[Page 30 - English] [Page 62 - Hebrew]

An autonomous Jewish body existed in Poland for 200 years (1520-1764) which organised internal Jewish life and handled taxation and other affairs concerning the authorities. The name of the organisation was the “Committee of the Four Countries”. The representation of this committee, which was called the “Jewish sjem”, included the delegates of the large Jewish communities in the state: leaders and rabbis. The sessions of the committee generally took place in Lublin (during the “Gromnice” fair before Passover).

In 1623, the Lithuanian kehilot split off from the general committee and formed an independent organization, which was known as the “Lithuanian State Committee”. The reason was mainly fiscal. Lithuania constituted a separate unit for tax purposes and the authorities collected taxes separately from Polish Jews and Lithuanian Jews. One of the most important questions that occupied the attention of the “Committee of the Four Countries” was the distribution of taxes imposed by the authorities on the Jews, between the various communities. As a separate tax rate was fixed for Lithuanian Jews, the kehilot in the Lithuanian principality set up their own committee which lasted 141 years (1623-1764).

The composition of the committee changed over the years. In the beginning, it included the representatives of the biggest kehilot – Brisk, Grodno and Pinsk, which included their influence on the smaller communities in the area. Later, the Vilna Kehila was brought on to the committee and later still, the Sluck community. About thirty kehilot and settlements belonged to the Brisk regions, which was the largest, and Pruzana belonged to this district, as can be seen from the minutes of the Lithuanian State Committee in its first session in 1623.

In the initial period, sessions were held regularly and sometimes often, once every year and a half to two years later, once every two or three years. In later years, the meetings were held infrequently and during the intervening period there were sessions involving only some of the members to deal with urgent matters.

The meetings of the Lithuanian State Committee were usually held in small

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Settlements because the members felt safer in them. Sometimes, the rulers of various settlements were hostile to the representatives of the “Jewish Sjem” and sometimes they libelled them in order to extort money. Nevertheless, the later decisions of the committee state that the sessions should be held, according to order, in every one of the kehilot belonging to the five districts. However, the decision was not adhered to. The first meeting of the Lithuanian State Committee was held in Brisk in 1623 which had the largest Kehila in Lithuania. The next two sessions were also held in Brisk and then, in 1628, the Lithuanian State Committee met in Pruzana. It even decided to meet permanently in Pruzana every two years, but the next session, which was held late, again met in Brisk in 1631. Apparently, Pruzana was not an appropriate place for its meetings, but the reasons for this are not known.

The committee meeting in Pruzana was one of the most important. The minutes contained 93 articles about decisions in the economic, legal, political, cultural and religious fields of the Jewish community in Lithuania. Many decisions touched on questions of family life. For instance, there is a decision to marry off poor girls aged 15 with community support and their number in each district is detailed. Another characteristic decision requires that two cloth tunics be provided to poor women. Another regulation forbids a woman to visit Gentile homes unless accompanied by two men. Other regulations ban luxuries such as expensive dresses and jewellery and order fines on offenders. Other regulations were about legal-economic questions such as right of lease, commerce, control of weights and measures, etc. There are details about the distribution of various taxes that the Jewish population paid to the authorities and decisions concerning relations with the local and central authorities. Other resolutions deal with internal community matters, mutual ties between Rabbis, education and religious regulations. Finally, the leaders settle accounts between the committee, the kehilot and private figures.

It is worthwhile mentioning the following decision which is characteristic of its public approach: “C. Every Kehila will ensure that counsels and secrets of the Kehila are not divulged and community matters made commonplace, on pain of much punishment”.

Pruzana is mentioned at the end of the minutes of this session in the accounts, when the amount of the gift given to the minister of the district (Wojewoda) of Vilna is mentioned, on his passing through Pruzana. 67 years later, at the 1695 session of the committee in Olkieniki, it was agreed to hold the next session in 1699 in Pruzana or Seltz. But it was held in Seltz in 1700.

[Page 32 - English] [Page 72 - Hebrew]

The institution of the Jewish Kahal in Poland existed from the end of the 16^th century until its abolition by the Russian government in 1844. The kahal controlled the internal, religious and social life of the Jewish population and to a certain extent, arranged the economic life of Kehila members as well. The kahal was responsible to the authorities for all the kingdom's taxes and it distributed and collected the taxes from the Jews in its territory. In the gloomy period of the government of Tsar Nicholas I, the kahal supervised the recruitment of those eligible for military serviced. Even after 1844, when the kahal had officially been disbanded, it still had the authority to collect taxes and control the money received for the “korobkes”.

In the 17^th and 18^th centuries, the Pruzana kahal was known as a small kahal that belonged to the Brisk district. At the end of the 18^th century, after the Lithuanian State Committee had been disbanded, it can be supposed that the kahal in Pruzana became free of the supervision of the Brisk district and became independent.

In the pinkas of the kahal in Pruzana 1801-1851, there are several lists of election to the kahal institutions and the form of elections. The minutes of 1838 tell about a meeting in which three leaders were elected. The participants in the meeting were the elite of the community.

The minute is signed by the shochet of the Kehila who was apparently the Kehila scribe. It seems that the controllers of the meeting who served as advisers and delegates were appointed by the Kahal, as indicated in the minute of the pinkas dated 1817.

The names of 23 people placed in charge of the meeting are specified. The minute is signed by seven members of the kahal. The kahal in Pruzana was burdened with taxes over and beyond its financial capabilities. In 1838, when the newly-elected committee took over the kahal's fund, they found it in a difficult situation and were unable to pay the taxes. The kahal had to borrow money from private people at a heavy rate of interest and pay the loans back from the excise income, the korobke on meat and the bread box. The minute on the kahal's financial state includes a list of people who lent money to the kahal.

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In 1839 when the kahal built a slaughterhouse at the request of the authorities, it did not have the money and had to use the money placed in various endowments for which it was trustee. A rich Jew left 100 ducats for the Mishnayot Society, which managed the big Bet Midrash on condition that they did not touch the principal and from the 10% interest, 8% would be allocated for Mishnayot Society and the rest for poor people in Palestine. It emerged that the money earned 20% instead of 10%. Since the authorities instructed construction of the slaughterhouse in that year, it was decided to allocate half of the principal, 50 ducats, for building the abattoir. However, the profits of the abattoir were devoted to the same purpose in the same proportion. The slaughter fee was also determined. The kahal in Pruzana was always in a difficult position. In 1838, when the kahal was forced to elect a Rabbi (the prototype of the Rabbi designated by the authorities, for managing the registration of the Jewish population, no salary was determined. Instead, it was decided that the Rabbi would get a fixed rate payment in accordance with the situation of the person requesting the registration.

However, in the document of appointment to the Rabbi in 1860 given in Pruzana, it was laid down that the kahal undertook to pay the Rabbi a salary of five rubbles a week, a decent sum in those days, in addition to an apartment, heating and income from serving as a Rabbi, Cantor and Shochet. Earlier, in 1807, the kahal had fixed a sum of one silver rubble per week for Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman, according to the pinkas record.

There were cases of the kahal receiving “dowry” for the Rabbinate in Pruzana from the new rabbi. In 1808, the Rabbi appointed paid 1,000 gulden for a ten- year document of appointment. The Kahal paid 72 silver rubbles to the mayor; 7 silver rubbles for maintaining the horses of the office of the “Marshalek”; 16 silver rubbles for redeeming the books of the Mishnayot company. It was made a condition that even if the Rabbi only held office for two weeks, he could not demand his money back unless the authorities did not approve his appointment. Apparently, the arrangement did not work out. Two year later, in 1810, we read about a court case between the rabbi and the kahal about the return of the 1,000 gulden. The kahal won.

