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Who and Where
Biographies (cont.)

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[Page XIII]

   

Hirsh (Euzial Tzvi) Gancwajch

(photo)

Son of Mordekhai Gancwajch of Zawiercie, grandson of the famous rabbi Reb Yisroel Leib Gancwajch. Descended from many generations of rabbis. He received a religious education as a child, studied in the Ostrowcer yeshiva, and was the beloved student of the Ostrowcer Rebbe.

In 1893 he married Rywka Breindl, the only daughter of Henekh and Esther Yasower of Czenstochow and for many years he

(photo, caption: Daughter of Hirsh Gancwajch)

[Page XIV]

lived at his father-in-law's and studied Torah [hut gegesn kest]. At the same time, he studied in secret and graduated as an official rabbi. His youngest son, Abraham Gancwajch, was a Yiddish journalist in Lodz.

He remained in Czenstochow at the outbreak of the Second World War and suffered the fate of the martyrs.


Yisroel Leib Gancwajch
Melbourne (Australia)

(photo)

Oldest son of Hirsh Gancrajch, also known under the name Ivan Ganc. He received a religious upbringing in the home of his parents. At age 13, he entered a gymnazium. He became a fervid Zionist under the influence of the literature of the Enlightenment. His friends were: Eliezer Plotzker, secretary of the Zionist organization in Czenstochow, and Wowche Wiewiorke, well known writer, who at the end lived in Paris and perished in the gas chamber at Auschwitz during the Nazi occupation.

In 1919, he came to Berlin where he continued his studies, then left for Antwerp, Belgium, where he lived until 1924. In that year he gave up his studies and began to trade in diamonds. He again became involved in his Zionist activities, such as working with Dr. Kubowitzki and Dr. Pruczanski, was active as a commissar of the Jewish National Fund and wrote articles in the Belgian Zionist publication, Hatikwah. In 1924 he left for Australia where he has a fur business and where he has remained to this day.


Moshe Dovid Gotajner

(photo)

Father of Hershl, Chaim, Yisroel, Saltshe and Abraham. Died on the 16th of November 1941 in Czenstochow.


Rojza Gotajner

(photo)

Daughter of Shimshon Horowicz. Perished in 1942 during the deportations together with her son Hershl and his wife, and her daughter Sara Gruntsztajn and her child.


Moshe Gotlib

(photo)

He was called Moishele Gotlib in Czenstochow. His father, the shoykhet (ritual slaughterer) Nekhemia Gotlib, was murdered during the pogrom of 1919. Moishele belonged to the rightest Poalei-Zion and, although he was the youngest of his comrades, he became the chairman of the group. The struggle for Yiddish and Yiddish culture was at the head of his social activities. [His articles often appeared] in the Czenstochower New Word and in the Czenstochower Zeitung (newspaper). However, he suffered from lung disease and died at 30 years of age. In the last years of his life, he knew that the end of his life was near, but he did not stop his social activities and he never lost the smile on his face. He died in 1930.


Yisroel Goldsztajn
(Srolke the sugar baker
[baker of cakes as opposed to bread])

(photo)

Born in Piotrkow in 1873; came to Czenstochow in 1900. He married Hena Jakubowicz of Czenstochow and had a bakery there. Came to America in 1920; in the beginning he lived in Detroit. Later, in 1932, he came to New York. However, not being able to grow accustomed to the New York environment, he returned to Detroit, where he opened a bakery.

(photo, caption: Hena Goldsztajn)

Yisroel came to America with eight children (seven sons and one daughter). Joe and Arthur Goldsztajn today work in the bakery, under the name “Goldstein Brothers”; Seymour Morton (changed his name) is a pharmacist; David G. Morton - a doctor (served in the American army); Herman Goldstein – a mechanic; Karl and Morris Goldstein – pharmacists. The daughter, Rose, married Harry Jacobs (in Czenstochow,

[Page XV]

Yakubowicz). Born in Czenstochow, a son of Moshe Ahron Yakubowicz.

(photo, caption: Arthur Goldstein with his wife and son)

Hena Goldstein died in Detroit on the 19th of May 1940 and Yisroel, the 14th of September 1934. Yisroel and Hena Goldstein belonged to the Arbeter Ring Branch 111 and to the Czenstochower Society.


Jonah Goldstein
Detroit

Son of Yisroel and Hena. Born in Czenstochow on the 27th of February 1903. Married Ester Litwonowicz. Came to America in 1921. In Czenstochowa was active in the Fareinikte [United] Party. He was a member of Bakers' Union, local 78 and in the Czenstochower Regional Union in Detroit.


Shlomoh and Ester Goldberg

(photo)

Son of Meir and Sara. Born in Noworadomsk (Poland) in 1870. He married Ester Gliksman. Came to America in 1922. Was a member of the Jewish National Union, Branch 10, in New York. Today he is a member of a family society; also belongs to the Melcer synagogue.


Jack Goldman

Son of Tuvya and Laya. Born in Czenstochow on the 16th of February 1899. Came to America in 1920.


David Guterman

(photo)

Son of Zundl and Ruta. Born in Czenstochow in July 1908. Came to America in 1939. He is a member of United Czenstochower Relief in New York.


Wladislaw Gurski

Born in 1879 in Czenstochow.


Olga Lipska-Gurski

Daughter of Mauricy and Felicia Lipska. Born on the 20th of March 1884; the wife of Wladislaw Gurski.


Yitzhak Gurski

(photo)

The house in the neighborhood where he grew up can be designated as Orthodox-Maskil [enlightened] - assimilated. His grandfather, Hersh Gurski, founder of the first weaving factory in Dzialoszyn, near Czenstochow, himself a frumer [pious], a mishnagid [opponent of Hasidism], had a French governess for his daughters. They spoke French among themselves. The son, however, Yitzhak's father, Abraham, or Abremele (as the city called him), received a national-Jewish education. Hatzfire and Di Izraelita were read in his house. In general, he was only Polish on the outside, internally, Jewish.

Yitzhak Gurski, the youngest son of 4 brothers (8 children), studied in a kheyder, in Edelist's folks school and later took an examination to enter a gymnazie. Because of the restrictions for Jews, he went to Pabiance where the first commercial school was located with a 40-percent quota for Jews. He came to Czenstochow for vacations and maintained ties with his friends – Josef Kruk, Leizer Broniaslawski, Shimek Pruszicki, Alek Templ, Aizek Szwarc, Hela Birman, Matwei Dawidowicz and all of the others, who later belonged to the managing intelligencia of the S.S. [Zionist Social] Party.

In 1902, he, like all of his friends, was influenced by the Zionist organization. However, simultaneously, the revolutionary and social political ideas being carried like storm winds over Russia also had an impact.

He was one of the leaders of the S.S. Party and distinguished himself with his idealism, extraordinary energy and practical sense. And he was also the closest co-worker of Josef Number One (Dr. Josef Kruk).

Yitzhak Gurski was one of those who immediately began to plan and push the Czenstochower S.S. organization to organize the Jewish workers in Wajnberg's factory and in all the smaller factories, in order to obtain for them better working conditions and higher wages. He appeared on stage at the party mass meetings, taught political economy and other sciences to groups of people and campaigned among individual workers during the elections. He spoke in the schools when they came out openly against the Zionists and when the Jewish population was called to help with self-defense.

