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“Let the living remember his dead for Behold they are here, Behold their eyes cast around and about. So let us not rest May our lives be worthy of their memory”. (Abba Kovner from Yizkor at Yom HaShoah v'Hazikaron–Remembrance Day of the Holocaust)

This Yizkor Book is not written to satisfy a certain need of the readers. It is one of hundreds of Yizkor Books of Jewish Communities that were ruined and destroyed by the Nazi beasts and their henchmen.

The book is the first for all of us, for the remainders of our city's citizens in Israel and in other countries around the world; an expression of mourning and grief, for the sorrow and fury of the loss of our parents, brothers, sisters, our relatives and friends, men and women, old and young – who were murdered together with the other six million Jews in strange deaths, despite their innocence.

So that we will know and remember till the end of time what the murderers did to us – the few who miraculously saved themselves from the crematoriums and had written down the horrors, the abuses of body and soul and deadly terror that was their daily life; the horrific and cruel extermination they saw with their own eyes since the day the Germans conquered the city until they were released at the end of the war, broken and depressed. Their testimonies are printed in this book as they were written without beautifying anything.

At first people refused to remember and recall these bloody times whether in writing or orally. Not thinking about it was the only way to transition from madness to normal human lives again. But after many deliberations they recognized the importance of their testimonies so that they would be engraved for eternal memory till the end of time.

When we began reading the Shoah narratives they wrote, we were shocked and were too heartbroken and pained and had to postpone the reading to the next day. But also, on the

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second and third time some of us broke down crying hysterically while reading – and had to stop.

I have read and heard a lot about the Shoah, still I had a difficult time sleeping at night while I was reading this terrible chronical of heartbreak. Not just because the horrible sights and nightmares when I witnessed how my mother, sisters, brother and their children perished, I was sleepless also because of my contained rage and impotence confronting the disturbing question: why and wherefore did the Germans inflict such destruction and Holocaust on the Jewish People?!

I am about seventy years old now, and I hereby testify and bear witness for the next generations: everything described in this book about torture, abuse and murderous acts – is the truth and nothing but the truth! It was all written according to the remaining witnesses of Maków.

“Behold their eyes cast around and about. So let us not rest, may our lives be worthy of their memory!”

The history chapters, the memories and the poems about the city's Jews, about their lives, traditions, way of life – were written by our city's citizens, most of them simple people who tell things the way they happened about their perished dearest and nearest, nestling lovingly within the landscape of the town where they were born and raised, and their accounts – like writings on tombs, we are engraving with this book on the unknown graves of our sacred…

so that our sons and grandsons after us would know what the Nazi murderers did to rip us apart, not because we were the worst people ever, but because we were the best and weakest among them.

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With fear and trepidation, I undertook the Holy task – to edit this Yiskor Book.

I was never in Maków Mazowiecki. I didn't know its Jews that lived there, its institutions they established, and the schools and Beis–Midrashim they built over the course of time.

MM was an old, deeply rooted and established community with its unique Jewish lifestyle, with her traditions, with her suffering and her joy… a branch of a larger tree: Polish Jewry.

Then suddenly came the bloody Hitler–era; both the large tree and its branches were cut down and destroyed. Maków shared the same fate as all the Jewish communities in Poland, they were exterminated by the German occupation. Like I said, the Maków community was unfamiliar to me. But when I started to read and review the preserved material, reviewed the witness accounts, MM , each day, became more familiar to me, closer, like I also came from Maków. It seemed to me, I walked alongside the youth of Maków in the “pine–forest”, reflected in the waters of the Ozycz, attended their assemblies, marched with the children through the Makover streets on the days of Lag B'Omer celebrations, participated in the Zionist manifestations, flower–day, bazaars. I was in awe of the devoted Jewish members of philanthropic institutions and its members, from magistrates to employees, who worked with devotion for a common goal without seeking personal reward.