After the kahal officially ended its existence in 1844, there are no more “monthly leaders” or the dean of leaders – primus inter pares. In the elections, no more taxpayers are found than in previous minutes. In 1848, five people are elected for one year by ballot to be “the

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leaders of the Kehila for whatever the community needs”. They are eligible for one year's election only. The following year, they cannot even take part in voting. Those who are elected must take up the appointment without protest or “pretence”. The kahal's situation became more difficult after its legal standing was taken away, as the 1851 minute indicates. It is not known how much money the “korobkes” brought in and where the money went.

The pinkas notes that in 1826, the lease of the “bread korobke” brought in a sum of 1,164 rubbles. The kahal also owned, in addition to the abattoir, a public bathing house and in 1842, the kahal warned of a “herem” (excommunication) against the builders of private baths. Regulations concerning excises and “korobkes” were changed several times to the effect that they should not be leased to private people without the kahal's knowledge and for its benefit.

The kahal also intervened in the economic life of the community members and laid down regulations for the public-house leasees; for instance: how many bars there should be in the town and the rules for retail and wholesale dealers in alcoholic drinks. The kahal also made regulations about trading in grain in extraordinary circumstances. When a promissory note was lost, the fact was recorded in the pinkas and its validity cancelled in this fashion. Synagogue wardens were appointed by the kahal for three years and sometimes for one year, and a special treasurer was appointed. When the tailors' society set up their own Beth Medrash in 1824, the kahal ordered that the income from the first holy days should be allocated to the “Shul” and the big Beth Medrash and in future, two thirds of the income from the tailors' Beth Medrash would be for its benefit and one-third for the “Shul”.

The kahal ensured that meals at circumcisions were not cancelled, as can be seen from an undated leaflet read out in the synagogues and in the “Shul”. It says that due to the years of starvation, the mitzvah is not being carried out. The kahal also ruled that when a new cantor is accepted, he should receive no less than 18 grush from all those called up for the reading of the Law in the synagogues, the “Shul” and minyanim. This was because Pruzana Jews listened to the Cantor but left the synagogue during the reading of the Law (“slipped away one by one”) so as not to pay the cantor. This is recorded in a regulation dated 1802.

After the great fire of 1801, the landowners around the town sought to get the grounds of Jews around the market place and set up public houses and shops.

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The Kahal struggled against the landowners and appealed to the Vilna governor, Jahan Friezel and succeeded in ensuring that all the grounds were kept by their owners. All this was recorded in the pinkas and the Governor's order in Polish. In 1825, the kahal made an agreement with Moshe Ben Yitzhak about the payment of a fixed annual sum instead of the various taxes that he had to pay for the agreement until the new “skazka”. A copy of the agreement in Polish was registered in the pinkas.

The kahal adopted the gravest means against criminal offenders, even from the immediate surroundings. A strange incident occurred in 1862. A Pruzana Jew was accused of raping an 18-year-old girl. It is not known how the kahal reacted. A struggle between an individual and the kahal, which ended tragically, occurred in the second half of the 19^th century. There was a rich Pruzana Jew called Welwel Yudelewski who owned a brewery. By the light of those times, he was an intellectual who gave his children a European education. He was known in the town as Yudelevsky the scribe because he was the only “writer of requests” in Russian and was a “Zakonik” legally. He feuded with the kahal leaders who persecuted him in the 1870's. One night, the brewery owned by the landowner Shweikawsky at Polinove near the town was burnt down. Yudelevsky was suspected as the owner of the rival brewery. Jewish witnesses, including one of the kahal leaders, Yudel Fein, testified that they saw with their own eyes how Yudelevsky sent arsonists to the estate. Yudelevsky lost all his rights and was sent to Siberia for the rest of his life. Yudelevsky's brewery was confiscated and handed over to the owners of the burnt down brewery. In accordance with the custom of those days, the verdict was carried out in the market square. Half of Yudelevsky's head was shaved and a yellow patch stitched on his back. A legend grew up around Yudel Fein that a short while after his perjury, he died suddenly. Yudelevsky's son issued a Hebrew pamphlet called (“Vasot leyehuda”) (Yudel Fein), which describes the story and attacks the kahal leaders with Fein at their head. We did not succeed in finding this pamphlet. The Jewish Russian writer, Nikolai Pruzhansky, writes in his memoirs how a 16-year-old boy asked Yudel Fein in the 1860's for a passport to travel to Vilna. He refused and the boy got the passport by convincing a Russian army commander who suppressed the Polish uprising of 1863.

The pinkas of the kahal does not contain any indications of the Hassidic movement which did not penetrate into Pruzana. It is hard to understand what prevented the penetration of Hassidism at a time when it gained many

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sympathisers in all the other nearby towns: Kobrin and Brisk to the west and Slonim to the north-east. The kahal ceased to exist after its last functions were taken away; the supply of recruits to the army and collection of taxes.

[Page 36 - English] [Page 149 - Hebrew]

The call-up of Russian army reserves at the beginning of August 1914 led to mobilization of several hundred soldiers in the town. Most of the Jewish reservists were recruited into the transport corps. War action occurred far away and did not affect the ordinary path of life. It was only at the end of September when the Germans approached Warsaw that many Pruzana citizens living there fled to our city, which was far from the front and it appeared that the fighting would not extend to it.

During the 1914-15 winter, the economic situation of the Jewish population was good. Tailors and shoemakers in Pruzana received many orders from the army and earned a lot. Since there was a railway station under army supervision in Brisk, which was fortress town and the other stations in Congress Poland were also under military control, goods were brought to Pruzana through the railway station at Lineve, where they were loaded on carts and brought into town. This led to a big boost in trade and a section of the Jewish population: traders, shopkeepers and artisans, earned their livelihood. On the other hand, the families of those called up were left without resources like the families who received support from their relatives in America. Therefore, in October, a shop (in the “shtiebel” of the “Hachnasat Orchim” synagogue) was opened for the sale of bread and all kinds of groats at prices cheaper than the market and contributions covered the difference. At the initiative of the authorities, a committee was set up to raise money for the war. Large quotas were placed on the Jews, but this did not assuage the sharp anti-Semitic tendencies of the local authorities towards the Jewish population. The “marshal of the nobles” Palaleg, headed the anti-Semitic activity. A characteristic document has been preserved. A letter dated February 17, 1917 from Palaleg to the “official” Rabbi Goldberg:

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“Dear Moshe Berkovitch,

The attitude of the majority of Jews to the call-up is well-known. The number of Jews who evaded this duty in the Grodno district alone is clear evidence of this. In wartime, the Jews are not behaving better. In the last call-up, the members of a rich family in the town took steps to release one of their clerks, who was healthy, but fortunately there were members of the Pruzana military committee who thwarted this intention. If, in the light of these phenomena, several scores of Jews do their duty, these exceptions prove the rule. How the Jews carry out the regulations that protect the population against profiteering, which has no place in wartime, as regards the most vital products, will be clear to you from the following action: On February 9, basic commodities were bought in Pruzana for Christians during the Great Fast (Veliki Post) and it emerged that the Jews sold potatoes at 100% more than the fixed price; herring at over 25% more; carrots at over 100% more and beans at 150% more. The effrontery of the Jews can be seen from the fact that most of the products mentioned were bought in the same building that houses the police headquarters.