In February 1906 he was arrested and sentenced to exile in Siberia. However, he became ill and spent time in the city hospital, Swenta Marya [St. Mary]. The meetings of the leadership took place in the room where he lay and there was also storage of illegal literature.

In May 1906, because of the birth of the Czarovitch (Russian crown prince),

[Page XVI]

an amnesty was issued. Yitzhak Gurski was then freed from prison.

On the same evening on which he was freed, an important party conference took place. Military and political police surrounded the house and arrested many participants. Gurski was successful in jumping out of a window and escaping.

In prison, where he served for three months, he became acquainted with several pepesovtzes [name derived from initials P.P.S. – Polish Socialist party] – clerks with the Herber Railroad. Through their patronage and acquaintance with the chief accountant, Grigory Cwietayev, a socialist, he was hired as an employee – almost the first Polish Jew, as a railroad clerk. The Polish anti-Semitic weekly, Der Bocian [The Stork], could not bear this and published his caricature with a long Jewish nose and bent shoulders on the first page.

The P.P.S. comrades assigned him to organize a professional union of the railroad workers. He carried out the assignment with great success. He was immediately fired from his position. The railroad workers and clerks presented him with a gift with the inscription, “in union there is strength.”

Party work in Czenstochow was impossible for him. The Central Committee of S.S. appointed him and the S.S. member Dovid Pinski (shot on Piotrkow Street in a demonstration) to work in the Lodz organization.

Yitzhak Gurski was already a law student at Dorpat University then. In Lodz, he was occupied with giving private lectures. He devoted all of his free time to the S.S. movement.

In 1909, he left for Vienna because of police persecution. There he continued his studies as a legal scholar.

Yitzhak Gurski organized an S.S. group there, together with [Wolf] Latzki-Bertoldi, Dawidowicz, Anin, Chernikhov and other S.S. leaders who later came to Vienna, took part in publishing the journal Freiland [Freeland] and helped organize the Territorialist Congress in 1912 with Israel Zangwill at the head. He was also elected as president of the “Jewish Students from Russia,” which counted around one thousand members; the second candidate for this position was the S.S. member, Moshe Raskin.

As president of the Russian students in Vienna, he was chairman of the international meeting to protest against the mass murder of the Lena gold miners in Siberia. Viktor Adler, Bertoldi, Daszinski, Borokhow, Tratzki, Levintzki, Anin, Ratner and many others appeared at the meeting. The protest meeting made a great impression abroad, such as in Russia.

During the First World War, Yitzhak Gurski was mobilized as a censor of the correspondence of prisoners of war because of his linguistic ability. He became chief of the division and received a silver medal from the Austrian government, although he was considered an “enemy foreigner.”

His position as censor gave him the ability to connect with the Jewish war prisoners in the camps. He had a close connection to the group of Czenstochower war prisoners in the camp near Lintz, supported them and bonded with Czenstochow. He also helped organize a library and supported other cultural activities for the Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners in the camps.

At the same time he worked with the Austrian group of the Zimmerwalder (socialists who were against supporting their government in the war), led by Freidrich Adler, who shot the then Austrian Councilor, Count Sturgkh. From then on, he devoted his energy and ability to the Austrian workers' movement. He was the co-founder of the unions, Freie Shul [Free School] and Kinder-Freint [Children-Friends], and then helped both merge. He took an active part in the cooperative movement, was an instructor of rational conduct in cooperatives and a member of the managing committee of the “bulk purchase unions.” During that time, he was a delegate to the Socialist International Congress 3 or 4 times.

As a close co-worker of Dr. Karl Renner, he led the Society for Russian-Austrian Exchange of Goods with great success and worked in all of the economic institutions of the workers' bank.

After the Dolfus-Schuschnigg putsch in 1934 in Vienna, he was arrested along with a series of socialist leaders, such as Dr. Karl Renner, Seitz – Burgermeister [mayor] of Vienna and many others.

He was one of the active workers when the Freiland movement was reorganized in 1936-1938, along with Dr. A. Singalowiski, Dawidowicz, Fajnleb, Dr. Kruk and others. Then he organized a large Territorialist organization in Vienna that counted thousands of members and published its own journal – Freiland – in German.

He also supported the Jewish children's homes in Czenstochow. The pharmacy there was set up with the financial resources that Yitzhak Gurski sent from Vienna.

In March 1939, Hilter annexed Austria. At the end of June of the same year, [Yitzhak Gurski] together with his wife, Hela (née Hela Birman) and their two children were successful in coming to America.

His son, Joslan, born in Vienna, graduated from the University of Technology as an electrical engineer and also studied the English language at the University of London.

His daughter, Irene, also born in Vienna, studied medicine in the universities in Vienna, Rome and in America – at Philadelphia's Woman's Medical College. She practices now as a physician [in a] post graduate hospital and specializes in heart ailments.

In New York, where Yitzhak Gurski settled, he is active in the Freiland movement, in the Austrian Socialist Group and in the aid work for Czenstochow.

At the time of the Second World War, his pharmaceutical corporation, which he founded, produced important articles for the

[Page XVII]

war industries. His son, Joslan, engineer and manager of the factory, also created several important inventions in the field.

Yitzhak Gurski left the following family members in Czentochow: sisters – Rywkale and her husband, Yakov Dawidowicz, Cesha and her husband, Dovid Leizerowicz, Ester and her husband, Henek Krawizki, Wola-Krisztoforga, Toyba and her husband, Yakov Kroskalowski.

Brothers – Wladek Gurski and his wife Olga Lipska and Bernard Gurski.

(photo, caption: Wladislaw Gurski)

The only ones who survived were Adek and Henya Kromalowski, children of Yakov Kromalowski – now in Czenstochow; Henya and Branislaw Leizerowicz (brother of Dr. Leon Leizerowicz, now in New York, practices as a medical doctor) – both in the Soviet Union, and awaited in Poland; Nadja Gurski, a daughter of Bernard Gurski, a dentist in Eretz Yisroel; Manka Gurski, a daughter of Wladek Gurski – should be found in the Soviet Union.


Hela Birman-Gurski

Her mother, Szlezinger, was a Czenstochower. Her father came from Nowo-Radomsk. The Birman family lived in Czenstochow until 1901, then they moved

(photo, caption: Hela Gurski and Madja Zalcman)

to Sosnowiec and there founded an exchange house. They were well-to-do, middle class and progressive. In addition to a worldly education, her brothers studied Hebrew. Hela studied only Polish and other languages. Her brother Ludwig Berman was one of the pioneers in the S.S. Party and took part in the Congress in Swider, where the middle school youth organization of the Worker-Zionists was founded. He was a great influence on his sister, Hela. At the same time, Hela was under the influence of Adolf Bril and Senjar, who worked together with her in Markusfeld's office at Malarnja and they both were leaders of the S.D.K.F.L.

Senjar (a brother-in-law of Radek) was one of the pillars of the S.D. Party. The center of Social Democratic literature was in his house – Iskra [Spark], which was published abroad, was sent from his house to all of the cities of Russia.

