.
The Book of the Community of
Khotin (Bessarabia)
(Khotyn, Ukraine)

48°29' / 26°30'

Translation of
Sefer kehilat Khotin (Bessarabia)

Edited by: Shlomo Shitnovitzer

Published in Tel Aviv, 1974

 

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Judith Renee Wagner

 

Our sincere appreciation to Mr. Josef Wasserman of the Khotin (Bessarabia) Society, Israel
for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

 


This is a translation from: Sefer kehilat Khotin (Bessarabia) (The book of the community of Khotin (Bessarabia)) ),
Editors: Shlomo Shitnovitzer, Tel Aviv, Khotin (Bessarabia) Society, 1974 (Y, 333 pages).

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


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Translated by Yocheved Klausner

The history of Khotyn 11 - 18
History and geography
Khotyn at the beginning of the 20th century
The Jews of Bessarabia
Khotyn as it really was
The expulsion of the Jews
Khotyn as reflected in philately [the study of postal stamps]
 
The Community 21 - 34
Chone Reiss
The community of Khotyn during the years 1927-1933
Mutual financial aid
Matza for Passover
Fires in town
The Community, the Council, and Medical & hygienic services
The Jewish Hospital
The Budget
Public baths
The Jewish community in Khotyn
The Hevra Kadisha [burial society]
Inscriptions on tombstones
Charity
Hospitality
 
Education and Culture 39 - 51
The “Krozhok” School
The “Tarbut” School
Melamdim [teachers in heder] and the Heder
Teachers and educators
Yechiel Kretchmer
Yoel Prokuror
Israel Goichberg
Moshe and Shoshana Stern
The Principal
The Orchestra
The theater in Khotyn
The Schneiderman Hall
The Library in memory of Chone Reiss
 
Religious Life in Khotyn 53 - 62
Religious Life in Khotyn
The synagogues
The Admor R"Mote'le
Four generations of Rabbis in Khotyn
A dispute concerning the position of Rabbi
The ritual slaughterers [shochatim]
Tashlich [a traditional custom on Rosh Hashana]
 
The Zionist Movement 63 - 74
Yosef Appelboim
The Hashomer Hatza'ir movement
The youth in the Po'alei Zion movement
Tze'irei Zion movement
Beitar and Hatzhar
Dror and Arie Fichman
WIZO and JNF [Jewish National Fund=Keren Kayemet LeIsrael]
Oneg Shabat
The Rothstein house
Berl Weissolder
Yosef Seltzer
Israel Geller
Dr. Yakov Lerner
Dr. Shmuel Schoenberg
Att. Israel Bordeinik
 
Economy 77 - 81
The “Loan & Saving Bank”
Marcus Gellstein
Matza for Passover
Cart drivers & cart owners
Blacksmiths
Communication & transport
Butchers
Porters
The market
Dudl Ferber
 
The Holocaust 83 - 96
Remember! [Zachor Tizkor]
The Russian occupation of Khotyn
The annihilation of the Jewish Culture
The days of the Soviet rule
The retreat of the Soviets
Sad memories from the year 1941
The Germans enter Khotyn
The Khotyn Jews during the Holocaust
Khotyn and Transnistria, memories
Toltchin, a place of torture and death
The Romanian Geandarme
Material that was given to Yad Vashem
The expulsion of the Jews from Khotyn
The Rav R'Hershl, slaughterer and rabbi in Zhoryn
The Khotyn people in the Siberian exile
In memory of a childhood friend
Thoughts from the past
Rescued remainders
 
Life in Town 97 - 104
Mindl, the shochet's wife, travels to the ADMOR
The Tailors' Street
The Charity-Givers in Khotyn
Avraham Leib Nerman
A tacit separation-agreement
The tenth person at a minyan
Names and nicknames
Thieves
“A sound of happiness and a sound of joy” [Kol Sason Vekol Simcha]
"And Haman came..."
The story of the candlesticks that disappeared
The irony of fate
Memories
he General who “confessed”
Foime the porter
Yankel George
 
Khotyn Former Residents in the War of Independence 105 - 109
Ester Appelboim
Yitzhak Tepper
Rachel Seltzer-Reiss
Remember me
Mordechau Guterman
Prof. Tcharne Reiss
 
Khotyn Former Residents in Israel 111 - 114
The activities of the Organization of former Khotyn Residents
The Free-of-Interest-Loan Fund of the Organization
Aharon Weissberg
 
Yiddish Section
 
Khotyn – A Town in Bessarabia 117 - 130
Outline of Khotyn's History
Geographical Details
Jews in Khotyn
Khotyn Between the World Wars
Khotyn In The Early 20th Century
This Was Khotyn
The Onset of War: Jews are Driven Out of Their Homes
Khotyn As Reflected In Postage Stamps
Self-Defense in Khotyn in the Early 1920s
Self-Defense in 1917
Diplomacy and Self-Defense
 