All the large military orders for boots, clothes and underwear were given to the Jews. This assures them profits while the Russian peasants who bear the great duty of defending the homeland on their shoulders, the supply of military needs and the whole Jewish burden, do not dare even to think of them. In this way, the Jews, and they alone, if their protectors are not taken into account, get rich from the war and do not bear sacrifices like the loyal Russian citizens.

The letter sent to me by the Governor of Grodno said that the “military results are dependent on the work of welfare bodies”. You know that the Pruzana Jews are not carrying out their commitment to provide 500 rubbles monthly to the war fund. A difficult period is passing over Russia. The echoes of the fighting reach you. As an intellectual, you yourself understand how the Jews must act for their own interests. So, I ask you to inform me today in writing the position as regards donations and detail the reasons preventing implementation.

Please accept my compliments,
B. Palaleg”.

That same Palaleg extracted 8,000 rubbles of kahal money by threats. It had been intended to build a hospital with the money.

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In March 1915, a report was received that scores of Jewish families from the townlet of Jedvalene in the Lomza area were expelled by the Russian authorities and were about to arrive in Pruzana. A committee was immediately set up to take care of them and the refugees from Jedvalene were placed in rented apartments. Each family received a sum of money for its weekly expenses and work was provided to people with occupations.

Later, at the beginning of summer, they were joined by about another ten families expelled from the townlet of Novy Dvor in the Lomza area. The children of the refugees were organised in groups and were taught Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian and all the other subjects in Yiddish.

In the summer of 1915, when the withdrawal of the Russian army began from Galicia and Congressional Poland, large columns of refugees continued mainly from the Lublin area and the mood of the population was not quiet. However, it was not expected that the German and Austrian army would conquer our whole area in a very short period. It was hoped that the Germans would halt for a long time near Brisk, which was a fortified town of the first order. The expulsion of the population from Brisk brought a large number of refugees to Pruzana. Hundreds of Jewish families stayed temporarily (as they hoped) in the town until the army of the Central European states penetrated Russia and enabled them to return home.

The reports of the atrocities of the withdrawing Russian army against the Jewish population aroused panic. The large majority of the urban and rural population intended to leave the town together with the retreating Russian army out of fear of the Germans and the terrible stories the peasants told about the attitude of the Germans to the civilian population. During their withdrawal from the Grodno governorate, the military authorities stopped the forcible expulsion of the civilian population. In many instances, the retreating battalions advised the population to stay put. The burning of towns and villages and the destruction of property by the Russian army was not carried out as intensely as in other areas.

The Jewish population, except for a few rich families, did not think about abandoning their homes. The number of retreating Russian battalions increased and Cossacks appeared among them. A committee was established to collect money, distribute tobacco, matches, sugar and cakes to soldiers passing through Pruzana. Each company filed past and a committee member handed out the portions. Particular attention was given to the Cossacks. No thefts nor arson by the retreating soldiers occurred. An order was issued to the army not

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to expel the local population nor set settlements on fire. Apparently, the refreshments the soldiers received also had an effect and Pruzana was one of the few towns that did not suffer from the Russian army.

The Cossacks behaved particularly well by preventing individual soldiers carrying out robberies and looting in the days preceding the entry of the German and Austrian army into the town. Usually, the mood of soldiers passing through Pruzana was very depressed after the fortress of Brisk, in which they had place a lot of hope, had surrendered to the Germans. At the beginning of August, when the State bodies started leaving, the General-Governor of Grodno – Shebeka – came to Pruzana and appointed a committee of four (two Jews and two non-Jews) to represent the population before the military authorities, but this committee did not have any importance. A few days before the armies of the Central states arrived, a brigade of Cossacks came into the town. Their commander hinted through the representative of the “Zemski Soyuz” accompanying the brigade, that he had an order to set fire to the town, but he would avoid its implementation in return for a bribe. At first, it was thought he meant to extort money from the Jewish population. However, after they saw that the commander and several Cossacks with him went out into the street and poured kerosene on some houses, a committee member brought him 500 rubbles. The commander of the brigade, the “Polkavnik” of the Cossacks, cancelled his order and left the town that day.

Three days before the German and Austrian forces entered the town, all the state institutions, including the administrative and police authorities, left Pruzana. Only the commander of the army remained in order to settle the affairs of the Russian forces passing through the town. An urban militia was set up to maintain order in the town. The militia members did not have weapons and they carried a white band on their sleeve with Russian lettering. A four-man committee headed the militia to conduct its affairs. It sat in the municipality (all the administration and the mayor left the city taking the archives and the cash box) three days and three nights. Soldiers roamed the town, stealing horses and cows. The militia men put individual soldiers to flight. But when they encountered large bands of soldiers, the committee members appealed to army commanders passing through the town and they would expel the thieving soldiers.

That was a most difficult period. The horizon in all parts of the town was red from the burning of nearby villages. Artillery fire was heard all the time. The

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Town was surrounded on all sides by numerous carts of refugees. The local inhabitants hid in the houses, ready to flee at any moment. Militiamen walked the streets on guard against any looting soldiers. Often, there was danger that any imprudent step could lead to bloodshed and even a pogrom.

Nevertheless, those days passed without loss of life and not a single house was burnt down. The peak tension occurred on the last night when the Russian soldiers burnt down the bridges on Pacewicza and Dombrowski streets. The militia committee, which knew of this action in advance, moved from its meeting place in the municipality to Birenbaums hotel. The fire engines were deployed to prevent the burning down of houses close to the bridges. But there were no battles in the town. One day before the German entry, German airplanes bombed the town but no damage was caused. One day after the Germans entered, the town was bombed again, this time by the Russian air force, but not a lot of damage was caused (one bomb fell on the Gubernia estate and caused the barn to set on fire.

On the morning of Tuesday, August 31, 1915, patrol teams of the Austro-Hungarian army entered the town, riding on bicycles and a shot while afterwards, German army companies arrived. After weeks of panic and fright, the Jews breathed a sigh of relief with the arrival of the German army. Especially happy were the refugees of Brisk who hoped they would quickly return to their city after the Germans gained control of the whole area. The Austro-Hungarian army took control of the town and set up their local headquarters on the third day after their entry. On the morrow of the conquest, a group of Hungarian gendarmes arrived in their special uniforms, black hats and feathers. They threw the population into a panic with their clothes and their strange tongue (they spoke Hungarian only). The militia committee returned to the municipality across the river (the Germans having established a temporary bridge over the river). The commander of the Hungarian gendarmerie called in the members of the committee and told them in German that he had authority in the town and demanded that a civilian authority be set up the following morning. That night, he called in more residents and the next day announced the appointment of the members of the town council. The commander of the gendarmerie also announced that the councillors had to enter office immediately and whoever refused would face a court-martial. The composition of the council was as follows: mayor, deputy mayor and four members of the executive. There were also two quartermasters whose job was to take care of the billeting of the army and

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one of them was also head of the militia. This town council existed for eight months until May 1916 when the Germans appointed a civil administration headed by a German officer as mayor.

This town council fulfilled the role of municipality, police and justice during its term of life. There were also 20 militiamen (17 Jews, two Poles and a Russian). The councillors and militiamen were paid salary. The sources of income came from taxes. The Austro-Hungarian command lasted one month only. The Germans established their own command immediately and it existed side-by-side with the Austrian command. One month later, the Germans took control over the town. The Austrian command made great demands on the town council, repeatedly calling for manpower and wagons and imposing heavy fines for every failure to carry out orders to the letter. Dysentery and cholera plagues broke out in the town and the town council tried to fight them. The council took over all the area of Gorky suburb which had been deserted by its inhabitants and in the empty houses set up a special centre for cholera patients and recruited people to treat them. About 20 people died of cholera, mainly refugees from Brisk. The plague was mastered in a short time. Many crops in the fields were not harvested, particularly potatoes because the landowners and farmers had fled. The urban population picked the potatoes.

