At the time of the first deportation, on October 9, 1942, there were about 10,000 Jews in Radomsk because all the Jews from the nearby towns were concentrated in Radomsk before that. Of them, the Germans left only 350 Jews, but even this number was too large for them. Therefore, they sent another 150 and only left 200. Of all the Jews, only 50 escaped and managed to hide in the Arian side. The rest were sent to Treblinka. Of all the youth of Radomsk, not even a handful was chosen to be sent to labor camps, all were transferred to Treblinka.

In Radomsk they gathered 5,000 Jews from the entire area and gave them seven big buildings. Twenty to thirty people lived in one room. Six families lived in our room, a total of twenty people. The sanitary conditions were terrible. Before we went to bed, each of us deloused his clothes and the lice swarmed in everything. I was surprised that the ghetto was not guarded at all. Only one Polish policeman was walking around the gate, and it was possible to go out and return. At first, when we thought the ghetto would be locked, everyone started stockpiling food, but when it remained open, it was possible to bring everything from the outside. Nothing was missing, money bought everything. But most of the Jews had no money.

Immediately after that, Tadek came to us from Warsaw. We decided that if we would not go to the forests in the coming days, we will move most of our members to Częstochowa and the rest to Warsaw.

Many Jews came to Radomsk from other ghettos and told us that the situation there is much worse. Jews came from Szydłowiec, Ujazd and Piotrków.

On 2 January 1943, the Gestapo informed the Jewish Council that there were options for the Jews to travel to Eretz Yisrael. 1) First in line those who are Israeli citizens, 2) Those whose relatives are in Israel. 3) Those with distance relatives there. The latter were required to provide the exact addresses of their relatives. The community began to register those who wanted to immigrate to Israel. It was very crowded at the registration place. Hundreds of Jews stood in line and more than 3,000 registered. At night, after the registration, a meeting of the Jewish Council was held and a list of 300 people, the number allowed to immigrate, was compiled. The list included all members of the Jewish Council. They did not want to include anyone from our city claiming that many of us had already been saved. Over 50% of our city's Jews were in Radomsk, while everyone from Radomsk was sent to Treblinka. Therefore, it is their duty to save the survivors from their city. The mood in the ghetto improved, the Jews only spoke about Eretz Yisrael, and that's what the Germans intended for. Even before that, the Germans added two buildings to the ghetto because they admitted that the overcrowding was too great. The Jewish Council still maintained the social order: those who paid thousands of zloty received an apartment in the new buildings, and even two rooms for a family. The Germans also brought four doctors from Częstochowa. The doctors, together with the Jewish sanitary service, immediately began to inspect the rooms and the yards. A beam of light was seen from here. It was thought that the few thousands of Jews, who lived in the ghetto, would remain alive.

On 5 January, I visited chairman Gutstadt with Henich. He said that everything the Germans said to the Jews was only their “tactics,” and there was no basis for their claims that the ghettos would remain until the spring. We, the youth, still have to live, therefore we must escape and not sit in the ghetto. Gutstadt has changed beyond recognition. The Germans taught him not to trust a word coming out of their mouth. While we were talking a Jew, who traveled every day to Częstochowa in the Jewish Council's car, said that he saw 300 Jews being led through the street with their hands up to the station. Gutstadt said that he was immediately sending a messenger to find out what happened there. In the evening panic broke out in the city, a new deportation is being prepared. We ran to Gutstadt to hear about the situation, but all the doors in his house were locked. As it became known, he fled to Warsaw to the Arian side, where he had previously moved his family.

We wanted to rent carts and travel to Częstochowa, but it was impossible to get a cart. We decided to wait until morning. It was a sleepless night. At eleven at night 300 Jews were brought from Częstochowa to our ghetto. At five in the morning I left for the ghetto, it was quiet around and the ghetto was not surrounded yet. I went to Henich. We sat in his room for about half an hour and then the Germans came and kicked us all out. Everyone had to go to the Jewish community yard. When I exited the house columns of German police stood there. Despite this, Henich's brother tried to escape, they shot after him and we saw him fall. We walked to the Jewish community yard. From there they did not allow us to pass to the other houses and I was not able get to our house. We started running to all corners to look for refuge from the ghetto, but the Germans stood everywhere and aimed their guns at us. Hanich, a 22 young man, said to me: “Unecha, we are like 99 years old, and that's how we ended our lives.” Ukrainian songs were already sounded in the street. We approached a Polish policeman and told him that we would give him money if he would let us out. He reported this to the German guard. They agreed to take out four people and receive1000 zloty per person. They opened the gate immediately after the Gestapo's inspection, but instead of four, six came out. When we escaped from the ghetto and left for the city. We approached the house that stood on the side and entered it. A Polish laborer lives there with his family. We said we were Jews and we escaped from the ghetto. He gave us food and drink and took us to a carter, his acquaintance, to hire a cart for us to Częstochowa. On the way we met two more members, who also left the ghetto, and they told us that the deportation was postponed but the ghetto was surrounded by Ukrainians. For money, and a gold watch, the Ukrainians take people out. We arrived in Częstochowa in the evening. We had Polish acquaintance there that transferred all our members to Zagłebie which was annexed to the Reich. They also transferred all members from Krakow and Warsaw. When I arrived to one of the Poles, L., he was no longer at home. He came back late at night when there was no longer a train to Radomsk. At five in the morning, I returned with L. to Radomsk, and at seven in the morning we approached the ghetto. When we got closer, I saw that they started to take the Jews out of the houses to the Jewish Council yard, which was turned into a “concentration point.”

I will never forget what I saw. Five thousand Jews were gathered there and Germans and Ukrainians ran around them and shot them. These Jews had already fled from various cities where the decree of deportation had taken place, and knew that they were all being sent to death. They cried and shouted until their voices sounded throughout the city. They all carried


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packages, but when they put them in the train cars everything was taken from them. They also stripped many of their clothes and left them in their undergarments. They separated three hundred young men from the whole camp and sent them to the labor camp in Skarżysko, and the rest were sent to Treblinka. Among them I saw my parents. My father was sick and walked with weak legs. He walked with my mother in the last group. What could I have done then? I could just approach them and get into the train car with everyone. We stood for a long time until they started to look at us suspiciously. We walked slowly to the train station and traveled back to Częstochowa. They left twenty Jews in Radomsk who were shot later. Many Jews hid in bunkers and the Germans could not discover them. They caught a Jew and forced him to walk with them in the yards and shout: “Jews, come out! They will not harm you.” In this manner they gathered 350 people, took them outside the city, brought Poles to dig graves for them and shot them all.

This was the end of the ghetto in Radomsk, and in the same week all the ghettos in the district were also liquidated.

The material presented below includes excerpts from the literary legacy of our dear townsman, Tuvia Borzykowski z”l. These memoirs were written by him in his last year during his illness and pain. They were given to us (before their publication) by the management of Beit Lohamei Ha-Getaot named after Yitzchak Katzenelson to the legacy of the Holocaust and the rebellion. All the material from his estate is in the possession of this institution, which also published a significant portion of his writings and worked to perpetuate the memory of our townsman as one of the brave fighters during the Holocaust. (the editorial staff)

The farmers of the surrounding area, who brought their agricultural products to the city in their heavily loaded wagons, were known throughout Poland as having superstitions. From time to time they heralded a change in the weather, the outbreak of epidemics, the influence of demons and spirits on daily life, about crops and life of abundance and lean years. A new season has opened to these farmers. One day they appeared with the news: a war will break out after the harvest. They knew that not from the newspapers and not from the radio! They had a more reliable source of information - the moon told them and, sometimes, the sun whispered to them about events that would happen in the world. Every flaw on the moon, every solar eclipse and the star system, consisted an unfailing source of guesswork for these farmers who grew up in the bosom of nature for generations. The townspeople treated the visions of the primitive peasants with disdain and, this time, with a more subdued disdain, but life went on, more or less, on its usual course.

And as the summer drew closer to its end, life deviated from its normal course and anxiety and hope mixed together. A question hung in the air: existence or destruction? The fear of the impending storm grew stronger. No one knew what the day will bring. Depression and hope alternated intermittently. Various rumors increased the tension, all the guesses, even the most imaginary, were accepted as opinions and found interpreters among the knowledgeable people. I, as most of my peers, didn't know about the horrors of war, only what I have heard from my parents and also from the literature of the war such as: Remarque, Brabus, Pink, etc. From all those I learned to hate war - any war and in any form, but I never imagined that it will take such a tangible form, and that even in my day it may become an existing fact.

Life at the Freiheit [Freedom] movement's club in Radomsk was stormy as usual. Every evening we gathered there for the regular activity as if we were not facing fateful events. The constant noise that was carried in space, the music and the dance attracted the attention of the passers-by. Many of lingered for a moment near the club's open windows, in which there were always hundreds of teenagers, to enjoy the singing that rose from there. Some of teenagers came to forget a little the pain in their hearts and others still could not stand the seriousness of the hour.

In the office, in the corner, sat Eliezer Hoftman or as he was called Lazr, Yitzchak Cipler, Keila Leizerowicz, Shimeon Zalcman, Sony Okrent and me. These were the issues, big and small, that the branch took care of. Lazar, who already in his youth raised many hopes in people for his honesty, responsibility and limitless dedication to the movement, especially stood out in this group. His entire private life was sacred to the cause. He was immersed day and night in his work at the branch. In this work he created a mental connection between himself and others. He was interested in the fate of a member and his family and, if help was needed, he always had special means of extending help. Although Lazar was my student from his youth and I knew him since he was a teenager, there was no partition between us. Our relationship was based on complete friendship and mutual trust.

In those days, the subject of the meeting in the office was only around one question: how to banish the complacency from the members' heart, instill in their minds the anxiety of the future and, with that, to forge their character so that they could stand the test of time in all conditions and circumstances. And indeed, the practical answer to this question was not immediate. It was given later, but, since it was given, it was in the spirit of the movement and the way hundreds and thousands from other cities went. I remember a meeting of members of the branch in preparation for the days to come. I started by reading “Three Gifts” by I. L. Peretz, which served as a clue to the content of the movement's operation for many days. After that, the members of the secretariat and a large number of those gathered spoke, all the performances were accompanied by a dead silence. Everything said promptness, seriousness and a willingness to welcome evil together, not as individuals but as a movement. In that meeting it was possible to feel that those 17-20 year olds, who only yesterday spent their days playfully without care, instantly put on the facial expressions of mature people, in their behavior, alertness and reaction to all the phenomena around them. The singing of the anthems had a different sound this time, the sound of a uniform silent oath of all the hundreds present to coalesce around the movement. Many of them didn't believe then that only a few months later they would be called to abide by this oath.


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There was then a general awakening in the national movement. The unification of the youth movements Freiheit and HeHalutz Hatzair, a year before the outbreak of the war, left its mark throughout the united movement. The days were the days of Chamberlain's surrender to Hitler, and the abandonment of Czechoslovakia by the powers to the Nazis. It will therefore not be surprising that the Union Conference was already in the shadow of the events that would take place. I especially remember Tebenkin's appearance at that conference when he talked about the connection between the war and the extermination of the Jews. The conference delegates saw a special meaning in the hearty handshakes. Every one dispersed with the feeling that in addition to all the reasons that justified the union, another reason was added, the unification of a great force that would enable us to withstand what the approaching troubled days would bring. Then, everyone started a race against time. Only one summer was left to convey the word of the unification to the hundreds of branches scattered throughout the country. In the center it was decided to dedicate a number of regional seminars, and summer colonies, in order to unify the movement. I was recruited into action by the center for almost the entire summer. I left Lazar in the place and left for the district seminar that took place in Kamiensk. Chanca Platnicki, Yitzchak Zukerman and Pitkov - an emissary from Israel, participated on behalf of the center.

My summer passed by with great intensity. I didn't have time to rest after the seminar in Kamiensk. Aletter was already waiting from the center with an offer to go to the vicinity of Lublin to manage a regional summer colony. My mother tried to persuade me, and asked in every language of request, that I should give up the trip. In general, she had no understanding for the needs of the movement. She was an elderly woman imbued with the spirit of tradition, and together with that, she often knew how to deviate from the values that were sacred to her if she could put the opinion of the children she raised with boundless devotion. In contrast to her, my father was a rigid and strict God-fearing man, who was not willing to give up trivial matters. Unlike him, my mother defended me without my presence to my father when she realized that it was impossible to dissuade me from my trip, and after her last reasoning didn't suit her, and it is: the prevailing unrest in Israel. It is unknown - she claimed - what could happen and I could be cut off from home.

After this discussion, my mother prepared provisions for me for the road and said goodbye to me in a motherly way. After many hours of traveling I arrived in Throbbing - the place intended for the summer colony. This place, not a village nor a town, especially attracted my attention because of the story, “The Seven Good Years” by I. L. Peretz. Like any story about an unknown place, this story left a lot of room for imaginative thought in order to gain some idea about the place, the people and the environment. Now I can closely identify the story with the place and especially that the name of the hero of Peretz was closer to my heart.

The days were late August. The war fever in the country has almost reached its peak. Policy statements and counter-statements appeared in the press. On the side of the boastful and hollow saying of Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigły - the Commander-in Chief of the armed forces - “we will not give even a single button,” loud headlines, words of encouragement to the population and attempts to raise morale were published in the newspapers. But to Turobin, the sleepy and remote village, no rumors about the tense situation have yet arrived, since the local population of several hundred inhabitants was mainly rural. Like all farmers, Turobin farmers also knew nothing but to wake up at sunrise and return from work at sunset. Therefore, they have no time left to be interested in politics. The Jewish population, of a few dozen inhabitants, consisted only of the elderly, since the younger generation was drawn to the big city and there was no one left at home who would need a newspaper. All the circulation of the newspapers didn't reach five - even those didn't arrive and on the day of its publication, but the next day. There were no radio receivers in the village and life flowed quietly and peacefully. Since dawn, when the trumpet heralded the arrival of the new day, the village buzzed like a beehive from groups going to educational work, and groups returning with singing and a deafening tumult. The days are running out. It seems that we only arrived yesterday and already talk about the end of the colony. But, who wants to talk about ending?

In the educational action frameworks in the colony, several days were dedicated to certain topics such as: a day of defense, the movement, a day dedicated to the war of nations, tourism and the like. At the end of the colony there was an evening dedicated to a conversation against the war, and this evening was the crux of the plans. The bustle was great, since we were standing on the eve of a war that may flare up at any moment, and who will warn of its coming if not its victims by force?

The preparations for the evening against the war were done secretly by a group of people, in order to surprise the members. In order to demonstrate the horrors of the war, it was necessary to wake up the people after midnight when everyone was sound asleep. When they unexpectedly awoke at one o'clock after midnight, the whole area was already in flames and billows of smoke, and as the panic increased among the surprised, the tongues of fire rose higher and higher and covered a large area of the village fields.

When the excitement subsided everyone gathered around the camp fire. One opened with a recitation and the other answered with a song matching the topic. In between singing and reciting, I spoke briefly about the war, the horrors of which could be guessed. After reading chapters from the war literature, the evening ended with a Hora dance. The members didn't have enough time to recover after the startled surprise, and a signal was given to disperse to the rooms. It was difficult to fall asleep without sharing impressions until the morning light.

In the early hours of the morning, someone from the village came and announced. that a general recruitment had begun.

Does the business start seriously and precisely on the day of the end of the colony, and a few hours after an anti-war eve?

In the meantime, the hour was not suitable for many reflections. It was necessary to act as quickly as possible and send the members home. However, the train and buses were already booked on that day and it was impossible to get tickets. It was good that at least most of the members didn't live a great distance from the colony, and it was possible to rent carts for their travel. When I parted from the last one in the group it was my turn to travel.

When I arrived at the train station, I was shocked at the sight of the large crowd standing at the entrance of the station, and the large number of people coming and going from all the roads leading to the station. And here I am, at a loss for advice and tricks on how to squeeze into the train, because in the normal way there was no need to do it.