The main place in her consciousness was won by the program of the S.S. because it matched the facts of life which she saw around her such as, for example, how the Jewish workers were ejected from a factory such as Malarnja. The same as in all other factories, Jews were directors and bookkeepers and the non-Jews were at the machines in the factory. On the contrary, she saw the great Jewish masses as poor merchants and market stall keepers and the Jewish peasants carried their baskets around to the houses.

Hela Birman – quiet, modest, withdrawn from the noisy life – quietly carried out responsible secret party work, such as forwarding illegal literature, transferring weapons and similar missions.

One of her most daring assignments was once to clean out the quarters of Ahron Singalowski, who was “exiled.” She had to take with her a mass of weapons and literature which was beyond her physical abilities. And to cross several streets.

When her brother, Ludwik, was in the Piotrkow prison and later sentenced to hard labor, she smuggled literature to him and maintained his party connections.

She and Bronya Koniarski led organizing work among the peasants. Hela also ran a secret school where girls were taught to read and write. The “dark” Frandl was one of her pupils.

She met Yitzhak Gurski in 1903 through her brother, Ludwik. He, along with Yitzhak Gurski and Josef Kruk, influenced her in favor of the S.S. Party, for which she was a great prize. However, the prize was even greater for Yitzhak Gurski himself, because on the 31st of December 1911, they were married in Sosnowiec and, in January 1912, they were already in Vienna.

In Vienna, she helped Yitzhak Gurski in his community work, particularly in the education and organizing work among the masses

“What I dislike the most is the lack of understanding among the masses,” she would say. And she tried to fight the lack of understanding.

In New York, Hela Birman is active in the women's group of the Freiland League.


Hersh Ber Gimpel
Chicago

Son of Yitzhak Yona and Chana. Born in Koniecpol (Poland) on the 26th of August 1878. He married Ruchl Berkensztat. Came from Czenstochow to America on the 6th of August 1906. Is a member of the Hebrew Progressive and Czenstochower Educational Union in Chicago.


Abraham Meir Glater
and Freidl Glater – Vienna

Son of Mordekhai and Ryfka. Died in Czenstochow at age 56 in Czenstochow.

(photo)

[Page XVIII]

Max Glater

(photo)

Son of Avraham Meir and Franya. Born in Czenstochow on the 24th of December 1886. Lived for a time in Germany and, from there, came to America on the 4th of June 1906. He married Millie Silberberg. Was president for 5 years of the Eva Magnes Memorial Family Society, president of the Educational Industrial League in New York and member of B'nai Brith. His son Sidney served in the American army.


Millie Glater

(photo)

Daughter of Hershl and Liba. Born in Lodz. Came from Germany to America on the 4th of June 1906. Married Max Glater.


Ruchl Gliksman

Daughter of Abvraham and Miriam Gliksman. Born in Czenstochow in 1911. Graduated from the Jewish gymnazium in Czenstochow. Now in New York. Member of United Czenstochower Relief. Married Ari Fogel, son of Reb Akiba Fogel, may he rest in peace.


Reb Abraham Gliksman, may he rest in peace

(photo)

Born in Czenstochow in 1885. The son of Dov-Berl (known under the name the groiser [big] Berl) and Hinda Gliksman. He studied in a kheyder from his early years on with the Amstower rabbi, with the gaon (Reb Avraham'la, of blessed memory) and later studied independently in the city beis-hamedrish [house of study].

Along with his Jewish studies, he simultaneously had a worldly education and this enabled him to become an independent merchant. He became well known as an honest and solid merchant in the world of trade in and outside of Czenstochow. He excelled with good virtues in his private and family life, too.

He took part in the communal life of Czenstochow for a time as a managing committee member of the beis-lekhem [bread for the needy – organization to help the poor] and for the Jewish gymnazie. He was also one of the co-founders of the new beis hamedrish, Ohel Nahum and published a special brochure about them. In addition to his usual offices in the above mentioned organizations, he assisted with every activity for the poor in our city

He suffered the fate of the martyrs in the years 1939-1945.

May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life


Sheva Gliksman

The daughter of Abraham and Miriam Gliksman. Born in 1908 in Czenstochow. Graduated from the Jewish gymnazium in Czenstochow. Married Yitzhak Horowicz (son of the well known industrialist Dov Ber Horowicz). Suffered the fate of the martyrs in the years 1939-1945.

May her soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.


Miriam Gliksman, may she rest in peace

(photo)

The wife of Abraham Gliksman, may he rest in peace. She was born in Czenstochow in 1885 as a daughter of Reb Nusen-Yakov and Feigel Klajner (née Grylak). She took part in the communal life of our city as vice-chairman and member of the managing committee of the woman's aid organization, Ezra, and also as a member of the Dobroczynnosc [group that gave aid to the poor]. In addition to this, she was active in every aid activity for the poor and needy and gave a great deal of effort and strength to them. Her house in Czentochow was the location where every poor man found help and support. Year in and year out, every winter she herself would organize a clothing collection for the naked and barefoot.

In private life she was frum [pious] and traditional.

Suffered the fate of the martyrs in the years 1939-1945.

May her soul by bound up in the bond of eternal life.

Abraham and Miriam Gliksman had five children: Wolf Gliksman, secretary and executive member of United Czenstochow Relief, now in New York.

Sheva Gliksman-Horowicz – suffered the fate of the martyrs in the years 1939-1945.

Rukhl Gliksman-Fogel – now in New York.

Dr. Engineer Josef Gliksman – now in Tel Aviv.

Dov-Berl Gliksman – died in 1930.


Clare Barenboim-Gliksman

Daughter of Avraham and Sonya Barenboim. Born on the 4th February 1914 in Odessa. The second wife of Wolf Gliksman.

[Page XIX]

Dr. Engineer Josef Gliksman
Tel Aviv

Son of Abraham and Miriam Gliksman. Born in Czenstochow in 1913. He, like every Jewish child of the Jewish middle class, studied for a time in a kheyder, private school, until gymnazie. After being a student in a Jewish gymnazie, he had taken part in a wide range of activities among the Jewish youth, spreading Zionist ideas as one of the organizers of Betar [militant Zionist youth organization] in Czenstochow, where he later became head of the youth branch.

In 1933 he received a certificate of university admission from the Jewish gymnazium in Czenstochow and the same year went to study in Italy. After attending universities in Genoa and Milan (Italy), he ended his studies in 1939 with the title Dr. of Civil Engineering.

After a short visit with his parents, in July 1939, he traveled as an “illegal” immigrant to Eretz Yisroel on a ship which carried the name Pirata, which sailed around the Mediterranean Sea for seven weeks. The occasion arose for him to play a significant role. The immigrants decided on a certain day to arrest the captain and the sailors because they refused to bring the ship to Tel Aviv. A committee was organized that took the ship into their hands. Dr. Eng. Josef Gliksman managed the machine room and brought the ship Pirata under the white and blue flag into Tel Aviv opposite the Ritz Hotel on the 22nd of August 1939.

In the years 1939-1942 he worked in Syria, Trans-Jordan and Lebanon.

Today he lives in Tel Aviv, as an independent construction engineer, with his wife, Frida (born in Vienna, Austria), also an illegal immigrant, and their son, Gabriel.