Once, at the end of September, a German officer (Rittmeister) whose battalion camped on the Gubernia estate, arrived and requested workers to harvest the potatoes on the estate to store them for the winter and feed the poor population. After the Germans took over full control, they demanded apartments from the municipality for German officers passing through the town, as well as furniture and housing utensils. The German authority issued receipts for everything it took, promising to return everything in full, but nothing was given back. They took furniture, pillows and utensils out of the town. There was much overcrowding. The Germans commandeered the large and spacious apartments for their own purposes. There were several thousand Brisk refugees in the town. Overcrowding and starvation caused an epidemic of typhus fever. The German authorities again occupied some of the houses in Gorky suburb and set up a quarantine camp for typhus victims. They appointed a doctor and a medical team. This camp lasted all through the German conquest.

The Germans fought against the typhus fever epidemic by setting up special baths in which the population were forcibly disinfected by special instruments. Sanitary workers visited homes seeing lice in clothes, bedding

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and hair. In homes were lice were found, the occupants were whisked off to the baths and their clothes and bedding disinfected. Despite all these efforts, the plague spread and killed many people. Since Gorky could not contain all those infected with the disease, as a whole family was brought there if one person went down with typhus, the Germans set up another quarantine in Chavatke suburb.

The economic situation of the population deteriorated. All goods were confiscated by the Germans and food products were seized by the authorities. Communication with the outside world was most difficult. One needed a transit permit from the Command in order to leave the town and its validity was restricted to the borders of the German occupation. Ten kilometres south-east of the town, near Lineve, the territory of the Austrian command was reached and the German transit permit had no validity. Yet want did not reach its peak in the winter of 1915-16. The residue of the harvest collected in the autumn remained and with money, it was possible to get the means of existence. Poor people were supported by the municipality and at the end of the winter, a popular kitchen was set up and it distributed bread and soup by ticket. A women's Association which gave help to poor patients was also founded. They began to sell bread in accordance with the prices laid down by the authorities, who distributed flour by ticket at a rate of 100 gr/person a day. The population still stuck to the illusion that the war would soon end.

The first German commander was a mayor, Fan Ofen, a typical German Junker who incessantly demanded the supply of various things from the municipality, mainly furniture. He rejected every explanation of the municipality that it was unable to fulfil all his demands. The second commander Chitchmann, a reserve officer and an intellectual, took into consideration the arguments of the town council and moderated his demands. The intervention of the municipality when German soldiers and officers harmed the civilian population bore fruit, but this commander only held office for a short time. In December, Hauptmann Welman was appointed to the job. His countenance alone was enough to frighten the inhabitants of the town. He was tall, fat, with the face of a German corporant scarred from sword fighting, blind in one eye and a monocle on the other eye and carried a whipping rod, from which he never parted. When he took over the job, he convened the militiamen and ordered them to catch every stray dog in the town and for this purpose, they should always carry special rope in their

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pockets. He used to beat citizens who applied to the command. The German soldiers said that Welman had served in the German colonies in Africa. Even beforehand, a struggle began between the municipality and the rich people in the town, who, in the days of terror, hid in their homes and later tried to influence the operations of the town council which was composed on a democratic basis. As a result of their struggle, a committee of 25 citizens was established as a sort of expanded municipality, which also included artisans and other working-class circles.

The municipality applied to the command even during the tenure of Chitchman and requested several tons of potatoes for distribution among the poor. The potatoes were dug on the land of the Gubernia estate by inhabitants recruited to prepare food for the winter, as promised by the German officer, Ritmeister. The command's reply was received during Welman's term of office. It said the command was prepared to supply the potatoes provided the municipality paid for them in gold. In a consultation, the town council had with the citizen's committee, it was agreed to inform the command that since the municipality did not possess any god, it would do without the potatoes. A few days later, in January 1916, Welman convened at the command (in Rosenblum's home opposite the market) the members of the town council and the citizen's committee and dressed them down, shouting all the time. He began and ended with the words: “pigs, dogs (schweinen, hinde”) and the content of his speech was that he would put them under arrest and if they did not supply him the gold, they would all be sent to a civilian detention camp in Germany.

About 30 people gathered in the command building and were surrounded by armed soldiers. They were carried off to the Red Jail in May 3^rd Street. Men who did not march straight in line were struck by the soldiers with the butt end of the rifles. At the jail, all were placed in the basement and supplied with bread and water. The guards were ordered not to give the detainees food. The mayor, his deputy and a member of the citizens committee were not arrested. During the day, the municipality bought gold for 600 rubbles and the detainees were freed late at night. The potatoes supplied by the command were rotten and frozen and mostly uneatable.

At the beginning of the German conquest, there were no schools in the town. There was one private girls' school in which the language of instruction was Russian and there were also several private “Hadorim”. Most children did not go to any school and simply roamed the streets. In November 1915, several

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functionaries had the idea of founding an elementary school. The idea was put into effect and a building was found in the centre of town. In the attics of apartments in which elementary and municipal schools were housed, some of the benches and teaching instruments – maps, globes and textbooks – were found. They were brought to the new building and registration of children began. Several hundred children of the Brisk refugees registered at once. Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian were taught. The language of instruction was Yiddish. The teachers were people with diplomas and young intellectuals. All were volunteers, among the inhabitants of Pruzana and Brisk refugees. The textbooks for general subjects were in Russian and the teachers knew Russian terminology. Every evening, the teachers met to prepare the terminology for the following day's lessons. The town council supported the school with 50 rubbles and a similar sum was collected at the municipality. This money was used for buying exercise books and writing materials which were distributed free among the children.

The problem of apartments was a difficult one. The military authorities occupied the big apartments. There were several thousand Brisk refugees in the town. There was a lot of overcrowding and the authorities took people out of their homes and used them for military purposes. There were also several attempts by the Germans to take over the school, but they all failed as members of the municipality and citizens Committee, who were also on the school board foiled them. But on the day when the town council and the citizen's committee were arrested because of the gold payment for the potatoes, the school building was seized. The benches and tools were thrown out and a Brisk refugee who lived in the building was evicted, while it was occupied by the authorities. Thus, the existence of the first Jewish public school came to an end after only two months.

The next summer in 1916, another attempt was made to set up a school in town. Pruzana was in the territory of the military occupation (Azmei Voizsh) and not in the “Ober-est” and its laws did not apply in our town. Contacts were made with Hoifer who was responsible for managing the affairs of the town and a public committee prepared a plan for setting up an elementary school with Yiddish as the language of instruction. The plan was sent through the municipality for approval by the military command, which approved it not only for Pruzana but the whole area of the military occupation. Eventually, several months later, a school for Jewish children was established with German as the language of instruction and local teachers.

[Page 45]

The functionaries shook themselves free of this school only after a lot of effort and they were threatened with being sent to a prisoner of war camp. The German command announced to the municipality that it wanted workers for collecting the hay from the frozen meadows near the village of Chachcze (about 8km from the town). The town council informed the inhabitants. The Germans promised the workers food and a daily wage of three marks. About 100 young people registered (mainly Brisk refugees). The Germans accepted all of them but after the first week, there were reports that the workers were not satisfied with the job and wanted to be released. It emerged that the Germans did not allow them to go, apart from cases of serious illness. All those registered were forced to continue working. The food was bad and the working conditions difficult. They worked in frost and wet places with tattered garments and worn-out shoes. The parents and relatives of the workers went to the municipality and complained that they had all registered for work at the town council's initiative and it had to ensure they were released. But all the town council's protests with the command were not effective. The municipality provided the workers with clothes and food and they worked until the end of winter.