According to the center's instructions I had to travel to Warsaw when the colony ended. But, in view of the emergency that has arisen in the meantime, I was willing to forego the trip to Warsaw, provided I would arrive in Radomsk as soon as possible. However, also in the direction of Radomsk all the vehicles were occupied by conscripts and it seems that my mother's fears when we parted from me, that I might be cut off from home, seem to be justified. I therefore decided to try and squeeze to every vehicle that comes from both directions, or I will arrive in Radomsk or


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or to Warsaw. Indeed, this willingness was not enough. I had to wait for a window of opportunity and first of all for luck.

Not a single train, and not a single bus, passed by me. Each vehicle swallowed a huge number of conscripts inside it. My nervousness grew. Night will soon fall and my chances are slim. I join the crowd storming the train door! I struggle with my hands and feet. At a certain moment I felt that I was being pushed by the crowd crowding behind me, and now I could already longer trust it to “lead” me inside even though I didn't want to. After several moments, and as if without realizing it, I found myself in the train departing for Warsaw.

I breathed a sigh of relief, although breathing in the crammed full car was not easy. At each station, more and more recruits were added, but no one got off the train and the overcrowding became unbearable. On this occasion I was able to look around at the surroundings. In one corner of the car I tried to “feel the pulse” of those who will face the battle tomorrow. The group was very diverse. Next to those who carved the flames of patriotism were also those who were indifferent to everything.

And why are you sitting there, with a lowered head, aren't you a partner in the war effort? called one of the patriots towards the one sitting in the corner thinking.

Will you support my family? He asked. What kind of citizen are you, is your family more important than the whole country? was the answer.

And what is the country doing for me, does the government remember all the days of the year that citizens exist, especially during election days and in times of war when the citizen is needed to sacrifice himself for the sake of the “homeland?”

Upon hearing the calls of agreement from the end of the car, someone from the other side angrily intervened: now is not the right time to take stock, and every bit of force should be sacred for the defense of the country. Before the last speaker had finished his emotional words, everyone around burst into the song Warszawianka [Whirlwinds of Danger] followed by similar patriotic songs. The argument didn't resume due to the large crowd that wanted to get into the train in the station to which we arrived, and unfortunately there was no room for them. Their very attempt distracted everyone from the argument.

The picture of the diversity of the population was obvious to all upon arrival in Warsaw. The Warsaw's streets were flooded with many people. It was impossible to cross the road without waiting for many hours. Columns and columns of conscripts marched endlessly. There were those who marched with their head raised and a nice expression, others sang, and there were those whose walk was indifferent out of concern for the safety of their family. The common denominator was the mass escort of thousands, thousands of women and children who were all sobbing.

I arrived in Warsaw exactly on the day of the agreement between Molotov and Ribbentrop was signed… in August. The atmosphere was electrified. No one understood what this meant. The general feeling was that it was a serious matter, that if this agreement were true, it would have a decisive effect on the state of affairs. And the heart of humanity will continue flutter between war and peace.

When I arrived at the movement center, M. M. the emissary from Israel, came towards me. He spread in front of me a newspaper with news about the puzzling and vague agreement that pointed to the sharp turning in the war of nerves. Of course, the hour was not convenient to talk about future plans. Since receiving a letter from M. M., who invited me to come to Warsaw on my way back from the colony, things changed from one end to the other. Then, there was a different Warsaw and different Poland. Now, all that remain is to postpone my transfer plan to Warsaw to work at the newspaper, and wait for the horizons to clear up in world's sky. But, the horizons have been getting darker. Everything was shrouded in fog and heavy clouds hovered on the sky. And all this in contrast to the month of September that, as I remember, was an exceptionally beautiful and warm autumn.

The characteristic of that period was - the abandonment of all plans for the future and even those for the next day. Man lived then only for the life of the hour, and the life of this hour was adapted to human relations. People didn't plan to meet on a certain date. Cultural institutions ceased. The use of bank notes and endorsements ceased. The only subject of conversation was subject of the impending war. People went to sleep at night with anguish in their hearts, and with heavier anguish got up to their usual work. The same image appeared in my mind when I returned from Warsaw to Radomsk. Of course, in this provincial city life was usually quieter and the war of nerves was not felt as severely as in the capital city but, even here, general tension gave its signal in all areas of life. Apart from the general atmosphere that prevailed on the eve of the war, the economic situation of the city was bad, and industrial factories and crafts were paralyzed. In particular, the Jewish market suffered, which was mostly based on craft and trade. Many members of the movement have already been called up for conscription, including Lazar. There was a feeling of emptiness at times and the silence spread over the walls. The singing and dancing, which on normal days emanated from the hall to the distance, became silent. The efforts that were made to give the branch a form of normal work, as if nothing had happened, was in terms of trying to revive the leaves that fall from the trees in the autumn.

On Thursday 30 August, one evening before the outbreak of the war, I sat in the library named after Sholem Aleichem. Next to me was Mordechai Zelig Rosenblatt - of the veterans of Poalei Zion Zionist Socialist. Between the first wave of readers - who flooded me when they came to exchange books - and the second wave, I struck up a conversation with Mordechai Zelig about a possible development of the tense situation we have been in for a long time. Mordechai Zelig was an elderly man, and his entire exterior was an accurate reflection of his inter being. He was slender, bespectacled, his wide glasses hid his tiny eyes that were sunken in their sockets and only the lenses protruded from them. His head resembled the head of a young goat and, indeed, people called him by that name. He was a Hebrew teacher by profession, but all his life he was poor and destitute and cared for children, and the reason for this was his activity and interest in everything related to the life of the movement. Mordechai Zelig's past in the movement was very rich. In 1921 he participated together with Dov Ber Borochov at the conference of Poalei Zion in Krakow. When he returned from the conference he was arrested by the Tsarist government and was imprisoned for three months. For years I spent my free time in the company of Mordechai Zelig and always learned something new from him. He didn't hide from me that he is also a subject of our friendly relations. And indeed, more than once I felt that he needed to talk to me. In our aforementioned conversation in the library, he said, among other things: There is no sense in Hitler's declaration of war. It is not quite clear that this is not a matter of Poland only? Now he will clash with all the powers, who have already been deceived by Hitler, with the abandonment of Czechoslovakia. He will not be able to stand against the whole world, and will think twice before deciding to go to war.

Darkness and gloom prevailed in the city streets due to the blackout that was declared that evening by the anti-aircraft defense. No one thought then that on the next day it would no longer be just a practice, but a cruel reality. It never occurred to Mordechai Zelig that only a few hours later the world would be completely different from the world when we parted


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from each other. That he would wake up in a panic to the sound of the Germans' murderous bombing of a peaceful population at five in the morning.

Indeed the war was a fact.

It was not officially announced. Only the bombs gave the signal that it had indeed begun

And it came in a storm, with a powerful crushing force. It sowed confusion, panic and demoralization among the population, and took control from the hands of the authorities. Immediately after the first strike that the German Air Force launched on September first early in the morning, high government officials, mayors and police officers, begun to pack their belongings, a matter that further increased the intensity of the chaos among the population. Following them, a mass flight of the population began, and on the second day of the war only a few dozen people left in the city. The city was emptied to the point of terror. Of all the clerical staff no one was left to regulate the recruitment into the army, which was partly carried out at the end of August. I, in my naivety, refused my parents request to leave the frequently bombed city with them because of my expectation of conscription. When people noticed that the prison gates were wide open and there were no prisoners in them, it was clear to all that this was not an escape of officials, but a “planned” withdrawal.

The country was swallowed, hour by hour, and day by day, by carnivorous animal in human form. Each day brought additional conquests by the Nazis. Over the course of three weeks the territory of Poland has been reduced to nothing. The Germans sent to the Polish front thousands of armored vehicles, airplanes, cannons, and, first of all, an army of covert and overt spies, Volksdeutsche who lived for years in Poland as Polish citizens, and gnawed the state from the inside.

The invading army flooded the cities and villages of Poland, disturbing the rest of the population day and night with deadly fire of weapons of all kinds. The Polish army scattered everywhere, seeking to find shelter in the face of the deadly fire that fell upon it. The piles of dead people and animals, and the wanderings of animals whose herds have spread and their silent question: what happened to your people? Those who have not seen such a chaos - have never seen a chaos!

The German “blitz” gave its signals. City after city was conquered at breakneck speed. The tanks shook the earth under them. The constant buzzing of airplanes and the thunder of the cannons, accompanied by deafening explosions, deafened the ears. The smoke that rose up to the sky, and the flames, consumed everything on the surface, left charred streets in all the cities and neighborhoods that the Nazi boot stepped on them.

In the occupied cities, the Nazis, and their helpers, the Volksdeutsche^[1], ran rampant. As the Eastern Front progressed, an international gang of hired killers, Nazi servants, traitors and a mob of all nations, was created: Poles, Ukrainians, Latvians, Russians, etc. They were given free rein to murder, rob, and rape. These men of the underworld terrorized the citizens whose homes, and property, were broken into by anyone with a weapon in hand.

Most of these weapons bearers were Volksdeutsche, who were treated with kindness by most of the evil governments during all the years of the existence of independent Poland. On the day of the order it became clear to those who have been misled, that before us is a gang of traitors who can to take advantage of their influence in the government offices, and the country's economic life, for the purposes of espionage and sabotage for the benefit of the invader. They were given broad access to all the planning and implementation institutions of the government, the military and the municipalities, and to be accepted by the public as citizens with equal rights. While the Jews, whose anti-Haziness was not in doubt, were forbidden by the authorities, several months before the war, to be found at the border points bordering Nazi Germany.

One fact, among many, may be used to prove how the Polish State was rotten from the inside by traitors, and sold to Hitler many years before the outbreak of the war: when the government company for paving roads planned the paving in different areas of the country, it made sure that the roads would be paved precisely in those areas that would enable the Germans to quickly conquer Poland.

The Polish people paid with their best sons for the government's failed policies. The Polish soldier was not among the worst in the world's armies. He was a brave man with the ability to self-sacrifice against any foreign invader. However, the saying that “the fish stinks from the head” is very suitable for the atmosphere that prevailed in pre-war Poland, starting with the central government which was based on a semi-fascist regime in which the representatives of the bourgeoisie rule, and finished by the high-ranking leadership in the army that was corrupt to the core. The arrogant militarism that distanced itself from the people and all its efforts were devoted to establishing a buffer between the common soldier and the high ranking officer. The officers, who were very strict about the external shine of the army and didn't pay attention to the internal decay. All of this was reflected in the strength and spirit of the army, and in the first test it turned out that it could not withstand.

The city of Radomsk, where I grew up and educated, was captured after three days of heavy bombing from the air. Before it, and after it, fell Częstochowa and Piotrkow and all the length of the front. The border with Germany collapsed. The attack on Radomsk was so surprising, and so astonishing, that the German army was greeted with joy and jubilation by dozens of people who, at that night, were in one of the city's suburbs. Seeing that a foreign army was approaching the city, the people didn't think too much and decided that it was the British army… And lo and behold: the thousands of kilometers separating Poland and Britain didn't have the power to convince the people that this foreign army is the German army that resides right under their noses. These people, in their great innocence, and their reliance on Britain's promise to come to the aid of the attacked, happily ran to announce the “joyous” news and, of course, the disappointment was not long in coming…

The road was open before the well-armored, and well-equipped, German army, which could overcome any place at will. In some sections, and first of all in Warsaw, the Poles fought in a way that does not fall, or even rise in intensity to the enemy's war. But all other parts of the front were breached before the attacker, who occupied cities and villages in vast areas without serious resistance. The Germans were preparing for fierce battles and to their surprise they encountered a disintegrating army who was looking for an escape and refuge. The common soldiers and their officers, who never had any contact between them and formed two separate worlds, met in shelters and escape routes. Now the two worlds were united on the destruction of Poland. These officers, who were brought up on the knees of a rotten government, received from it the source of spiritual inspiration and absorbed within themselves the spirit of the “button.” They despised the people and the life of the common soldier was a disgrace to them. Suddenly they were forced, by reality, to share the faith together with workers and farmers, to adapt to life of siege and captivity and share all the hardships they had met on their way many times.

It was, perhaps, an important and thought-provoking lesson in the hearts of those, who only yesterday had unlimited power over their commands, but a lesson too late on the part of those who had such a prominent part in the defeat of Poland.

At the time, when this saying spread, there was still a spirit of optimism dominating everything. The main concern that preoccupied each and every individual was the wish that he would be included in this community, whose security was almost placed in the pocket.

Allegedly, this statement was based on something. All of our information about the attitude of the Germans to the Jews was drawn from the pre-war Jewish presss. Even though it this press was accepted by the Jews, in their subconscious was the opinion that a small part of what is written there is due to horror propaganda. This opinion was strengthened by what was written in both Jewish and non-Jewish press, which described the situation in Nazi Germany as blacker than black. The German people have not seen the form of butter, fat and other essential commodities since Hitler came to power. And here German soldiers appeared in Poland with sturdy, healthy and happy faces, and the “fictions” of the newspapers, whose propaganda and prophecies didn't stand the test of reality, were once again initiated.

When the Jews investigated their situation in depth, the general calm increased after the first shock of the German invasion. The first shock stood in the shadow of the pre-war press, and every German concept in those days was identical with a murderer. During the days of the battle when the Jews were in their wandering, and when the news reached them that the Germans had captured the city, there were many who began to confess. The very thought of encountering a German in those days was like death. It will not be surprising, then, that the panic and horror were unimaginable. However, after several days the recovery came, and they began to think that the demon was not as bad as they thought. The fact, that someone encountered a German and got out safely, planted a feeling of security in the hearts of the people.

But the confidence was imaginary. The Nazis needed a short transition period until they organized their institutions, impose their Selbstschutz^[2] on all areas of life under the guidance of the Gestapo and until the Judenrat, the executive arm of the anti-Jewish decrees, will be established. They established all of these in a very short time. They didn't care that in the meantime the Jews will be a little more comfortable. On the contrary, for the sake of the satanic plans of the Nazis, it was necessary to sow illusions among the Jews, so that it would be possible to settle with the Germans by total obedience to the instructions of the authorities. A policy of early non-intimidation also facilitated the establishment of the Judenrat, and the participants in it were appointed by the authorities. They were charmed, not only by the honor of leading the public, but mainly the privileges that this position gives them. They clearly knew that those who are already inside the Judenrat are not allowed to resign. It was only possible to be fired there, and Woe to the one who was fired.

As mentioned, the period of the establishment of the conqueror passed very quickly. Indeed, also in the period, the Germans didn't sit idle. The mainly manifested in the instituting of forced labor for all males aged 16 to 55, in the imposition of contribution on the Jewish population, the looting of Jewish stores etc. But all this may not have come from the initiative of the central authorities of the Germans and was not organized, without a discrimination system, and nothing compared to what the Jews imagined the Nazi regime before the occupation. In their conversations the Jews expressed their opinions that if it would not be worse than that, it would be possible to hold on until the end of the war.

The moment the instructions came from the Generalgouvernement^[3], signed by General Frank, the entire situation had changed for the worse. From now the care of the Jews was removed from the local authority of each city and official and organized discrimination began with typical German precision. Now, there was no room left for a good and bad German. Everything remains within the framework of the law, a loophole remained for certain concessions to the city governor or his subordinates, but they all trembled before the authorities in charge of them and none of them dared to circumvent the law for the sake of the Jews.