Itmar Gliksman

Son of Wolf and Sofia Gliksman. Born on the 10th of January 1939. Suffered the fate of the martyrs in the years 1939-1945.


Master of Phil. Sofia Minc-Gliksman

The first wife of W. Gliksman, daughter of Yitzhak-Meir and Sara Minc. Born in Czentochow in 1907. After graduating from the Jewish gymnazium in Czenstochow, she studied at Warsaw University and graduated from the Philosophy-Humanistic faculty (history) with the title Master of Philosophy, with a description about the city of Sireadz (Poland).Coming back to Czenstochow, she taught general and Polish history in the first state gymnazie (Pladowski) in Czenstochow. Sofia Minc later officially became the vice director and teacher at the government folk-school no. 13 on Krakower Street, where she held the position together with Miss Natalya Szakhner until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Suffered the fate of the martyrs during the years 1939-1942.


Elfrida Shimerling-Gliksman
Tel Aviv

Daughter of Otto and Ernestina Shimerling. Born on the 8th of January 1918 in Vienna (Austria). The wife of Dr. Eng. Josef Gliksman.


Reb Josef Gliksman, may his soul be bound in the bond of eternal life

Son of Dov Berl and Hinda Gliksman. Born in Czentochow. Studied with the Czenstochower gaon, Reb Abraham'le, of blessed memory and there received his rabbinical diploma. Was known in Czentochow as a prodigy and one of the few scholars.

Suffered the fate of the Martyrs in the years 1939-1945.


Isidor Gliksman
Detroit

(photo)

Son of Meir and Sara Genendel. Born in Czenstochow on the 5th of March 1892. Worked in Czentochow in the celluloid trade and there was active in the sections of the professional unions. He was also active in the S.S. [Zionist Socialist] party. He left Czentochow in 1912 and emigrated to Galveston with the 67th group [Translator's note; numbering system used by the Jewish Immigrant Information Bureau to identify shiploads of immigrants coming to Galveston, Texas]. Came to America (New York) in 1913. He was a member of the Arbeter Ring Branch 261. He participated in the work of the Czenstochower Relief Committee. He served in the American army during the First World War. In 1919 he married Rosy Wegner and settled in Detroit. There he was one of the founders of the Czenstochower Union and is still active in the organization. He was also one of the founders of Czentochower Arbeter Ring Branch 620 in Detroit. His son, Meir, served in the American army.


Fishel Gliksman
Los Angeles

Son of Yitzhak and Hudes. Born in Noworadomsk on the 3rd of February 1893. He married Gitl Birn-

(photo)

boim. Came to America on the 10th of December 1921. He was a member of the Arbeter Ring, executive member of the Jewish Workers' Committee in Los Angeles, and was also active in the Welfare Fund. His son Sidney served in the American Army. Died in 1946.


Gitl Gliksman
Los Angeles

Daughter of Shmuel Yakov and Beila. Born in Noworadomsk on the 24th of November 1897. She married Fishel Gliksman. In Noworadomsk she was active in the party of the left Poalei-Zion

[Page XX]

also participated in the dramatic section under the of Artist Lesman. Came to America on the 20th of February 1935 with her son. She was a member of the the Arbeter Ring, active in the Arbeter Ring school union, Jewish Workers' Committee, Arbeter Ring chorus and with the Ladies' Auxiliary.


Eliezer Gliksman

Son of Berl and Frimet. Born in Noworadmsk. The father of Elihu Ber, Ruchl, Moshe, Shlomoh, Bluma, Khona, Yosel and Nekhemia.

He died on Lag b'Omer 1921 in Krakow.

(photo, caption: Eliezer and Miriam Gliksman)


Miriam Gliksman

The wife of Eliezer Gliksman. Daughter of Khona and Sara Kalekhare. Born in Czenstochow.

She died in Czenstochow in 1935.


Josel Gliksman

(photo)

Son of Eliezer and Miriam. Born in Czenstochow in 1891. He was a member of the Jewish National Workers' Union in New York. Died on the 15th of October 1918 in New York.


Nekhemia Gliksman

(photo)

Son of Eliezer and Miriam Gliksman. Born in Czenstochow. Married Sera Borszikowski. He died at the age of 47, on the 2nd of August 1941 in New York.


Lipush Gliksman
(photo)

Son of Shlomoh and Dworya. Born in Czenstochow in 1910.


Khona Gliksman

(photo)

Born in 1889. Son of Eliezer (known under the name Eliezer's Khona) and Miriam. Being very frum [pious], they raised their children, 6 sons and 2 daughters, in a spirit of religion.

Khona Gliksman went to khedorim [religious schools] until 1905. That year, he started to work in Wajnberg's factory, where he was drawn into the S.S. [Zionist Socialist] party.

He was arrested in the factory on the 23rd of January 1906. This was the day after the strike in connection with the yahrzeit [anniversary of the death] of Gabon who had led the Petersburg workers to the slaughter. Wajnberg, the manufacturers, incited the Christian workers against the Jewish ones. A fight broke out between them. Khona Gliksman said to the bosses – if they are interested in a pogrom, he would be the first one to make one on them. This led to his arrest. He was in the Czenstochower and Piotrkower prisons for 15 weeks and on the 6th of May, he came home to Czenstochow and became active in the revolutionary movement.

Realizing that they could not keep him away from the struggle, Khona's parents decided to send him to America. In July 1906, they sent him with the Bakheneks, family acquaintances (neighbors), to Toronto, Canada. He was there until December 1906. Later he arrived in New York to the Kremsdorf family (copper workers) who took him in. They are the best of friends to this day.

He was in New York until the 18th of December 1907, but because of economic and physical circumstances, he was forced to return to Czenstochow.

Although he was at home for five years, he was very dissatisfied. He left Czenstochow for the second time in 1913 and, in February of the same year, he came to New York. He learned the presser trade where he works to this day.

In 1914, he helped create the Czenstochower Relief Organization, later the Czenstochower Relief Committee. He was very active in the organization. He was a member of the Czenstochower branch 111 of the Jewish National Workers' Union, and when the branch was united with a group of members of branch 261 of the Arbeter Ring. He was later a member of branch 11 of the International Workers Order, where he is a member to this day.

In 1920, he brought from the old home, Fradel Brat, now his wife, who the landsleit would call “the dark Fradl” and in April of the

[Page XXI]

same year married her. A daughter – Chana – was born to them in August 1921. In March 1941, their daughter married Harry Singer, who volunteered to join the American army in 1942.

Fradl Gliksman also worked in Wajnberg's factory. Was active in the revolutionary movement. Belonged to the S.S. party. Was one of the founders of the children's home, worked there at first as a volunteer for several months, later was paid – was hired officially to take care of the children and run the household. She worked with the teachers, Yusha Sztam and Haja'le Waga, who is now in New York.


Fradl Gliksman

Her childhood name was Fradl Brat. She was popularly known as “the dark Fradl.”

Grew up in a poor house (her father, Moshe Dovid and her mother, Zelda), with seven children. She had to begin work at age 9 in a small toy factory. Later, in the years 1904-05, she worked in Wajnberg's comb factory.

