[Page 351]

ASHER	Sima	(daughter of Eliyahu)
BEN-TSION	Bluma and Pesya	(daughters of Yaakov)
BLIS	Shabse
BRECHER	Ya'akov	a refugee from Germany, who lived in Gorzd 1938-40
BUKNETZ	Rachel	(daughter of David Lam)
FRANK	Naftali, his wife Frieda	and their two children
GUTMAN	Aryeh	(son of Menachem)
HILKOVITZ	Chaya-Sarah	(daughter of Binyamin)
LANG	Aharon	(son of Yissachar)
LANG	Buna and Kuna	(both daughters of Yissachar)
LURIA	Etty	(daughter of Yehoshua-Ya'akov) and her husband
MEISCHOVITZ	Eliyahu and his wife Fanya
RATNER	Shifra	(maiden name Melamed) her husband and two sons
SHINBERG	Dina	(daughter of Rachel and Ya'akov)
SHULMAN	Yosef-Hillel and his wife Yanina
SOKOKOLSKY	Basheva	(maiden name Ornstein) and her husband
SRULEVITZ	Elchanan	his wife and two children
TROIB	Frieda, Dina and Yeshayahu	(children of Shmuel)
VOLFOVITZ	David his wife Sarah-Beila	sons: Dov and Aharon, daughters: Malka and Devorah
VOLFOVITZ	Betty	(daughter of Shmuel)
VOLFOVITZ	Rachel and Shifra	(two daughters of Mordechai)

AKERMAN	Eliyahu
ASHER	Rashel
EISENBERG	Basseh
LURIA	Moritz
RUBINSTEIN	Chaim
RUPEL	Doba
SHLOMAVITZ	Rosa
SHLOMAVITZ	Yoche
VINIK	Layzer
ZILBERG	Yitzhak

AKERMAN	Zuse
KORBMAN	Layzer-Yitzhak
MEISECHOVITZ	Boris
TSUKER	Gutl
TSUKER	Layzer
ZILBERG	Yochai

[Page 353]

Today is a great day for the former residents of Gorzd. Today, the Yizkor Book for our parents, brothers and sisters, who met their cruel death in the Holocaust at the hands of the German Nazis and their Lithuanian helpers, is being published. After much effort, we see in this book a memorial monument for our martyrs, may HaShem avenge their blood. And if someone will say: another book in a series of Yizkor books, then in our eyes, the former residents of Gorzd and the remnants of the families that were destroyed, this book is a link in the chain of the bloody history of the Jewish people. Because, if fate wished that our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, young and old, to play their part in the terrible drama of the blackest period in the history of our people, their memory would also be preserved for future generations. And it seems that the Jewish people have no better way to perpetuate the memory of their martyrs than in a Yizkor Book.

In creating this book, we saw a sacred duty for all those who were fortunate to save their lives before the outbreak of the storm that uprooted our homes, and indeed, from the depths of our hearts, we poured out the most vibrant emotions related to everything that was once the “home,” our lives. How precious this work is to us is evidenced by the response of the city's residents who left Gorzd in their childhood, and also of those whose ancestors were natives of Gorzd, and the town and its way of life are only known to them from stories.

The idea of publishing the Yizkor Book occupied many of us for a long time, but it gained momentum with the arrival of the first Holocaust survivors from Gorzd. Of particular note is the vigilance of the activist, Avraham Orenshteyn, who established close contact with veteran former residents in Israel and overseas: America, South Africa and Canada. The Gorzders in Tel Aviv have a devoted mother in the image of Yehudit Leshem, a friendly and dynamic personality, with many rights in assisting and helping others. Yehudit does not feel insulted at being called “the Gorzders mother,” and for a certain period of her activity after the war she was even called “the refugees' mother.” In versatile activities for Holocaust refugees, before her immigration and in Israel, she did not discriminate between those from Gorzd and needy Jews who were not residents of our town. Her home was always wide open to every needy person who survived the Holocaust. Today, Yehudit Leshem is our adviser, our stronghold of energy and encouragement, despite

[Page 354]

her illness, limited mobility and confinement to a chair. Yehudit serves as the communications focal point for everything related to the book's publication. Like the memory of a computer, Yehudit remembers the residents of Gorzd, the town's atmosphere and its events, and quite a few curiosities related to many of the characters are etched in her memory. It is not for nothing that Yehudit testifies about herself and says: “Of course I remember, after all I am about three hundred years old”…

The publication of the Yizkor Book for Gorzd is the essence of our satisfaction, and for Yehudit, a compensation of satisfaction for all her blessed and many years of activity.

[Page 355]

Many years have passed since the Jews of our town were exterminated during the terrible Holocaust. But the sound of blood emanating from the mass graves in the forsaken land demanded that we, the survivors of Gorzd, erect a memorial to our martyrs.

The thought of commemorating our town, Gorzd, has been in our hearts for a long time. Among the former residents of Gorzd in Israel there are some who have been bothered by the issue for years. At the home of Yehudit Leshem, the “mother” of the Gorzders in Israel and the world, the problem was raised with every Gorzder who gathered there to talk and reminisce, or to remember fondly the home that was destroyed and no longer exists.