I became acquainted with the history of Maków since the 16^th century, with her Torah scholars, Rabbis and Gaonim, educated ones, yeshivahs, teachers, tutors, writers and poets. I loitered in the market–square, sat in the “potchekalnye”[station], greeted the children at the kindergarten, cheder, folk–schul, Jewish gymnasia: I watched Jewish merchants, shopkeepers, craftsmen, wagon– drivers,

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fur–tradesmen, Tzizot–makers[religious undergarment]! I saw the righteous women of the city, who, every Erev Shabbat and Erev Yom–Tov[holiday], distributed challas [bread] for the needy Jews, visited the sick and elderly in hospitals.

I saw the Jews, bedecked in their finest garments, going to synagogue to pray so the Almighty will wash away their sins, which generally they did not commit.

This is why my hand trembled and my heart ached, when I had to edit [bear witness] the cruel descriptions of the destruction of this community.

Who can endure, who can explain this hellish torment of these victims.

Those that survived the Hitlerite executioners and their killing–machines, who endured long hours of suffering at the hands of the Germans, endless days and nights, in concentration camps, ghettos– the refined Nazi tortures and killing methods of the sadistic beasts. Gruesome pictures began to enfold before my eyes: here they chase a group of Jews, old ones, women and children into the train cars Whoever remains behind, is either beaten or shot. Everywhere– death, death and death…selections, gas chambers, crematoriums–factories of death. The officers and S.S. personnel, with great enthusiasm, carry out Hitler's order for his valid solution“ to the Jewish Question”.

This is all from the first source that was written and described–also about the Makover heroes in the death camps and in other places. These pages will serve as historical evidence –documents to provide witness to the largest mass murder in human history, which the Germans and their henchmen carried out in the years of the second World War. This will be our memorial, not only for us, but for future generations, to REMEMBER, NEVER FORGET! What the German Amelak did to the Jewish people.

The organization, Yotzei Maków, in Israel and the Makover Landsleit [brothers] in America , on the occasion of the printing of this Yiskor Book, created an everlasting monument to their destroyed community.

This book shall serve as a memorial to the victims of Maków Mazowiecki, who were so brutally cut down, just because they were Jews.

Blessed be their memory!

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With a trembling hand and a sense of sanctity and respect, we bring to you, dear brothers and sisters this memorial book, the blood chronicles of our tragically exterminated Jewish community.

We the survivors have the obligation to describe for you and future generations the tragic fate of this shocking period when our town was exterminated by the Nazi murderers – a period, when the greatest crimes in human history were perpetrated against the Jews, before the eyes of the whole world.

May this memorial book serve as a dignified monument for the thousands of fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters who tragically suffered a martyr's death, whose bones and ashes are strewn over deserted fields and forests in Europe.

It was not easy for us to gather and assemble the material for this book. All the Maków historical sources and archives were destroyed with the town. It was through great will and stubbornness that we succeeded in producing this sanctified work. We collected material from various sources. It was with immense effort that we were able to build this monument brick by brick.

We tried as best we could to reflect our town in this book from all sides of light and shadow, beginning with the history of its establishment until its tragic destruction. This book contains descriptions, accounts and memories of the various institutions, political parties, cultural societies, personalities, rabbis, community workers, folk types etc…

A large part of this book is about the period of destruction and heroism. Those from our town who experienced hell and miraculously were saved made a huge and painful effort to relive their horrific memories from extermination camps, ghettos and put it on paper. They also described the uprising in Auschwitz concentration camp

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in which many Maków Jews took part and died a hero's death.

Our hearts bleed when we see, through reading, the scenes of those dark days, when thousands of Maków Jewish lives squirmed in fear and suffering, cold and hunger, in the abyss of horrifying death, and the world remained silent;

Our hearts bleed for the murdered children, who had no conception of what was wanted from them and what was going on. They were torn from their mother's arms, from their mother's breasts, and killed.

In this book we can hear the cries of all the Maków martyrs and heroes who were so cruelly exterminated.

Our hearts ace and bleed when we read the history of our annihilated home where we grew up together with our family nests of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, children and friends;

Our hearts ache for our dear town, all the Maków holy men, the scholars, the ignorant and common folk, all the heroes of Maków that fell under all kinds of circumstances rising up to the murderers;

Our hearts ache for all the exterminated lives, for all those who died in the worst destruction of our history.

