Zawiercie Yizkor Book

Yizkor Book of the Holy Community
of Zawiercie and Environs
(Poland)
50°29' / 19°26'

Translation of
Sefer Zikaron; kedoshei Zawiercie ve-ha-seviva

Edited by Sh. Spivak

Published in Tel Aviv 1948

Acknowledgments
Coordinator
Ruth Wilnai

Donated to JewishGen by Jerrold Landau in loving memory of his grandfather,
Jacob Landau, born 1896 in Zawiercie and died 1980 in Ottawa.
Also in memory of Jacob Landau's sister Frymet, who lived in Zawiercie until the war and perished
in the Holocaust along with her husband, Jakob Schwartz, and nine of their ten children.

This is a translation from: Sefer zikaron; kedoshei Zawiercie ve-ha-seviva
(Yizkor Book of the Holy Community of Zawiercie and Environs),
Ed: Sh. Spivak, Tel Aviv, Former residents of Zawiercie and Vicinity, 1948 (H, Y 570 pages)

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

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Translated by Jerrold Landau

Note from translator: This book does not have a table of contents or an index. An interesting anomaly exists with regards to the title of the book. Although, the title on the cover of the book is “Yizkor Book for the Martyrs of Zawiercie and Environs,” the title on the title page of the book is “Yizkor Book of the Holy Community of Zawiercie and Environs.” The latter name is also being used as the official name of this project in JewishGen.

Title page, forward, and introductory notes	The Organizing Committee and Editorial Board	1
Introduction (H & Y)		9
The Development of Industry in Zawiercie – The Reasons Why (Y)	Sh. Spivak	13

HOW CAN I FORGET YOU		17

How Can I Forget My Native Town? (H)	Pinchas Erlich	19
A City Bustling with Life (H)	Nechemia Erlich	21
Leaving Home (H)	Mindzia Schwartz-Jakubowicz	25
I Yearn for You (Y)	Andzia Perelmuter-Spigelman (Montreal)	27
A Still Night in Zawiercie (Y)	Moshe Neuman (Ramat Hakovesh)	28

IT ONCE WAS		29

History of the Zawiercie Area – A General Survey (Y)	Sh. Spivak	31
Ancient History of the Region (Y) Old Zawiercie Old Żarki Old Kromołów Old Siewierz		33
Modern History of the Region (Y) Zawiercie Żarki Lośnice Łazy Kromołów Siewierz		36
Documents and Sources of the History of the City and the Region (Y)		39
Statistics on the Jewish Population of the Zawiercie Region in Modern Times (Y)		41
First Record of Jews in the in the Zawiercie Region (Y) Częstochowa Będzin The Railway Line		42
Zawiercie in Jewish Newspapers (H)		49

MY ZAWIERCIE – STREETS AND LANES IN THE CITY		53

The Station (Y)	Sh. Spivak	55
Streets of Zawiercie (Y)	Israel Drezner	58
Along the Streets and Lanes of Zawiercie by Tzvi Shapiro (Y) The Synagogue Courtyard The Beis Midrash The Synagogue At the Well Fires “Pietrowa Place” The Club in the Apteczna		61

FIRST TESTIMONIES		67

Memories of Zawiercie and its Jews (H) The Establishment of a Synagogue and the Beis Midrash The Synagogue and the Beis Midrash – Two Spiritual Centers Events of the Synagogue The Beis Midrash, its Worshippers, its Customs and Protocols on Sabbaths The Beis Midrash on Weekdays The Gabbaim [trustees] Closed Down the Beis Midrash for Two Weeks The Style of Education of Jewish Youth in Those Days The Influence of the Synagogue and the Beis Midrash on the Youth The Sanitation Situation in the City Healing and Remedies Incantations Folk Remedies Linat Tzedek Wonderful Superior Virtues of Zawiercie Jews Brotherhood and Solidarity among Zawiercie Jews The Dedication of a Torah Scroll Entertainment and Amusement Shtibels (small Chassidic prayer houses) and Admorim (Chassidic masters) The End of the Story Players and Jesters in the City	Alter Honigman, known as Alter Meir David Lelewers	69
From the Early Days (H) Alef. Men of Strength Beit. The Epidemic in Zawiercie Gimel. In Poverty and Want Daled. I Returned to Zawiercie He. The Dispute over the Rabbinate Vav. How I Became Self Employed Zayin. “The Committees”	Yitzchak Yaakov Erlich	120
My Early Years in Zawiercie (Y)	Birech Blatt	133
Personalities of Zawiercie (H)	Y. Markowa	135
Our City Zawiercie (H)	D. Erlichman	136
My Memories of Zawiercie (H)	Shimon Friedman	141
“Once…Once…” (Y) The Town of Zawiercie – A Center of Industry Social–Political Developments	Monika Warnesko	144
“Zawiercie (or Zavartshe)” (Y) Beginnings Zawiercie Becomes a Town In the Run–Up to the Second World War	Itsik Roytmentsh	149
Memories (H)	Y. Zigelbaum	153