The first activity was born in such a meeting in 1972. An initiators' committee was organized. We collected donations of twenty pounds from the Jews of Gorzd who responded and placed a memorial plaque at the Chamber of the Holocaust on Mount Zion. In August 1973, we arrived by organized transportation to Mount Zion, held a memorial service by the memorial plaque and united with the memory of our loved ones who were murdered in the Holocaust.

A year later, we held a memorial service in the hall of the Association of Lithuanian Expatriates in Tel Aviv, in which most of the former residents of Gorzd participated.

Since then, the idea of publishing a Yizkor Book has gained momentum, and the meetings of the committee have been held regularly at Yehudit Leshem's home and with her advice. The living spirit of our organization and the driving force of all of our activities. Her energy, dedication, love of people, and especially the affection she feels for our townspeople, as if they were her family, inspired many in Israel and overseas to act on behalf of our organization and for the publication of the book.

In January 1973, we held a general meeting of former residents of Gorzd in the hall of the Association of Lithuanian Expatriates and brought the idea of the publication of the Yizkor Book before the participants.

In order to stimulate the process of collecting material and writing memoirs, and to expedite the financial operation, a Book Committee and Editorial Staff were elected. The elected members are: Yehudit Leshem, Avraham Orenshteyn, Rivka Naveh, Dr. Ben-Zion Inberi-Burshteyn, Moshe Katz and Moshe Hilcowitz. The committee member, Avraham Orenshteyn, made a great effort to locate Gorzders in Israel and abroad. When he had about seventy addresses in his possession, we wrote letters, once or twice, to former residents of our town, wherever they were,

[Page 356]

and asked for written material about life in the town and photos that would one day be public value for a book. At this stage, we opened a bank account and, from now on, we sent letters on a special form which indicated the account number. The response was slow, but we made progress in our mission. Our outreach to the public bore fruit. We held general meetings (about once a year) and meetings once every four or six weeks. In the past year, we have noted a significant revival, both in the writing of memoirs and in the finding of documentary material from various sources, which may shed light on the life of the Jewish community in Gorzd at the beginning of the century.

Creating the book was not easy for us, the task was too heavy and responsible. The members of the Book Committee gave much of their time, for over three years they engaged in diligent and precise work and assisted the editor in verifying the facts. This sacred work required great effort and was done with inspiration and devotion to the noble mission of perpetuating our community (for whose memory we performed this sacred work).

With the publication of our Yizkor Book, the organization does not end its activities. On the contrary, we will seek ways and means to continue our activities among the former residents of Gorzd in Israel and abroad.

[Page 357]

The committee at the memorial gathering in Tel Aviv, Dr. Ben-Zion Inberi-Burshteyn speaking

[Page 358]

Former residents of Gorzd in Israel next to the memorial plaque on Mount Zion

[Page 359]

A happy day for us Gorzders: today our Yizkor Book for Gorzd is published. There is no greater paradox: how can we call it a happy day when we erect a monument for a dear one who was part of our very selves? And this book must be a monument for each of our dear ones who were so brutally and tragically killed by our bitter enemies.

Someone could say: yet another book in a collection of Yizkor Books. But for those of us from Gorzd, it is more than a Yizkor Book. Because if fate had wanted it so that our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers – from the old to suckling infants – should play such a bloody role in the sad martyrology of the Jewish people, future generations should know about them; and there is no better way to sanctify their sacred memory for the People of the Book than through a book. The issuance of this memorial book has been the sacred responsibility of the few Gorzd Jews who left Gorzd before the fire consumed our home. We knew no other home. We had no other. This book is a relic for all the feelings that are called forth by the phrase “my home.” This we can see in the warm response of people who do not remember Gorzd itself but whose parents, or even their grandparents, came from Gorzd.

The idea of issuing a Yizkor Book had long existed among some of the Gorzders in Israel. But it only took on a concrete form with the arrival of some of the remnants after the war. We must emphasize that Avraham Ornshteyn was one of the first who made the idea a reality. And Gordzers in Israel have a matriarch: Yehudit Leshem. Yehudit is not insulted when people call her “the matriarch of Gorzd.” Actually, Yehudit is not only the matriarch of Gorzd, for she is also the matriarch of all who are in need, because

[Page 360]

Yehudit's devotion to all the war's refugees was multi-faceted, and she made no distinction between Gordzers and other Jews from Lithuania who were in need. Now Yehudit Leshem is our advisor, our encourager, and the source of energy for all who are involved in the production of the Gorzd Yizkor Book. Limited in her movements, Yehudit sits in her seat and she is so to speak, the center of communications for the survivors of Gorzd. Blessed with a splendid memory, she recalls every Gorzder, every event that occurred in town over the course of many years.

Yehudit says laconically about herself, “Children, I'm 300 years old.” And her warmth, her generosity, and her friendliness toward everyone maker her home a meeting place for all who retain feelings and memories of our home. The publication of this book offers great satisfaction to Yehudit for her long years of effort and activity.

It is our pleasant obligation to remember our Gorzd Tzilah Hirsch (née Feel) in Johannesburg who, through her friend in Israel, Sarah Rubel (née Frak), helped to interest numerous Gorzders in Africa, who responded warmly to our invitation.

  Gargzdai, Lithuania     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2026 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 04 Nov 2026 by OR