In the years of the freedom movement, she was in the S.S. party and later was an example of self-sacrifice and devotion to the ideals of the party. She took part in the most dangerous secret undertakings, such as arranging for secret publications and never missed the stormy meetings, the mass meetings and street demonstrations.

In 1906, she was expelled from Wajnberg's factory with Khona Gliksman, as leaders of a strike. It was impossible for her to find work for a long time. In order to be in constant contact with party work and avoid arrest, she worked as a “cook” in Golda's teahouse. Later, she succeeded in getting work in Werde's needle factory. She threw herself again into the work, first in the years of the First World War, when the Education Union was founded. Later, in 1917, without any education, she began to work in the Y.L. Peretz Children's Home that was her ideal. In her free time, she devoted herself to organizing work among the masses of children. She left Czenstochow in 1920. She came to America that same year and married her young friend, Khona Gliksman.

In New York, she first joined a Jewish National Workers' Organization; now, she is a member of the Czenstochower branch 11 of the Jewish Peoples Order (International Workers Order).

She was an active worker in aid work for Czenstochow for the entire time, where her name will never be forgotten.


Yitzhak Gliksman

Son of Rubin and Ruchl Leah. Born in Czenstochow in 1901. When Czenstochow was occupied by the Germans during the First World War, he worked as a railroad worker and perished as a result of a tragic accident.


Sera Gliksman

(photo)

The daughter of Mendl and Feiga Haya Borszikowski. Born in Piltz [Pilica] (Poland). Lived in Czenstochow. Married Nehemya Gliksman. Came to America on the 20th of March 1921. She is an executive member of the A.F.F Order and a member of the Czenstochower Ladies Auxiliary in New York.


Efriom Glikerman

(photo)

Son of Yankel and Esther. Born in June 1883 in Czenstochow. Came to America in 1916. He was an active member and, for many years, treasurer of the Czenstochower Neighborhood Educational Union in Chicago. Died on the 20th of January 1938 in Chicago.


Haya Ruchl (Rose) Glikerman
Chicago

Daughter of Shmuel and Esther Sheindel. Born in Czenstochow on the 10 of July 1887. Came to America on the 18th of August 1920. Is a member of the Czenstochower Educational Union and Czestochower Aid Society in Chicago and the 1st Trustee of the Aid Society. After 18 months in the American army, her son, Sam, perished in a heroic death on the battlefield in France in the fight against Fascism.


Moshe Gebrowicz

(photo)

Born in Czenstochow in 1891, to poor parents. In 1904 his father died and this forced him to work and to alone feed himself. At this time he became a member of the small

[Page XXII]

Bund and of its boyuvke [armed bands] and he took part in various actions until the party sent him to Piotrkow with two comrades. There he took part in freeing several arrested party comrades from prison. Approximately 30 men took part in this work. This happened at around 10 or 11 at night in the following manner: The guards that protected the prison on the street side were each attacked by 4 men from the boyuvke at a particular moment. They were rendered harmless by having sacks put over their head and they were taken away. The place of the guards was taken by [the attackers] and with a given signal, a thin string was lowered from a window to which Moshe Gebrowicz attached a thick one. Then the fences around the windows were removed and approximately 12 men began to lower themselves through the windows. They were immediately driven away in specially arranged horse cabs. After the “work,” the participants and Moshe, too, were provided with a small sum of money and special letter and were driven to Lodz. There they were supported in a “teahouse,” supported by the unemployed themselves, but simultaneously active in the party.

Once Moshe G. and several men were sent with party representatives to a wedding to collect money. It was then winter and the streets were full of snow. Around 2 o'clock at night they were attacked by the police and soldiers. It was clear that they had been denounced and the older ones who had weapons had just been able to give the weapons to Moshe the youngest of them. However, as he was unable to “legitimize” himself, he was arrested with the others. On the way to the arrest, he succeeded at a particular moment in diverting the attention of the police and he jumped into a pile of snow. He remained there until the frost drove him out. Meanwhile, the other detainees were led further away and seeing that the street was empty of people, he quickly returned to the wedding hall. There he met the representative and he was able to present himself as a server and in this way avoided arrest. Moshe G. devoted himself to everything. In such a manner, he saved the arrestees, because they did not find any weapons on them.

Moshe Gebrowicz lived for a time in Belgium and then in Eretz-Yisroel. A short time before the outbreak of the Second World War, he came to America and now lives in New York.


Itshe Gelber

Son of Dovid and Esther. Father of Morris. Died in 1924 at age 77 in Czenstochow.

(photo)


Malka (Dimant) Gelber

Daughter of Josef and Ruchl. Mother of Morris. Died in 1909 at the age of 60 in Czenstochow.


Morris Gelber

Son of Itshe and Malka. Born in Czenstochow on the 10th of December 1890. He married Gutshe Granek. Came to America on the 17th of December 1912. Gelber is an active member of the Czenstochower Young Men – chairman of the Loan Fund; is very active in United Czenstochower Relief in New York and, also, in the “Czenstochow” Book Committee. His son, David, and grandson, Saul Inerfeld, served in the American army.

(photo)

Gutshe Gelber

Daughter of Mikhal and Esther Granek. Born in Czenstochow on the 2nd of May 1892. Came to America on the 17th of December 1912. She is one of the founders and most active members of the Czenstochower Ladies Auxiliary in New York and held the office of vice-chairlady for several years. Now chairlady of the relief undertaking. She is also a member of the “Czenstochow” Book Committee.


Leonard Gelber

Son of Morris and Gutshe Gelber. Born on the 15th of October 1914 in Pittsburg, Pa.


Merkin Gelber
Los Angeles

(photo)

Son of Shmuel and Liba. Born in on the 5th of May 1902 in Czenstochow. Came from Germany to America in January 1920. He married Fanny Akerfeld. Is a member of the Relief Committee of the Czenstochower in Los Angeles.


Khasrial Gelber

(photo)

Son of Yitzhak Leib and Shprinca. Born in Czenstochow in 1871. Came to America on the 4th of September 1929. Belonged to Cong. Bnei Yakov. Died in Montreal, Canada on the 20th of September 1934.

[Page XXIII]

Sara Gelber

(photo)

Daughter of Avraham and Chana Reizl. Born in Czenstochow on the 20th of March 1879. Came to America on the 4th of December 1929. Belonged to Hadassah and to Congregation B'nei Jakob. Died in Montreal, Canada on the 27th October 1943.


Shimeon Gelber

(photo, caption: the father of Merkin Gelber)


Lipsze Gelber

(photo, caption: The mother of Merkin Gelber)

Died at age 40 in Czenstochow in 1906.

Avraham Gelber

Son of Lipsze Gelber. Born in 1883 in Czenstochow. Married Toyba, the daughter of Eli and Malka Wenger. Came to America in 1905. He is a member of the Dzialoszyner Khevra Anshei Bnei Achim in New York.


Abe Gerikhter

Son of Dovid and Reizl. Born in Czenstochow on the 17th of March 1894. Came to America in December 1909. Took part in the First World War as a soldier. He is a member of Jewish War Veterans and Branch 86 of A.F.F.A.


Kopl (Karl) Gerikhter

Son of Dovid (the big Dovid) and Relya Gerikhter. Born in Czestochow in 1885.

