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I came to Sokal from my birthplace, Zabuzhzhia, and it was first when I started to work as a bookkeeper and correspondent in the local print shop and plumbing factory there, that belonged to the firm of ‘Mordechai Kiehl's Sons.’ I was employed in this capacity for seven years, until I emigrated to Italy in the year 1929.

The firm of ‘Mordechai Kiehl's Sons’ belonged to diligent working and talented people. The foundation for the firm was laid by R' Mordechai Kiehl years ago, and he developed it from there, exporting his products to buyers from all over Poland and other European countries and even to America. Thanks to the newest machines, and other manufacturing methods, which enabled mass-production, he practically had no competition.

In the Office of the Kiehl Firm Rear: David Kiehl on the Telephone Desk: Yitzhak Kiehl Typewriter: Ida Finkel

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In time, Mordechai Kiehl gradually pulled back from the business and turned over the management and the business to his sons, who continued to run the business in the old fashion.

Mordechai Kiehl came from Western-Galicia and was a grandson to the Rabbi of Lizhensk. He had accumulated much knowledge and was a highly educated and very aware person – even too modern for a city like Sokal. He would be called ‘Der Mazur.’ Once during a weekday, when he had a Yahrzeit he prayed at the Bet HaMidrash. Several boys – among them Abraham'tzeh Kisnuk – threw wet rags at him, when he was leading services from the front. From that time on, he instructed his grandchildren never to pray in the Bet HaMidrash. Since that time, he became a worshiper at the Strelsk Kloyz.

His son Yitzhak helped him very much in the business. Apart from him, Mordechai Kiehl had three sons: Moshe – the eldest, who lived in Lizhensk, Yaakov, who fell in 1915 as a casualty of World War I, and Yudl David, who also served in the Austrian army during World War I, and was taken prisoner by the Russians in Lublin. He was sent to Siberia, where as a result of the Russian Revolution, he got the chance to flee to Japan, and from there he came to America, where he already had a sister, Khulya. Apart from her, Mordechai Kiehl had a second daughter, Dvorah, the wife of Asher Weniger.

When I began working at the Kiehl firm in 1922, Yudl David was still in America, and it was first in the year 1926 that he returned to Sokal. Yaakov Kiehl, who fell during the war, left behind a childless widow.

In time, because of his advanced age, Mordechai Kiehl was no longer able to manage the firm, and the entire burden fell to his son Yitzhak, who held his father in great esteem. In order not to raise any feelings of being redundant, he left him to run the rubber stamp department, which was a rather light duty. This caused the father's self-worth, as well as his financial position in the firm, to strengthen.

Just as before – Mordechai Kiehl would now also help out any needy Jew, and in doing so he never took anything, not even making a note of the borrower's name, relying on his honesty and trustworthiness.

In Mordechai Kiel's house, every pauper always received a large donation. However, when he received rabbinical or a Rebbe's grandchildren who would seek legitimacy through their pedigree, he would embarrassingly ask of them, why they do not learn a trade… after all, he personally was the grandson of a Rabbi and learned the printing trade…

In 1927 Mordechai Kiehl became seriously ill and when he felt that he was close to death; apart from me, he also permitted a good friend of his, Reuben Bergloz, who visited him frequently, to be called, and he took us both as witnesses and he then articulated his last will [and testament]:

‘My entire wealth’ – he said – ‘shall be equally divided between my children; however, the part to be allocated to my oldest son, Moshe, should be recorded in the name of his children, because by exception, only him I am locking out of the inheritance, the reason being that 30 years ago, when I made

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his wedding, I turned over my entire wealth in Lizhensk to him… at that time I gave him, and I left my business there and I myself went off to Sokal, in order not to become his competitor.’

‘In Sokal’ – Mordechai Kiehl further declared – ‘I had to start anew to build up an existence, and together with my wife we worked hard. In the year 1918, after Moshe became a widower, he immediately married a young woman and it did not take long for all of his children from his first wife to leave the home…accordingly, they are spread all over the entire world… and this, indeed, is the reason for which I want that not he, but only his children should receive an inheritance.’

Weakened and agitated after this declaration, he concluded his talk and laid down. He rested for a while, and finally said: ‘I am not going to recite a confession, because I did not commit any of those sins… During my life, I attempted to observe the Ten Commandments, and with that, I fulfilled my obligation to God and Man.’

Immediately after this he passed away.