The German army authorities set up a power plant to supply the town with electricity, but in fact the supply was provided to military institutions and homes in which the Germans lived. The other inhabitants were not supplied electricity. The Germans demanded the expenses for setting up the power plant from the town council, but as it did not have the means, the Germans imposed a special tax on the inhabitants.

At the end of the 1916 winter, the German authorities ordered the Brisk refugees to leave the town and live in close-by villages that had been abandoned by their inhabitants. The rich people among the refugees and those with contacts among the army authorities stayed in the town. The refugees considered this a harsh sentence and protested. Later, it became clear that the fate of those expelled to the villages was improved. They worked on the land during the years of occupation, being forced to do so by the Germans. Similarly, the inhabitants of the nearby townlets of Malch and Scherschev were forced into agriculture. More than once, people observed how the Germans hitched men and even women to the plough. The Germans would also lend horses and agricultural instruments in return for money and sometimes would supply instructors for cash. They would also lend seeds in return for a commitment to receive double in return after harvesting.

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At the order of the German authorities, the firemen's band played every Sunday in the market square

The summer and winter of 1916 were most difficult. Want reached its peak and hand-in-hand with it went smuggling and anarchy. Demoralisation increased. Many young girls and married women boasted of their German officer and soldier “friends” through whom they received many reductions and permits to send out and bring in goods and food.

The German authorities opened a brothel in the centre of town (in Mostovliansky's hotel in Soltz Street). The prostitutes were brought in from outside and business went on night and day. Confiscations multiplied and the Germans seized the last remnants of various goods and objects.

[Page 47]

The German cinema

At first, about 600-800 portions were distributed. Later, in 1917-18, the number reached 2,000 daily. The management of the public kitchen was made up of local functionaries. The town council supplied the food and a German soldier supervised the management's work. (The civilian municipality was abolished in May, 1916 and the military authorities organised a council headed by a German officer as mayor).

Several Jewish clerks worked in the municipality. From time-to-time, several hundred guldens were received from the Hilfesfarein in Berlin. This money was distributed by a special committee for the most needy. Money contributions for private people with relatives in America sent through neutral countries, were received very occasionally. Most of these monies were kept by

[Page 48]

The Germans execute the five farmers sentenced to death for spying

[Page 49]

The German mayors. Bribery, theft and smuggling was common in the German army. German soldiers would sometimes sell army materials, which the military police would detect and confiscate. The goods for the public kitchen supplied by the town council would be sold by military men to private people and the management had to struggle continuously to get bread, potatoes and vegetables.

Another blow to the population was the German military gendarmerie. There were three gendarmeries in Pruzana that frightened the whole population. Their men were fat and their countenance severe. They wore tin tags on their chests and in their cruel behaviour and the confiscations they carried out, they terrorised everyone. The Jewish, and later the non-Jewish population, nicknamed them “Moshelach”. The gendarmerie was helped by spies among the local population.

In the winter of 1916, the Germans organised forced labour battalions. They would seize inhabitants and send them to forced labour. They took men off the streets; in their homes and at night would also remove them from their homes. The forced battalion regime was military and most serious. Several synagogues became barracks surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by soldiers. The forced labourers received a meagre wage and starvation rations. Most of the forced labourers came from outside Pruzana, whose inhabitants were sent to the Baranovitch area. Many young Jews volunteered to work at Bialoviez, where the Germans cut down the many trees and sewed them. The narrow railway line from Pruzana to Lineve, about 12km long, was built in the winter of 1915-16 by volunteer workers who mostly came from the Jewish population of Pruzana. Many Jewish young men worked in the railway workshops at Lineve and in laying the railway tracks. In the course of time, many workers specialised and fulfilled responsible positions. The volunteers received high wages and good rations.

In the yard of the synagogue “Shul” (on the spot where the burnt-down synagogue was situated), the Germans built large huts which served as a hospital for prisoners. Nearby synagogues were also requisitioned for this purpose. Young local girls worked as nurses in the hospital.

Cultural life continued, despite everything, in this period too. In the beginning of 1916, an evening of humour was organised for the benefit of the Women's Association. A funny paper was read called the “Town Sheygetz” which included sharp satire on the social relations in the town. In the autumn of the same year, a literary evening was held and was attended by German officers

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and officials in the town. The Germans, who did not understand anything of the evening's programme, were nonetheless impressed by the fact of it being held at all. They could hardly believe that the population in the East (E. Europe) had cultural needs and even literary concepts. The mayor Abel, who in civilian life was a Berlin merchant, for a long time repeated this phrase to the Jewish representative: “Your lecture was wonderful. I didn't understand everything, but you uttered literary expressions…”

Books were collected for the municipal, public library which operated throughout nearly all of the occupation period. Books were distributed several times a week and, on every Sabbath, debates were held on literary subjects. In 1917-18, several plays were performed by amateurs and there was a literary humourist evening.

In the summer of 1917, a kindergarten was opened on the initiative of several functionaries (in a building which now houses the government gymnasium). The children stayed in it until 15-16hr p.m. and received food twice a day. The food was supplied by the Germans. Over 100 children aged 4-8 attended the kindergarten which existed until 1921.

Under the peace agreement between the Germans and the Ukrainian Rada (council), the town of Pruzana was handed over to the Ukrainians. The border was due to run by Schershev, about 16km from the town, which already belonged to Lithuania. The Germans unsuccessfully tried to convince the population to submit a request for the town to be included in the Lithuanian framework.

The economic situation improved. New areas were opened that had previously belonged to Russia and were then under German occupation. Trade and smuggling increased. After the Russian revolution, a new spirit appeared. The military regime became more liberal. People who had been stuck in Russia began to return to the town. Social life became more active. The workers organised in a general trade union, which had previously operated in private houses and then in the kindergarten. Meetings were held nearly every evening. The “Bund” and the “Mehuadim” organizations were founded. The “Bund” membership was several scores; the membership of “Mehuadim” was over ten. Both organizations cooperated in the trade union. Struggles of the various sections were held around the library and there were stormy meetings.

In the autumn of 1918, after the German army collapsed and the German revolution broke out, the situation changed radically. The German founded soldiers' councils and got ready to leave the occupied areas. In October 1918,

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a municipal committee was founded that took over the management of the town from the Germans, intermittently. In December, the German army left the town and dallied a short while at the railway station in Lineve.

[Page 51 - English] [Page 221 - Hebrew]

The weekly paper, Pruzaner Shtyme, began to appear on April 1, 1932 and it continued appearing until World War II. Its editor was Moshe Grunwald and the editor responsible to the authorities was Yitzhak Karschenblum. The paper was printed at the weekly's printing house. When Grunwald immigrated to Palestine, his place was filled by Avraham Erez. The following details have been culled from the editions that reached us.

1932

April

The regional Polish Education authorities in Brisk officially approved the name of the Hebrew High School in Pruzana belonging to the “Tarbut” Association as the A.D. Gordon Gymnasium.

On April 2-3, the town was flooded. The waters of the Muchaviecz river swelled due to melting snow and ice and reached a level of 4 metres high. As a result, many houses on both banks of the river were flooded and many inhabitants had to leave their homes. The municipality aided the evacuees.