He studied in kheyder [religious school] and in Leder's school until age 14. Later, he worked in Tartak with the pious Reikhman and Rozencwajg. At age 16 he joined the S.S. [Socialist-Zionist Workers] Party. Later he was exiled to Wiotk gubernya [province], from where he successfully escaped and returned to Czenstochow.

Karl Gerikhter came to America in 1909, became a house painter and took a very active part in the Painters' Union local 1011. In 1910 he became a member of the Czenstochow Branch 261 Arbeter Ring and was secretary there for several years. In 1921 he married Regina Shmid. Gerikhter was always active in the Czenstochow Aid Union. When the Czenstochower Br. 11 of the Jewish National Workers' Union was founded, he became secretary of the branch and is a member to this day.

Because of his health, he cannot take part in communal activities.

Shlomoh Ahron German

(photo)

Father of Avraham Hershl, Helen, Ester and Israel. Died in Czenstochow in 1935.


Avraham German

Son of Shlomoh and Sheindl. Born in Czenstochow on the 12th of October 1900. Came to America on the 10th of November 1913. His is a member of the Czenstochower Young Men's Society in New York.


Mikhal Granek

(photo)

Son of Itshe Ber and Kreindl. Died at age 67 in 1930 in Czenstochow.


Makhshe Granek

(photo)

Daughter of Mikhal and Ester, sister of Gisze Gelber. Born in Czentochow on the 10th of June 1900. She was a victim of the First World War. Died on the 15th of September 1920 in Czenstochow.

[Page XXIV]

Esther (Lewkowicz) Granek

Daughter of Mikhal and Leah, died at age 68 in 1932 in Czenstochow.


Yehuda Leib Gruman

(photo)

Born in Janow (Poland) in 1859. Died in Czenstochow on the 26th of January 1935.


Perl Gruman

(photo)

Born in Janow (Poland) in 1868. Died in Czenstochow on the 20th of September 1929.


Rywka Gruman

(photo)

Daughter of Yehuda Lieb and Perl. Born in Czenstochow on the 15th of August 1908. Came to America in 1928.


Harry Gruman
Los Angeles

(photo)

Born in Czenstochow in 1898 into a poor home; the family consisted of 7 people (father, mother and 5 children). Lived in a room on Cicha Street in Meir Bem's house. His father, Leibush, was a shoemaeker, who earned from five to seven gilden a week. His childhood was a chain of hunger and need. He received his first “education” in a “day nursery” that was supported by charitable women. He did not spend a long time in kheder [religious elementary school]. He was more involved there with sewing buttons on panels for Grosman's button factory than with learning.

At age ten, he started to work at Koniarski's toy factory. At twelve his father offered him as an apprentice to his uncle, a tailor. However, he could not endure it for more than a year and then obtained work with the Marczak family, which treated him well.

In 1914, during the First World War when the Germans occupied Czenstochow, and hunger, cold and typhus were rampant in the poor neighborhoods, he worked for the Germans digging trenches in Biala Gora for a little warm soup and then went to Germany to work in the coal mines in the Rhineland. After working for six months in the coal mines under the most terrible conditions, he and a group of comrades escaped to Berlin, found work in a factory and later were active in a German theater.

In 1918 he took part in the revolutionary events of the German workers. In 1923 he came to New York and was active in the aid work for Czenstochow. In 1928 he moved to Los Angeles, Cal. and there became active with the progressive German workers. He was one of the organizers of Czenstochower Patronet in Los Angeles, which supported the political arrestees and their families in Poland. In 1940 he organized the “Naftali Botwin [Translator's note: Polish-Jewish Communist executed in Poland in 1925] Committee that seeks aid for the former Jewish volunteer fighters in Spain. In 1942 he was elected as Financial-Secretary of the city committee of ICOR. Always supported and was an active coworker in the work of Czenstochower Relief.


Moshe Gruman

(photo)

Son of Leibush and Perl Gruman. Born in Czenstochow on the 4th of February 1909.

In 1919 he went to Germany, where he settled in Berlin. When the Nazis came to power, he went to Belgium – from there to France. After the occupation of France, he entered the underground movement and thereby avoided deportation to Poland.

After everything, Moshe Gruman is now still in France.


Ruchl Grobowski
Chicago

Daughter of Moshe and Feigl Rubel. Born in Piotrkow. Came to America from Czenstochow on the 9th of May 1914. She was a member of the Bund in Poland.

[Page XXV]

Hersh Kalman Grosberg

(photo)

Son of Fishl and Dwoyra. Born in 1859 in Noworadomsk. Came to America in 1923. He was a very frum [pious] Jew until the end of his life. Died in 1944 in Los Angeles.


Ahron Grosberg

(photo)

Son of Kalman and Chana. Born in Czenstochow, 1893; came to American on the 11th of September 1913. He belongs to the following organizations: Hotel and Restaurant Union, Am. Fed. of Labor, Jewish Fraternal Order, American Red Cross and Czenstochower Aid Organization in Los Angeles, where he is an executive member. He lives at 2516 Kent Street, Los Angeles, Cal.

Ahron Grosberg was of six children of Kalman the baker. His religious father placed great hopes on him and waited for him to become a religious scholar. His two older brothers already belonged to the Czenstochower workers movement. However, the stormy days of that time did not pass him by. After the premature death of his mother, he joined Poalei-Zioni under the influence of his friend, Moshe Censhinski. He became very devoted to the workers' movement, when a fire broke out in Landau's solenoid [coil of wire with an electric current and magnetic properties] factory where 7 young girls, workers, were burned. Instead of going to school as usual, on that day, he followed the funeral for the seven girls who perished. There was then a large demonstration in Czenstochow. All the factory workers stopped their work as a protest.

Here in America, he settled into further activities as a fighter in the workers' movement for a better world.

Mendl Grosberg

(known under the name: Mendl Kalman the baker's [the son of Mendl Kalman]
(photo)

Son of Kalman and Chana. Born in Czenstochow in 1892. Came to America in 1912. He belongs to the Czentochower Aid Organization, Jewish Fraternal Order, American Red Cross. Is an executive member of the Czentochower Organization. Mendl ended his studies at the Czentochower yeshiva and went to work as a gaiter stitcher. He belonged to the S.S. [Zionist-Socialist] Party until leaving for America. Here he settled in Detroit. Worked with shoes and in Pensy Leather Goods. Finally he settled in Los Angeles, Cal., 2516 Kent Street. Mendl Grosberg is active in the progressive movement.


Fishl Yakov Grosberg

(photo)

Son of Kalman the baker and Chana. Born in Czenstochow in 1890. He became an orphan at age 11 and began to work in Wajnberg's comb factory and then became a member of a small covert group that was created there and from which the S.S. (Zionist-Socialist) movement later grew, to which he belonged.

Later he went abroad, where he wandered for several years. After returning home, he married Esther Peisak, known in Czenstochow as Esther the Yaneverin [woman from Yanev/Jonava, Lithuania] or Esterka, an employee in Erlich's sausage business.

Fishl Yakov Grosberg came to America in 1920 and settled in Detroit. In 1939 he moved to Los Angeles.