The Germans began to impose decrees upon decrees and didn't give a little rest. A decree was published that it is forbidden for Jews hold and manage stores, warehouses and any other commercial premises. The decree entered into force upon its publication and thus allowed the Jewish merchants to take with them, upon leaving their trading houses, goods and any money left over from the previous day, before they handed over the keys to the trading houses to the Germans and the Volksdeutsche which were determined by the authorities. In this manner, the merchants, who were a significant part of the local Jews, were deprived of their livelihood overnight. The merchants came in the morning and found out that the store no longer belonged to them. From now on they have to serve the “landlord” and in return they received a temporary low salary until he could manage without them. And indeed, they were fired a short time later, and soon found their place in the slave labor market, on days of snow and frost, or in unbearable heat, under the watch of supervisors who didn't spare blasphemies, humiliations and even murderous blows. A day of forced labor lasted forever. People returned home broken and tired after hard labor for watery soup twice a day. But the workers didn't lose hope. As the difficulties and troubles increased, so did the intense passion for life. “I will survive” was the typical expression which was the pillar of fire in those dark days. It was enough for the German to point his finger from some distance for the Jew to approach him. This also made it possible to ensure that the Jews would not escape during abductions to work or to the camp at the time of inspection at the train stations and on the roads, and that they will not use the train or any other vehicle after a ban on it was published. This gave the Germans total control over the ghetto, using the threat that anyone who will not wear the insignia would be executed.

The choke belt became tighter around the neck, and since most men of working age were employed in manual labor - the women entered the yoke


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of earning a living. Their main livelihood was transferring food and used clothes from city to city. They had to find out which commodity was in short supply in which city in the immediate vicinity, and supplied the shortage to the satisfaction of the local people. But, it was involved all kinds of disasters, it was not enough to present an official travel permit, the women were expected to have all kinds of adventures, insults and even to be removed from the train in the middle of the journey by the Polish and passengers and the Volksdeutsche. The Jewish women sacrificed themselves for the sake of the existence of the family and were ready to bear all the difficulties and risk all the responsibilities that the new role imposed on her.

And here one day, when the women got up for their usual work, they learned about the new decree issued by the government, which forbids Jews from traveling by train and all kinds of other means of transportation.

Once again the hope that it will be possible to continue like this collapsed. Again, the members of many families asked - what is the purpose of the struggle for life, and what is the purpose and potential of continuing the mercy of the tyrant when he waves the law in his hand and you stand before him as a person with weak character and lacking independence.

These gloomy thoughts stemmed not only from a lack of perspective for the future, but from the fact that adversity had eaten away every good part of the present. The husband was “busy” with forced labor and the wife was deprived of her business due to the travel ban. The children didn't go to school, walked around hungry and were not able to understand the reason to their plight. In the meantime, they lived on selling things from the house, and sold to the Poles everything that was not extremely useful. By the way, the sale of household goods began to develop trade with the Poles and the Jews not only sold but also bought what could be sold in the market. The transition from the sale of household items to real trade served, - from an economic point of view, as compensation for the anti-Jewish ban, and banished the depression from the Jewish homes. A new hope flickered again, but for how long?

One day, at dusk, I sat at home and read the book “The Magic Mountain” by Thomas Mann. I started reading it on the eve of the war and finished it when the war was at its peak. I was immersed in the magic country of Switzerland, its landscape, mountains and lakes. I tried to ignore Castorp, Mann's main hero, because in such a brutal time, what importance can be attributed to the fate of one person when tens of millions of people throughout Europe are languishing in a great prison called Nazism.

So I reflected on this vision, that in the heart of Europe, founded in her blood, there is a legendary land called Switzerland, the whole land is calm, surrounded by mountains and hills, vast lakes that reflect like a mirror. From time to time, when I turned my eyes from the book to reality, I imagined that the contrast between the book and reality is one of the utopias of the 16th century.

While I was immersed in the Swiss scenery, the door opened and before my eyes the Selbstschutz appeared with a list of people in his hand. While reading from the list he asked me for my name. I answered him. When I saw that he was having trouble finding me, I thought it was a mistake on his part, but, a moment later, he found my name and told me that I should appear the next day at 9 o'clock in the morning at the mayor, and left.

What is the meaning of the matter: was it because of my activity in the movement before the war? After all, the Selbstschutz searched for me directly. He came with a list prepared in advance and my name was mentioned on this list. And, on the other hand, since when the German invite someone they need? Haven't there been cases where people disappeared without knowing where? In any case, it was difficult for me to find a solution to this mystery. It was good that when the Selbstschutz appeared my parents and sister were not at home. I spared them a sleepless night, and I even pretended that nothing had happened. But the thoughts didn't let me sleep. The more I tried to disperse them, they floated and came up again, bothering and asking for answers to the questions.

A thought of escape arose in my heart. But before I found an answer to where, the question began to bother me: is it possible to endanger my family by escaping?

I went outside to see one of the members. On the way I met Avraham-Bunim Eizen, a member of Poalei Zion Zionist Socialist and the representative of this party in the municipal council and the community committee before the war. Eizen was pale and frightened. From him I learned that he also received an invitation to appear before the mayor the next day at the same time. He also learned that a member of the Polish Socialist Party was called for that time. Now it was clear that this is a purely political matter. But what is this political matter? Are there any charges against us? This remained a mystery until the next day at nine in the morning. All attempts to find out about it beforehand were of no use.

The hours of the night seemed like eternity. The thoughts ran at the speed of sound. I got up in the morning after a sleepless night and surveyed everything around me with a growing feeling that I was seeing my love ones for the last time. Eizen and I agreed to present ourselves before the mayor together, and we were already there before nine o'clock. While waiting we saw that those gathered were former representatives of all political streams, starting with Narodowa Demokracja [National Democracy], Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza [Polish United Workers' Party] the two peasant parties and ending with all the Jewish parties. The group was very diverse and everyone's expressions were serious. It was obvious that they had a sleepless night. They greeted each other with the blink of an eye and fake smiles. The silence was complete. Everyone was eagerly anticipating what might happen in a few minutes.

And here the door opened and a tall man appeared before us. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and his voice was screechy. Among the townspeople, this man, whose name was Rutter, was a constant topic of conversation, and they wished him the best of curses. The name Rutter frightened the people and drove them far away. Panic arose when it became known that Rutter was approaching, and there was no Jewish man he liked. This one didn't walk properly, and this one didn't sit to his liking, and the Jews were beaten for every “fault.”And if his victim had a beard, he led him to the Selbstschutz and ordered there to cut his beard.

Now I sit across from the man everyone is afraid of, and hear him reading the guest list to check if everyone has turned up. As he uttered the name of the Freiheit movement, to which I belonged, and when he understood the meaning of the word, he looked at me with his penetrating gaze.

When he finished reading the list of those present, he began with a word of warning and said something like this: “You are the representatives of the public, and upon you I place a heavy responsibility for the peace of the public. Now you are given the opportunity to show that you really care for the peace of the public by not participating in the activities of any organization, or trying to organize partisan groups and taking them out to the forests or just an underground operation in the place. If it turns out that you will not heed this warning, and continue to incite the population against the government, you will be responsible to your own head, and now you can go.”

We left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, there was the joy of the heart that we were released and each one has said a confession in his heart. And on the other hand - It was impossible to underestimate the responsibility imposed on us. From now on, we should expect every Monday and Thursday that they will come to pick us up after any case that they see as a violation of the “trusts” on our part.

Since in this war not a single problem has reached its final solution, this problem also remains pending.

The “Black Tuesday,” of one of September days, the day that was etched in the memory of all local Jews as a bitter and impetuous day, became one of the most memorable dates and was the topic of the day for the local people for a long time. On “Black Tuesday”


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the desperate situation of the Jews was illuminated like a spotlight, and a large part of the faith that still flickered in the human heart was weakened. In the early morning hours of that day the Germans held a total recruitment for penal labor. For this purpose they took out from the houses everyone they could lay their hands on. Men who were released from work, those who had just returned from working the night shift, those who usually worked on the second shift and workers who were privately employed by the Germans. They violated the agreement that existed between the Judenrat and the Germans, that the Judenrat is the only supplier of personnel. They also abducted the entire staff of the Judenrat except for the chairman. The recruitment was complete. Ninety-five percent of all men of working age were abducted. Only those, who knew how to hide very well, remained. The Germans penetrated every hole, every attic and every cellar. In these searches they showed great professionalism, and developed tactics in getting the men out of hiding places. Everyone who was abducted in a hideout was severely beaten before the penal work began.

All the abductees were concentrated along both side of the Radomka River. There, they were divided into groups under the supervision of professional sadists who were brought especially for this purpose. The men, whose number reached over a thousand, were ordered to enter the river's water in the great winter cold. Half an hour later, after they got out of the water, they were ordered to dance in front of a crowd of Polish spectators. When the dance was over they were ordered to sing. The Jews sang Hatikvah, and when they finish singing they immersed again in the water. Immediately afterwards they were ordered to lie with their face in the mud, and the Germans were very careful that their faces were tightly pressed to the polluted ground. Oh to the one that team of torturers noticed that his head was slightly tilted to the side and not completely submerged in the mud. That man was taken out of the row and brutally beaten with a whip all parts of his body. The screams, which reached the heavens, didn't deter the attackers. Not even the blood-stained face of the beaten man whose eyes were sunk in their sockets in a black frame and his limbs were horribly mangled. Such victims were in the hundreds and made up about a third of the entire camp of the tortured and humiliated. But this disgraceful show of trampling on human dignity was not over yet. Then, the roll call affair began to check if no one had escaped. This was used as an additional pretext by the abusers for beatings and curses. The standing in rows during the roll call had to be tense and straight according to military tradition, but the most of the people already failed after the previous abuse and could not stand on their feet. This matter incited the gendarmes to further torture. Again, murderous blows, again fainting and a heaping dose of curses.

Over the course of that day the same images of the play were repeated countless times. The murderers reached the peak of hatred before sunset, before the dispersal of the tired crowd. When all the men were lying down with their faces to the ground, they heard the rumble of tractors that were getting closer between the rows and thought the end of their lives had come. Panic arose. But the panic was quiet because it was forbidden to talk to each other. And so they were forced to choke all the mental fluttering of the soul of that moment in their hearts, and the groans and moans so that they would not reach the ears of the gendarmes. When the wheels of the tractors had already deafened the ears, each of them was already mentally prepared for them to go over their heads and each of them whispered a confession in his heart. Then, it became clear to them that this was just an act of intimidation. The tractors only passed by the sides of the rows in which the people expected a certain death.

With that ended the events of one day. The hands of the clock moved at their usual pace. But in Radomka River the hours seemed like years. The time table in Radomka River consisted of the fever of terror that doubled every moment into an hour, every hour into months, and months into years.

“Black Tuesday” instilled indescribable gloom on everyone. The men arrived to their homes unconscious with mutilated limbs, or were brought to their homes by others. The men were bereft of a human image and the sobs of their families touched the heart. There was hardly a family that was not touched by evil. And, in addition to everything, there was a bitter lesson learned - if the Germans are able to publicly demonstrate such diabolical evil, it means that this is a phenomenon that may repeat itself and it is necessary to worry about their fate of the local Jews.

After all I saw in that dark evening, when the tortured returned to their homes, I didn't know if I should be happy, or sorry, that I was able to hide. On that “Black Tuesday,” in the morning, when the gendarmes searched every nook and cranny, climbed to the attics and went down to the cellars to see if men were hiding there, I managed to escape from the trap by behaving according to the unwritten Jewish law: “they kidnap? - run away!” even though I didn't know the nature of the kidnapping. If I knew that the kidnapping was not related to work, and intended to give vent to the sadistic lusts of the Germans, maybe there was room for consideration if I should join the entire camp of the tortured, if only to suffer with everyone, even though from a logical point of view it was nothing but stupidity. I was ashamed of myself that I was one of the few who didn't participate in the feeling of the Jews that day. (Eyewitnesses from our townspeople, who followed the events on “Black Tuesday,” drew our attention to the fact that the description given here has certain contradictions with the events of that day. The editorial staff)

Those, who advocated “duty,” would have interpreted such a phenomenon in different ways in order to justify their attachment “to their origin,” and they would prove that only the place of birth is the homeland for the Jews. But they didn't discover during the war a mental connection to the place more than the Socialist Zionists and the halutzim [pioneers], who always denied the stability of the Diaspora, and never believed in the possibility of a complete Jewish life in the place.

The attempt to save the library named after Sholem Aleichem, which was founded by Poalei Zion Zionist Socialist, was in our view a natural and understandable matter, regardless if someone would need the rescued books. This asset was cultivated for many long years and became the glory of the Jewish community.

The best efforts and money were invested in it, and as one who participated in the library and was its last librarian, it was very difficult for me to abandon it with my own hands. And if you will, it was also, if first of all, one of the manifestations of the rebellion while it was still in its infancy. The Germans fought not only the Jews but also the culture. Moreover, if in their relations with the Jews they were sometimes willing to make any concessions, to pause the pace of their destruction in order to use them as labor forces. After all, in relation to Jewish culture, they followed all the material of the law. For an action, the purpose of which was to put this tendency of the Germans to God, it had the purpose of promoting the spirit of Jewish zeal.

The work of hiding the library was tedious and lasted several weeks. It was done by two people: Sani A. and me. Only two people - Mordechai Zelig and Eizen - knew about our work. However, the library was located in an isolated area with no contact with the neighbors on the first floor. But, when we approached the hall there was no escape from passing the courtyard which was very populated. Sani and I decided to come every day for several hours. On our way to the


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hall we tried to behave as if we don't know each other and, as much as possible, we tried not to be seen by the neighbors.

We sorted all the fifteen thousand books in Yiddish, Hebrew and Polish, and hid the most valuable books at the home of Mordechai Zelig which was thought to be the safest place. The transfer was made in broad daylight out of the assumption that in the evening it will look more suspicious. Mordechai Zelig's place of residence on Limanovsky Street was not far from the library, but it was necessary to walk through the city center. Therefore, we carried sacks full of books with great anxiety that we might be caught by the Gestapo, or a secret policeman, or just a passerby who will be interested in smuggled goods. We only transferred several hundred books to Mordechai Zelig. The main work was done inside the library. All the sorted books were put into an attic that could not be seen from the outside due to the camouflage of the cover. We wanted to finish the work as soon as possible out of fear that in the burnt city they would not leave a large hall and a room empty, and one day the tenant may appear before we have enough time to hide the books. There is no doubt that in such a case all our work was in vain. Therefore, feverish work was done to win the race against time.

And lo and behold, one morning around the end of September 1939, Sani appeared as we had arranged and said that he decided to cross the Bug River to the Soviet side. The only reasoning in his mouth was that he could not tolerate the Germans when he comes across them in the street. He fears that he won't be able to hold back any longer and will beat them hard and cruelly. I know - Sani continued - the German's principle of collective responsibility and the act of one man can endanger the lives of dozens or hundreds of Jews, and that's why it's better for me to leave.

Contrary to the positive opinion I expressed to all who came to consult with me about whether they should leave for the Soviet side, I tried to dissuade Sani from doing so. Not only because we are in the middle of the work in the library, but also for reasons relating to the movement. I said to him: we are only standing at the beginning of the storm, and it is not possible that the movement will succumbed to the decree of fate. One of these days we will renew our connection with the movement and then we will live the commune life again, the life of the great camp and we will not have to sink into the life of the individual with his troubles and sorrows. I knew that Sani is very decisive. When he decides to do something it is impossible to dissuade him from it. And yet, I thought that this time I was able to influence him, since two weeks had already passed since he raised the matter and didn't raise the idea for the second time. I also avoided touching this subject and it seemed to me that the whole matter was eliminated.

But I was wrong. On one bright day, in October 1939, he decided to part with me. I didn't try to convince him and delay his departure because it was useless. I cordially parted from him and wished him a safe journey.

On that day it was difficult for me to do my usual work in the library. A terrible loneliness attacked me. The whole package came apart. Lazar didn't return from the army, even though at that time Jewish soldiers began to arrive from the front after the Germans didn't take Jews prisoner, and there was fear for his safety. The traces of Cipler and Zalcman disappeared and it was not known where they were. And now the last Mohican of the active group has left me, leaving a feeling of emptiness and unrelenting depression.