MY ZAWIERCIE – THE LANDSCAPE OF CHILDHOOD		155

Grandfather's Home (H) Grandfather and his Manners The People of Grandfather's “Courtyard” Michal and Jaszek His Children Uncle Binyamin Uncle Nachum Aunt Elka Uncle Hershel Uncle Yisrael Uncle Chaim	Shabtai Keshev (Klugman)	157
Memories of a Social–Activist Home (Y) Moszkowicz's House The Felznshteyns Social Activism City Types Leybesz, Meir, and Yisroel Frank Kopl Szimen Minc Synagogue Caretakers Businessmen and Artists Szloyme Todroskes Cantorial Music and My Father's Choir Leybl Dimant Leybezh Yoyl Leber and Lewortowski	Matilda Werdiger–Spiwak	170
In the Good Childhood Years (Y) In Shwartzbaum's House One Makes A Living The Eves of Sabbaths and Festivals Thursday at the Market Avramele's Wedding The Synagogue and the Study Hall	Shimon Feigenblatt	184
The Development of Communal Activity and Communal Life in Jewish Zawiercie (Y) The Storm of Immigration from the Small Shtetlekh “The Germans” Maskilim [members of the enlightenment movement] Maskilim-Zionists The Democratic Spirit in the Synagogue Socialists The Young Jews Leave Zawiercie The Younger Generation “Tzeirei Zion” [Young Zion]	Dr. Yeshayahu Baumac	190
Memories of Zawiercie (Y) I was Born in Zawiercie The Beginnings of Zawiercie Before the Russo–Japanese War During the War: 1914–1918 “Conditions” as a Pass (A Tragi–Comic Event)	Yekhiel Dancyger	202
Socialist Struggles in Poland (Y)	Shlomo Aleksander Danziger	212
During the Years 1905-1906 (Y)	Ahron Benyamin Lugerner (New York)	215
The First Families in Zawiercie (H) The Descendants of Reb Yeshaya Haberman	Yeshaya Landau	219
Shlomo'le's Childhood Years (Y)	Dovid Landau, of blessed memory	221
A Journalist Visits Zawiercie (Y) What kind of place is Zawiercie?	A. Litwin	228
A City is Built (Y) (A Story, Half Fact and Half Fiction) (from the book “Tzvishen Vent”, New York, 1939)	Moshe Dovid Keszir (Kasier)	233

THE ENVIRONS OF ZAWIERCIE		236

Memories of Kromołów (Y)	Tovya Fogel	236
Kromołów, the Mother of Zawiercie (Y)	Yehuda (Leibel) Dimant	241
Kromołów – A Shtetl as in a Sholem Aleichem Story (Y)		243
The Old Shtetl of Krimelew (Y)		245
Mrzygłód (Y)	Shimon Geldner	246