1933

March

The relations between the “Pruzaner Lebn” and the “Pruzaner Shtyme” weeklies were not normal and the editors and reporters were hostile to each other. Many editions of the Pruzaner Shtyme indulged in mutual polemics. We bring here excerpts of an article: “On rings, bracelets and watches”, printed on March 31, 1933, which gives an account of the contributions of Pruzana Jews to the “Redemption Fund” of Polish Jewry in 1920. Apparently, this action served the editors of Pruzaner Shtyme as a means of goring their competitors, and setting out the facts.

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“In 1920, the “Redemption Fund” was declared in Warsaw. Later, this fund became Keren Hayesod. The fund was headed by the Zionist leaders, Avraham Padlishevski and Yitzhak Greenbaum. They appealed to all the Zionist organizations in the country, including the activists in Pruzana. The latter called a meeting in the Beit Yaacov synagogue at which they declared that an appeal would be launched in the following week. However, there was a surprise: those present were so impressed by the speakers that, on the spot, they began contributing gold watches, rings, pearl necklaces, earrings and other jewellery. As the outburst occurred spontaneously, a committee was appointed on the spot to collect all the objets d'art and bring them to the home of Mr. Apelboim. The members of the committee sat all through Saturday night sorting and classifying the objects and registering the names of the contributors.

It was the period of the Polish-Russian war and the party activists were ordered to keep the precious objects because it was not possible to transfer them to Warsaw. Meanwhile, the Red Army entered Pruzana and the town was cut off from Poland. The Bolsheviks began to conduct searches and place people on trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal. This action greatly troubled the population. Hiding objects was dangerous and people were not prepared to endanger their lives. A young Zionist was found (Avraham Bresky) who was prepared to keep all the objects, on the explicit condition that another Zionist activist would keep a copy of the detailed list of all the precious objects.

Cunning people spread rumours that the Zionists squandered all the precious objects. Comrade Adam, a Christian shoemaker who served as the chairman of the former Revolutionary Committee, told a public meeting that the Zionists had handed over the objects to Generals Vzangel and Denikin, who fought the Bolshevik regime. The concern of the Zionist functionaries who took part in that appeal may be imagined.

After the Bolsheviks withdrew from Poland and contact was made with Warsaw, Mordechai Yafeh came to our town on a lorry carrying an American flag. Accompanied by Zionist activists, “the treasure” was transferred to Warsaw and handed over to Avraham Padleshevski and Yitzhak Greenbaum. The party workers were given receipts for all the many donors.

In order to prevent tongue-wagging, a committee was set up composed of Eliezer Moshe Grinzburg, Zelig Goldfein and Leib Wolk to examine all the receipts and documents at the home of Neidus the dentist. It confirmed that

[Page 53]

all the objects reached their destination properly. Later, the Zionist Organization in Pruzana received an overall receipt from the Zionist Executive in Jerusalem”.

On March 27, a protest meeting was held against the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, on the initiative of the Zionist activists. At 15h, all businesses and shops were closed and work stopped. Rabbi David Faigenbaum, M. Gruber, M. Grunwald and A. Erez spoke at the Beit Yaacov Synagogue.

Four pioneers of the kibbutz Sheariya group in Pruzana received permission to immigrate to Eretz Israel. On the initiative of the Palestine office in Warsaw, an Aliya committee was set up composed of the representatives of the Zionist organizations: Mizrachi, General Zionists, Poalei Zion, Hitachdut, Hashomer Hazair, Freiheit, Hehalutz and Gordonia. The members of the committee were: E. Pomeranietz, A. Arez, Edelman and Zeev Parker.

June

The weekly published a section of the Yiddish paper: “Moment” of May 28, 1933 that described the difficult situation of the Pruzana merchants … However, what is happening in Pruzana is inconceivable. Above all, heavy taxes were imposed that were worse than the 1931 rates. In Addition, the Treasury adopted illegal steps.

Even before the tradesman receives an assessment, i.e. prior to the date of payment, the “Cart” is sent around to boycott the goods and bring them to the tax department's warehouses. Thus, his status is destroyed, because he cannot get more credit; he has nothing to sell and he cannot pay the tax. Furthermore, the goods are sold in a public tender for farthings. However, this is not all. Suddenly, Jewish tradesmen in Pruzana were suspected of dealing … with saccharine. Shops are broken into by day and homes at night by representatives of the tax department, customs, the monopoly and police. They do not merely carry out a personal check, but

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strip the merchant naked and look for saccharine on his body. Actually, they look for his account books on his body.

One of the senior officials in the district offices (Wojewodstwo) in Brisk told a merchants' delegation that criminals are treated in this way, but it was out of the question that tradesmen should be so treated. On April 20, the Pruzana merchants declared a one-day strike. Shops and businesses were closed but the director of the tax department did not change his policy.

How will the Treasury respond? According to our reports, the Ministry received detailed information about the tragedy that befell merchants in various towns, especially Pruzana. It can be assumed that the ministry will not agree to sacrifice the state's economic policy and the survival of scores of Jewish merchants for the sake of the prestige of Pruzana's tax department's director.

12 students graduated in the third graduation class of the A.D. Gordon high school.

On June 16, a trial was held of Revisionist Zionism in the hall of the Hebrew high school.

On June 25, a protest meeting was held following the murder of Dr. Haim Arlosorov.

July

613 shekels (membership fees) were distributed for the elections to the Zionist Congress. 542 voted in the following way: Eretz-Israel Haovedet 317; Revisionists 70; Hitachdut 57; Mizrachi 29, General Zionists 21; “Et Livnot” 7: one vote was disqualified.

August

The Management of the “Yavneh” school held consultations with the representatives of the Zionist youth movements and they agreed to maintain closer contacts and ensure that students from the fifth grade onwards can join

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the youth movements. Weak or poorly behaved students could not become youth movement members.

September

An editorial reviewed Pruzana in 1933. The writer noted the increasing poverty in the town and surrounding villages. The unemployment of artisans was increasing and the conditions of the merchants, deteriorating. The state tax system was destroying commerce completely and the outcry of Pruzana tradesmen was being heard outside the town. Use of electricity had declined and many homes had been offered for sale cheaply. Large parts of the population needed the help of relatives in the United States. Anti-Semitism was increasing. Two Jewish doctors were dismissed from the state sickness fund and several Jewish officials sacked from the municipality. As a result of the difficult situation, educational institutions and aid to them were seriously affected, divisions were caused and human relationships undermined. The only positive development was the immigration of 28 pioneers to Eretz-Israel. A kibbutz training centre was set up in the town. A public aid committee was organised to help the neediest.

The income of the JNF (Keren Kayemet LeIsrael) in 1933, Pruzana totalled 2,458 zloty. The blue boxes brought in 1,220 zloty and the other activities, 1,238 zloty.

The kibbutz published an announcement in the paper about a workshop for men and women's tailoring, shoemaking and basketwork. The kibbutz supplied workers for all handiwork and services.

October

The weekly published a letter from a yeshiva student who was expelled from Pruzana yeshiva because he wore short trousers. 14 yeshiva students were expelled by the headmaster for similar reasons.

November

Over 250 dollars were collected in commitments for the Keren Hayesod appeal.

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January

In accordance with an order from the district authorities, the appointment of Eliyahu Birenboim as deputy mayor was cancelled. During his 11 years of service, Birenboim contributed a great deal to the municipal economy and fulfilled his duties faithfully and honourably. The removal of the last Jewish representative on the town's executive aroused deep emotions among the Jewish population.

March

The lawyer, Leivand Handler-Levitski was elected instead of Birenboim as chairman of the Jewish B.B. club, a sort of Jewish section of the ruling Polish party.