I tried to defend Sani and looked for many reasons for his justification, just as I acted in self criticism by asking why should I cross the border? I pondered: is there a better future for me here, with the Germans? Is it natural that a young man who can be saved from hell would do so? Since you knew that as soon as you cross the border you will be a free man, without discrimination, without a mark and without forced labor, it took a lot of mental strength to resist the lure of freedom that constantly beckoned and charmed. All the hope of contact with the movement was not real, but only the intuition of a movement person, who knows his movement and believes that it will not disappoint.

In the meantime it was necessary to continue taking care of the library. When Sani was with me we paid attention to the sorting of the books. Now, that I was left alone, I no longer paid extra attention to the quality of the books, their sorting and clarification, and tried to work as quickly as possible. And indeed, two weeks later I finished all the work. I brought the last books up to the attic, closed it with the camouflage cover and prayed: “as I got to arrange them, I will get to see them.”

Years full of struggles have passed. The face of the city and its Jews changed from day to day. It was possible to feel the changes in a tangible way: the restlessness emanated from the eyes of mankind, and walking in ragged clothes became a sign that people have already reached the limit of hardship and all the household items have already been sold. It was clear that the people were desperate. In the meantime I left Radomsk and faced new problems. I had already forgotten about the operation of hiding the books, and when I remembered it, during those long years, I came to the conclusion that this whole operation was in vain. I consoled myself that it was worthwhile only for the sake of my conscience. I had done my part and saved myself.

Over time I visited the city twice. But then the city was immersed in a ghetto and the place of the library was outside the ghetto. During my stay in Radomsk people told me that the place where the library was had become a place of residence, and indeed, that's how I assumed it would be. I only hoped that the tenants wouldn't decide to check if there was an attic there and what was in it.

After five years or more, immediately after the destruction, I visited the city for the third time. I met there no more than five Jews, who wandered around wondering if they would find a place for themselves since they had neither a home nor a family. They were the first Jews I had met after the war. The next day I went to the library's place. I turned to the tenant, and before I started to speak with him I instinctively raised my head towards the ceiling and didn't notice any change in it. The man looked at me in astonishment and didn't know what brought me to him. While my face was turned towards the ceiling he asked me what I wanted, I started stuttering, not knowing what to say. Finally I told him that at beginning of the war I hid a library in the attic and came to see if it was still there. The man asked in bewilderment: here, at my place? There is an attic here?

I thought he was pretending to know nothing. How can a person live in a room for five years without finding that it has an attic?

When I pointed to the location of the attic, he immediately jumped on top of a table that stood precisely in under the attic opening to be convinced of the truth of my words. With a little effort he managed to open the cover and his eyes darkened when he saw that I was not make up the story. With amazement and joy he responded that the treasure was preserved throughout the years of the war and may now bring great benefit. The Germans didn't leave behind any printed material in Hebrew and Yiddish and used them for the paper industry in Germany. It was a shame that hundreds of books that we thought were in a “safe” place, because they were hidden in Mordechai Zelig's apartment, were destroyed together with all the Jews who were near them.

After the excitement that grabbed us and lasted for several hours, I approached practical action. We told the man that in several days I will come to him with a truck to transfer the books to Warsaw, and promised that I would pay him.

And indeed, the books were transferred to Warsaw and distributed to Hakhshara^[4] kibbutzim and the movement's seminary that was established after the war.

Of course, during this limited time, the people didn't have time to take with them even what they were allowed to take, all the great wealth that the Jews had accumulated in clothes, furniture and other valuables that were kept by their owners for use in an emergency. The order forced the people to abandon all their possessions and leave their homes destitute. Those, who were more agile and had children who could help them, and also had a cart, were able to take out more belongings out of their house. Any attempt to take out belongings from the houses after the zero hour was impossible. Not only because the Germans sealed every door of the evacuated houses, but because after ten o'clock in the Jews were not allowed to pass the area that became Judenrein [cleansed of Jews].

I will never forget those two hours of racing against time, and the mad rush of people who wanted to move as many belongings as possible. The haste and the panic increased and the children were loaded with clothes, carpets, kitchen utensils etc. On the way they lost all kinds of things, and out of haste they didn't notice it and continued on their way.

The elderly also worked hard as they tried to stand the test of fate. But not all of them passed it. The Germans, who ran in the city street, looked with a smile at the spectacle in which an entire city in panic and feverish movement. They strictly checked everyone who seemed to them to be suspected of carrying property whose transfer was prohibited by the authorities.

On that day I took care of moving the belongings from my parents' house to the ghetto. It was a cold day and the thermometer showed 20 degrees below zero. The snow squeaked underfoot after weeks of non-stop falling and reached a height of one meter. The ears and hands were frozen from a cold that lasted for whole weeks in that winter of 1939, which was considered the worst winter since 1928. I carried the belongings as I was pushed by a strong wind, and despite the great frost my face was hot and my whole body was bathed in sweat as on a hot day.

When I arrived with the first shipment to my destination I summoned my brother, who was among the lucky few who lived in the designated ghetto area. I recruited him and his family members for help. This help was very effective and thanks to it we were able to move all the belongings in the allotted time.

Allowing the population only two hours to move to the ghetto was only a small part of the suffering. However, the constant suffering that exhausted the strength and was steeped in bitterness, started immediately at the conclusion of transferring the belongings to the ghetto.

As mentioned, the establishment of the ghetto was decided in secret and the unforeseen circumstances didn't allow, of course, the preparation of a place to live in the ghetto. It should not be forgotten that the ghetto was established in an area of about thirty percent of the total area where the Jews lived in the city. For nearly ten thousand Jewish residents only half of the street and a number of small alleys were allocated.

While running with the belongings from the city to the ghetto and back, no one thought about where he would live. All his thoughts were given to throwing the belongings somewhere. For those, who had relatives, it was natural to live temporarily with them. However, there were those without relatives and most of the apartments, which were sufficient for only one family, four to six people with their belongings were added to them. The crowding and congestion has reached unprecedented proportions. It was difficult to recognize the buildings after the ghetto was established: clothes, luggage, carpets, chairs, sewing machines, and all other household belongings were scattered in an irregular and jumbled manner. When the hour of sleep came, the cup was doubled and poisoned seven times and the six bitters were filled with the great concentration of uncontrollable pain. When it was time to sleep, the suffering and agony were doubled, and the bitterness was accentuated in the great concentration of unbearable suffering. The entire surface of the room, including the kitchen, turned into beds at night. At least two people slept in each bed, and there were places where three people slept in one bed.

On the first day, after the establishment of the ghetto, the Judenrat began the arranging of the living quarters in the ghetto. For this purpose it issued a foreclosure order on any apartment that seemed to be too spacious. In the foreclosed apartments sub-tenants were brought in and this alleviated the housing crisis slightly. People were also housed in the synagogues, in the corridors, in the Hassidim shtiblekh^[5] and in attics. After the crowding of the population, and the maximum utilization of every nook and cranny in which people can be crammed, dozens more families were left without a roof over their heads. They wandered with their family from place to place not knowing where they would spend the next night. At all hours of the day many gathered at the Judenrat offices asking for a place to live. But the Judenrat showed helplessness and was unable to satisfy all the Jews' demands. There were attempts at rebellion among the disillusioned crowd who claimed discrimination in the distribution of living quarters by the Judenrat. However, it was enough to just hint at bringing Germans and the spirits immediately calmed down. Out of fear of the Germans, they got use to the favoritism of the men of the Judenrat, who first took care of their families and relatives so that they will not suffer like the residents of the ghetto in cramped and overcrowded conditions.

Life in the ghetto was far from peaceful. The oppressive actions of the occupier became part of the daily routine. However, the same broad field of action that was used by the Germans as a means of oppression and abuse towards the Jews, was no less a broad field of action for friction and quarrels between the ghetto residents.

Due to the relatively limited area of the ghetto in Radomsk, the internal division became greater and gave its signals in a very tragic way. If we ignore for a moment the situation of the less poor and the poorer, and the thin stratum of the rich, there were probably two strata. One belonged to the locals, that is, to those who lived in the ghetto's territory before its establishment, and the other belonged to those who were deported into the ghetto and from all over the city. Within these strata, even among their own family members, difficult relations arose in the course of time. The internal gathering revolved around trivial matters. At the time, there were opinions that the people had become smaller, and there were opinions that claimed for the justification of the people that the background of the conditions, in which the quarrels took place among a large part of the ghetto residents, were not necessarily petty, but these were things that stood up to the ghetto world due to the necessity of the circumstances. It is not worth getting into the assessment of who was right from these two versions. So let's put things in context: quite often the Germans, or the Volksdeutsche, conducted searches, confiscations or taking people for forced labor, and these matters led to favoritism and bribery.

The fact of the existence of a common enemy was in its power to curb the urge to fight. In this state of affairs it is no wonder that the Germans were able to claim a great achievement, since their main goal was to introduce demoralization among the Jews, to create decay, to erode the soul and to establish a buffer between one person and another. This was achieved, to our deep sorrow, with indirect assistance from the ghetto's residents.


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A fresh wind began to blow in the ghetto. Joy and happiness were expressed in the Jews' emaciated and pale faces who, for a long time, didn't know what a smile was. With beaming faces they expressed joy to each other, “the suffering is worthwhile,” and others got even more excited when they said: if with this the war will end, it is sufficient for us, even if we die without reaching a “safe harbor.”

In this manner the Jews in the ghetto received the news from Radio London about the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz Yisrael in the winter of 1939. The exciting news spread quickly in all the Jewish neighborhoods. The joy and jubilation caused a wave of enthusiasm and the traditional Jewish Mezel Tov echoed everywhere. The Jewish stature, which was lowered since the Nazi occupation, was straightened. It's been a long time since we've seen such elation and recognition of the full self-worth, and human value, of the Jews

There were those who were not inclined to believe it. They said that it was Y. W. A. news [Yidden Willen Ahzoy - Jews want it so]. They based their heresy on this news by relying on the population war in Israel against the White Paper^[6] before September 1939. They could not believe that for a few months such a radical turn in the situation could take place, even under the influence of the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Europe. They didn't place much trust in the reliability of the Mandate government. However, even these realistic people didn't have the strength to dissipate the wave of joy. On the contrary, they pretended as if they too were happy, knowing that all the spiritual uplifting in such a dark time could strengthen the human soul and the event went on and arouse great interest. Every evening, when the workers came back from work, they said that the Germans spoke of a Jewish state as an existing fact. The Germans were the only providers of news from abroad, immediately upon entering the city they ordered the entire population, Jews and non-Jews, under threat of the death penalty, to hand over their radios.

The fact, that the Germans were the source of this happy news, increased its reliability even more. The Germans didn't exist to bring joy to the Jews, but to make their lives miserable and didn't have a reason to spread such news widely. On the contrary, we were surprised by the “generosity” of the Germans who didn't refrain from publishing such news even though they could make the hearts of the Jews happy. This matter was explained by the fact that Germans are not made of one block. They are also a diverse crowd and have different tendencies, and not every one of them is always obliged to take a line that seems to be the worst for the Jews.

When it became known that the news of the establishment of the Jewish State was being spread in the neighboring cities, with the additional details of the election of Dr. Weizmann as President of the State and Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister, even the staunchest pessimists, who had so far refused to believe such news, were swept into the great enthusiasm. Now the non-Zionists, and even the anti-Zionists, participated in the Zionists' joy. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the return of the workers from work to hear the news in their bags. And the news that continued to arrive created a holiday atmosphere.

Ghetto and holiday are contradiction and a conflict, one is the darkest thing, the lowest of all lows, cruel and degenerate, and the other is a complete peace of mind, elation, and a feeling of inner freedom. The ghettos, to which the rumor of the establishment of the Jewish State had reached, tried to unite these two opposites and barely succeeded in doing so. One interchangeably overcame the other and to the extent that the joy prevailed over the grief, it was an independence holiday for the Jews of the ghetto. A unique Independence Day in the Diaspora, at the worst situation and without the perspective of celebrating the true Independence Day of the ghetto Jews, neither with singing nor by dancing in the city streets, and certainly not with fireworks. Therefore, the holiday was celebrated secretly and in communion with the population in Israel, who was granted, what we the desert generation, was not granted.

After several days of continuous news about the establishment of the Jewish State, nothing and a half was given on this subject due to the change of the Germans' guards who watched over the Jewish workers. But, even though the reason was known, doubts arose in the hearts of many that the Germans were no longer talking about a matter that seems so important to us. Could it be that this matter does not concern them to such an extent that they will move on to the agenda without directly, or indirectly, mentioning this issue?

The doubts gnawed the heart and gave no rest. Those, who were in contact with the nearby cities, Częstochowa and Piotrków, contacted their acquaintances there. But, the answer was that Radio London no longer broadcasts on this subject. Of course, confusion remained among the Jews. However, they didn't give up and interpreted it that in the eyes of the world this event cannot occupy such a central place as it does here. This explanation was accepted as it is and the Jewish State continued to exist in the Jews' minds for a long time.

One bright day, while reading Goebbless' newspaper Das Reich, I found an entire article, written by Goebbless himself, in which he describes that the Jews enlisted in the war against the Nazis with so much enthusiasm that they abandoned their ambition to establish a Jewish State in Eretz Israel for which they fought until September 1939. When the British went to war against Germany, according to the author of the article, the world Jewry immediately joined the war, and the hatred of the Jews for Germany drove their demand from the British for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz Israel.

This news, which was read by the way in the newspaper, without anyone expecting it, was astonishing in its cruelty. With the wave of one hand it put to rest something that for many weeks we saw as a fact that gave meaning to our lives, a reward for the suffering of the masses and gave us strength to withstand the humiliation and oppression of the Nazis. It suddenly dawned on us that we had an illusion. That's why the disappointment and the depression were so bitter. It seems that the heavens and the earth have joined hands with the devil to darken the Jewish horizon, and to deny us all comfort and hope.

The affair of “The Jewish State” ended, but the pursuit of the inventors of the “State” occupied the mind for many days afterwards. There was a version that said that the news came from the same source that all happy news came from - the YIVO agency. If this version was correct, and the subject of YIVO was precisely the establishment of a Jewish State, then we have before us a deep historical feeling of the first order. The fact that Jews in Radomsk Ghetto, and other ghettos, celebrated the “First Independence Day,” eighteen years before the establishment of the State of Israel, deserves to be remembered both in terms of the feelings of the inventors of this lie, and in terms of revealing the mental connection to an independent state. There is no doubt that the inventors of the lie knew that this was the best way to excite the masses and breathe life into them.

There was another version, which said that it was the Germans who deliberately spread the rumor in order to laugh at the Jews and cause them disappointment. To disappoint the Jews when it becomes clear to them that a Jewish state does not exist and was not created at all. This satanic brutality was one of the Nazi's methods and was based on the sowing of happy illusions, and when the joy reached its peak they hit with despairing astonishment that ends in discouragement and helplessness. Whatever the motives for the Nazis' antics were, one thing that is not in doubt is that even the inventors of a “Jewish State” among the Nazis assumed that this war must end with the establishment of a Jewish State without quotation marks. And this is the conclusion of this whole affair of the establishment of a Jewish State before its time.

But, what was possible in the 17^th century, in the days of Shabbeati Tzvi^[7] was impossible in the days of Hitler. To Shabbeati Tzvi, and like him among the Jewish false prophets, was given freedom of action and freedom of movement and organization. They were able to go through all the centers of Europe, conduct informational activities and encourage the Jews to stand the test of the harsh decrees that were rained upon their heads in those days, and promised that redemption would come. And even though they promised to bring redemption, they betrayed the people and the redemption didn't reach its destination in time. But, the pursuit of it strengthened the human soul and gave it strength to hold on.

