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Standing: Mekhl Kanner, Avrom Varman, and Mordkhe Puterman
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[Page 126]
Translated by Yael Chaver
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When talking about survivors of Krasnystaw, the reference is usually to those who were living in the town when the war broke out in 1939. However, this terminology is not completely accurate.
Actually, with a few exceptions, the only survivors were those who left Krasnystaw before the German savages took control of the town, or immediately after their arrival. These people realized only at the last minute what their fate would be if they stayed in town; they fled to the Soviet Union, the only country where refuge was then still possible.
But there were many Krasnystaw residents who had gone to other countries years earlier. They had realized that they could not build a life in the town. They saw that the Jewish masses were gradually being pushed out of all the professions and could not make a living. The repressive Polish regime was forcing them to leave the town or be condemned to a life with no chance of advancement. They therefore decided to leave for other countries, where they believed there would be more freedom and other possibilities to realize their potential. I believe that those who left for America or other countries overseas years earlier had been much more prescient and willing to take risks than those who fled after the war broke out, right before the impending catastrophe. Obviously, those who
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had left to become Jewish settlers in the Land of Israel were really adventurous and revolutionary.
Thanks to their bravery, they and their children were saved from certain death and decline, and should thus also be numbered among the survivors. Fate willed that those who had left Krasnystaw earlier would now become the main rescuers of those who survived destruction by the Nazis.
In fact, this is true not only of the Krasnystaw survivors but of all the Jewish survivors of the destruction. If it weren't for the Jews in America, most of whom are from Poland, the survivors would probably not be alive today. The material help from our brothers in the U.S.A. helped us, the survivors of the gas chambers and crematoriums, play a role in the resurrection of the Jewish people after the most recent destruction.
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Standing: Mekhl Kanner, Avrom Varman, and Mordkhe Puterman |
The enormous efforts being made to maintain and restore the lives of the few surviving Jews of Europe are closely linked with the dedication and goodwill of our American brothers. Help is reaching us through different channels: general national institutions as well as associations of natives.
This Yizkor Book, which is a monument to our murdered martyrs, must certainly also contain material about the survivors. May it be a consolation when we recount that our enemy could not destroy
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the entire Jewish nation, and that the survivors are continuing to spin the thread of Jewish history.
This is not the place to write about the general international efforts to support revival. We would only like to mention the unusual, extremely important work that the survivors' associations carried out to help their members with direct and timely material aid, as well as the organizational work of the survivors in the camps.
Our Krasnystaw natives in America do not lag behind the natives of other towns. Each person supports the general institutions, such as the “Joint,” the Keren Kayemet, Keren Hayesod, and other national funds, and also donate directly to their fellow natives in the camps on the cursed, blood-soaked soil of Germany.[1]
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The main significance of this help lies not only in its material value, as important as it is. The few survivors, who felt so bereft after the destruction, needed, above all,
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the encouragement and cheer supplied by a warm word, to enable them to continue their lives. Above all, they needed a warm brotherly hand to demonstrate that they had not been forgotten, and left lonely and neglected.
The main reason the survivors decided to organize in associations was their desire to meet once again with familiar people from their hometown. People wanted to huddle close to each other; they all felt orphaned. For this reason, as well as the desire to mourn those martyred – brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and friends – in community, our Krasnystaw survivors' association was formed.
Fate had decreed that in 1939, when the Nazi flood overwhelmed Poland and drew near to our town, a certain number of people had the opportunity to save themselves in the Soviet Union. About one hundred people then fled at that time, and are today the only survivors of the Krasnystaw Jewish community. Those who stayed in the town and were overtaken by the Nazi occupation were gruesomely murdered and annihilated. Miraculously, three young women also survived: Esther Muterperl (daughter of Itshele Muterperl); Esther Knobel (daughter of Abish Knobel, and Tzipora
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May 12, 1948, in Bad Reichenhall (Bavaria) |
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Zigelshifer (the daughter of Yitzchok Zigelshifer) who was tortured so severely and was so weak that she died in Germany. A few young people also survived, due to the fact that they were shipped to Germany for hard labor and lived there under Aryan names. All the others were taken, together with the Jews from the surrounding towns, to Belzec, where they were murdered. Many of them were murdered in Krasnystaw proper.