June

A “miracle” occurred in the Para Slavic church in Pruzana and many pilgrims came to the town to visit the site. Epileptics, cripples and the mentally ill came to the church to receive the blessing of the priest. Many of the visitors came on foot, including groups from Vilna.

July

On the day of the funeral of Ch.N. Bialik, Av 4, 5694, all businesses were closed between 6-7 pm and a memorial meeting held.

1935

September

A bulletin called “self-defence of the Polish people” written in the style of the Nazi “Shturmer” was sold in the kiosk near the bridge on Pacevicza street. The bulletin was published in Poznan and distributed for the purposes of anti-Semitic incitement.

In the Beit Yaacov synagogue, Rabbi David Halevi Faigenbaum eulogised the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, A.Y. Kook.

[Page 57]

In an editorial reviewing the year 5695 in Pruzana, the writer moaned at the increasing poverty in the town. Trade declined and the lack of turnover increased competition and even led to informing. The latest decree on transferring the cattle market outside of the town was a severe blow to the dealers. The new artisans' law affected Jewish handicraft shop owners and its implementation led to disgraceful acts of informing. The heavy taxes hit the tradesmen and handicraft owners to the bone. The only ray of light was the appeal of C.K.B., which was organised by the Charity Committee.

Due to financial difficulties, the Kehilla could not expand its work and support the educational institutions with aid, despite their difficult situation. A further blow came from the municipality which practically ended support.

Aid from America declined and the situation deteriorated to the point where the Tarbut institutions were about to leave their building because of lack of funds. It was only the volunteering spirit of the teachers, the parents and activists that prevented this step.

62 people immigrated to Palestine in 5695.

The income of the JNF totalled 3,362 zloty in 5695 as compared with 2,010 zloty in 5694.

How were wardens elected in the Beit Yaacov synagogue? A ballot box was prepared and it was placed in the beadle's care. The beadle went to the homes of the worshippers and requested that they vote for 5 out of 12 candidates for warden. Afterwards, the beadle brought the box to the rabbi's home where it was opened and the votes counted.

Those elected were: Moshe Aaron Rozenshein, Avraham Lacki, D. Minkovich, Zavel Wolansky and Note Kurtzel.

[Page 58]

October

An ash-taking ceremony was held in the cemetery where ashes were taken from the graves of Jewish soldiers who fell in the World War I at Pilsudski hill in Sowienice. Representatives of the authorities and community leaders were present. Rabbi D. Faigenbaum and deputy mayor Dr. M. Feingold delivered orations.

December

The Kehilla's budget for 1936 was fixed at 8,324 zloty. The Kehilla committee handed over the appeal of Avraham Gordon against a 40-pound tax to the Brisk district governor.

1936

January

Two Jewish families who lived for years at the Smolenice village near Pruzana maintained small shops there. Recently, a cooperative was formed in the village and the farmers stopped visiting the Jewish shops. In the last few days, they began harassing the Jews. They smashed the windows in their homes and published notices saying: “Get out of the village quickly. If you don't leave, your fate will be bitter”. The Jews appealed to the Kehilla committee to intercede with the authorities.

March

Rabbi David Faigenbaum and kahal leader, Faivel Goldfine, were elected to represent the Pruzana Kehilla in a protest meeting of Polish Jewry against the Schehita decrees.

October

On October 25, the Kehilla committee elections were held. 1,208 voted out of a total of 1,400 people with voting rights. Two members of the Bund and Artisans list were elected; two members of the National Bloc list; one butcher; one Hitachdut Poalei Zion; two of the Scherschev localist, Faivel Goldfein was again elected kahal chairman.

[Page 59 - English] [Page 278 - Hebrew]

Olia was born to Eisik and Sarah Dinerman in Pruzana in 1889, the youngest of seven children. She attended high school in Minsk and graduated in 1908 winning a diploma and a gold medal. Her dream was to become a physician but the numerus clausus regulations against the Jews closed the medical schools of Russia to her. However, this young woman showed her remarkable character at an early age and with great determination and deliberation, went about changing the situation, or at least trying to.

When she heard that the Tsar was to pass near Pruzana, she made her plans and, as the royal entourage rode through, she threw herself in the way of the Tsar's carriage, forcing it to stop. She was immediately seized by the guards as a suspected revolutionist, but she ostentatiously passed a petition to them which quickly made clear her purpose. In her petition she appealed to the Tsar to enable her to study medicine and after waiting tensely for an answer for many weeks, she at last received the Tsar's reply. His imperial Majesty would graciously allow Olia to attend a teachers' training school.

Deeply disappointed, Olia did not, however, give up and went to Geneva where she got her doctor's degree in 1913. A year before her graduation, she married Faivel Goldfain, son of a wealthy and highly regarded family in Pruzana. They had one child, a daughter Sarah who, in 1936, married a French engineer, Alexander Rabey who was born Rabinowitz in Slonim, Poland. They live in Paris with their daughter and two grandchildren.

During World War I, Olia served in a Moscow hospital and she returned to Pruzana after the October revolution. She practised medicine and had many Jewish and Christian patients who esteemed her skill and humanity, while her husband Faivel managed a saw mill and also served as chairman of the Jewish community.

When Poland was divided up between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in 1939, Pruzana came under the Soviet rule. Olia was appointed director of the city hospital and deputy of the Byelorussia Soviet (Parliament). The Germans occupied Pruzana in June 1941 and shortly afterwards, established the ghetto for the town's Jews. When they decided to liquidate the ghetto at the beginning of 1943, Olia and Faivel Goldfain were in the first of four

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transports to Auschwitz. In the late afternoon of January 28, the 2,500 Jews in the transport reached the railway station of Lineve, 15km from Pruzana where they were crowded into rail trucks, 150 to a truck, amidst the screams of children and adults being brutally beaten, and some of them killed by the German guards. Olia was separated from her husband and was never to see him again.

As the wagons were still open when darkness fell, Olia decided to escape. Though suffering from a bleeding head wound cause by a rifle butt blow of one of the German soldiers, she walked all night through fields and woods to the Pruzana convent where she had befriended one of the nuns, Sister Dolorosa (Genovefa Czula) whom she had cured of a serious illness. Sister Dolorosa received her warmly but when the Mother Superior of the convent heard about her arrival, she ordered Olia to leave forthwith.

Olia dressed as a nun and accompanied by Sister Dolorsa, left the convent during the night of January 30 and though they had no travel permits, decided to make their way west to the nun's native village, Olszyny, a distance of some 350km. It took them two weeks, walking, sometimes riding on horse carts and twice, with the help of friendly railway workers, by train to reach the village, miraculously getting through numerous controls on their way.

In Olszyny, the nun's family gave Olia a friendly reception and she stayed with them for the next 15 months. They passed her off to the villagers as a nun named Helena Wisocka, a trained nurse. She cared for the sick and secretly also treated injured Polish partisans. The village pharmacist was very impressed by the appropriate prescriptions the nun wrote, but two Polish doctors from the neighbouring town, complained to the German authorities about the competition from the unknown nun. Though the partisans warned the doctors to keep quiet, the situation became dangerous and the two women decided to leave the village immediately and move eastward in the direction of the advancing Red Army. When they spent their last money in the village of Naleczow, they tore out their gold teeth and sold them for bread to still their hunger.