May their memories serve as a blessing!

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It all began at the memorial on the 3^rd of Tevet, 1945. The first survivors arrived with the illegal immigration to the Land of Israel. The wounds in their hearts were still fresh and their bodies were still not totally healed. After the cantor finished singing the memorial prayer, one of the survivors told me in his simple Maków accent, how Maków Jews were exterminated. He spent two hours describing the horrific end, which began with the Nazi occupation until the last days of the Maków martyrs. Those gathered were shocked. Everyone cried: some out loud, others in silence. Everyone felt they were standing in front of the open graves of relatives. That evening, everyone felt in their hearts that we must never forget. Already then peopled made a vow to erect a monument for the unknown graves. It was decided to plant a Martyr's Forest. Others suggested we publish a memorial book.

Years passed and nothing was done about the book.

Due to the initiative of Yad Vashem and diligent workers from the American “Relief”, the Organization of Jews from Maków in Israel succeeded in erecting a monument in the Martyr's Forest in Jerusalem. Later two more monuments were erected, one in the Chamber of the Holocaust and the other on Mt. Zion.

This however did not please many of the survivors. They could not rest. They wanted to publish a memorial book. At every opportunity, either at a meeting or memorial evening they brought up the plan of a memorial book. Many of the people from Maków doubted this was possible. They argued that it would be difficult to carry out this plan with the poor amount of Maków strength. Many were passive and did not react at all. They emphasized they if we could find a few “crazy” people to deal with this matter, it may be possible to think about writing a memorial book.

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Finally, a few “crazy” people were found. They argued, such a book must be published. They did not forge the last will of people going to their deaths that we should remember, recount and describe this great destruction, so the future generations could know, remember and take revenge.

There were many difficulties and disruptions on the path to realize the plan to publish the book. We had to overcome everything.

After the War of Independence, Yisroel Frenkel approached me a few times, and others as well, with the suggestion of starting to work on a memorial book. When hearing about the horrible past, Yisroel Frenkel would always say: “why isn't this all recorded? Memoirs must be collected to be the foundation of the memorial book”. Yisroel Frenkel said this to everyone whom he met from Maków, especially those who remembered and could tell their story. His ability to persuade helped with the first steps as well the later activity in connection to the publication of this book.

A meeting was called on February 22^nd 1964 dedicated solely to this book. Those participating that evening were: Yisroel Frenkel, Yekhezkel Itzcovitch, Natan Shachar, Khaim Vilenberg, Dovid Bukhner, Nisn Zilberberg, Rokhl Makover (Goldvaser), Dvoyre Heller (Goldvaser) and Mordkhai Ciechanower. There were others at that meeting who were skeptical. Thanks to the persuasive power of 3–4 participants the majority decided to publish a book. The following were elected to the book committee at this meeting:

1. Yakov Moishe Skurnik – chairman of the committee.
2. Yekhezkel Itzcovitch – external secretary, concentrating on material.
3. Yisroel Frenkel – vice – chairman.
4. Natan Shachar – treasurer.
5. Mordkhai Ciechanower – secretary.

1. Yakov Moishe Skrunik would establish contact with the library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and other archives to search for material about Jewish life in Maków, and later edit the material.

2. Natan Shachar will write to the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and request historical material about Maków Jewry.
3. Yekhezkel Itzcovitch had to contact Mr. Tzinovitz (researcher of Jewish life in Poland) and at the same time look for an appropriate editor.

In 1964 a circular was once again sent to everyone from Maków. They were asked to submit descriptions, documents, photographs and other material for the book. We also turned to Maków city hall, to the secretary, for material as well as a map of Maków. Unfortunately we did not receive anything from them.

The first amount of 1000 Israeli ponds was loaned to us from the Maków Society.

Until October 1964, Yekhezkel Itzcovitch met with a few editors. One of them was our present editor Mr. Yitzkhak Brat. After everyone on the book committee met Mr. Brat it was decided he would be our editor. One important condition was that Mr. Brat meet with people form Maków who remember a lot, especially about the holocaust. They will recount, and he will write. At the same time, we reached out to everyone from Maków asking everyone who wanted to tell or send to something to the editor, to send it through the committee. This is how are first descriptions came to be.

