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When the rabbi noticed me, he immediately asked me to read the page out loud. However, I wouldn't let him cut short his class. The next day I started reading the page at the same spot where I was before my trip to America.

        Shortly afterwards, Rabbi Ze'ev Wolf Miller, the rabbinical judge in town, left Drohitchin and became a rabbi in Pinsk. The "Polish group" built the non-chassid a house and a House of Study. Most of the householders, however, remained at the synagogues where they were members before. This indicated that the dispute was starting to dissipate.

[Photo:] The teacher, Betzalel Wolfson, with his class before World War I.

        A couple of years before World War I, the "Polish" rabbi married off his eldest daughter to a young ordained rabbi. Shortly after his daughter's wedding, in 1912, the non-chassid died, and was buried on the second day of Shavuot. The non-chassid's position was filled by his son-in-law, Rabbi Noach Kahn (Rabbi Kahn died in the United States).

G.

Outbreak of World War I

        When World War I broke out, the rabbinical dispute came to an end, and the nicknames "Russian group" and "Polish group" were totally forgotten. Everyone had the sense that bad times were coming, especially for the Jews. Many young men immediately set off for the border areas, just as people did during the Russo-Japanese War, in order to get to the United States. This time, however, they quickly found out that the borders were locked tight.

        Businessmen faced tight money, and anyone who had some money hid it; no one paid off their debts, and no loans were available. Thus, the situation progressively deteriorated.

        A couple of months later, dozens of Jewish refugee families, who were expelled from towns and cities along the war front, arrived in Drohitchin.

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We housed the refugees in the Houses of Study and in private homes, and provided them with food and clothing.

        The local mayor and police chief started helping the Czarist regime to collect as much money as possible for the war effort. They went from house to house, requiring each person to contribute 1 to 3 rubles to the national treasury. The Russian police also went around to local villages and signed up the peasants to pay a monthly contribution. Of course, the Jews paid their promised contributions on time. However, when the police went to collect money from the peasants, the peasants responded, "We don't have any money, so we might as well go to jail."

        [Photo:] Jan Meier, Rachel Goldfarb, Aharon Drogitchinsky and Tilla Zucker

        When the Germans got to Warsaw, the Russian police issued an order to turn over anything made of copper and brass, including brass vessels, at the mayor's house, where everything was listed and registered. People were promised that after the war, the Russian government would pay for the confiscated possessions.

        The Germans moved quickly from Warsaw to Brisk. There was a drought that particular summer, which benefited both sides. With dry weather, the Germans were able to advance faster, and the Russians were able to retreat more quickly. The Germans arrived in Brisk very quickly, and the Russians evacuated the entire population of Brisk and burned down the city. Many Jews were stranded in Drohitchin, and many moved further into Russia with the Russian troops.

        Afterwards, as soon as the Germans arrived in Brisk without a shot, they realized that there would be a battle around Drohitchin. The Russians decided to initiate a resistance to give their army time to retreat. All the peasants from around Drohitchin were terrified of the Germans; they abandoned their homes and escaped to Russia with wagons full of grain. The Jews, however, had long experience with Czarist pogroms, and since the Germans were then considered to be the supporters of freedom, the Jews decided to stay put. This was 3 weeks before Rosh Hashanah, and because of the drought, the Vion, which had been filled with marshland and water, now turned as dry as bone. People decided to build trenches on the Vion so they could hide out of the line of fire until the end of the fighting.

        The streets of Drohitchin were filled with retreating Russian soldiers and trucks as day and night they made their way to Pinsk. The deafening noise of the horses and other animals that the Russians soldiers were leading away with them filled the air. Many of the animals died from thirst along the way because of the drought. To make matters worse, thousands of fleeing peasants and their wagons added to the confusion. All the peasants of Zaritshka, Stara-Silia and other villages traveled with the Russian army. Only one gentile, the bathhouse owner remained, and he ended up being vital for lighting flames on the Sabbath.

        Every Jew bought a horse and wagon so that if, at the last minute, the Russians decided to expel the Jews from town, the Jews would have means to escape. Together with another Jew I bought a team of horses. I didn't obviously know how to climb up on a horse. People spent the last couple of days digging. First of all, they buried their few remaining possessions, and then started digging the trenches on the Vion. Everything was ready on the last day, and we waited for the inevitable. The town became filled with Cossacks and Circassians; this was considered a sign that the Germans were close by. Occasionally I saw a line of refugees and their children and bundles on wagons. I looked and them and realized they were Drohitchin Jews from Egypt Street. I ran out of the house and showed them the way. I told them that

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