On July 26, 1944, they were liberated by the Red Army and returned to Pruzana. The town people were astonished to see Olia still alive and many feared that she might be dangerous to them as she had witnessed their ill treatment of the Jews; robbery and even murder in the early stages of the German occupation. But, protected by the victorious Red Army, no one dared harm her. Of the town's many Jews, Olia found only a few dozen survivors,

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young men who had been part of the many Jews who joined the partisans and fought the Germans in the forests. They were all in ill health suffering from unhealed wounds, frozen limbs and physical exhaustion. She became their physician and mother, treating their wounds and sickness and forcing the peasants to supply them with food and clothing.

Not all the nuns were glad to see Sister Dolorosa return to their convent. They did not forgive her rescue of the Jewess and some pestered her with questions on how many bags of gold had she received for her deed. The noble woman took their taunts to heart and fell ill. When she recovered, she was expelled from the convent.

Ilya Ehrenburg, the famous Jewish Russian writer, heard about the extraordinary story of Olia's survival and invited her to come to Moscow with Sister Dolorosa to record their wartime experiences. Their testimony was included in the “Black Book” edited by Ehrenburg and Vasily Grossman, which was recently published in Hebrew in Jerusalem.

From Moscow, the two women went to Lodz where Olia found an apartment for the former nun, who is still living there. Olia decided to join the Red Army which was still fighting the Germans, and was given an appointment of medical officer in Marshal Zhukov's army which finally captured Berlin. After the Nazi surrender, Olia received word from the International Red Cross that her daughter and grand-daughter were alive and living in Nancy, France. Her son-in-law had been liberated from a prisoner of war camp in Germany by the American forces and had returned home as well. Olia set out on the long and difficult journey through the displaced person camps of Austria and Germany and reached Strasbourg in November, 1945, where she was met by her daughter who took her home to Nancy. By now, Olia was completely exhausted and had to undergo urgent surgery for a stomach ulcer. After she recovered, she decided to devote her life to aiding the survivors of the Holocaust and to live the rest of her life among Jews. She immigrated to Israel shortly after the State was established and immediately started working for the Kupat Holim Sick Fund. She picked up Hebrew amazingly fast and every day treated dozens of patients, many of them new immigrants who had survived the Holocaust in Europe.

She retired at the age of 70 after 11 years of devoted service. She died suddenly and peacefully in December, 1964.

This remarkable woman had in her own lifetime achieved every objective she had set for herself, overcoming almost superhuman difficulties and hardships in

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the process. Despite all the tribulations of her life and the personal tragedy of losing her husband when she was still a young woman, she may truly be said to have been a daughter of our town who made good. Sister Dolorosa (Genoufa Czula) was considered by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem a Righteous Gentile.

[Page 62 - English] [Page 147 - Hebrew]

(1903). U.S. Talmudic scholar and religious philosopher and scion of a preeminent Lithuanian rabbinical family. Soloveitchik was born in Pruzhan, Poland where his maternal grandfather, Elijah Feinstein, was the rabbi. Soloveitchik spent his early ears in Hasloviz, Belorussia, where his father, Moses, served as rabbi. Until his early twenties, Soloveitchik devoted himself almost exclusively to the study of Talmud and halakhah. Under his father's tutelage, he mastered his grandfather's method of Talmudic study, with its insistence on incisive analysis, exact classification, critical independence and emphasis on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah. In his late teens, Soloveitchik received the equivalent of a high school education from private tutors and at the age of 22, entered the University of Berlin. He majored in philosophy and was attracted to the neo-Kantian school. In 1931, he received his doctorate for his dissertation on Hermann Cohen's epistemology and metaphysics. That same year, he married Tanya Lewit (d. 1967), herself the recipient of a doctorate in education from the Jena University, who ably assisted him in all his endeavours. In 1932, they emigrated to the United States. A few months after his arrival, Soloveitchik became rabbi of the Orthodox Jewish community of Boston, the city which remained his home.

He founded the first Jewish day school in New England, the Maimonides School and also conducted post-graduate Talmudic classes for young scholars who gathered around him. With the influx of European yeshivah students during the 1930's, this advanced Talmudic institute was organized on a more formal basis as the Hekhal Rabenu Hayim Halevi and Yeshivath Torath Israel. However, this new school was disbanded in 1941 when Soloveitchik succeeded his father as professor of Talmud at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University. For many years, he also lectured at the university's Bernard Revel Graduate School, where he served as professor of Jewish

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philosophy. In these positions; Soloveitchik became the spiritual mentor of the majority of the American-trained Orthodox rabbis, and for decades, inspired students to follow his teachings. From 1952, Soloveitchik also exerted a decisive influence on Orthodoxy in his capacity as chairman of the Halakhah Commission of the Rabbinical Council of America. He also identified himself with the Religious Zionists of America (Mizrachi), and has been the organization's honorary president since 1946. Following the death of Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog in 1959, Soloveitchik declined to be a candidate to succeed him as Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel. He represented the American Jewish Community in the Advisory Committee of Humane Methods of Slaughter, set up by the secretary of agriculture in 1959. Soloveitchik was also the principal Jewish representative in Yeshiva University's Institute of Mental Health project undertaken in 1960 with Harvard and Loyola universities to study religious attitudes to psychological problems.

Soloveitchik was looked up to in North America as the unchallenged leader of enlightened Orthodoxy and was popularly known simply as “the Rav”. His main influence was through his lectures and public discourses. As a Talmudic and halakhic expositor, Soloveitchik had an unusual facility for explaining difficult technical problems. He was also an orator of note in his native Yiddish, as well as in English and Hebrew.

The annual halakhic and aggadic discourse which he delivered in Yeshiva University on the anniversary of his father's death, attracted thousands of listeners and was regarded as the major annual academic event for United States Orthodox Jewry. Although he wrote much, Soloveitchik published very little, continuing his family's tradition of reluctance to appear in print due to the demands of perfectionism. His main publication was a lengthy essay: “Ish ha-Halakhah” (Talpioth (1944) 651-735), in which his basic theological position was stated. Soloveitchik's thought focused on assessing the human situation. Man is viewed as both passive and active, cause and effect and object and subject. When man lives in accordance with the halakhah, he becomes master of himself and the currents of his life. He controls his thoughts, desires and actions, and he ceases to be a mere creature of habit. His life becomes sanctified and G-d and man are drawn into a community of existence which Soloveitchik termed: “a covenantal community”. This community brings G-d and man together in an intimate, person-to-person relationship. It is only through the observance of the halakhah that man attains this goal of “nearness to G-d”. Soloveitchik stressed that in halakhah, nothing is sacred

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until man designates it so. A Torah scroll is only holy when it has been sanctified by the scribe, and the Temple and all its appurtenances remain profane unless specifically dedicated by humans.

Soloveitchik often pointed out that Mount Sinai, which G-d sanctified by his descent to man, has retained no trace of holiness, whereas, Mount Moriah, which Abraham consecrated by his ascent to G-d, became the site of the Temple and remained eternally holy. Among his other published essays were: “The Lonely Man of Faith” (Tradition, 7 №2 (1965), 5-67) and Kol Dodi Dofek (in: S. Federbush (ed), Torah u-Melukkhah (1969), 11-44) in which he defined the position of the Religious Zionist Movement confronted with the realities of the reborn State of Israel. Soloveitchik opposed many aspects of the dialogue initiated by the Catholic Church with Jewish leaders as part of the Church4s ecumenical movement during the 1960's. He held that there could be no dialogue concerning the uniqueness of each religious community since each is an individual entity which cannot be merged or equated with a community which is committed to a different faith: (see his “Confrontation” in Tradition, 6, №2 (1964), 5-29. Soloveitchik's position was accepted as official policy by all segments of Orthodox Jewry.

From: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol.15, 1971, pp. 132-133.

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