Thanks to the written contact made by Natan Shachar to Professor Ber Mark of blessed memory (former director of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw) we received a few very important documents.

The correspondence between our committee and Yakov Khaim Sobol (secretary of the American book committee) was intensive. The warm letters and encouragement our committee received from Yakov Khaim Sobol influenced us greatly in achieving our goal. Yakov Khaim wrote the following in one of his letters: “We are walking with you hand in hand toward the publication of this memorial book, which will remain a monument for generations to come.

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A letter from Professor Berl Mark, in Polish from the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, dated May 26, 1964

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We would like to help you spiritually, technically and financially in everything you desire”.

This is how the American book committee accompanied us from the beginning until the book was published.

A few years ago our friend Hillel Raytchik, one of the most energetic workers on the American committee doubted the realization of our plan. He thought our possibilities were very limited. A while later, when he saw our dreams were being realized he really devoted himself and did everything to help us in every respect.

In 1966 our friends from America, Ida and Avreyml Garfinkel moved to Israel. As active members of the American committee they provided us with an exact account of the activity there. In December 1966 the first descriptions and photos arrived from America. We also began to receive more material from Maków Jews in Israel. We decided to invite Ida and Avreyml Garfinkel to join our committee. They diligently worked and participated in our committee meetings which took place every Wednesday at the Garfinkel's home.

In time the work broadened. We had to review the material sent to us, improve, rewrite, match appropriate photos with texts trying as hard as possible to leave anything out. Although we had received some names from America, we sat until late at night and did a “walk” through Maków, from street to street, from house to house. Thanks to the intensive work of searching for names, we prepared a maximal list of all the Maków martyrs.

Seeing how the material was growing from day to day, our friend Yakov Moishe Sobol began to work intensively. For a long period of time, he left his kibbutz Shoval and sat in the libraries in Jerusalem and Tal Aviv. He took notes, collected material, and improved his work until we received the interesting historical descriptions of Jewish life in Maków.

I cannot begin to imagine what the book would have looked like, or if it would have been published altogether without the intensive work and devotion of Yekhezkel Itzcovitch. He carried out the correspondence with our friends abroad, maintained regular contact with the editor and was the living spirit of the book committee.

Having full trust in the American book committee that they would help financially and with collecting material for the memorial book, in December 1967 we were ready to realize our plan. We signed a contract with a publisher and finally regulated matters with our editor. The book committee in Israel committed to submit the material while at the same time guaranteed the sum owed according to the contract. The publisher and editor both committed to carry out the agreed upon terms.

Our committee faced one problem, the drawing of a map of Maków. Luckily, we found an architect who came from Maków. This is: Novomaysky – Shelsky. He took this task upon himself, and with the help of Moishe Katz, Yitzkhak Shlomivitch, Shmuel Taub, Dovid Gromb and others, the map was drawn from memory. Our thanks go out to these friends for this important work.

We would also like to thank our friend Pinchas Shuldenrein* from America who drew the cover page. The flaming letters express the content of this book.

To everyone, who helped bring about this memorial book, some editing material, others registering and sending the names of our martyrs and others with material help and encouragement, a heartfelt thank you!

And lastly, I am obliged in the name of the committee in Israel and America, and also in the name of all Jews who come from Maków, to thank the editor, Mr. Yitzkhak Brat who accompanied us on this journey, from the first day until the day this book was published.

*Pinchas Schuldenrein, later known by the name Paul Sharon, studied in the Warsaw Academy of Arts, (1912–1998). He taught art to the children in the displaced persons' camp in Zeilsheim, where he created his famous works–“Yiskor”. He immigrated to the U.S. and he became an independent graphic artist and worked for the Schlesinger Brothers.

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In preparation for the publication of the “Yizkor” Book to memorialize the Maków Community I was instructed to give a review on the organization of the “Association of Maków Residents in Israel”, about its “birth” and its operation to this day.

Contrary to what is considered among our city residents as the beginning of the organization when the Charity Fund was created – in my opinion, I believe the founding of the Charity Fund in 1951 was only one of the organization's activities, as we will see below; the Fund had existed since 1945.