He has two sons. The oldest, Morris, has a wife and two little children; the second son, Eli, was a lieutenant in the army and served in the Hawaiian Islands.

Belongs to Czentochower Aid Organization; also takes part in the progressive movement.


Louis Jay Gross (Gric)
Chicago

(photo)

Son of Josef Hersh and Brandl. Born in Czenstochow on the 5th of May 1893. He married Netty Feldman. Came to America on the 12th of December 1911.

He is a member of B'nai Brith, American Jewish Congress, Zionist organizations and is one of the most active members of the Czenstochower Educational Organization in Chicago; executive member for many years and was president of the organization for two terms. He is also active in the Relief Committee in Chicago.

[Page XXVI]

His son, William, served in the American army.


Chantsha Grosman

She died in Philadelphia in 1941. Was an active worker for many years with Czenstochower Relief.


Y. Grosman

(photo)

Died in 1941 in Philadelphia. Was an active worker for many years with Czenstochower Relief.


Yakov and Beila Grilak

(photo, caption: Yakov Grilak)

Son of Josef Grilak. Born in Krzepice (near Czenstochow). Was a member of the Kherva Kadishe [burial society] and Gemilas Khesed fund [interest-free loan fund]. One of the best Jews in Czenstochow.

Died in Czenstochow at the age of 75 in 1935.

(photo, caption: Beila Grilak)

Beila Grilak suffered the fate of the martyrs in the years 1939-1045.

They were the parents of Shimkhah Grey of Los Angeles, Cal.


Shimkhah and Yetta Grey (Grilak)

(photo, caption: Shimkhah Grey)
(photo, caption: the mother of Yetta Grey)
(photo, caption: Yetta Grey)

The Grilaks of Czenstochow were considered one of the aristocratic families. Yakov Grilak, Shimkhah's father, was a distinguished businessman, a frumer [pious] Jew and a member of the Khevra Kadishe, of the Gemilas Khesed and several other groups.

Shimkhah Grilak studied in the Czenstochower artisans' school; he was a student in a Warsaw technical high school.

In his early youth, he joined the Poalei-Zion movement and remains loyal to the idea and the party to this day.

As a student in the artisans' school, where Mendl Pakula was a master, he became acquainted with his daughter, Yetta Pakula, and married her before he left for America in 1912.

Yetta Grey, née Pakula, is the youngest daughter of Mendl and Reizl. The family consisted of two sisters and two brothers – Iser, Wolf, Sheindl (Szuchter) and Yetta. During the revolutionary years, the party workers would come into their house and later the literatn (workers of the Jewish literary society) and lyricists. Yetta took an active part in both – cultural and musical societies and excelled as an amateur in the dramatic section.

In 1913, she came to America and settled in Chicago. For a long time, the conditions in America were not easy for Shimkhah and Yetta. However, Yetta, a child of a toiling family, herself a tailor at home, with her work and, even more, with her natural cheerful good spirits, managed to lighten their life. Shimkhah and Yetta raised 2 children in America – Dan and Ruth. Both received a nationalist-Jewish education in the spirit of their parents.

Their house in Chicago was like the Pakula's in Czenstochow – one of the centers of Poalei-Zion and Jewish cultural activity. She was one of the first of a group who supported the children's homes in Czenstochow.

Under the pressure of difficult conditions, they left Chicago for Los Angeles, Cal., and, although, alone at first, she created, with her usual energy, a group of Poalei-Zion sympathizers around her and developed strong social activity.

Yetta Grey is active today, too, in the aid work for Czenstoochow.

Her mother, Reizl Pakula (her childhood name – Kwort), lives with her in Los Angeles. She is now 85 years old.

[Page XXVII]

Efriom Greitzer
Los Angeles

(photo)

Son of Shmuel and Toba. Born in Rudnik (Poland) on the 25th of August 1889. Married Feigl Birnboim. Came to America in 1912. Died on Wednesday, the 16th of January 1946. His sons, Melvin and Sam served as officers in the American army.


(photo)
Feigl Greitzer


Meir Greitzer
Los Angeles

(photo)

Son of Shmuel and Toba. Born in Noworadomsk on the 12th of November 1887. Married Frimet Teneberg. Came to America from Czenstochow in June 1912. Is a member of B'nai Brith, Gardians and the Old Home for the Aged in Los Angeles. His son, Nathan, served in the American army.


(photo)

Frimet Greitzer

Mildred Gred

(photo)

Daughter of Isidor and Mary Rozen. Born August 1919 in New York. She married Stanley Gred on the 31st of January 1942. Their daughter, Joyce Ellen, was born on the 23rd of December 1944.


Meir Grinberg
Detroit

(photo)

Son of Tuvya and Feige. Born in Czenstochow on the 30th of October 1898. He married Ita Balanski. Came to America on the 12th of May 1913. An active member of the Czenstochower Regional Union in Detroit.


Return to Index

[Page XXVII]

   

Yehuda Danciger
Eretz Yisroel

(photo)

At age 15 his parents apprenticed him to a tzuker-beker [baker of cakes and pastries]. Later he left Czenstochow for Lodz and joined the Poalei-Zion party. He carried out conspiratorial work for it and was active in the professional movement, too, and took part in “self defense.” One of his closest friends in Lodz was Holoderski, who fell in the struggle with the Nazis in the Lodz Ghetto.

In 1906 he was arrested and spent a year in the Sieradz prison. A year later he was exiled to the Tomsk region in Siberia for three years. Yisroel Warszawski, who is now in America, was exiled with him.

Upon his return to Czenstochow, he was taken into the military in the Czarist army and took part in the First World War where he was captured [by the enemy].

After the war he returned to Czenstochow and, under the leadership of Shimeon Waldfogel, he again became active in the P.Z. party. He was a party candidate for Czenstochower City Council and after the death of Shimeon Waldfogel succeeded him.

He arrived in Eretz Yisroel in 1925. Here, too, he took an active part in the workers' movement. Led his trade section and was a member of the city managing committee for the Vaad Hacarmel in Haifa.

[Page XXVIII]

He was the founder of the Czenstochower landsmanschaft society in Haifa and is a member of Vaad Hartzi of the Czenstochower landsmanschaft in Eretz Yisroel. He is the founder and chairman of the interest-free loan fund in Haifa, where Czenstochower landsleit [people with a connection to a town] receive loans.

He did not stand alone in his work during the entire time of his communal activities. His life's companion, his wife, always helped him in the work and together with him led the struggle for a better future for our people.


Esther Danski
Detroit
(photo, caption: née Krakowski)

Daughter of Moshe and Dwojra. Born in Czenstochow in 1923. She is a member of B'nai Brith and the Jewish Center in Detroit.


Berl and Rywka Ducon
Newark, N.J.
(photo)

Son of Shmuel and Chaja Sura. Born on the 5th of May 1890 in Czenstochow. Came to America in 1912. Member of the Tarnopoler Society in Newark, N.J.


Moshe Jalowski
(photo)

Born 1870, died 1936. He was a distinguished merchant and shoe manufacturer. He received a bronze medal at the exhibition in Czenstochow in 1909 as an award. His product: a pair of boots – stood in water for the entire time of the exhibition and did not allow any dampness to penetrate inside.