WITH MURDER, STRANGLING, AND TORTURE – FIRE AND DESTRUCTION		249

Poems of the Holocaust		251
Ash (Y)	Aleksander-Shlomo Danciger	251
Walking in the Face of Destruction (H & Y)	Sh. Spivak	252
City of My Birth (Y)	Aleksander-Shlomo Danciger	254
Revenge	David Landau of blessed memory	255
In the Shadow of Horror (H)	Chaim	256
In the Whirlwind of Days and Blood (H)	Y. Greizer	257
From the Depths I Call Out to You (H)	A Yiddish letter from David Ziriker to Yosef Landau, Zawiercie, 1946	266
On the Road of Destruction and Death (Y) 27^th August 1939 28^th of August Out of a Storm and into a Fire Back Home “Wartenau” Markstädt and Attmuth Camps Kotlice Starobin Concentration Camp The Camp for the Political at Buchenwald The Final Death March from Buchenwald	Yisroel Dresner	267
The Destruction of Zawiercie (Y)	Yoel Grinkraut	286
In the Vise of Death (Y) Panic after the First Rumors The arrival of the German troops	Chaim Turner	303
A Day of Horror (Y)	Yisrael Yitzchak Grinbaum	320
From Załęże to Myszków and Zawiercie (Y)	Elana Freiberger-Polak	325
Surviving the Second World War by a Miracle (Y)	Zvi Szpira	329
The Hell in Kromołów (Y) Do Not Buy from Jews The Order about Turning in Things of Value and about Yellow Patches Agreement of the Rabbi and the Kromołów Jews The Commandant Pak The First Transport to Germany The Trade My Father is Freed A Gallows in the Middle of the Market I Leave My Kromołów	Bronya Landau-Brat	343
Families who lived in Kromołów (Y)		350
I Will Never Forget (Y)	Mania Fajgenblat (Brat), Montreal	351
Chapter of an Era of Horror (Y) The Second Deportation in Zawiercie A Beautiful Dream of a Large Aliyah	David Brott	354
On the Ruins of My Dear Zawiercie (Y)	Ayzyk Roytmentsh	361
A Mrzygłód native in the Concentration Camps (Y)	Shimeon Geldner	369
Fellow Zawiercie Natives in the Ghetto and the Concentration Camps (Y)	Dr Yisroel Bornstein in Munich	376
The Last Three Days of Jewish Zawiercie (Y)	Tzvi Czebiner	383
Nazi Edicts in Zawiercie (Y)	Chaya Senderowicz-Soika	388
The Righteous Man in Sodom The Rabbi of Zawiercie – Rabbi Elimelech Rabinowicz (H)	Yehuda Rozmiosh	392
The Tragic Destruction of the Zawiercier Jews (Y)	A. Sztulberg	396

ORGANIZATION, ALIYA, AND CULTURE		399

In The Organizational realm		401
Organization of Natives of Zawiercie Its Tasks and Activities (H & Y)	Nakhum Drezner (Member of the council of the organization)	404
Memories (Y)	Yosef Finkl	409
A Greeting from the Zawiercier Landsmanschaft in Montreal (Canada) (Y)	Y. Kravetz (Society president) and Y. Bozikovski (Society secretary)	411
The American Union of the Zawiercier Natives (Y)	Jack Feigen (Feigenblatt)	413

IN THE PATHS OF ALIYA		414

My Father Emigrated to Eretz-Yisroel (Y)	Tzvi Szpira	414
The Zawiercier Shack (Y)	Shimeon Fajgenblat	416
The Story of the Zawiercie Shack (H)	Yissachar Borenstein	425

INSTITUTIONS AND PERSONALITIES		429

The Orthodox Community and its Institutions in Zawiercie (H) Personalities and Institutions “Beit HaTalmud” “Migdal Oz” Yeshiva Shtiebelach Yeshiva Heads (Rosh Yeshiva) and Lesson Teachers (Magidei Shiur) Rabbi HaGaon Reb S. A. Pardes and the monthly Biblical journal“Pardes” The Gaon tzaddik Reb A.Z. Fromer (the Rabbi of Kezsziglow) The Rabbinic Controversy The Election Results	Yaakov Shlomo Pardes	431
National Religious Groups in Zawiercie and their Institutions (Y) Yizkor Let us Remember An Example of the Physical Destruction The “Torah Va'daat” School “Hashomer Hadati” The Great Destruction	Dr. (of medicine and dentistry) Y. Borenstein	443
The Torah vaAvodah Movement (Y)	Tzvi Szapiro	449
Khederim, Melamdim in Zawericie (Y)		451
In the Paths of Torah and Knowledge (H) From the Experiences of Reb Shimele	Yeshaya Landau	452
Religious Life in Our City (Y) The Forman Family – Well-known Bal-tfiles [prayer leaders] and Prominent Communal Workers	Rywka Froman-Zeglman	458
The Torah vaAvodah Movement and the Bruria Organization in Zawiercie		461
From Days Gone by in Zawiercie (H & Y)	Shraga Shpeizer (Shaar Hagolan)	464