Yudl David had a very fine and noble wife. She came from Western Galicia. From her home, she was called Malyitz'eh Karp. When World War I broke out and her husband went off into the Austrian army, he sustained himself in Jasla and when the Russians took control of this city, she fled along with her one and only child who regrettably died along the way. The profound dissolution and experiences during World War I had a strong effect on her mood from what she had suffered. Her exceptional, good and fine character created an oversight and love from the entire family which was drawn close to her with loyalty and good-heartedness.

During Work at the Kiehl Print Shop From the right: Aharon Ratzer, Zisha Horwitz, Heschel Goldberg

In the factory they had two work managers: a certain Latzlsberger who was Viennese,

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who was active in the plumbing factory and Zisha Horwitz, son of Chaim Ber Horwitz, who ran the printing operation in an outstanding fashion. Lithograph pictures and refined placards were printed there and various placards for chemical factories, for a variety of other businesses, such as works requiring dyeing, for the mining of salt and large mills. In this regard we even competed with Meir Leib's printing operations.

The Viennese director was a drunkard; but he was a good craftsman.

Zisha Horwitz, a very sympathetic youth, had in his nature to befriend Christians, which caused his father great sorrow. He prayed in the Husiatyn Kloyz, where such important balebatim such as Israel Bard with his son and son-in-law, Yitzhak Birnbaum, Issachar Ber Flam his only son, Yitzhak, Shlomo Kreminer with his sons, Abusz Schwartzwald with his son Heschel and other such prominent Jewish people prayed. Meir Glazer from Tartakov also prayed there, a girl niece of the printer Meir Leib Glazer. During the High Holy Days, he would lead services from the front. He had quite a nice voice and a fine style. When he would recite ‘L'David Mizmor,’ by sentence, Jews who had already ended their prayers in the synagogue, stood outside by the windows of the Kloyz, or the Bet HaMedrash and with bated breath listened to every word and wondered with what sweetness and sincerity he would recite them.

When, in the year 1940, the Soviet military apparatus took control of Sokal they turned over the management of the Kiehl businesses to the two work directors: Latzlberger and Zisha Horwitz.

The fate of Yudl'i David and his family was tragic. In the year 1943 I met in New York, Israel Harack, who miraculously saved himself from the Nazi Gehenna and he told me, that when he saw Yudl David with his wife, he convinced them that they should flee with him through the Carpathian [Mountains] across the Russian border. Sadly, they couldn't decide, and returned to Sokal, where in1943 they were exterminated together with all the other Sokal Jews.

I also advised Yitzhak Kiehl, when in 1937 he came for a visit to Italy, to gradually liquidate the Sokal factory and move it to Israel. He could not decide to do the liquidation of a business, that he had helped to build up over the course of years.

But who could imagine that the life of human beings would become worthless?…here… this was our collective tragic mistake, that we could not, and did not want to believe, that such a total destruction was possible… and we paid dearly for making such a fateful mistake.

Yitzhak Kiehl was tortured by the German murderers in a terrible way. Immediately after the Germans took Sokal, they demanded of him that he become a member of the ‘Judenrat,’ which he refused to do. For this he was stuffed into a Gestapo jail, where he was terribly tortured, so much so that he personally begged them to shoot him. The Germans did not want to grant him this ‘favor,’ to let him off so lightly. He suffered quite a bit more, until the executioners finally shot him. This was the tragic end to a dear and fine Jewish man.

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Immediately after World War I, I began to look around for some sort of appropriate business. My friend Buni Unger from my Heder year and Kloyz attendance came to help me, and he noticed an ad for me in the Lemberg Tageblatt, that the two Templeman brothers were looking for a teacher for their children. He alone – told me –that he had already written to one of the Templemans and was still waiting for an answer.

I immediately wrote to the second Templeman brother and several days later we both received invitations to come and take over the work.

The Templemans lived in a village, which was called Kunin, about three kilometers distance from the train station of Dobrosyn near Żółkiew. We felt like we were in the Garden of Eden there. Our work was not difficult, because getting through the lectures with the children barely took an hour, such that we had enough free time to learn and read.

After a year of being held in this village, we parted ways. Buni Unger went over to Żółkiew and found work as a bookkeeper in a fur coat business and for a short time, I took over work in a grain export firm, and immediately afterwards began to work for the Kiehls.

Later, Buni went to Lemberg (Lvyv) and in the year 1941 we ran into each other again in New York, where I had just arrived from Brazil. We met frequently and also later, when I traveled back to Italy after World War II, we remained in business contact. He died suddenly in 1960.

