota. Leżałam pod gołym niebem a było już zimno. Niemowlę płakało chore bez przerwy. Nie miałam wody więc nie miałam czem je nakarmić. I znowu stał się cud. Jeden żydowski milicjant wpuścił mnie do ruin domu, gdzie był dach nad głową. Leżąc tam z dziećmi zapytałam się milicjanta, czy można stąd się jeszcze wydostać. A on mi odpowiedział, że za 5.000 złotych można się wydostać. Złożyliśmy się razem z jeszcze jedną rodziną Kajzerową, z mężem i z dzieckiem i o 3 w nocy wydostaliśmy się z getta.

Nigdy nie zapomnę tej strasznej nocy. Kule świstały nad głowami i obok mnie padł Kajzer. A ja z noworodkiem i Sabcią za rękę uciekałam co tchu i szczęśliwie wydostałam się na aryjską stronę. Tam w ciemności zapłaciliśmy żądaną sumę nie będąc pewni czy nas nie nabierają, wsiedliśmy do taksówki, która nas z powrotem przywiozła do Jędrzejowa, do getta. Tu brat mój złapał niemowlę, które było wpół żywe i zaprowadził nas do pokoju. Ale ponieważ w getcie nie było już kobiet z dziećmi ukrywałam się znowu na strychu u goja.

Aż postanowiliśmy oddać dziecko (chłopczyka) do Polki, nazywała się Katarzyna Kot, mieszkała ona na ulicy 3 Maja, Jędrzejów (Kieleckie). Nagle ciężko zachorowałam na tyfus plamisty, który przywiozłam z Szydłowca. Musieli mnie ukrywać, bo to równało się śmierci. Leżałam u dr Beera. Walczyłam ze śmiercią 2 tygodnie. I cudem zostałam przy życiu. Pielęgnował mnie drogi mój brat Zysman i nigdy nie zapomnę, jak odzyskiwałam na chwilę przytomność. Brat mój siedział i mówił „Thilim” i płakał. Nie zdążyłam przyjść do siebie po tyfusie. Byłam głodna i ślepa od wysokiej gorączki, gdy obstawili getto i zebrali wszystkich na placu. Wyjęli wszystkich chorych z prowizorycznego szpitala i na naszych oczach powystrzelali. Następnie wpakowali nas do aut towarowych i wywieźli nas do Skarżyska... (…)
(…) Mała Sabcia jest matką czwórki dzieci. Ale serce moje krwawi wiedząc, że zostawiłam niemowlę i mimo, że szukałam go do dnia dzisiejszego nie wiem, co się z nim stało. Ja jeszcze dziś nie straciłam nadziei, że On jeszcze wróci do mnie...

Yad Vashem, lipiec 1947 r.

Źródło: Yad Vashem, Jerozolima.

Transkrypcja: Andreovia.pl

Szul Berlinski - obywatel Salwadoru




Unauthorized Salvadoran citizenship certificate issued to Szul Berlinski (b. January 2, 1908 in Jedrzejow) and his wife Brajndla Berlinski (b. November 15, 1912) by George Mandel-Mantello, First Secretary of the Salvadoran Consulate in Switzerland and sent to their residence in Sosnowitz.

Źródło:

piątek, 12 kwietnia 2019

Paczka do Zylberszaca


Nadawca:  Szafranek i Gronowski, ul. Kredytowa 5, Warszawa
Odbiorca: Abram Zylberszac - Glas Treuhänder, Ring nr 9, Jędrzejów
Kwota: 200 zł
Waga: 14,7 kg
Data: 5 marca 1942


Źródło:
https://auktionen.felzmann.de/Auktion/KatalogArchiv?intAuktionsId=294&los=1100514

Israel Zarchi (Zerach Gertler)

[Page 146]
The writer Israel Zarchi (1909–1947) by S. D. Yerushalmi. Translated by Selwyn Rose.

Israel Zarchi (Zerach Gertler) - 1909-1947

Israel Zerach Gertler (Z”L), known by his pen–name, “Israel Zarchi”, who in his short life managed to enrich the new Hebrew literature with 13 of his original books and two exemplary books from world literature that he translated into Hebrew, was born in Jędrzejów to one of the respected families.
He was born on 6th October 1909 at the end of the festival of Succoth to his father, Rabbi Shimon Gertler and his wife, Hinda the daughter of Rabbi Zalman Sternfeld, the owner of the Skroniów estate, near Jędrzejów. His mother died a short time after his birth and the orphans – his sisters, Shprintzer (?) and Rosa and he – the youngest – were brought up by their paternal grandmother, Esther Gertler of Miechów–Charsznica. From there he went for training to Grochów, a suburb of Warsaw and from there immigrated to Palestine. In his letter, that he sent to his friend Haim Toren on 7th May 1946, (about a year before his death), in reply to one sent to him concerning Volume three of “Our Beautiful Literature from Bialik Until Today”, are found some interesting insights into his life. This is what he wrote:

“I received a free and liberal education in Polish (until I learned Yiddish from my friends, I was already a young man). At first I studied at a Polish National school and afterwards at the Jewish Gymnasium in Kielce where the teaching language was Polish. In that Gymnasium there was also the possibility of studying in Hebrew but – because I had excellent grades in all my subjects (except Hebrew) – I was exempted from taking part in lessons on Judaism and for many years I knew nothing of our language. When I was 15 or 16, I spent some time in northern Italy (in the Tyrol), in the home of an Ashkenazi family from Vienna, and while there I learned German. I returned from the Tyrol to Poland and there I became awakened to the study of Hebrew, I even went to a village of pioneers – Grochów – near Warsaw that was a Palestinian kibbutz in all essentials, and stayed there for more than a year.

In 1929 I immigrated to Palestine as a pioneer: in the beginning I lived in the huts of the pioneers in Petah Tikvah on public land and worked making the new road from Petah Tikva to Kfar Saba. For personal reasons, I transferred to Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha and stayed there for more than

[Page 147]

a year working mainly in the citrus groves and the cow–sheds and prepared ground for planting citrus saplings for the artist Reuven and his brother. One day I was told that we would have a special planting ceremony in the grove – and the first sapling would be planted by Bialik. I wasn't present at the beginning of the planting – who was I – a young pioneer walking after the cows. Only the following day when I came to work did I find out and I was filled with anger.

When I left Givat Hashlosha I was a “day–worker” in the citrus groves of Kfar Saba; but because at that time the trees didn't bear fruit, in the winter I moved between Petah Tikvah in winter picking oranges and thus I was, for a couple of years a seasonal worker in the citrus groves: in summer in Kfar Saba working in the citrus groves and in the summer picking oranges in Petah Tikva.

At the end of that period I wrote my first story “Youth” and the manuscript wandered around together with me from place to place. Then I moved to Tel–Aviv working on a building in Yehuda Halevi Street and all the horrors that I endured still make my heart flutter to this day. In 1932 I entered – on the recommendation of Bialik – the Hebrew University and my time there is certainly well–known to you. I completed my studies there with my degree in the Humanities in 1938, although it had never been my intention from the start to study just to obtain a certificate, but as my studies progressed there awoke within me the urge to compete and I passed the entrance exams; from that came the impulse to acquire Hebrew.

In 1934 I went to Iraq, losing my way in the desert and forsaken places several times in the near east and as a result of that I wrote “The Oil Flows to the Mediterranean Sea”. In 1938, with the completion of my studies at the University, I was in Europe – Italy, France and Belgium but mostly in England. I studied at London University at a special course for foreign academics. Of those travels I wrote “Traveling Light”. The list of my journeys would be incomplete without mentioning what may appear to be a minor point but its influence on me was no less than that of my larger ones. In the summer of 1941 I wanted to stay a couple of weeks in the Old City. I moved to an apartment under some pressure to get closer to my Jewish roots and the Land of Israel (during the days of great despair when the hand of the Nazis threatened also Palestine) influenced me significantly, and here is not the place to dwell on its nature. After my stay within the Old City walls I wrote “Adornments of Jerusalem. I think that these are the visible impressions; the hidden ones – this is not the place.

My first work, a little worthy of the name is my book “Youth” published by “Mitzpeh” Tel–Aviv 1933. Here I must mention Ya'acov Fichman, who was its first reader and he it was who recommended it in writing to the publishers. The second is Asher Barash. I took part in the editing “A Jerusalem anthology of Literature”, (published by Achiasaf in Jerusalem 1942, edited by Israel Zarchi, Ezra Menahem and Haim Toren).

My book “The Oil Flows to the Mediterranean Sea” we will translate into Polish and my book “Micha'eli's Big Day” to Yiddish and Polish (two separate translations); sections of the book “Adornments of Jerusalem” to English; “Shimson the Perfume Marketer” – to Hebrew; more I don't know. I translated Heinrich von Kleists “Michael Kohlhaas” (from the German) and the stories of Josef Konrad and W. Somerset–Maugham from the English.”
Thus far his epistle.
 
