Belitsa, Belarus

Book of Belitzah-Bielica
(Belitsa, Belarus)

53°39' / 25°19'

Translation of
Pinkas Bielica

Editor: L. Losh

Published in Tel Aviv 1968

Acknowledgments

This is a translation of: Pinkas Bielica (Book of Belitzah-Bielica),
Editor: L. Losh, Former Residents of Bielica in Israel and the USA, Published: Tel Aviv 1968 (H,Y, E 511 pages)

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

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Translated by Yocheved Klausner

Note: The Table of Contents of each part is given on its cover-page. The material written in Hebrew
appears first, then the material written in Yiddish (according the the language of the author)

Foreword		5
A Memorial to our Shtetl	Shimon Baker (Botchkovski)	11
Lists of the Belitsa martyrs		18

Part I: The Distant and the Near Past		29
History of the town and the community	Yosef Cohen-Tzedek	31
R'Nachman, the son of Rav Dov-Ber Shebshinski z”l	E. M. Sawitzki	59
Belitsa rabbis in the 19th century	Elazar-Meir Sawitzki	71
The town	Yissachar Kamentzki	77
A competition…	Y. Kamoni	80
*

YIDDISH
Memories from the distant days	Zalman Yoselewitz	83
The bloody Rosh Hashana [New-Year] 1918	Menachem Niv (Max Yasinovski)	99
Jewish settlers around Belitsa	Dov Koifman	103
List of the settlements and their Jewish families	* * *	105

Part II: Existence and Way of Life		109
My father the great scholar R'Yosef Rudnik z”l	Avraham Abir (Rudnik)	111
The Rebbetzin and the Rav are involved with the public	Beruria Aloni (Rudnik)	127
Episodes from the home of the local rabbi…	Tama Bachmotzki (Rudnik)	128
The Rav and great scholar R'Aharon Teitz z”l	Rav Moshe Levin	132
A candle for the soul of my dear parents	Zerach Karmin	135
In memory of our home and my father R'Shmuel-Yosef Itzkowitz z”l	Zerach Itzkowitz	138
Our town at the time of prosperity	Chaim Yoselewitz	143
Pogroms and Jewish activity (1914-1934)	Dov Grodenski	146
Self-defense - defending property and life	Chaim Leizerowitz	153
Education and the Jewish school	Dov Koifman	155
It existed - but not any more…	Menachem Niv (Max Yasinovski)	162
As one family	Michael Ratnovski	168
For these things my soul is weeping (from Lamentations 1:16)	Meirim Ratnovski	169
The economic and public face of the town	Moshe Yoselewitz	173
*

YIDDISH
Economic and social life	Moshe Yoselewitz	181
A document about the economic situation (1929)	Shalom Cohen	189
A tear in the sea of tears…	Binyamin Makovski	193
My grandfather the hero	Shalom Gernitzki	195
Several “types” in town	Eliezer-Meir Sawitzki	197
Sports institutions and other pastime avtivity	Zerach Kremen	201

Part III: Holocaust and Revenge		207
My Father and Teacher the great scholar Rav Shabtay Fein z”l	Rav Reuven Fein	211
A man whose vision - dream came true	E. M. Sawitzki	214
The legacy of the home of my parents	Shlomo Shilowitzki	220
The King…	E. M. Sawitzki	224
35 years of life and struggle 1914-1949	Israel Zlotzovski	226
The last four months in Belitsa	Zalman Yoselewitz	250
Fear, terror and revenge	Arie (Leibl) Stotzki	254
German occupation and evacuation of the Jews	Moshe Yoselewitz	263
My “chain of escapes” from death	Avraham Maggid	268
The troubles and tribulations of a fighting partisan	Yosef Ben-Aizik	271
Bereaved and alone among Russian partisans	Chaia Bat Chaim-Yitzhak	274
Two women-partisans who fought against the oppressor	Sheinke Bat-Yosef	275
The Song of the Ghetto	Lea Garberowitz (Halperin)	282
Alone with myself on a haystack	Beba Gordon (Jaffe)	283
Three years of Holocaust and revenge (1941-1944)	Zerach Ben-Avraham	285
Life in the bunkers	Meir Ben-Aizik	297
My father and mother, my daughter and 20 more women	Rachel Itzkowitz (Shkup)	300
“Cast thy bread upon the waters” [Eccl. 11:1]	Lea Garberowitz (Halperin)	304
The history of one family	Bluma Leizerowitz (Uzhchovski)	307
A dear friend, Zecharia-Shlomo Nignewitzki	Chaim Yoselewitz	308
My friend Zalman (Zhame) Itzkowitz z”l	Herzl Sokolovski	310
Man and animal confronting each other	E. M. Sawitzki	312
“Kadish” in the woods	Eliezer-Meir Sawitzki	314
A prayer in the forest	I. Feigin	318
*

YIDDISH
Rav R'Chaim-Leib Bochkovski - my father, the holy man	Shimon Baker (Bochkovski)	321
Several chapters of my memories	Shmuel Shimonowitz	327
Songs of pain and tragedy	E. M. Sawitzki	336
The War and the extermination of the Jews	Chaim Yoselewitz	340
At the graves of the Holocaust	Yosef Fleischer	359
He was mourned, as dead	Shimon Baker	367
A family that has survived	Yosef Mayevski	372
In the forest with the partisans	Ch. B. Sheziv	377
How I saved myself	Yakov Kremen	410
The death of my dear and beloved	Sara Barantchik (Fleischer)	419
A letter from home, after the ruin	B. Z. Yevnowitz	423
We were eight children	Herzl, Yankel and Chaia-Tcherne Fleischer	424
Meeting with Belitsa people in the woods	Binyamin Baran	429
My father's ruined house	Shraga (Feivel) Zlotzowski	432
Through camps and back-roads to a new life	Chaim Yoselewitz	447

Part IV: Appendices and Additions		471
Rav rabbi Yoel Barantchik z”l		473
Yissachar Kamenetzki z”l		475
Baruch Krasnoselski z”l		480
Israel Zlotzovski z”l		481
Zalman Yoselewitz z”l		486
Feive Sawitzki z”l		488
List of Belitsa Jews who died in the State of Israel		491
Activity of the Organization of former Belitsa residents in Israel		492
A Belitsa family in America	Minie Heinz (Menucha Kreinowitz)	497
There once was a shtetele...	Shimon Baker (Botckovski)	506

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