PERSONALITIES		466

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Landau of Blessed Memory (Memories) (H)	Rabbi Yehuda Avida (Zlotnik)	466
The Admor of Kromołów and His Household (H)	Yeshaya Landau	468
Rabbi Shmuel Aaron Halevi Pardes of blessed memory and his “Pardes” Journal (H)		471
Rabbi Yeshayahu Shapiro of blessed memory (H)	Sh. Spivak	473
The Illustrious Rabbi Aryeh Fromer (the Rabbi of Koziegłowy) may his blood be avenged (H)	Falk-Zegelman	477
Memories of my Youth (Y)	Yizi Rosenberg	478
From Pirkhe Agudas Yisroel [boys division of Union of Israel] to Tsukunft [Future] (Y)	A. Paserman	480
Rabbi Yoel Zwigel (H)	Yeshaya Landau	481

EDUCATION AND CULTURE		483

The First Jewish Kindergarten in Zawiercie (H)	Shoshana Steinberg Bar Natan of Magdiel	483
The Tarbut School (H)	Chaya Efron Rothstein (founder of the Tarbut School in Zawiercie)	485
My Parents – A Pair of Teachers in Zawiercie (H)	Chedva Gil (Leizerowicz)	487
Koppel Mintz of blessed memory (H)	Meir Isserowski of Magdiel	490
Reb Mordechai Zeev Shechter (H)	B. Sh.	491
Teachers in Zawiercie (H) Reb Lazer Melamed The Teacher Rosenberg Menashe Frankel	Moshe (Mietek) Neuman	492
Musical Life in Zawiercie (H) Fiddlers Pianists The Young “Group of Three” Travels with the Philharmonic and my meetings with Zawiercie Natives	Reuven-Romek Rothenstein, a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra	494
My Road as an Artist (Y)	Harry Wajnglik	500
Reb Reuven Zarmof (H) A Well Known Orthodox Poet at the Beginning of the Time of the Haskala	Yitzchak Yaakov Erlich (Itshe Erlich)	503
The Kultura Society (Y)	Esther Zaks	509
The Cultural Society Kultura (Y)	Nakhum Drezner	512
Youth Movements (Hashomer Hatzair, Herzlia, Hashachar) (H)	Yitzchak Shtinkeler	513
Herzlia, An Educational Youth Group (H)	Meir Isserowski	518
Sections of Memories of Zawiercie (H)	Avraham Shlomo Grinblatt	521

YOUTH AND SPORT		524

The Youth Movements in Zawiercie (H) Hashomer Hatzair Hakoach	M. Neuman	524
Pioneering and Sports Movements in Zawiercie (Y)	Yosef Leib Fiszer	530
Beitar in Zawiercie (H)	David Brott	534
The Youth Movements in Zawiercie (Y)	Sala Jakubowicz-Zilbersztajn	537
Sport in Zawiercie (H)	Avraham Shlomo Grinblatt	542
As the Emissary of the Hahalutz Center (H)	Yerachmiel Zelivansky	544

ECONOMIC LIFE		545

Zawiercie Financial and Economic Institutions (Y) The Financial Situation of the Jews in Zawiercie In the Area of Zawiercie	Sh. S.	545
Industry and Manufacturing in Zawiercie (H)	Yitzchak Windman	548

CHAPTERS OF EVENTS		550

Foundations of the Reality (H) The Zawiercie Klezmers (H) The Balfour Declaration in Zawiercie (H) Erev Shabbos and Shabbos in Zawiercie (Y) Tashlikh [a ceremony by the river on Rosh Hashana] (Y) The Mikva [ritual bath] (Y) Water Drawers (H) Charitable Institutions (H) Gemilat Chesed Linat Tzedek	Moshe (Mietek) Neuman	550
In the Company of the Assimilationists (H) names of assimilationists mentioned on page 561 – Broniatowski, Lewinowicz, Bernard Helman, Bagacki, Rosen	St. Vitzich	560
In a Non-Hasidic Shtibl (Y)	Ahron Benyamin (Yoma) Lugerner	562
Yakov Hersh Czebiner (Y)	His grandchildren	566
Reb Shmuel Saika (H)	Reb Itche Erlich	567
Shalom Granek of blessed memory (H)	Y. Rosenblum	568
Avraham Dafner of blessed memory (H)	Yosef Lipmen	570
Yizkor [memorial] Dedication section (47 unnumbered pages following page 570)		571

Addenda added by the Translation Project (not part of original book)

Photo captions	Compiled by the translator
Necrology	Distilled from an early translation of the Yizkor Dedications section. (Note: some name spellings may differ from the current version.)

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