 [Page 148]

Already in his younger years Israel Zarchi suffered with serious problems from his lungs and was sent to Miran. His health improved and they hoped that he was out of a danger that had caused concern for his life. He married and had two daughters: Nurit and Michal, and he devoted himself completely with all his being to his blessed talent for writing. These are the books that were published: 1. “Youth”, a novel, published by “Mitzpeh, Tel–Aviv 1933; 2. “Barefoot Days”, a novel, published by “Mitzpeh” 1935; 3. “The Oil Flows to the Mediterranean Sea”, published by “Palestine Book Publishers”, Jerusalem, 1937, second edition, above, 1939; 4. “Journey without Baggage”, (pages from a travelogue), published by “Palestine Book Publishers” , Jerusalem, 1939; 5. “Mount Scopus”, four years from the life of Daniel Geffen, a novel, published by “Achiasaf”, Jerusalem, 1940; 6. “Grandmother's Destroyed House”, a story, published at first by “Achiasaf”, Jerusalem, 1941, (later by “Omer” – the evening newspaper of “Davar”); 7. “Adornments of Jerusalem”, paths in the Old City, , published by “Adi”, Tel–Aviv, 1933; 8. “Blazing Archive”, a cycle of stories, published by “Achiasaf”, Jerusalem, 1933 (these stories were first published in different literary collections); 9. “The Evil Days”, two stories (A. Death of the Doctor; B. The Preacher), published by “Ofer”, Jerusalem, 1948; 10. “An Unsown Land”, a novel, published by “Am Oved”, (“Lador” library) Tel–Aviv, 1946; 11. “The Fathers' Inheritance”, a story, published by Reuven Maas, Jerusalem, 1946; 12. “For What”, a story, published by “Sifriat Hashaot”, Tel–Aviv, 1946; 13. “Kfar Shiloah”, a novel, published by “Am Oved”, (“Lador” library), Tel–Aviv, 1948. Translations: “The Hour of Strength”, W. Somerset–Maugham, 1945 (from the English) and “Stories From the Grapevine”, Joseph Konrad, 1945.

In addition to stories and monographs not included in anthologies of his works, manuscripts, “Records of Meetings and Conversations” which are of the nature of a literary journal, “Machanim” an historical story the first chapter of which was published in “Kama” – the annual of the Foundation Fund of Israel for the year 1948 edited by Natan Bistritzky, and “Michael Kohlhaas” by Heinrich von Kleist, that was translated from the German.

While he was at the peak of success with his literary career, he fell ill with a malignant disease that put an end to his fruitful life. In his monograph, “A Character Portrayal” the literary critic and his best friend Haim Toren, wrote:

“…and fate decided that his life and productivity, which was running parallel to his constant difficult and bitter struggles should end just when all the winds of the world were blowing in his favor and his ship of life plowed towards its target with strength and security. How proud our hearts were when we saw him, four months before his death, crowned with the “Jerusalem Prize” named for David Yellin – we were partners in his joy, his achievements and victories but who could think or expect that such an achievement would be the last station in the chapter of his life? Who could imagine that his beautiful words, heartfelt and considered, coming from his heart – of a man that he gave voice to, and gave witness to his maturity of thought and understanding, were his last utterances, coming from the heart of a man fatally ill and in his last days?

About one hundred and twenty days he struggled with a bitter death. On the morning of Friday 8th of July, 1947 he was released from his agony and taken from us before telling us all that was in his heart…and while his heart was overflowing with sweet dreams of life and his creativity, his pen slipped from his hand in the prime of his success, his flowering, his striving onwards and upwards, cut down one of the pleasant, refreshing stately oaks in the in our literary grove…”

With the end of the thirty–days mourning period, a memorial service was held under the auspices of the Hebrew Writers Society in Jerusalem at which his teacher and mentor Professor Joseph Klausner (Z”L), gave the principle address in memory of the departed. Among other things he said:

[Page 149]

“Israel Zarchi was plucked from our midst at the pinnacle of his flowering, at the moment that his talents gave the final touch to his maturity. During nearly fifteen years (1933 – 1947), he managed to have published in his life, ten major books, apart from many short stories, and apart from a large number that we will publish posthumously. Each book was a rung in the ladder of development, that the book which followed was one step higher on the ladder than its predecessor in its perfection and outlook, speculation and design.

He was my student, a talented and dear student and they are very few who will mourn his untimely passing more than I.

He was one of the first graduates of the University. His thesis was, if I am not mistaken, on “The Hebrew novel during the period of the “Haskala'”; the work made an impression on me and I recommended that it was worthy of publication. It is most certainly to be found as manuscript among Zarchi's papers or the University archives and it is seemly to find it and publish it”

He concluded by saying:

His creations signify new avenues of writing our native Hebrew. Let us collect all his writings in two or three volumes and put them into the hands of our sons and daughters. Thus the soul of our dear Israel Zarchi – as a writer and as a man – will be woven together with his eternal people in its eternal language.”

In 1949 – about two years after the passing of Zarchi, “A Literary Anthology in Memory of Israel Zarchi” published as “Decorations”, edited by his friend Haim Toren, in which acknowledged writers and poets took part, dedicating a work in his memory, appeared. Also published in that volume were a few chapters from Zarchi's diary, a biography of his life, a bibliography of his books and editorial comments published about them and some of his letters.
(...)
 
Źródło:
Miechów Yizkor Book