Only those who had fled to the Soviet Union and had lived there for five years under various conditions finally returned to Poland. The few dozen Krasnystaw natives who returned from the U.S.S.R. after the war were like twigs broken off an enormous tree.
It was mostly the young who went to the U.S.S.R. Older people did not go. No one could have imagined that the Germans would murder everyone in the devilishly refined manner that they did – old, young, men, women, and children. The older people thought, “Jews are accustomed to having problems, and people prefer to die in their own beds.” They couldn't imagine that the murderers wouldn't allow people to die in their own beds, and that the dead wouldn't even be buried in a Jewish cemetery.
Those in the Soviet Union had no idea of the scope of the disaster. People heard what Hitler had been doing to the Jews, and their hearts contracted with worry for the fate of their nearest and dearest: mothers, fathers, and families. But these thoughts were shoved aside: “Such cruelty is impossible,” “the world won't be silent.” In each of us there lived a spark of hope that we would make it through the dark days and meet our nearest and dearest once again.
That was also why all the Polish Jews hurried back once the war was over. But they did not find their dear ones, only emptiness and desolation. The Krasnystaw survivors went back to their town fearing for their lives, as rampaging gangs of ruffians were freely attacking Jews there.
The Jewish homes were now occupied by non-Jews, and there was no trace of family members. The survivors fled as though from an epidemic, chased by the dark, bloody nightmare of destruction, and wandered all over Poland. It was then that they decided to leave Poland with no clear destination, and ended up in the displaced-persons camps.
Thanks to two enterprising people, a meeting of Krasnystaw survivors was held in Bad Reichenhall on May 5, 1947. Many tears
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were shed that day. People swore to remember the martyrs forever.
People sought consolation among our fellow natives in America and elsewhere. It was not material help – although that was also needed – as much as warm words of sharing in grief. I would like to emphasize that the first words of sympathy came from the Committee in Los Angeles. The first letter from the chairman, our dear Ben Tsukerman, was worth more than the greatest treasure. The Los Angeles Committee also sent material help, through Ben Tsukerman. Although Los Angeles was the home of only a few of our hometown survivors, they sent more help than any of the other committees combined. Hundreds of food packages and dozens of packages with clothes arrived, thanks to Ben alone.
Ben Tsukerman also sent money to each survivor. I would like to emphasize the manner in which this help was extended: always whole-heartedly, and with care for the recipients' humanity.
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Ben Tsukerman, the distinguished chairman of the Los Angeles Committee was the chief force behind the creation of this memorial book.
The main achievements of the Los Angeles Committee are, without question, preservation of the memory of the murdered Jews of Krasnystaw as well as the help extended to the survivors.
The work of the Krasnystaw survivors' organization in Germany would certainly not have been possible without the help of Ben Tsukerman and the Los Angeles Committee.
Our fellow survivors in New York as well, headed by President Sam Lichtenshteyn, did not forget their sacred duty towards their unhappy brothers in the DP camps. The New York Aid Committee is continuing its assistance by sending money to many individual survivors.
We heard that an Aid Committee was formed in Argentina as well, headed by Mr. Gershn Shtern. Unfortunately, we have as yet not been able to be in close contact with the Argentina Aid Committee due to distance and communication issues. However, we are convinced that all the Krasnystaw survivors, wherever they are, are committed to carrying out the last will and testament of the martyrs: making sure that the memory of Jewish Krasnystaw shall not disappear, and that the Jewish people shall continue to exist.
May the participants be blessed!
Translator's footnote:
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JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
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