Unfortunately, I could not find in the archives any data from this early period of time, but as far as my memory goes, the founding of the organization was a subject of discussion among its members as early as the early thirties. The few Aliyah pioneers from our city [Maków] were dispersed all over Israel, sometimes they got together by chance and then the conversation shifted to discussing the need to establish an organization of “Maków Landsleit” [former residents]. There were disagreements and those who were opposed to establishing an organization underlined the point that they needed to “burn all bridges” and terminate the “small minded shtetel”. This was the belief among those early pioneers who wanted to get established in this country, build a new society and forge a new “type” of Jew.

I was one of those who was for it – “Let's establish”. Of course, I could not fathom what was going to happen to the Jewish People but I learned from the few survivors of Maków who arrived in Israel after the war, how deep the need was for a “help society” to address these needs. I remember when the late Berko Hendel arriving in Israel and his difficult absorption, the problem of a melting–pot existed back then as well. The reality in Israel was different from the training and the training–camps of Hashomer–Hatzair (to which he belonged). He debated a lot about the social problems and was delighted to find my home open to him. (He stayed with me for some time). Here he was able to meet people, acquaintances, he learned the country's customs and explored all the possibilities of working in his profession – he was good at drawing. There were other Maków residents who sought out our help. Among them were Yehiel–Meir Plato, Yaakov Haim Goldstein; they sought advise how to put down roots in Israel.

I was hoping for more such applications, and I did not want my response to be an individual one. Some arrived as “tourists” and were willing to lose their return ticket, in case they were unable to find their place [opportunities for employment] here, they needed encouragement and which they received with the close, welcoming, friendly reception and sometimes also: “Where we sleep – you will sleep too, we will add a tomato to the salad and there will be enough for all of us…”

I had felt this “new immigrant” insecurity first hand. Although my brother was already a veteran of nearly two years in Israel, he and other relatives helped me with my first steps

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of absorption in the new country. I had a deep wish to meet with Maków residents who preceded me in making Aliyah, to talk to them about their experiences, transitioning from life in a village to a more meaningful life towards fulfilling the[Zionist] ideals, at the same time drawing from the source [Maków] of our previous lives[in the shtetl]. I felt all this again when I was asked to give my opinion about the need to establish an “Organization of Former Residents of Maków”, and despite the fond memories I carry in my heart of these good–deeds, what individuals did for each other, and which I personally enjoyed, for instance: the house of Sara Nesher–Orlik, where I met for the first time our city residents who were members of the Zionist movement, the family – Duba and Itzhak Sheinberg, old veterans of Maków; despite their warm welcome in their home – I knew these were rare and random occurrences. The general need was absolutely justified for the founding of a public address[building] for all the needy could use.

As said: we were only talking among friends, and it didn't come to fruition. A new reality (and not so new) was taking place in Israel. The Arabs were conducting riots that spread all over Israel. The roads became insecure. Israel entered a period of new events. Similar to the numerous fires [pogroms, etc.] in Maków, that marked different periods of the lives of Jews in our town – so were the bloody events in Israel, the time of the riots of 1936–1939, which lasted until World War II. All the inhabitants were busy after working hours guarding and training and did not think about “less important issues”. And if the organization was founded despite this and an address was created for whomever needed it – one should see it as the fulfillment of a vision that its members had in previous years.

A group of pioneers with Moshe Kliner preparing for his Aliyah in 1930

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I mentioned before that there is no official date for the establishment of the organization, but according to receipts that were given to different doners in 1945 you can see that the organization already existed in the beginning of 1945 and maybe even before, we find from that year a list of people who donated 330 Israeli Lira, collected by members Devora Heller–Goldwasser, Epstein–Vilenberg, Sara and David Bochner.

Unfortunately, the committee did not engage in activities like the ones the previous idealists had in mind but were busy with current affairs: things they had to deal with– the extermination that the twentieth century “Haman” descended upon us.