However, in the ghetto the figure of Messiah could not rise again. If he had risen, he would have been incited immediately upon his first revelation as an “underground” man or as a “partisan, as the Germans called the underground movement. There, in the ghetto, all were equal towards the anti-Jewish regime according to the Nuremberg Laws. Everyone, with no exception, was required to wear the Jewish insignia and do forced labor, and each person was under the overt, or covert, supervision of the Gestapo. Therefore, with the exception of the underground organizations in a later period, it was expected that there would be some spiritual-religious authority accepted by all Jews that would gather masses of people around it while providing encouragement and comfort.

As mentioned, the Messiah didn't rise and could not rise, although his absence was felt. In the absence of a human form, they concentrated their hope in the heart, for that is the only place that cannot be penetrated. It was a replacement for the Jewish State. In this manner the Jews sought refuge in mysticism shrouded in secrecy, invisible to the eye and above human understanding.

One day the Jews began to engage in gematria^[8] combinations, according to the Hebrew calendar or just dates, numbers that can be attached to certain dates. The scholars among them, and those who stood on a higher intellectual level, those who were blessed with a more developed imagination and great descriptive power excited those around them with practicalities from the Rambam, verses from Rashi, and stories from Baal Shem Tov or Rabbi Shimon benYochai. All the tales and stories were updated and adapted to the period. They turned to the rabbis, who predicted great and cruel wars hundreds of years ago, in which the Jews will suffer great suffering from the oppressor of the Jews that will rise with great power, rule over peoples and countries, but of all peoples he will persecute the Jews the most. In 5701 [1940/41], his reign will come to an end and the Jews will breathe a sigh of relief.

Such stories spread throughout the ghetto and, over time, echoes of similar stories also came from the immediate environment. For the first time it was only the occupation of the ultra-orthodox. Only a few days passed and a considerable part of the seculars, and even the anti-religious, began to be interested in these story tellers and heard with pleasure about what was expected in 5701. They began to believe this rosy forecast of the rabbis, but, the problem was, that it was necessary to wait an innocent year…

It seemed, that not only was the year “innocent” but also those who believed in it were innocent. Not only the ultra-Orthodox, who have always had a patent for superstitions, excelled in this innocence, but also those who were known as atheists. And indeed it was good for those who believed, because the loss of faith was like the murder of the soul. Indeed, there is also room here to reflect on the other side of the coin, on the awakening of all the spiritual foundations, ideals and the ways of thinking, which were used for many years as tradition assets for many and all of this collapsed overnight. .

We saw anti-Zionists in their sincere joy over the fictitious Jewish State and, on the other hand, we saw that those people believed in superstitions a few weeks later. And it was not a question of consistency but a question of confusion. The longings for redemption were so intense that they made people lose their minds. For many, the clarity of thought, the conservative and class isolation has disappeared. The ear was attentive to everything new, to every new spirit, even if it was contrary to his mindset from time immemorial. And if there were those who worshiped the rabbis and believed in their miracles and wonders, why not ponder whether they were right? Does this have something to fulfill the hope of getting rid of the cruel occupier and ignite the hope of redemption? In this period, it was not the ideas that stood the test, at any rate ideas that are visible to the eye, but what hinted to a greater extent about salvation. Before it could be proven whether the interpreters of the gematriot were indeed right in their prophecies regarding the end of the tyrant's reign, and a new phenomenon had already emerged among the residents of Radomsk Ghetto and its immediate surroundings. The rabbis, and the stories about them, gave way to spiritualistic experiments that soon came into vogue and became the source of fortune-telling, and all this, of course, with the intention of asserting the meaning of the future.

Every day seemed like eternity and people wanted to push the end. The sense of danger was so developed that it seemed that the ground was burning underfoot. It was therefore necessary to invent some Urim and Thummim^[9] in order to know immediately what the future holds.

Such Urim and Thummim was invented in the form of a table, which “voiced” answers to questions. The questions had to be alphabetical, for example: if a word was agreed upon, five knock s had to be heard on the table, no less and no more, so that the answer would be positive. One knock, more or less, had a negative meaning. The table had to be small and without nails. Without these two features the table didn't “work.”

And so the questions were presented: will the war end in half an hour? - negative. Will it end in one year? - negative. In two years? - negative. In a year and a half? - positive. One positive answer was enough, and the word spread in all the houses that didn't have such a table. After the first message many people gathered wherever a table was, to see the miracle with their own eyes. In the course of time the table became an interesting hobby and people used to say: what is the number on the table today? The table became the talk of the day, a topic for getting rid of everyday problems and even a source of jokes.

Over time the spiritualist experiments didn't stand the test of reality and the famous table didn't show a sufficient degree of consistency. To the same question it “answered” once in the affirmative and once in the negative, and to the question that concerned everyone, when will the war end, it answered once that the war will end in a year and a half, and the second time that it answered that will end in twenty years… Therefore, it will not be surprising, that the “trust” for the table deteriorated drastically. Indeed, it was difficult for many to say goodbye to it because, after all, the illusion is better than the cruel reality without hope and without a miracle.

Spiritualism gave way to a more realistic period. The matter came as a result of the deception of all kinds of attempts to seek God in clinginess, in frivolous beliefs and in relying on a miracle. If the stake is disbelief, the fabric, which clearly refuted all belief in human power, after all, it was the time of the Nazis and the ghetto.

But, it was not possible to destroy systems by force and spirit alone. Violent smashing might have led to a state of complete despair if it weren't for the first buds of the Jewish underground movement in the large ghettos and, first of all, in Warsaw Ghetto in the spring of 1940. If it is true that there is no stop to social movements, and they break through borders and obstacles, then the underground movement will reach far and wide. The very fact that a Jewish underground existed within the Nazi regime aroused a wave of public's admiration


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in the most remote towns where there was no organizational contact with the Jewish underground. When the national Jewish underground arrived in Radomsk it met organized underground groups without an earlier contact with Warsaw. The Dror^[10] movement in Radomsk was among the strongest in Poland already before the war and public life in general was very developed there.

All those with knowledge in Radomsk have long expected the loss of lost fatalism and the grasping of human powers. They created an atmosphere of sobriety and reliance on realistic forces and, even though they were cruel, they were better than the illusions. They had done this while preserving the moral of the people and cultivating the full self-worth of the Jew. The actual connection that was renewed through a special emissary of the movement in the Warsaw ghetto had a moral validity in this mission.

The ghetto's residents received the eve of the spring with mixed feelings. The prolonged frost that penetrated the bones and t froze the blood in the arteries was sickening. Terrible cold prevailed in the houses and there was nothing to heat the ovens with. But, on the other hand, that freedom, which brings with it the summer, was also enslaved to the tyrant and only he had the right to enjoy it. In winter, it was not very convenient for the Germans to carry out kidnappings, breaking into houses at night and all kinds of other rampages. And, in this respect, the ghetto residents felt more secure in the winter.

The thought, that spring would soon appear, combined with the thought that a quick end to the war should not be expected. Those who lived in the ghetto understood what this meant and how much courage was needed to come to this conclusion and to come to terms with it.

The situation forced to find a way out and not wait patiently for whatever happens. But, the problem was that there were not many choices. The older generation had to come to terms with the fate that resulted from a prolonged war, but, on the other hand, the youth had a choice. They could cross the border and move into the territories held by the Soviets. They could join the partisans and the underground movements. In particular, the youth was fascinated by the life of freedom of the Jews under the Soviet Union rule. The news that came from there caused admiration. They told about the nice attitude of the authorities and the army to the Jewish refugees who crossed the Bug River from the Nazi occupation area, about the Jews' visits to theaters, concerts and cinemas. About the spontaneous pastime of the Red Army soldiers until late at night with musical instruments in the city streets in mass gatherings of the civilian population, without distinction between Jews and non-Jews.

In the ears of those who lived for almost six months in the Nazis' large prison, they sounded like fairy tales. When the townspeople came from the other side of the Bug River in order to move their families there, or in matters of smuggling, they not only confirmed the rumors, but added more and more to them. The main thing in their stories was that there was no difficulty in crossing the border. The Soviets opened the border for Jewish refugees who passed right in front of the border guard. All the risk is on the German side of the border. The Germans increased their vigilance after the border was opened by the Soviets.

Over time the visits made by those from the Soviet side to the Generalgouvernement and back increased. These “trips” took place against the background of smuggling foreign currency from the Generalgouvernement tothe Soviet zone. Among the smugglers were also a number of townspeole. Each such visit revived the fact of the free life of the Jews in that country, which since the October Revolution was a titly closed country. Now its gates were wide open to the whole world, and first of all to the flow of Jewish refugees who, in the course of time, reached over two hundred thousand. The Soviet Union once again stopped to be a sphinx. The form of government, the way of life, the good and bad customs, the jokes, and even the jokes that were forbidden to the citizens of the country, spread throughout the world. The bad customs there were attributed to the preparations for war. Because no one doubted that the day of confrontation between Germany and the Soviet Union was near. Preparing for this day means placing a great burden on the population with all the resulting restrictions. All the restrictions didn't deter the Jewish youth across the Bug River. Hundreds eagerly awaited the arrival of spring that would make it possible to take the fateful step and be freed from the Nazi yoke. Those, who made preparations to move to the other side of the Bug River, knew very well that this would happen - separation from family and relatives and fear of separation for life. Those who made up their mind to take this step were well aware of the difficulties involved in smuggling the border and the severe conditions on the other side of the Bug River. In the territory held by the Soviets that was flooded every day by a huge flow of refugees. The overcrowding increased there since the refugees concentrated only in the territories that were annexed to the Soviet Union according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement. The rest of the Soviet Union areas remained closed to the refugees.

Despite all this, it was a dream for many to see themselves across the border and get rid of the Jewish mark of disgrace.

One of the most difficult problems is the question of transportation. As is well known, it was forbidden for Jews to travel by train or any other form of transportation. The journey from the city to the new Soviet border, which usually lasted eight hours, took several days. It was necessary to act with great caution and extraordinary speed. When a German entered the car, or a suspected man without uniform, it was necessary to immediately move to another car. This usually involved traveling on a second train after several hours and this caused additional risk. There were cases when a conductor discovered that the passenger was Jewish, and it was necessary to take this into account and prepare money in order to bribe him.

But not only was the train ride fraught with danger. No less dangerous was the smuggling of the German border. There were border smugglers who received the money and handed the people over to the Germans. On the other hand, a smuggler, who could be trusted, demanded a lot of money, and not all of them could afford it.

Quite a few people asked me what they should do in the face of all the difficulties blocking the way to the last hope of being saved by crossing the Bug River. I used to give a clear answer to such a question: sitting at home means taking more risks than crossing the Bug River which has any chance of life. One must therefore sell the last garment and set off. The people who talked to me used to ask: why don't I act accordingly. And this question put me in an extremely uncomfortable position. For obvious reasons I could not reveal that my plans are connected with the life of the movement. If I were to explain it this way, I would certainly look strange to everyone, especially when this connection didn't exist at all. Therefore, I avoided an answer when I said that family reasons prevent me from leaving the house.

The longed-for spring arrived and those, who remained in this place, welcomed the spring in the German style which was expressed in persecutions and malicious acts against the Jews. And so the longings for those who moved from the place grew. Later, every marriage ceremony in the city was associated with a departure, since for any other purpose no one married at all in those days. Therefore, all marriage ceremonies were conducted in secret only with the participation of the rabbi and a minyan of men. The participation of family members and relatives was done in great secrecy.


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Such a “wedding” passed without any special celebration. The traditional Mazel Tov was exchanged to wishes for a successful journey. And indeed, the day after the wedding, when the couple set out on the road, the anxiety began and the anticipation of the days when they would return and see each other, but, for the most part, this wish was not fulfilled.

For years, the situation on all fronts confirmed this Nazi view. Every day the Germans used all the propaganda trumpets to prove the eternity of Nazism, and tattooed the wall of spirit and soul. You had to have a very strong character to withstand this moral and mental pressure against the Germans and not to despair. It must be admitted that many didn't stand the test of time and morally succumbed to the pressure of Nazi propaganda.

Our movement played a significant role in consolidating underground power among the local youth. If there were more forces of this type, the circle of influence of the movement forces could have been wider. Unfortunately for us, the political parties that were known before the war disintegrated with the entry of the German army, and only the Dror movement, which was an organized force, didn't disperse, as well as individual members of Poalei Zion Zionist Socialist. The first meeting, or rather, my first “meetings” with members of the movement were held a few days after the Nazis entered the city and were accompanied by winks. I met them on different occasions on the street, at work or during street abductions. There was never any kind of partition between them and their relationship was always quite intermediate. And now what we need are optical means, and meaningful glances that allude to the past and the hope for the future.

After several weeks of explorations, the conditions were ripe to start organizing the Dror movement. While I was hesitating and considering whether the time had come to take advantage of what seemed to me to be a favorable situation for the beginning of the action, I was pleasantly surprised with the return of Lazar from captivity in Germany. Lazar was one of the movement's pillars and could be trusted. After the pleasure of the meeting, I presented him the problems I was struggling with, and asked for his opinion on the mayor's warnings in the first days of the occupation to the activists of the political parties and social movements. We agreed to wait a few more weeks and then begin operations very carefully.

After four months or so from the day the war broke out, we established four “quintets.” Each organized group consisted of twenty people and didn't know of any further contact with others. The first to operate underground were, of course, the former active members of Dror, the most loyal and experienced in the movement's activities for several years. The first problem that arose was t how to convene the groups for their regular activity. The overcrowding after the establishment of the ghetto was alarming. There was almost no room without sub-tenants. Whereas in the few places where there were no sub-tenants, the pressure was so great that the Housing Committee of the Judenrat released them from the “pleasure” with the addition of sub-tenants. We had no foothold in these places except for the Mordechai Zelig family, whose house was a meeting place for the needs of the movement. Every evening, at twilight, we started to gather at Mordechai Zelig' house so that we would be able to get home before the beginning of the curfew, meaning, eight in the evening in the winter and nine in the summer. Every one entered alone so as not to attract the attention of the tenants. Indeed, it was one of the largest buildings in the city, a building with three floors and two entrances. Mordechai Zelig lived lives at the end of the building on the ground floor and around it. But all this didn't exempt us from excessive caution.

In the first period of our regular and punctual action, the likes of which we didn't know before the war, the conversations mainly revolved around the matters of the war unfolding before our eyes and whose quick end is for us a question of life or death.

Later, there was a change in the human landscape and the natural landscape. We expanded the frame of “quintets” and increased our numbers until we were forty members. We were about forty percent of the number of members before the war and we still had the upper hand. However, we had to be careful not to equate a mass character with an underground movement. This expansion was made possible with the summer season, when the meeting was held outdoors with all the risk involved. At Mordechai Zelig's it was not possible to gather tens of people. Luckily for us, there was a famous lovely corner in Radomsk - Szwajcaria Dolina (the Swiss valley). It was a Swiss island in the heart of the ghetto. On one side was a mountainous area on the top of the hill where a windmill stood, and on the other a steep slope. Before the war this place was very crowded, especially on Saturdays, and hundreds and thousands found a place to relax after a day's work. In the ghetto this place was desolate. The Poles were forbidden to enter the place, and the Jews avoided showing up there to the extent that there was no special need for it. The Germans also didn't find interest in this isolated place, and Szwajcaria Dolina, with the lovely view and the fresh air remained a no man's land.

Therefore, we conquered Szwajcaria Dolina for the gathering of the “quintets.” And so we sat up on the hill next to the wind windmill so that we could see from a distance any figure approaching. We made sure that we always had cards, a book, and all other innocent means of camouflage. As far as my memory serves me, we never encountered a German who walked there for his pleasure or on duty. Very seldom a young couple appeared there and was surprised when he came across us since the beginning of the war, and the establishment of the ghetto, they were not used to seeing a living soul there.