The Khotyn Jewish Community 131 - 145
Khone Rayss
Excerpts from the pinkes of the Khotyn Jewish community, 1927-1933
Social Assistance
Sources of the Mutual Aid Fund
Financial Affairs
Matza for Passover
Fires in the Town
Measures against Terror Activities
Medical Assistance
The Jewish Hospital
The Bath-houses
The Burial Society
Gravestone Inscriptions
The Khotyn Jewish Community
Administration
Charity
Travellers' Hostel
Bikur-cholim
Linas-tzedek
The Poor Brides Society
Description of the Khotyn community
Economic Conditions
Cultural Affairs
Political Activities
The “Kultur-Lige”
Reb Zushye Bronshteyn
Leybish Ludmir
Leyb Roizman
Meir Landviger
Yisroel Bordeinik
 
Culture and Education 147 - 166
New currents
Krozhjak
The Tarbut School
Shalom Schreier
David-Leib Kuperman
Heder teachers [melamdim]
Teachers and educators
R'Yechiel Kretchmer
Yoel Prokuror
Israel Goichberg
Leib David Stolyar
Khotyn writers
The Orchestra
Theater in Khotyn
The Schneiderman Hall
The Library
Yehuda Chone Axelrod
Zalman Malamud
Chaim Wasserman
Gedaliahu Lipiner
Mendale Nerman
Eliahu Lipiner
Azriel Yanover
Efraim Roitman
Helen Gitelman
Imanuel Reiss
 
Synagogues and Religious Officials 167 - 175
Synagogues and Batei Midrash [houses of learning] in Khotyn
R'Motele from Khotyn
Four generations of rabbis in Khotyn
The Khotyn ritual slaughterers
Tashlich [a traditional Rosh Hashana custom] in Khotyn
 
The Zionist Movement 177 - 189
Hashomer Hatza'ir
The youth in the Poalei Zion movement
Beitar and the Revisionist party
Tzeirei Zion
Hathiya and Gordonia
Dror and Arie Fichman
WIZO and the JNF
Yosef Appelboim
The Rothstein family
Berl Weissadler
Yosef Seltzer
Israel Geller
Dr. Yakov Lerner
Dr. Scheierberg
Oneg Shabat
 
Jewish Livelihoods 191 - 198
Matza for Passover
Geography and the economic policy
Commerce
The first buses
The market
Foime the porter
Water carriers
Tilling the land
Trade and Industry
Hotels
Butchers
Porters
Blacksmiths
Cart owners
The Loan and Savings fund
 
Khotyn Jews During the Years of Destruction 199 - 217
Remember!
The Russians are coming
The liquidation of the Jewish culture
The Soviets liquidate the Jewish community
Under the Soviet Power
Sad memories
The Soviets leave Khotyn
Bloody days
They chase us from place to place
The Khotyn Jews in the Holocaust
Memories
Tulchin, a place of pain and death
On the road of exile
The destruction period
Pages from a diary in Transnistria
Khotyn Jews in Siberia
In memory of a childhood friend
My own Yizkor prayer
We were only a few who survived
List of those who perished in the Dzhorin Camp
 
Jewish Life in Khotyn 219 - 229
The Street of the Tailors
How I was Sequestered by the Khotyn Police
The General Reveals Himself… Like Joseph to His Brothers
Khotyn Donors to Charity
The Fate of an Anti-Semite
A Quiet Treaty
Mindl, the Ritual Slaughterer's Wife, Goes to the Rebbe
Yankl Zhorzh
Memories of Khotyn
Avrom-Leyb Nerman
A Tenth for the Minyan
“And Haman Came” – The Anti-Semite Kuza Visits Khotyn
“The Voice of Joy and the Voice of Gladness, the Voice of the Bridegroom and the Voice of the Bride”
Thieves
Names and Nicknames
A Witness for the Next World
The Story of a Pair of Candlesticks
Matchmakers
 
Khotyner in the War of Independence 233 - 237
Mordechai Guterman
Ester Appelboim
Yitzhak Teper
My first work in Eretz Israel
Rachel Seltzer
Prof' Tcharne Reiss
 
Khotyn Jews in America 240 - 265
In Memoriam
Independent Khotyn Bessarabia Benevolent Association
A word at the end of the campaign
Notes on historical events
A page about the story of the aid from the American Jews
Our town Khotyn
In Memory of Charles Tcherkes
Images
 
The Organization of the Khotyn Jews in Israel 267 - 271
Khotyn Jews in Israel
The Free-of-Interest Loan Fund
The committee of the Khotyner organization
The committee of the publishers of this Yizkor book
 
Khotyn Today 272
 
Names of Khotyn Jews who are not with us any more 273 - 288
 
Memorials and Tombstones 289 - 332
 
List of Photos and Documents 333 - 334
 
List of Authors and Literature 337 - 339

 



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