In a letter from Hiam (Leibel) Vilenberg from 9/13/1945 at the end of World War Two, sent from Maków, he lists the names of the survivors he knows: Azrielevitz, Dobres, Goldwasser, Plotke, Students, Rachel Bloom, Raychik (in Estonia) and the late Ingberman (who later died on his way from New York to Israel on board on El–Al airplane over Bulgaria). He expresses his gratitude for the food–packages that were sent to Maków. According to receipts of that year such packages were also sent to refugees of our city living in Russia.

That year's letters began to arrive (not always from Maków residents) asking to get news about the fate of their relatives who were driven away from their villages to the Maków ghetto. These letters, written in a style of heart–wrenching pleas, arrived most of the time to the late Yahushua Makover's address. (Who knows what their effect was on his weak heart…?)

In 1946 the first letter from Etta Segal arrived from New York, in which she describes their hard work, striving to connect survivors with their relatives in America. In that letter Etta asks about our possibilities to help those who are in Poland or Germany and wish to make Aliyah [to Israel]. They were willing to fund–raise money for this purpose, in addition to the 200 dollars they had sent to assist the needy. She goes on to detail the horrific descriptions the first survivor – Yaakov Sheinberg made on them when he arrived in New York. He personally recounted all the sufferings and tortures, that our city residents experienced under the regime of Hitler, may his name be forever erased.

A connection was established between the committee of the organization [Israel] and the “Hilfes–Camitata”) (The Help Committee) in New York and in one of the letters Chil Raychik (the secretary of Maków residents in the US) asks about the additional 200 dollars that was sent to the committee which did not get official approval – although they found out the money did reach its destination. He goes on to ask that we send “a request”[visa] for Rabbi Newman to visit Israel and when he arrives to make sure he has a place to stay.

Meanwhile refugees from Maków arrived in Israel, and the committee assisted them. Since they had meagre means the committee asked all Maków people wherever they are to help as much as possible. To our chagrin, only Maków people in New York enlisted to help. They increased the packages: sending

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food and clothes, sometimes money, keeping the principal “giving in secret”. That help from Maków residents in New York was very helpful back then but with time it was not enough for the growing needs.

That kind of help did not please the people here and although they saw themselves as messengers of Mitzvah, they claimed that it wasn't the adequate way to handle things. They believed that the assistance has to be a constructive help: to assist workmen to buy work tools, to find a livelihood, lodgings etc.… Hence, they thought that creating a special Charity Fund would be the best tool to achieve these goals. The committee people here explained in length this idea to the committee members in the US, detailing the benefits changing the distribution money as gifts not to be returned – to lending money with no interest [rate] and getting it back in small installments.

As a result of this explanation the members in the US increased their support but added a list of the people who needed help, a principal common with Americans but was very much against the concepts of people in Israel.

In January 1950 a letter arrived from Mr. Sobol – a member of the committee in the US. He expressed his gratitude for the detailed letter and for the activities the committee was performing and announced the sum of a thousand dollars they intend to send as a token of appreciation and that would assist with our sacred work.

The news strengthened the spirits of the committee members who had to operate with such dire means, they felt better seeing hope in continuing to work with our friends in the US. But soon enough the tedious exchange of letters resumed. Procrastination increased alongside the disappointment. The impatient members reacted by resigning or by being completely indifferent. How distressed was the committee member Eliezer Shahar (Montshkovsky) when a new immigrant asked him to approve a loan for financing her first steps in Israel – and he had to refuse because the fund's worth, that was around 60 liras, was given to borrowers who could not pay back.

There were members who were not discouraged and saw the procrastination as a mere misunderstanding that would eventually disappear and believed in the good will of the people in America who were performing a Mitzvah.

Meanwhile the committee was busy with activities that did not demand a great deal of money. They were in touch with establishments that wanted to raise a “monument” to commemorate the exterminated communities. They continued to try and clarify the reason that the money promised by Mr. Sobol has not yet arrived, they had faith in the members in America. We saw in this promise the base for establishing the Charity Fund. In the general assembly in 1951 it was decided to establish the fund with the hope that the committee in America would help. It was also decided to continue with the initiative of commemorating the community by publishing a Yizkor Book.