His daughter, Feiga Hirszberg, in now in Eretz Yisroel and made a contribution to the Czenstochower Aid Fund in his name.


Hershl Dukat
Chicago
(photo)

Son of Eliezer and Yocheved (Yachet). Born in Witkowic (Poland) on the 25th of May 1892. He married Sura Cwajgenboim. Came to America on the 29th of August 1913. Their sons, Leizer and Naftali, and sons-in-law, Arthur Schapiro and Irving Zeidman, served in the American army.

Hershl Dukat is a member of the Mount Sinai Synagogue, Bikur Cholim [group for visiting the sick] and of the Czenstochower Educational Society in Chicago.


Wolf and Miriam Diamond
(photo)

Wolf Diamond was born in Czenstochow, January 1867. Came to America – New York – in 1904. He is a member of Czenstochower Chasam Sopher Synagogue, New York.


Philip Jacobs
Philadelphia


Rose Jabobs
(née Goldsztajn)
Detroit

(photo)

Daughter of Israel and Hena Goldsztajn. Born on the 23rd of February 1912 in Czenstochow. Came to America in 1921. She is a member of B'nai Brith.


Hersh (Jakubowicz) Jacobs
Detroit

(photo)

Son of Moshe Ahron and Liba, born

[Page XXIX]

on the 8th of June 1904 in Czenstochow. Came to America on the 2nd of July 1921. He is a member of B'nai Brith.


Joe Jacobs
(photo)

Son of Hersh Leib and Chana. Born in Proskau (Poland) on the 15th of April 1890. Came to America on the 10th of November 1906. He is a member and active worker of the Czenstochower Young Men's Society and executive member of United Czenstochower Relief. His son, Irving, served in the American army.


Gussy Jacobs

Daughter of Isidor and Dorothy. Born in Vilna on the 28th of September 1893. Came to America in May 1906. She is the wife of Joe Jacobs. Is a member of the Czenstochower Ladies Auxiliary in New York.


Annie Druz

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Druz. Married Jack Rozen, son of Izidor and Mary Rozen.


Max (Kupersztok) Delow
(photo)

Born in July 1889. 14 years later he was already in Achdus [Unity] in Lodz and a year later, a member of the S.D.K.P.L. (Social Democracy of Poland and Lithuania) in Czenstochow.

The number of members of the Czenstochower organization at that time consisted of about 50 people – 20 intellectuals and 30 workers. The names of several intellectuals were: Magdeline, a bookkeeper with the Czenstochowa-Vianke, Karl Olszewski, bookkeeper with Szpagaczarnja, Wirgorowski, a pharmacist with Malarnja, and our Rubinsztajn, beloved by everyone (Rubin), Doctor of Philosophy, member of the Central Committee, who traveled from city to city and, therefore, was rarely in Czenstochow.

A mass movement grew out of the small group that was spread through all the large factories.

The most difficult struggle that the party carried on was with the P.P.S. [Polish Socialist Party] that was more popular and more established among the Polish masses. A Jewish group also arose in the organization that was called Zargonowa [ironic name, taken from the word used to describe Yiddish in a derogatory manner, as German jargon] with about 25 members.

In the course of a few weeks, Delow stood between life and death. After 17 weeks in the hospital, he left crushed and without the means to live. A few weeks later, a fire broke out in the old market. His good friend, Dovid Gotlib, ran to see what was burning and came back with a pot full of money (the fire was at his grandfather's and that which he had taken was his portion of his inheritance…). With the money, Dovid Gotlib bought clothing for himself and for Delow and, later, he left for Paris. Years later, Delow met his friend Dovid Gotlib in New York as a member of the leftist movement, where he [Gotlib] died a violent death. Honor his memory!

The revolutionary movement spread over all of Russia and grew from day to day. Czenstochow was in the first ranks of the struggle for freedom. There was a great deal of work – meetings, small covert groups, discussions, proclamations. On a certain night, Delow was arrested after spreading an appeal and spent 4 months in Piotrkow prison. There he perfected his Polish and learned much from the discussions with the prisoners who knew more than him. The prison was a good university for many other political prisoners. He emerged from there more mature, more class conscious and with

[Page XXX]

an eagerness for work in the movement.

Many strikes took place at that time in the small Jewish factories in which Jewish and non-Jewish workers took part. Very often the S.D. [Social Democrats] took part in the strikes together with the S.S [Zionist Socialists].

The most famous general strike began in October 1905. All of the factories and railroads in Czenstochow stood still. Only “doormats” worked. The factory was besieged by the military. At a meeting of the council of that area, 8 volunteers appeared to close the factory. One of the eight was Yoszak. They went into the factory. Yoszak climbed onto the boiler oven to the little pipe (siren) and gave the strike signal. The factory came to a halt, but only Yoszak did not appear together with the rest to leave the factory. He was killed when he came down from the boiler in a shooting by the police and soldiers.

Delow, also one of the eight, scrambled up on a high fence around the factory. The soldiers quietly helped him climb up on the fence with the butt end of their guns. However, he fell into a pit of garbage and waste on the other side of the fence. Several workers pulled him out of there.

The S.D. arranged a funeral for Yoszak, the fallen comrade. The demonstration was the largest that Czenstochow had seen. All of the Polish and Jewish worker parties took part.

Coming back from the funeral, they encountered a large meeting at the new market where the speaker criticized the just conferred constitution.

In the few days of holiday, the party came out from underground. The S.D. party opened a club where Adolf Bril gave the first report on the subject: “The Erfurth [city in eastern Germany] Program of Karl Kautski [leader of the German Social Democrats].”

Immediately, a worse reaction began with blood baths, arrests and exile. Delow was then again arrested, spent 4 months in jail and was exiled to Vilna.

The S.D. party was very active in Vilna among the Polish speaking workers. There was a lack of people who could speak Polish. Delow, knowing the language well, was of great use to the party and took a large part in the work.

In 1909, he returned to Poland and, being again in Czenstochow, was again arrested. He served two weeks in Czenstochow, one month in Piotrkow, two months in Lodz, two months in Sieradz and then was exiled to Archangelsk. After three weeks, he was freed from there by an amnesty. He was sent back to Vilna where he became ill and gave up his party activity for a time.

Finding his besherte [predestined partner], they settled down to a life in a small shtetl near Vilna. Two weeks later, Delow received a message from Czenstochow that the police were looking for him. He left his wife with two children and departed for Germany. From there he left for America with the help of the party.

“The world, life goes constantly forward. The masses do not notice the process. Only when one looks back to the time when the history begins, approximately forty something years ago, is it seen how the life and the people have changed. History is progress and progress brings new times and new requests from the people who live now. Our present society demands new laws conforming to the time in which we live; that which was good 40 years ago, is old and backwards in the new times.”

And that is how Delow finds himself in America. He belongs to the leftist movement of the S.P.

Delow works in a shop that also employs people who, in the old country, were bosses in shops where strikes were led. His shop, here, went out on strike too, during which he was arrested and received the opportunity to become acquainted with an American prison.

Delow has remained devoted to the same idealism as 40 years ago and, after everything, still hopes to live until the time when those ideals will be fulfilled.

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