A nephew of his, Eliezer, a son of Israel Unger, lives in Israel today. I knew him since he was a child. Working together with him, an episode remains in my memory, which I cannot forget to this day.

In the year 1938 – when Mussolini decided to ally with Hitler ימ”ש, he issued an order, that all foreign Jews must leave Italy during the next 6 months, and the termination of the order was set at March 12,1939. In one of those bitter days Eliezer Unger, who had stopped in Italy on his way to Israel, came to visit me in my factory. He came to see me a few minutes after I had an inspector from the secret police, who had come to warn me that I should not have any false hopes to be able to remain in the country even one day longer, as this was designated in the government's record – and in order for me to consider how seriously this issue was being thought about, he handed me a handbook in which my name was printed.

When Eliezer arrived, I was still under the impression of what the police inspector's words implied, and I told him of my troubles, that I must leave everything behind and lose everything that I had built up and on top of this, I do not know where to go. Eliezer looked at me anew and asked: ‘how can a man talk about assets, when the entire world is on fire?’ I did not know what to reply, because I felt that he was right. In my heart I envied him, because he had a goal for himself, at a time when I did not know from whence will come my succor…

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The Polish government took away my citizenship because of the fact that I had already lived for 13 years out of that country. I had communicated this to the highest tribunal in the Polish government in Warsaw, but in the meantime, the Polish consulate took away my passport and I was left with no documents, which in those times was literally a catastrophe.

The years, during which I lived in Italy were good ones. True – one lived under the rule of a dictator, but one did not sense it until 1938, especially in Northern Italy, where a large part of the population was semi-fascist, but not with a full heart. The Italians are, by nature very good people, and they had no grasp of what anti-Semitism was. They first had to be taught, and Hitler ימ”ש had already sent them the genuine teachers.

For my coming to Italy, I had to thank the Fyvel brothers, children of R' Abraham, of which the older two – Yaakov, emigrated to Vienna, and the second, Leib, to Budapest. After the death of their mother in 1917, at the age of barely 43, there remained three orphans: Shmuel age 13, Meir age 10. And Joseph^[1], age 8.

The Fyvel Family, with R' Abraham seated (Standing from the right): Joseph Fyvel, in Israel, Shmuel Fyvel in America, Leon (Leib) Fyvel ז”ל, Yaakov Fyvel ז”ל, Mina Fyvel with Bezalel, living in Milano, Meir Fyvel ז”ל

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Already then – during the childhood years, those three orphans were strongly tied to me and – being older than them by a few years – thought of me as an older brother. Yaakov Fyvel wrote to me from Vienna, asking that I keep an eye on his three younger brothers… I should be their teacher and show them the path to follow. The feelings of true heartfelt brotherhood tied me together strongly with the Fyvel brothers, and this bond was never weakened, despite the fact that we left Sokal while young and lived far apart. When Yaakov Fyvel, the oldest went off from us to Italy, he immediately pulled out all his brothers.

Leon (Leib) Fyvel in Milano

Fyvel's sons, which at the time have left Sokal, left behind in their hometown a rather large family of over one hundred souls, both from their mother's and father's side, all of whom were exterminated in the Nazi Gehenna…

In Italy proper, the Fyvels suffered the severe loss of two brothers, in which one was an indirect, and the other a direct victim of the accursed Nazi Régime.

Leibl Fyvel with the surviving refugee children in Milano

Throughout the entire night the worked so hard, getting everything ready, in order to turn everything over to the buyer… regrettably a heart condition got him… and he was yet so young… he was barely 32 years old…always healthy and ready for work…

The second, already a direct victim of the Nazis was Leib Fyvel. I used to call him: ‘The Right One’ – because he had a strong understanding and a deep feeling for justice. I would say of him, that he is one of the 36 Tzadikim… He would always defer to people and everything that he did was in the form of an anonymous gift… for this reason, he never wanted to talk about, or recall whom he helped.

Since he was an Argentinian citizen, he was the only one who managed to work his way through remaining in Italy during the war. All of us traveled off…one first… Another later.. But he had decided to stay. Later on, when he recognized the error of his choice, and wanted to go to Switzerland, he was informed upon by one of his employees and the Nazi border-police seized him, and sent him to Bergen-Belsen.

To this day, I cannot grasp where he got the strength to withstand the gruesome torture in the German death-camp.