In 1952–1953 they began fund–raising by planting a grove in the name of the sacred

A letter of encouragement from the Maków “Relief” in the United–States to the remains of Maków people in Germany

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Maków people in the Holy–Grove and again an exhausting endeavor began to enlist the members in the US.

In 1954 Mr. Chiechanower, an active member in the New York organization visited Israel. We met him and explained the committee member's opinion about the need to change the way of assisting, replacing simple “distributing” with offering loans. Mr. Chiechanower was convinced by our argument and promised that once he will be back in the US he will promote the idea in order to get support among the members of his committee.

In 1955 a letter from New York committee was received, written by Mr. David Hersh Hendel (the son of Yitzhak Avrahamtaches) and Mr. Chiechanower: In their letter they demanded to know who are the members of Israel's committee. They described in the letter the difficulties they encountered concerning the new terms of using the money they intended to send. They expressed their hope to be able to convince the members to agree to the suggested changes and its benefits.

A few days after this letter we again heard from Mr. Chiechanower relating that at Purim the committee met at the home of Yehezkel Mendel Segal, where it was decided to give 700 dollars to be transferred to the Charity Fund – despite the objection of some members who demanded to send instead 70 “Scripps” to the needy. He added that he is delaying sending the money because he does not know to whom to send it. Meanwhile, with the holidays approaching, he asks us to contribute to the needy using the money the committee here promised to collect for the fund – these monies in addition to the 700 dollars will be sent once he will find out the names of the approved members. Finally, the 700 dollars were received in the name of Eliezer Shahar and Haim Willenberg and shortly afterwards an additional 300 dollars were received by the member Shraga Cohen, who visited Israel.

This achievement, which was mainly accomplished with the help of Mr. Chiechanower's intervention, and was reported in the general assembly that was held on May 3rd 1955– it was decided to join the central charity for funds in Israel. On December 7^th that year an approval was granted by Mr. Cooperman, the county's head, to nominate the organization: “Charity Fund in the name of Maków–Mazowiecki, Tel Aviv”.

The members elected to manage the fund were: Eliezer Shahar (Montshkovsky), David Buchner, Haim Willenberg and Sara Epstein–Willenberg. To the general committee elected were the members: Israel Frankl, Mordechai Ciechanower, Sima Vishinski–Perlberg and Katz, Moshe. To the audit committee elected were: Yahushua Katz from Haifa, Ben–Zion Hendel from Rishon–Lezion and S. Galant from Tel Aviv.

At the first meeting of the committee the members discussed mainly the “Yizkor” Book and they agreed that the publishing of the book entails a lot of work so they decided to elect a sub–committee. The elected members were: Mordechai Ciechanower, Sara Epstein–Willenberg, David Buchner and Moshe Katz.

I elaborated about the labor invested in reaching a unanimous policy between us and our American colleagues about supporting the Charity Fund and the way it should function. This is the time to express gratitude to Sara Epstein who labored tirelessly and patiently

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staying continuously in touch with our Maków townspeople in America as well as with Mr. Chiechanower from the New York organization who lobbied for this idea among the committee members – till the goal was achieved. Also, it should be mentioned that a big effort was made to finish the endeavor of planting trees in the Forest of the Martyrs, its success is due mainly to the Garfinkel family from the US, to Sara Epstein and Yehezkel Itskowitcz from the Israeli organization.

In the general assembly that took place on the eve of the yearly memorial in 1957, those elected to the committee: Frankl, Itsikovitch, Zilberberg, Shahar, Epstein, Hendel, Buchner, Vishinski, Willenberg, Ciechnower and Katz. Once this committee was elected there was a considerable improvement in the managing of the cashier ledgers. The contact between the committee and the borrowers was Mr. Zilberberg, the secretary was Itskowitcz who was involved in all the committee's activities, besides being the secretary.

That same year we visited the grave of Mr. Berko Hendel in Ein–Shemer Kibbutz, where he fell while fighting.

On December 22^nd 1958 we held a yearly memorial for our city's martyrs and later held the general yearly meeting where the following members were elected to the committee: Frankl, Itskowicz, Willenberg, Zilberberg, Hendel (from Rishon–Lezion) and Gromb (from Haifa).