We were very successful in Szwajcaria Dolina. We strengthened ourselves and strengthened our spirit by clinging to our goal. There was a feeling that we were carrying out p a conceptual action that would relieve the despondency of the soul and fill my heart with content. By taking the members out of their narrow confines within the realm of the family, and directing them to broader horizons of the general underground movement and the life of the population in Eretz Yisrael, we created a connection between them and the wider world and the Jewish people. It was necessary to see how these young men and women gathered with awesome respect in “quintets” and the seriousness that surrounded the conversations.

After normal operation for over two months, without any interruptions and malfunctions, we saw that it was time to do a more real operation. We therefore asked for a larger gathering of about twenty people to convene in Mordechai Zelig's apartment. Of course, at this meeting we were, according to the plan, to discover the identity of all those present, who, until now, only knew their “quintet.” This acquaintance of people, who had actually known each other for a long time, imposed a great responsibility, but we felt that we were strong enough to afford a meeting of active members.


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Therefore, the meeting took place on the holiday of Purim 1940 and about twenty members were invited to it. I don't remember all the invitees, those whose names are preserved in my memory are: Yetka Rabinowiczc, Shimon Zlacman, Rozenblat, Yitzchak Cipler, myself and of course the host. The preparations for the meeting were felt in the air because the first meeting under the Nazi occupation was enough to arouse excitement. We have taken every precaution so that the meeting will start and end safely.

The first to gather began to survey each other in silence and wonder although these were not new faces and everyone saw each other several times a day. But, so far no one has revealed to his friend the secret of the activity he has been engaged in for several months. Even now, none of those present knew of the existence of a large number of other members who were still in the “underground.”

The meeting was opened by me with brief remarks. Among other things, I said that this is the first official meeting, but in fact we already have a history of two and a half months of underground action. In this meeting we open a new chapter and move to a higher stage in our action. Time will tell if we are left alone in its struggle, or if our action will find an echo in the national movement, which until now has come to naught in all efforts to contact. Lazar spoke after and dwelt on the rules of working underground and the heavy responsibility assigned to every underground member. Mordechai Zelig talked about current affairs. As usual, he made an in-depth analysis of the latest happenings in the international arena, and especially reviewed the situation on the front lines.

At the end I read the story of I. L. Peretz “Hormoz and Ahriman,” written according to a Persian legend and about two Gods, the good God and the evil God. This story matched the mindset we were in and a moral could be learned from it.

The meeting which lasted about an hour, ended with the soft singing of the anthems “The Youth Oath” and “Get Stronger.” The members dispersed with the feeling that the meeting was timely. In particular, everyone was impressed by the thought process of the speakers, which was in a pre-war spirit, and with that the seal of the war and the ghetto was embedded in them. At the end of the assembly, it was decided to commemorate the historic event of the first assembly under the Nazi occupation by hiding the minutes of the assembly in the ground in a bottle. Mordechai Zelig was going to hide the bottle in his yard. It can be assumed that Mordechai Zelig gave the hiding place to one of the participants after he left Radomsk. But, everyone, together with Mordechai Zelig,

When the appointed hour arrived I entered the room of the chairman of the Judenrat. It turned out that the matter was not official but personal. He gave me a greeting from a “niece” he met at the Joint [JDC] office in Warsaw. She asked for my welfare and was very happy to hear that I was alive and living in Radomsk, and informed him that I should expect a visit from her. In order to obscure the nature of the movement, I didn't ask who of is this “niece,” as she is known to me, and immediately expressed my h happiness that she is alive and planning to visit me.

Indeed, she is about to visit me. It doesn't matter who she is anymore. The main thing is that the movement is alive and exists and in it people who, in order to be close to each other, do not need to know each other. A person can be a “stranger” to another, but the common emotional and conceptual connection is so strong that it does not prevent them from sacrificing their lives when they are in danger of stumbling upon an “unknown” person.

When I left the chairman of the Judenrat I felt a refreshing breeze. The news that was delivered to me from Warsaw, after waiting for over six months, lifted my spirits and returned my thoughts to a normal life of movement before the war, but this time in a more family way. My search for the active movement resembled a father's search for his son. The news that reached me was the first harbinger of the fulfillment of the dream of the expected meeting, although I didn't know who I would meet.

After about three consecutive weeks of anticipation had passed since the first happy news, faith began to waver somewhat and my patience was about to expire. I began to fear that even though the “niece's” will was good, it seems that for some reason the matter could not be carried out. I explained this in terms of the war conditions, in which it is never possible to establish anything with certainty. Despite all this, I didn't give up and the hoped that one day I would get to see an emissary from the movement continued to support my thoughts.

One day, when I returned home, I was told that a young woman was looking for me. She didn't want to identify herself and refused to say why she was asking for me. When she didn't find me at home she left saying she would come back again. When I received the news I said in my heart that indeed, the day I have been waiting for has finally arrived!

Out of excitement I couldn't find a place for myself in the house and went outside to look for a young who was walking for her pleasure. When I surveyed the passers-by on the street I tried to guess who my “niece” might be, but I failed. After about ten moments of “scanning” the main street in the ghetto, I discovered the figure of Frumka [Płotnicka] strolling for pleasure and doesn't notice me at all. She walked like a man busy with his business. I approached her with slow steps to give her time to notice me. Only when I stood in front of her face to face did she notice me with her characteristic smile on her face. We could not exchange conventional words and immediately turned to the “club” in Szwajcaria Dolina.

We didn't exchange a conversation on the way and the shock was the most faithful expression of the murmurs of our hearts. Even on good days it is difficult for people who meet after a long time to talk, and they don't know how to start the questions they want to ask. Not even now, after the events and serious shocks that befell us. Therefore, it is no wonder that the meeting was extremely emotional.

I knew Frumka since 1937 through a correspondence that we maintained for a whole year without knowing each other. It was while she was working at the movement's regional council in Lodz and I coordinated the branch in Radomsk. Only in 1938 did I know her personally, face to face, at the unionization conference of Freiheit and HeHalutz Hatzair in Zielonka. Although, even then there was talk of a future war, we didn't realize that a year later it would break out, and a year and a half later we would meet in the underground in Radomsk Ghetto.

Unlike the days of the conference, when our meetings were always rushed, this time I was allowed to learn about Frumka's character and her plans. Her clever eyes had a special charm, her body was tall, her hair was golden, and everything in her said seriousness. After an exchange of words with her, it was again impossible to treat her with equanimity. Toward anyone, conversation was cordial and great warmth filled everything that came into contact with her. She behaved without excessive enthusiasm for everything around us. This realistic approach distinguished Frumka in all areas of life and she was endowed with a large degree of intuition, which guided her in all areas of life.

Before I started telling her about the days in Radomsk, she gave me live greetings from people I knew and about the movement as a whole. Frumka described the events during the Warsaw occupation, what she experienced personally and what she had heard from others. For me it was a fascinating description that I listened to with bated breath.


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The history of the pioneering movement in the days of Drang nach Osten [push eastward] remained until that day a closed affair, and I heard about it for the first time from Frumka. The story was wonderful in its essence and cruel in its descriptions of reality, a story that proves that only a collective could stand it with dignity. In contrast to all the social movements that were rooted in the public before the war and held the reins of power, the non-Jewish, and the powerful Polish parties, which disintegrated as soon as the first shot of a German soldier was heard, was the only pioneer movement that didn't surrender, but united more strongly and stood up to the tasks that arouse from this emergency situation.

The state of war disturbed the population and forced it to flee for its life from the area of real or imagined danger. For this purpose, people united according to family kinship and went wandering en masse. Amidst this tremendous stream of people who flocked eastward, stood out a great and special group, hundreds and thousands members of the Hakhshara kibbutzim from all over Western Poland who with the entry of the Germans moved east.

Among the wanderers was Kibbutz Borochov from Lodz which numbered hundreds of members. After it came Hakhshara kibbutzim from Kielce, Bedzin, Plock and kibbutzim from the Lodz region. All of them joined an extensive network of Hakhshara kibbutzim in Eastern Poland and continued their migration to the east. Those who were surprised by the Red Army that took Eastern Poland under its protection, all those who arrived in the territories of independent Lithuania and those who moved to Soviet territory, didn't recognize the established borders and continued the movement relationship between them. The connection was not severed even in the most difficult days, and continued even in the days of the Nazi assault on Poland when all the roads were flooded with people and their belongings, vehicles and animals. In this confusion, on roads littered with wounded and dead, people and animals killed by bombings in the huge traffic jams that exposed them to the enemy - in this confusion of hundreds of thousands of helpless people, a thin stream of pioneers who stood out for their exemplary behavior. The difference between the members of the movement and the rest of the people was expressed in mutual aid, in the concern for others, self sacrifice to save a person, and in maintaining a contact with those who were kilometers away.

On the long and tiring roads the members of the kibbutzim always had a slice of bread, unlike the general population who didn't take essential things with them, but their possessions which they had to abandon due to the heavy load and were left destitute.

The value of the pioneering movement was highlighted by the fact that in all situations the members of the movement always looked for the good of the public and not the concern of the individual. If you took from a movement member the integration into public life and the possibility of volunteering noble causes - you took his soul. Theoretically, this was always their first consideration. During the period when I was cut off from the life of the movement, for six months, for some reason I saw in my imagination that the whole ideal of the movement was gone with the wind. Everything crumbled irrevocably and became one of the most beautiful fairy tales for children's entertainment. It is possible that my gloomy mood was due to the murky atmosphere in which I had been immersed since the first days of occupation. The unparalleled German power, the endless columns of German soldiers who moved westward with great force, the tanks which stretched for many kilometers, symbolized an era of fire and iron, an era compared to which the era of the Huns was nothing in its tyranny. I have often asked myself: am I the only one who suffers from atavism that is knocking on the past that will never come back?

However, the arrival of Frumka was an answer to many questions that arose in me, when she told me that during the battles for Warsaw most of Dror's active members managed to reach the Soviet territory and, already then, they cared for the millions of Jews who could not escape from the Nazi beast. I saw this as a sign of the emergence of a new generation of public activists in the best sense of the word, leaders who were willing to take over the steering of the Jewish ship in a stormy sea. This fact planted in my heart the feeling that the eternity of the movement will not lie. It dispelled all the sad thoughts that came to me when the Nazi monster invaded Poland, and made the outlook a little clearer.

With the concentration of the members in the territories held by the Soviets, the assessment of the forces began in accordance with the movement needs of the dismembered Poland. The clearing on the horizon deepened. The fourth division of Poland was carried out by dividing it into three separate districts with political boundaries for each district: the Generalgouvernement - is Central Poland, whereas the Reich - Western Poland. The area which was annexed by the Germans to Eastern Poland, the territories held by the Soviets. The trend of the movement was that in all these three districts, where there are Jews, there must be a pioneering movement. The very existence of the movement there was in order to demonstrate first of all for ourselves, and for the masses of Jews wherever they are there, our ties with the people, our desire to consider their suffering. Our desire was not to be different from the people, but to live his life, to encourage him in his troubles, to influence his way of life and to expel from him any complacency and adaptation to reality, and at the same time to work to raise the morals and values of Judaism and humanity which the signs of loosening have already given their signs.

In accordance with this trend, we divided the members into several divisions. Those who should returned to the Nazi occupation zone and organized the movement underground, and those who should have remained in the Soviet zone. In this area we stipulated a certain condition for action: not to lend a hand to any anti-Soviet trend, but to act there as a distinct pro-Soviet factor. The whole point of the action was to devote exclusively to the pursuit of immigration to Eretz Yisrael and the teaching of the Hebrew language among the Jewish youth and the masses of people.

The third division should have moved to independent Lithuania, which for a certain time, until it became a Soviet republic, was the only gateway to immigration to Eretz Yisrael.

The difficulties in dividing the members into the three aforementioned divisions were typical of the spirit that prevailed among the active members. The division, under those conditions, was equated with a division between life and death, since those who had to operate in the Nazi occupation area knew in advance what was in store for them under the evil rule, compared to a life of freedom without national discrimination in the Soviets. Since the appointments were made according to a voluntary method, and each member was allowed to choose his place, they all chose their place of action in the occupation zone because they didn't want to belong to the exceptional individuals. Everyone believed that there would be more room for personal volunteering in the occupied zone. All of them didn't want to live under a safe rule and wanted to be in the most affected area. When certain institution had to decide the matter, and what was decided was decided, the disadvantaged felt themselves in a very uncomfortable situation.

At a time when hundreds of thousands made their way to the east, and crossed borders to reach their desired destination in the Soviet area to distance themselves from danger. The activist members of the Dror movement made their way in the opposite direction to a place ready for calamity - Warsaw, all the Generalgouvernement and the Reich. People, who met the members of the movement on their way eastward, asked why they invest so much energy to get out of what was then called by everyone, and rightly so, paradise,


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and go straight to hell, could only conclude from this fact that they are engaged in smuggling money or they are just non-local people

When the movement begun to operate in the Generalgouvernement area, and its center was in Warsaw, efforts were made to gather all the activists who remained behind during the invasion in their places. The purpose of Fromma's visit was to recruit me for action in Warsaw. When she suggested it the day was about to end and we had to leave Szwajcaria Dolina. In three hours of our stay there we didn't managed to discuss all the topics and some of them we didn't touch because the time was pressing. One hour was left until the night curfew comes into effect, which requires people to stay indoors until the next day. Frumka had to leave on a train that left after three o'clock and the curfew hours of the Poles applied to her since she was equipped with Aryan certificates. There should have been time to meet her with several friends before curfew and also to talk to you about her proposal.

It was time to say goodbye. The parting was no less emotional than the meeting with Frumka. During the six hours I spent in her company I was in a purifying atmosphere and elation. I got out of the problems and everyday worries and was surrounded by the spirit of a holiday. Although the things we talked about were far from celebratory and were a subject of human sorrow and humiliation, but the knowledge that there are movement forces among all the Jewish underground movements that made it possible to be here for the persecuted Jews and to stand by their right in every trouble - this knowledge was a small consolation and might have lifted the spirit. That's why I swallowed Frumka's stories so much. Every little and big thing that came out of her mouth, I drank in thirst and never tired of hearing more and more. When she left the city she left anguish and depression in my heart from which I could not be freed until I left the city.

Frumka's hours in the city were limited because in that period of the movement's organization she had a lot of work ahead of her and I was not the only one she had to visit. It moved across the length and breadth of the country, and wherever there was a branch before the war, or an active member who survived, she brought the news of the organization of the movement underground.

Frumka accompanied the movement from the time it became a pioneering movement until it became a fighting Jewish organization.

Frumka's way started in the chapter of Freiheit (Dror) before the war through the Kibbutz Hakhshara in Bialystok. Later, she worked at the Dror center in Poland, where she lived the life of the Jewish youth and cared for the masses of the people before they were exterminated. Frumka's path led through illegal traffic missions and reached all corners of Greater Poland. She crossed borders that the Germans had set as stable borders, and made her way between the Generalgouvernement and the Riech, between “Ostland” Vilna, Lvov, Kovel and Briske when they were still under Soviet rule and back to Warsaw. Frumka was not reduced within the borders of Warsaw and the Generalgouvernement. She always broke through fences, barriers and borders that limited the movement of her activity. She served as moving engine which climbd mountains and hills and didn't flinch in the face of any obstacles.

In the fulfillment of her duties she was mentally prepared that we would never see each other again. She always gave herself an account of the magnitude of the dangers. She understood all the dangers involved in the movement of a Jewish woman on the road, carrying forged identity cards and lot of material that was not so “kosher” in the eyes of the Germans. Before each journey she prayed a silent prayer that everything would go well. But she never gave up a single trip because of the lurking danger.

From all her journeys Bedzin in the Reich was her last road, the station from which she never returned. I remember that winter evening in December when we parted from Frumka and she said then openly and clearly, with all the cruelty in the matter, that there is no chance that we would see each other again. She traveled with a feeling of strength when she saw the first fighting groups in Warsaw ghetto. The fighting spirit of those groups accompanied her on the way and instilled in her the confidence that also in Bedzin the place where she was going on behalf of the fighting organization it was possible to perform the miracle of the war against the enemy.