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After the war, when we once again would meet in Italy and I wanted to extract details from him about his survival and tortures in the Gehenna of Bergen-Belsen, he never answered and he would not mention the years of frightful torture. They knocked out all of the teeth in his mouth and immediately after the liberation you could see the marks of the hard blows with which the German murderers did not spare in Bergen-Belsen. The lingering sickness condition, complicated skillful operations rescued his exhausted body… in the year 1953 – on the 11 Day of Tammuz (June 24) he died.

Leib'l Fyvel ז”ל received much recognition heaped on him in Milan, thanks to his completely sacrificial and social action for the good of Jewish refugees from the neighboring countries, who became concentrated in the Italian camps. In Milan, he organized a kitchen for Jewish orphans, which he looked after with body and soul. The children came to love him so, that they did not want to start eating first, until Leib came and sat to eat with them together.

He also did not forget his landsleit in Sokal and later in Israel and to the greatest extent possible, he supported everyone from Sokal who was in need, until he found out that his physical condition was not the best.

And when he participated in an initiative after the war on behalf of Israel's good, his readiness to help in any activity, despite his bad physical condition, had no bounds.

All of us suffered strongly at the loss of our dear Leib Fyvel ז”ל… but most of all, his passing broke his oldest brother Yaakov, whom we could not console after such a severe misfortune…

And suddenly on December 12, 1966 we also lost… Yaakov Fyvel ז”ל who died on that day…We lost such a dear, gentle Jewish man… we now feel like orphaned children… because he was always our universal director and thanks to his spiritual influence and his moral strength, we held together…

Regrettably, I cannot write about him, because in a letter that the deceased left behind, he explicitly articulated his wish that after his death he should stay there, an unfamiliar point just like it is unknown all the tortured and killed Sokal martyrs.. . And were I not bound by this last will of the deceased Yaakov Fyvel ז”ל, I would have enough material to tell about his good deeds only of the last five years, during which time we were together.

All these good deeds the Fyvel brothers learned and inherited from their mother Rachel (Rokh'cheh) ע”ה. She was a true Tzaddik in female form. The poor people in Sokal, who lived in want and didn't have anything with which to prepare for Sabbath, every Thursday or Friday, lent from her two or three crowns, that she had gotten back on Monday… On Friday, she would again lend the two or three crowns to the same Jewish man… these little loans she would distribute generously and with elegant anonymity, such that the borrower never felt belittled.

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When an impoverished Jewish man did not appear before her once… she sent her oldest son Yankl'eh to his home… to find out why and for what reason the Jewish man did not come to take the loan. And when Yankl'leh, during such a visit to this poor Jew, came to understand that the latter simply was ashamed to borrow money for the Sabbath, so he no longer asked anything, but just left the two crowns, which his mother gave him every such time… there was also an instance when Yank'leh sometimes found that the man was laying sick in bed, – at that time his mother would cook up a hearty soup, which Yankl'leh then carried back to the sick person.

It was in this fashion that Yaakov Fyvel ז”ל grew up under the influence of his refined mother of rare good will…

The last five years, since I had returned from America, and took up residence in Italy, we lived as neighbors, and this allowed us to have much time full of memories of our childhood. He was a good friend and brother to me.

Now he is no longer here… I feel a great emptiness about me… regrettably the loss is irreparable…

A pity, a pity for whom we lost…

The Sokal Train Station

1. Joseph Fyvel is today socially active as the secretary of the Landsmanschaft of the Sokal refugees in Israel. Return

The Fish Family (Family of Mrs. Rena Menkes in front of their house in Sokal) Sitting from the right: Joseph Fish, his granddaughter Dina, and his wife Chaya. Friedrich Fish was the Vice Principal of the post office in Sokal