To the Audit Committee elected were: Eliezer Shahar and Levinson (from Rehovot).

We were highly satisfied to read the letter of Mr. Hillel Raichik from the committee of “The Maków Relief” about the successful ball they had in New York with the participation of multitudes from the “Landsmanshaft”. They enjoyed meeting each other and the revenue was good.

According to his letter it was due to the detailed report our committee sent from here and thus, they saw themselves united with their city citizens who are in Israel. This was a great satisfaction after being used to read about the many difficulties they encountered due to the public's indifference. Mr. Itskowicz especially saw gratification in nourishing mutual trust between us [Israel] and Maków people in America.

From the money collected at this ball they sent the fund 800 dollars and this helped to increase the fund's activities. We were delighted to hear that the Cohen family (Shraga's parents) are very active, with their son Shraga, in the American Maków Organization – are about to visit Israel. We are already making preparations to make their stay enjoyable.

On May 5^th 1959, the day of Holocaust Remembrance we held a general assembly in the Forest of the Martyrs and afterwards we commemorated next to the memorial stone in the Maków Grove (that is listed on “The Forest of the Martyrs of Poland” map number 5, plot 105). This date represents the end of planting the grove and will now remain a memorial forever and ever.

That same year the families Borstein and Maruzky from Australia visited Israel and since the committee was unsuccessful in establishing contacts with Maków people on that continent and as they were very active, especially in the “Bond” Party in Maków – we had high expectations that their visit would create

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this desired contact. Mainly, we wanted to get material for the book from Mr. Borstein, who is a journalist to this day. Hence, we met with him at the hall of Korsky's Library. They were interested in the organization's activities and in the fund's balance and reprimanded us for not doing enough for Yiddish, but they did promise to stay in touch with us to write articles for the book and to support us with money, but nothing came out of these promises.

By the end of 1959 the deliberations about the establishing of the organization and the performing of different activities came to end. The administration was functioning smoothly with a considerable capital in the Charity Fund that grew since the sixties, due to the support of the Maków people in the US and the devotion of the committee in New York – the amount available was over twenty thousand liras.

The dream about publishing the book was starting to become a reality, too. Slowly–slowly material for the book arrived, especially from the “War of Hitler”[Holocaust], may his name be erased; the Holocaust's wounds healed slowly, allowing the survivors to tell their very painful memories. With shock they began to read their writings, concentrate, and turn them into reading material. The worry of getting historical material from previous periods evaporated when the Skornik family made Aliyah. We trusted this man's capacity, who was involved with every public affair in Maków, to contribute to this end his views, and he did not disappoint!

As mentioned, the handling of the book passed to the sub–committee especially elected so that the general committee was able to continue their work in matters like loans, help to the needy, meeting with Maków visitors from overseas etc., etc.

Other problems, mainly technical, were not solved to this day. For instance: yearly global contributions of Maków people in Israel for the organization, changing the tenure of the committee members and dealing with Haifa's people suspicions about being discriminated in the organization's activities (by the way: the attempts to include them in the committee failed). With the initiation of the Book's Committee a council was created in Haifa headed by Mr. Moshe Katz and a general meeting was held in “Beitenu” Hall in Haifa. The members from Tel Aviv who participated were: Ciechanower, Garfinkel, Itzkowitz and Frankl. The subject of the “Yizkor Book” was most the important item on the agenda and yielded positive results like: more material [information] about the Maków Ghetto and the role Maków residents played in the rebellions which took place in the extermination camps, also we got, in Haifa, names of unknown Maków residents[survivors] and the city's map.

In that meeting we spoke about general organizational problems and many complaints were voiced, especially old ones, it was decided that the committee will discuss all these issues and together with Haifa's people [former Maków residents] try to find solutions.

Finally, I expressed my hope: the same way we overcame many obstacles in establishing the organization, we shall in the future overcome existing and new problems and so that the organization will continue functioning as a liason for Maków landsleit all over the world and will serve the needs of its people as well as promoting the memory of this glorious community that existed for so many years in Maków.

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