The thought of an uprising occupied Frumka's whole being, and she invested in it all her energy and zeal.

All the energy and dedication that she always devoted to the movement's educational and organizational action gave way to one goal: the preparation of the rebellion in Bedzin.

Together with Herschel Springer, Baruch Gaftak and the members of Hashomer Hatzair and Gordonia, she instilled a fighting spirit in all those who were willing, and able, to fight. She called all members of the Jewish public in Bedzin to be vigilant and resist the soldiers who want to evict them from their homes. She brutally exposed all the tragedies in the situation and told in front of a large crowd that the extermination of the Jews was inevitable. She called on the Jews not to deceive themselves, not to surrender and die with dignity. The Jews of Bedzin liked Frumka and saw her as an unusual personality. The local Jews called her mamme [“mother “] since she instilled a feeling of security in the hearts of all those who came in contact with her. But as a mother she was unable to bring the creatures under her wings and save them from any harm. The living salvation that she could give them was moral salvation and, in those days, it was not a small matter.

Relative to the conditions of the armament in the place Frumka's efforts were not in vain.

Also in Bedzin the Germans felt the Jewish rebellion although on a smaller scale than in Warsaw or Bialystok. When the Germans decided to eliminate the remaining Jews in Bedzin, a fighting group, with Frumka in its lead lead, gathered in a bunker and started shooting when the Germans approached the bunker. The Germans, who were afraid enter bunker because of the incessant shooting, set the bunker on fire and there fell, apart from Frumka, Baruch Gaftak, Frumka Dolnorower, Zipora Bochian, Hedva Brand, Tuvia Dvorsky and also a group of fighters from Hashomer Hatzair and Gordonia.

After the war we gathered for a members meeting from all over Poland on the anniversary of Frumka's death, on August 3, 1943, next the same bunker in Bedzin to pay the last respect by placing a memorial plaque to Frumka and her friends. I don't remember exactly the street name of the bunker. If my memory serves me right, this street is in front of the train station. There the whole fighting group fell in loneliness and in the Diaspora.

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my adulthood and all my thoughts have always given to this movement family. On the other hand, it was very sad to say goodbye to a family that I loved and was attached to with every fiber of my soul. I also knew that it wasn't a farewell like in normal days. This time it could be a fateful parting.

Unusually, my mother didn't dissuade me from traveling to Warsaw, as if she left the decision up to me. This increased even more the pangs of my conscience and my thoughts grew stronger that I should stay where I am. However, these were only emotional considerations. From a material point of view, it was not useful to stay at home. On the contrary, I would only cause a financial burden. Therefore, I decided to travel, but' with that, the anxiety didn't leave my heart for a long time.

I parted from Radomsk with the fear that the parting is forever. The possibility that I would never see my parents and sisters again was almost certain. I remember the evening of my journey in a summer of early June 1940. I didn't stop looking at my father, mother and sisters who were at home, and in my imagination I saw my brothers and sisters who lived in other cities. I never bothered to notice the shape of the closet and the bed that stood in my room. They also caught my attention, and I wanted to engrave them in my mind as a souvenir from the house I grew up in because tomorrow I won't see that house again.

I parted with a broken heart from my family who accompanied me to the ghetto's border with tears in their eyes. When I stood on the other side of the line that the Jews were allowed to pass, we continued to wave to each other for a few more minutes. My feet were already on the Arian side which was desolate and empty, unlike the old days when these streets were filled with people. When I passed the city streets, which were Judenrein [clean of Jews], I was attacked again by the urge to observe like a person seeing the city for the last time. Again, I didn't take my eyes off anything, even the smallest one. From the spacious lot that was created after the fires, and one of its end reached May 3rd Street, every tree and every bush in the garden spoke to me and brought up memories. On the way to the train station I glanced at the place where I hid the books, and prayed in my heart that a day would come and redeem them. On the way I passed the house on Raymont Street where we lived before the establishment of the ghetto, and found it empty like all other Jewish houses. Children played and frolicked in the yard, and housewives went to the grocery store and brought bread, milk, fruit to prepare breakfast for their family. Here I pass by the movement's club at the end of Raymont Street. Before the war this club was bustling with hundreds of teenagers who sang and dance until late at night. Now it stood orphaned in its emptiness. And now, I arrived to the train station. There is still half an hour left to the arrival of the train. I sat and reflect on what I saw, and didn't see, on my way to the train station.

Indeed, I passed the first baptism of fire. After I saw that two hours had already passed since I got on the train, and I still not in the hands of the Gestapo, I said in my heart that I could go on for another four hours without any problems. I clearly felt that that the treatment to me was not different from other passengers. There was silence in the car. One dozed, the other slept, and the third peeked at the newspaper with a quick glance. The expressions on the passengers' faces didn't express excessive calmness, and one could even say that the atmosphere was somewhat tense. I didn't hear any conversation from other cars either. My ear listen to any conversation in order to prove to what extent a Jew is a topic of discussion. I was not satisfied in that respect. On the other hand, when the train stopped at the station and the passengers jumped from their seats towards the window to stock up on food, one passenger thought that the peddler made a mistake in giving the changed. The peddler responded to this: “do you think I am as despicable as Jewish peddlers? There are no more Jews on the train.” That was all I heard about Jewish issues during the entire journey.

As a precaution, I avoided going to the main train station in Warsaw. From my experience, before the war, I knew that the Polish police was always hunting there for criminals, thieves, communists, etc. I imagined that the Germans are better than them and in their eyes a Jew traveling on a train is worse than a criminal. That's why I got off one stop before the Warsaw main station and continued by taxi from there to the city.

It was impossible to compare the streets of Warsaw to the ones I left about ten days before the outbreak of the war. The beautiful city was still marked by the German bombings during its occupation. Many of the public squares and gardens were covered in ruins, and here and there the beauty of the city emerged from them. The ghetto didn't yet exist in Warsaw and the Jews lived all over the city.

At that time there were few in the city who believed in the establishment of a Jewish ghetto. But even those, who believe in such a possibility, didn't see any connection between the establishment of the ghetto and its blocking by the Germans. However, in many streets a high wall was placed in the width of the street and on top, at the edge of the wall, shards of glass were installed to prevent any attempt to pass the erected barriers in the middle of the busiest streets. Anyone, who wanted to pass from one house to another, had to walk few blocks away - until he reached his destination.

People wanted to interpret the construction of these strange barricades as the placing of obstacles by the Germans against a possible uprising by the Poles. About four months passed until it was made clear to everyone what the true intention of the Germans was, they completed the partial o barricades to one big obstacle called ghetto.

The taxi brought me to the taxi station, not far from the destination on 34 Dzielna Street, the location of HeHalutz^[11] commune before the war. Here, I already felt at home and could wear the Jewish identifying mark that I carried in a hidden place all the way. On the way to Dzielna Street I was given a lesson on the atmosphere, and nervousness that prevailed among Warsaw Jews. When I arrived in Smocza Street, which was one of the busiest streets, I suddenly saw that a certain section of the street was emptying of people. The sidewalk on one side of the street was emptied and everyone moved to the second sidewalk. Before I had time to observe, and check the reason for this, a Gistapo man appeared before my eyes as if came from under the ground. If I wasn't “green,” and knew how to walk down the street, I would have to know that I should occasionally look back and forth, and leave the sidewalk when a German appears. He turned to me and asked me a very prosaic question: if I know where a hatter lives? When I answered him in the negative he left.

When I unexpectedly encountered the first German on Warsaw's soil' as soon as I entered the city and saw the panic he caused among the passers-by, it was like a sign to a volcano on which I will have to live and breathe my life. The cordial meeting with members of the Halutz commune blurred


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this impression and breathed a new spirit into me. My very presence among friends to the ideal instilled in me a feeling of strength to stand against the incident on Smocza Street.

Whereas, Radomsk Ghetto made a depressing impression, sadness was spread over the people and the houses. Darkness dominated everything even on a sunny day. Warsaw Ghetto was noisy and “happy.” The constant and deafening noise of beggars, peddlers and those chasing thieves, created the illusion of a lively “life.” In fact, this life was like an idle grenade that only makes noise and nothing else. On the other hand, Radomsk Ghetto lived its life without the hustle and bustle in its streets and almost no outward expression of its inner suffering. If the walls of the houses could talk, they would tell about tragedies in every family in the city, but there is no trace of them and they are chained inside their walls.

Radomsk Ghetto was anonymous and its inhabitants were anonymous, because, apart from the big cities, who paid attention to its sigh, its sorrows and the sufferings of a resident of this remote city? Indeed it was a ghetto that lived its life quietly and died quietly.

For me, personally, my first visit to the city was a deep and painful experience. I lived the life of the city all the time after I left in corresponded with my parents and friends, and I knew every person and every child in the city.

From now, the distinguishing mark of the Jews was pale faces and dull eyes, in addition to the distinguishing mark that the Germans forced them to wear on their arm as a mark of disgrace.

The risk started immediately with the attempt of leaving the ghetto. Irena Adamowicz, a Christian woman who was connected with the Jewish underground of the pioneer movements, accompanied me on the way out of the ghetto. For a while, among the roads leading to the Arian side was a road leading between the joint court houses for Jews and Poles on Leszno Street. The Poles entered on one side and the Jews on the other side. Of course, the Jews took advantage of this opportunity to cross to Arian side, hiding the Jewish mark when they met the Poles. In that place a German stood and checked all the incoming and outgoing. At that time a surprising thing happened: I passed safely and Irena was stopped by a German who suspected her of being Jewish. I waited on the other side of this huge building until she identified herself. A few moments later, Irena came with a smile on her face and this incident was the topic of conversation all the way to the train station.

Irena started her public work many years before the Holocaust. She was one of the leaders of the Polish scout movement according to the spirit that prevailed among the Polish youth at the time, and she didn't think that there would ever be a connection between her and the Jews in general and the pioneer movement in particular.

If I also add that Irena was a devout Catholic and a believer, the extremeness of her choice of path will be even more surprising.

Those who seek to understand Irena with a philosophical understanding will fail, because this is not a philosophical question, it is an intellectual question. For some reason, Irena saw some similarity between the educational activity in the Polish scout movement and the Jewish pioneer movements, even though their terms, tasks and the goal of their education were as far from east from west. Irena was mostly charmed by the pioneering fulfillment, not only as a goal, but as a shaper of the human figure. As an intellectualist and educator, Irena placed the emphasis on the education of a person's character and not on intellectual development alone, and believed that it is not ideology alone that determines a person's behavior but personal qualities. According to Irena, the pioneering movement imparted these qualities by instilling high human values and by the fulfillment of pioneering in the training kibbutzim under difficult conditions in times of distress. She saw how the Jewish person stood in these difficult days and how he strengthened and rose in the pursuit of a homeland for the Jewish people. Irena could not see all the values of the youth in the period between the two world wars, when the Polish people sat safely on their land. Only the youth of persecuted people could reach such a transcendence of all the powers of the soul, considering “it's good for me, I will die” This spirit was illustrated to Irena even more strongly during the Holocaust. She saw the humiliated Jew in the ghetto in a new light.

Irena's help to the Jews didn't stem from humanitarian, religious, and certainly not economic motives. Even before the Holocaust, when the question of helping the Jews was not connected to the movement. She longed for Israel and the kibbutz no less than a member of a movement.

Only a member of a movement can devote himself to things like this, to accompany members leaving and entering the ghetto and fear for their fate. To always be ready, without hesitation, for anything big or small and for any mission. Irena entered the ghetto when it was already tightly closed. There was no barrier for her. When the Germans made it difficult to enter, and there was no longer a possibility of getting an entry permit in order to cut off the ghetto from the outside world, she joined a group of workers who returned every evening from their work on the Arian side. I especially remember how she expressed her close relationship with Dror, when she used to light the Christmas tree in the Dror's commune. But these relationships were expressed throughout the year. She felt at home in the commune on 34 Dzielna Street. There, all the movement 's plans t were woven with her participation, those that overlapped with the plans of the members of Hashomer Hatzair and were made together with them, and those related to plans of the Dror movement. In all cases, the relationship was without a barrier, with full trust on the part of all members. She accompanied the members of the movement through all the paths of suffering.

In this period Irena's hands were full of work. She exerted all her influence on her acquaintances. She walked day and night in order to demand the fulfillment of promises made to her, or to recruit additional volunteers. Among other, she also arranged a place for me on Dzielna Street. I can't remember the man's name, but I was only able to stay in this place for a few days. It was Irena who moved me to another place in Praga. On the way from Dzielna Street to Praga the Germans conducted a manhunt for Poles in the city streets


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to send them to work in Germany. The streets were surrounded, the trams were stopped and people were taken out of them. There was a great panic among the Poles. And if it was so among the Poles, can you imagine what happened in the heart of a Jewish man and his Polish escort? On such occasions Jews were also captured but they were not sent to work in Germany… For security reasons, we didn't take the tram but walked, and somehow managed to avoid being stopped inside the tram. Therefore, we made our way by jumping from house to house, street to street, until we arrived in Praga.

Maria, the owner of the house in one of the streets in Praga, whose exact name I don't remember, was a teacher by profession and bestowed the nobility of her soul on her students. Mrs. Maria received me with beautiful hospitality and tried to instill in me an intimate-homely atmosphere. She took care of my comfort as much as it was possible in the conditions of a semi-hiding place. Every ringing at the door caused anxiety and she waited to open it until I managed to enter a side room, a place, according to the home owner, she didn't bring guests because of the mess that prevailed there… But, I could only stay in this place for about a week to ten days.

In this period, also under the influence of Irena, I moved to a very interesting place, both foreign and dangerous, to the Catholic monastery near Otwock. The monastery head sister, who knew I was Jewish, agreed to accept me as an assistant to the household manager.

The monastery was surrounded by a conifers forest. It's been years since I saw the shape of a forest and smelt it. My first job at the monastery was to whitewash a large building that was emptied from Jews a few days after the Aktion took place in Otwock. Fresh traces of a Jewish school were still visible in this building. This building became a place of residence after the establishment of Otwock Ghetto, but the character of the school in the building have been preserved. It was possible to learn about it from the inscriptions on the walls, from the numbered classrooms, from textbooks that were thrown on the floors, and the mezuzot on the doorways. In my imagination I saw the children and the commotion they had in the yard and inside the building's walls. Where are they now? Do they know that a Jewish survivor is trying, by whitewashing the building, to erase their existence and their memory, and blur every sign of bustling children life?

Instead of the cheerful Jewish children in my imagination, I saw, here and there, sorrow and sadness on their faces, mainly on the girls' faces. Are they Jewish children? I was afraid for this thought, and with more vigor continued the work of erasing the people who ceased to exist, a work that symbolized the period of the Nazi generation.

Irena taught me how to behave of Sunday when the priest came to conduct the Christian prayer. These were difficult test days for me. From time to time I would memorize to myself the custom in the church during prayer, when to kneel and how to cross, how to behave when the priest enters the church, and the like. On Sundays I was nervous at breakfast that I ate hastily and got ready, with awe and reverence, for the most difficult test of my life.

At the end of the prayer I felt as if a heavy burden was lifted from my heart. After I came out of this test as a winner, Irena came to her daily visit in the afternoon and very happy for my divine victory.

Several days had passed and the head sister informed Irena during her daily visit that I should leave the monastery immediately, because the townspeople began to tell each other that Jews are hiding in the monastery.

Irena's blessed actions were not only evident during the Aktions, and also not only in Warsaw. Even before the Aktions, and after them, she was active in the movement's mission almost all over Poland and Lithuania. She penetrated with great danger to Kaunas Ghetto, Vilna, Grodno and the area and large Generalgouvernement centers. She accompanied the group of members that leftWarsaw through Slovakya to aliya to Eretz Yisrael. She overcame the understandable suspicion of being a Christian by learning the Yiddish language. Irena made all these jourieys on official missions of Dror and Hasomer Hazair. But, it was an unofficial mission to all the Jews in those places. She brought a breath of fresh air to the Jews of the ghettos, and her name, as a Christian woman on a Jewish mission, was known throughout the Jewish underground cells. She breathed a new spirit into all the remote places, and strengthened the Jews of the ghettos to stand firm. Irena was not satisfied with encouraging the people of the ghettos. She met with the chairmen of the Judenrat in Kaunas and Bialystok, and demanded more attention, and real help, to the Jews of their city.

As with with her friends in the kibbutzim, Irena also spent time with me in conversations that lasted for about six to seven hours, and most of the topics revolved around “those days.” In the course of this conversation, I remembered a promise I had made to her on one of our wandering days together in the Arian side of Warsaw, and to her happiness I had to keep. It was during one of the abductions carried out by the Germans on the Poles. Irena and I stumbled upon one of the neighborhoods where the transportation was shut down by the Germans who took people out of the vehicles. Irena saw that the situation was dangerous and burst into tears. I calmed her down, and while doing so she expressed her wish that if, God forbid,I will die, I should pray in the next world for her and her people. In the panic of the abductions I was distracted from her wish and my thoughts were not freed at that moment to answer her. Since I didn't agree with her, she accepted my silence as a positive answer. Some time later, I learned from her other friends that she had expressed the same wish to them on different occasions.

Among other things, I asked her during a conversation how she was impressed by Israel. To this question she answered me: “I have nothing to answer because, from Norway, for example, one can make a positive or negative impression. On the other hand, Israel, which I dreamed about decades before it was born, the place of this country in my mind is almost the same with its place on the world map. Every tourist, Jewish and non-Jewish, asks and wonders about everything he sees on his way through the bus window, and it is explained to him that this is the Galilee, the Carmel and the Naftali Mountains etc. But I, said Irena, am not asking, I am happy: this is the Galilee, this is the Negev,this is the Carmel, this is the Valley and all other points and mountains that I have lived in my imagination for decades. Therefore, I do not need to ask questions like a tourist. I feel like I'm at home and, like any family member, I can't be impressed by the country.”

We will therefore return to the point where we left off the story. On the way to Radomsk I parted from Irena, my companion, at the main train station in Warsaw. After a hearty handshake, I was enveloped by the feeling of a teenage boy setting out on his life's path as an independent. From now on, he will have to fight his life's war alone, without a guiding hand, without a mother's supervision. I knew that no one would think for me now. No one will direct my path now. From now on, life and death depend on me and only me.


[Page 344]


I left Warsaw at twilight. I felt better as the day got darker. I felt like a thief whose confidence is in the dark. What's more, the conditions of darkness that prevailed during the war on the trains in Poland also helped a “thief like me.” I sat in the train pretending to be asleep. But I knew that I had to be awake to everything that was happening around me. I sat on the bench lost in my thoughts.

And there was something to think about. That day, before I left Warsaw, the newspapers announced in bold letters about Hitler's call to his army to conquer Moscow at any cost. The subtitles of these newspapers said that the Red Army had been destroyed on the Eastern Front, and only the remnants of this army are still waging a desperate war. This news depressed the souls, and above all the Jews' souls. From experience, we knew that Hitler's announcements had to be taken seriously because he placed great trust in them. Later it became clear, to everyone's dismay, that Hitler's call to conquer Moscow was nothing more than a hypocritical wish that didn'tcome true.

In the dark and cold train carriage, I could not see if there was someone like me, whose thoughts were occupied in matters of the utmost importance. Indeed, on the side of those snoring for their pleasure, there were also those who turned over on their “bed,” that is, those who could nott, or didnt want to, fall asleep. Out of this concern, and due to the fact that the train was getting closer to Koluszki station. The most famous junction station in the Germans' search for smugglers, underground operatives seeking to cross the border between the Generalgouvernement and the Reich and, of course, they didn't exclude the Jews from their search plan.

Time passed, and when the train arrived at the Koluszki station, a feeling of preparation for a nightmare was felt among the passengers. My concerns were heavy. because apart from the fact that I was Jewish, illegal material was hidden in my body. Therefore, I decided to move to another car at the moment that the gendarmes will appear in my car. However, they didn't consider my decision and entered together from both sides of the car. My heart fluttered like a fish, but I had no choice but to sit and pretend to be asleep. The gendarmes entered the car, blinded the passengers' eyes and checked each passenger carefully. In certain cases, when the passengers were suspicious in their eyes, they asked for his Kennkarte, and approached my seat. I pretended that I was sleeping, but the light of the flashlight was aimed straight at my eyes. I “woke up” scared as if I didn't know what was happening. I was ordered to open the bag, and the gendarmer rummaged through it looking for a hidding place. He asked me to get up from my seat and I asked in Polish what was the reason for this? As if I don't understand German. He had to use means to make me understand that aufstehen means to stand up. I got up from my place and he searched on the bench and under the bench, to make sure that I didnt hide anything. Finally, he asked for my name. Since my last name had a pleasent ring to the gendarmer's Arian ear, he was content with it and left without checking my Kennkarte, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

It was already close to two past midnight when the train reached its destination. According to the regulation, every passenger arriving in the city when the curfew went into effect, had to enter the office next to the train station and obtain a permit to pass through the city. For obvious reasons this thing was extremely uncomfortable for me. I was debating whether to enter the office or not. I considered the matter here and there. I had a hard time deciding whether to go through the city without a permit, or go into the office and risk an inspection. Finally I decided to trust my intuition and go to the city without a permit and with all the risk that comes from that.

I had to walk at a normal pace so as not to arouse suspicion to the gendarmes. Fortunately, I was the master of the city. Along the way I didn't meet a living soul.

In Radomsk I met the member David Meir Kornberg from Poalei Zion in regards to this mission. I saw him as a suitable man for this, because he was acceptable by people and because it was possible to consult a secret with him. I presented to him the importance of preparing for the coming hour when we will face the necessity of self-defense. The Jewish population lived on a volcano since it has already experienced terrible persecution and humiliation due to being outside the law. I explained to him that living outside the law promises only bad things in any case of changes around us and that we should therefore be prepared to protect ourselves and Jewish lives with axes, iron rods, bottles and all the other means that may bring down rioters from whatever side they would come.

David Meir Kornberg was enthusiastic about it and promised to try to realize it. I instructed him that in terms of the human composition, the circle of people should be narrower, and in terms of the public-movement composition, it should be wider. But the expansion of the public base was objectively limited since, as the main dynamic and vibrant force for this task, youth movements could be used and such existed in the city. From the end of the 1920s, only Dror and Jewish communists transferred to the Soviet government at the outbreak of the war. A few years before the outbreak of the war, a weak branch of Gordonia also arose in the city, but with the outbreak of the war, some of its people crossed the Bug River and the rest didn't show any sign of life. Only Dror remained as a mass movement in practice and in force, and the former Zionist and anti-Zionist political parties showed almost no sign of life during the occupation. Among others, I also consulted with Kornberg on the question of whether the two of us should hold at least some of the meetings during the days of my stay at the place, or entrust the holding of the meetings to him. Korenberg's opinion was that only two days are not enough to consider who to meet with, and it was agreed that I should leave the matter in his hands.

In two days I managed to choose a number of active people for the seminar. We chose the candidates for the seminar participants together with Lazar and Mordechai Zelig, but it didn't go so smoothly since after the official work day in forced labor, most of the members, who were candidates for the seminar, engaged in work to support the family and didn't have free time after work to participate in the seminar.

Somehow we overcame this problem, but since I still had to travel to Częstochowa and return to Warsaw before my permit to travel by train would expire, I could not set the start date of the seminar. Since the determination of the exact date was not up to me, but the permits' “industrialist,” I therefore agreed with the local members that I would return in two or three weeks.


[Page 345]


I was in Częstochowa for the first time after the outbreak of the war and it was difficult for me to recognize the city, and compare it, to the one I had known before the war. This beautiful and large city is sacred to the Christians because of “Jasna Góra,” the famous church in the Christian world. Pilgrims from all over Poland and abroad flock it. Every day a wave of pilgrims passed through the city in religious processions shrouded in holiness, led by priests and also boys and girls dressed in white and ringing bells. Such was the appearance of the city day after day, year after year during the summer months, but the ecclesiastical-Christian nature of the city did not affect some of the residents of Czestochowa at all, other than Christian love for human being. This city was one of the few where an open pogrom was held against the Jews before the outbreak of the war. In this way, the city had the “right” to be included with cities like Przytyk before the war and Kielce after the war. Now, during the Nazi occupation, the city residents can count on the Nazis to do their job more efficiently.

When I saw Czestochowa for the first time under the Nazi's boot, I could not help but think that this city was etched in my memory as a city of parades and pogroms. Now I saw it in its darkness as a heavy shadow spread over the streets, the houses and the people.

When I arrived in the city I tried to use the time at my disposal effectively. I met with Netta Slomnicki, the person in charge of the Dror branch there. I knew him before the war and he was one of my friends. I consulted him in connection with the same task I handled in Radomsk and which pertains to the future of the Jewish population and not to the affairs of the moment. He recommended that you meet with my friend Shachakats, who was an operator of Poalei Zion, and whom I also knew before the war. We agreed to convene a meeting of Dror activists in the early evening. I met Shachakats there and I presented the matter to him. He listened very attentively and raised issues related to the protection of Jewish life. It was clear that this whole thing was new to him. The period of the rebellion was still in its infancy, and the concept of the uprising against the Nazis had not yet sufficiently penetrated the consciousness of the movements in Czestochowa. Shachakats treated the matter with sympathy, and after his agreement that he would initiate the operation on the place, we inquired about the methods of implementation.. The public movement body was wider here than in Radomsk. There were youth movements of all shades and they gave hope for the export of the mission. It was agreed, therefore, that Shachakats would arrange for him with whom to meet and start holding the meetings soon.

When I arrived at the activists meeting that Slomnicki arranged, it was already five o'clock in the evening. My plan was that after I finished the public affairs I would go to my sister's house who lived in Częstochowa on Warszawska Street. If I am not mistaken, I wanted to sleep at her house and return to Warsaw the next morning. The meeting took place in Dina Shaya's house but I don't remember the name of the street. Dina participated in one of Dror's main seminars in the Warsaw Ghetto, and was from the group of students of the high school in the branch, and one of the branch's activities during the occupation after she returned from the seminar.

The meeting, in which about twenty-five members participated, lasted for maybe half an hour, and then the member who was in charge of guarding outside entered the room and announced that the street was surrounded by Germans who were going from house to house and taking men from them to labor camps. Upon hearing this unexpected news, some excitement arose among those gathered, but we immediately took control of the situation. We ordered the girls to leave the room first to delay the abductees, and to cover the friends who were following them and help them escape from the Germans.

We walked in pairs. I walked with Slomnicki. While walking, I told him that if they were to kidnap him, it might cause more trouble because there is a forged permit to travel by train in my bag. The girls walked in front of us “in the shape of a wall” as if they could save us from any harm. And indeed, they tried to help, they hid the walkers behind them and helped them to escape and break the cycle of abduction and, by doing so, they angered the abductors and create confusion in the street. But, it became clear to us that any success in escaping from the hands of the Germans is nothing but a sham, since the abductions didn't take place in one street but in a certain area. From this arose the liberalism of the Germans not to use weapons against those who try their luck in escaping. At first, the Germans' game with the Jews was puzzling to all, a game of cat and mouse, but in a certain section of the street the women were sent away. The Germans' guarding there was excellent and strict. They stood on both sides of the street at a distance of a few meters, and all the men, who were taken out of the houses, were forced to pass between them and later directed them to the street corner where cars were waiting to take them after the selection. There was no possibility of escape except by a miracle, and the men waited their turn as if they had agreed with their fate. Nonetheless, I said in my heart that this was the last chance to escape. Because the circle was about to close and only a few meters away from the place the selection took place. In my opinion, there was no danger of being abducted unless the Germans saw someone running away and tried to chase him.

Just as Slomnicki and I arrived at the selection place several men, who arrived from another street, burst in. Panic, accompanied by the shouts and screams of the gendarmes, arose among the abductees who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to escape. Abductees and gendarmes mixed together. The column, organized in pairs, was disrupted. The gendarmes struggled and beat their victims, but could not use short-range weapons so as not to injure their comrades. At this moment I took the opportunity and ran to the attic in the nearby house. Netta Slomnicki, who walked with me the whole time and we both tried not to separate from each other, was abducted right next to me and, it was a wonder to me, how I managed to escape from the hand of the gendarme who had already seized me. I stayed in the attic until daylight and I managed to return to Warsaw.

I returned to Warsaw in a depressed mood because the abduction changed the order of things for a few hours and I no longer saw Shachakats, Dina and all other active members who gathered for the meeting. A few months after I returned I have been told that Slomnicki returned from the camp. I could not find out about the other people. My plan to visit my sister also failed. She had no idea that I was in Częstochowa and I never saw her again.

The first uprising in Częstochowa failed, but the seed that was planted in the ground later germinated through serious struggles. The news that reached Warsaw Ghetto at the end of 1942, told about the rebellion movement of the Dror and Hashomer Hatzair, which formed the main core of the rebellion movement around which gathered the members of the branches of the two aforementioned movements. But, even in the period of the end of 1942 I didn't come across any name related to the members with whom I met during my visit in Częstochowa. They all disappeared as if under the surface of the water and new people served as important support for the concentration and education of people in the form of the kibbutzim which didn't yet exist.

Rivka Glanz was then sent from Warsaw Ghetto to the Dror organization before the founding of the Jewish Fighting Organization, which formed in the joint kibbutz of Dror and Hashomer Hatzair in Częstochowa. For a short time, Rivka managed to integrate in the public life there. She excelled as a distinct movement figure and a brave warrior who fell in battle with the Germans. In another battle also fell Mark Folman from Dror, who was caught in Częstochowa on his way from Zagłębie during the Aktion. Częstochowa also received reinforcements from the members of Hashomer Hatzair in different periods, among them Mordechai Anielewicz, Arie Wilner, Tosia Altman and Yosef Kaplan.

Translator's footnotes:

1. Nazi term, literally meaning “German-folk,” used to refer to ethnic Germans who lived outside of Germany and didn't hold German or Austrian citizenship. Return
2. Selbstschutz (lit.“Self-protection”) is the name given to different iterations of ethnic-German self-protection units formed both after the First World War and in the lead-up to the Second World War Return
3. Generalgouvernement (lit. General Government) - German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovakia and the Soviet Union in 1939 at the onset of the Second World War Return
4. Hakhshara (lit. “Preparation”) the term is used for training programs in agricultural centers in which Zionist youth learned vocational skills necessary for their emigration to Israel and subsequent life in kibbutzim. Return
5. Shtiebel/pl. shtiblekh (lit. “Little room or house”) is a place used for communal Jewish prayer. Return
6. The White Paper of 1939 was a policy paper issued by the British government, led by Neville Chamberlain, in response to the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. Return
7. Shabbetai Tzevi was a false Messiah who developed a mass following and threatened rabbinical authority in Europe and the Middle East. Return
8. Gematria (pl. gimatriot) is a numerological system by which Hebrew letter correspond to numbers. Return
9. The Urim (“lights”) and Thummim (“perfections”) were gemstones that were carried by the High Priest of Israel on the ephod/priestly garments and used by the High Priest to receive revelations from God. Return
10. Dror (Heb. Freedom), a Socialist Zionist youth movement founded before the First World War in Russia and promoted national and Socialist values as we as Jewish culture. Return
11. HeHalutz (The Pioneer) was a Jewish youth movement that trained young people for agricultural settlement in the Eretz Yisrael. HeHalutz Hatzair (The Young Pioneer) was a youth group that came together in 1923 to train youth for immigration. Return

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