Dr. Ephraim Menkes ז”ל		Rena Menkes ז”ל

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My grandfather, Joseph Fish, was born in the village of Uhvin in the vicinity of Radekhiv -Lopatyn in the year 1844 to his father Jerucham Fish, who was a Jew of that village and a Belz Hasid, and was one of those who could absorb Hasid ism thoroughly and according to its precepts: faithful to this tradition, he sent his sons to the nearby city of Lopatyn to be inculcated with Torah in the local Yeshiva. Joseph understood from when he grew up, to continue in his father's ways, and earned a living from directing the management of parcels surrounding what was an important city at that time – Brody; it was in this period that his sons and daughters were born, the oldest of them was Rivka Leah (Rena) who afterwards married Dr. Ephraim Menkes. My grandfather, the wife of Joseph Fish, Chaya (Carla) of the Mann family was born in the town of Mosty Wielke (Ukrainian Velyky Mosty). She was part of a traditional, but advanced home and both her secular and parochial education of their sons and daughters were looked after by her parents. Accordingly, she was thoroughly knowledgeable in worldwide literature and the German language in particular. In the bookcases in the home of my grandparents you could find one next to another, traditional and classical German books on Judaism, Goethe, Schiller, Heine and others. A number of years before World War I, the Fish family moved into the Sokal district, after my grandfather became manager of the properties of the Duke (?) Radzowski in the villages of Wislawica and Mianowica. Much trouble befell the family during the days of World War I, and we were miraculously saved from the hands of Ukrainian murderers in 1918, thanks to the nobility of soul and strength of heart of the priest of Wislawica, Father Doydowyc. My grandfather then decided to move to Sokal and took possession of a small house on the corner of Wicucynskovo – Szaszkiwica streets, and he lived there to the end of his life; together with this, he continued to manage land estates until quite an advanced age. My grandfather was a strong man, one of the farmers that were highly regarded in the Sokal province; he was alert to inventions affecting his craft, and was a savvy agriculturist as a result of him working for himself, because the non-traditional studies were limited to only a few simple lessons by the ‘dyak^[1]’ in the city of Lopatyn, where they learned to read and write in Polish and German. ‘Old Fish’ as they nicknamed him in Sokal and its vicinity, was one of the first in the area to make use of chemical

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additives, in reaping and threshing, from machines (that came before tractors) and on top of this he possessed a highly experienced sense about agriculture, which caused him to be respected by the owners of other parcels of land, Jews and non-Jews, who came to seek his advice, on a variety of issues. All of this did not distance him from his Judaic studies, the source of his knowledge; in the evenings, particularly during the winter, when he was not tired from his hard work, he would review what he had learned in the Talmud, Midrash and Ayn Yaakov, revealing hidden meanings and creating his own innovative ideas. My grandfather's home had a great influence on me, in which were sustained traditional leaders that enchanted me so much. While I was still a child, I would travel from time-to-time with my grandfather to the estate in Wislawica, and I did work based on his expertise. He was able to discern a wheat field from rye, barley or other food on stalks at a distance; it was my grandfather who showed me, perhaps without meaning to, to select the direction of agriculture that I then followed as a way of life.

Joseph Fish was blessed with a long life and passed away at the age of 89 in 1933. And how different this was from the fate of my grandmother, who was murdered by the Nazis, together with many, many of our townsfolk in one of the “aktions” that they carried out in the Sokal ghetto.

My father, Dr. Ephraim Menkes was born in the city of Sambor to R' Yaakov Menkes, who was an established merchant who owned a flour mill; he was the head of the community committee for many years and was a ‘mitnaged’ in his general outlook. Like all the sons of Yaakov Menkes, my father also studied at the local gymnasium and afterwards continued with the study of Law at the University of Lvov. Like many of the members of his generation, he absorbed much culture that was German, Austrian and Polish, that were plated on the plain of traditional education that was given to him during childhood. As a student at the gymnasium and at the university, he was influenced by the liberal left-wing cadres and had a strong ardor for the Polish Socialist Party, P. P. S., although he was never accepted as a member. During World War I, he fought as an officer in the army of Kaiser Franz-Jozef on the Russian and Italian fronts, and was twice wounded in battle.

After the Polish-Russian war, our family settled down in Sokal, and it was here that my father fell under the spell of the Zionist ideal, and was convinced of its rightness. This change found expression in his concerns in relation to my mother, regarding my Jewish education, and since it was common that parents would do everything regarding the foundations of faith, even my Jewish education was rather marginal, including even the lessons in Talmud that I received from the ‘Melamed’ Rabbi Leibusz ‘Krystynopoler’ (Zitzer). One day when active members of the ‘Shomrei’ came to ask of my parents for their consent to have me join their movement, my father agreed with no reservations. Since he had already been “taken” by the Zionist ideal, he has never retracted from it, but rather deepened his roots even more and more. And the movement of our city in this respect was not trivial, which was special considering its Judaism, which kept guard even at that time, on its fundamental posture, literally as if it was orchestrated by the leading thinker of Galician Judaism, S. Y. Agnon. The Jewish atmosphere and orientation of Sokal was a return of the reign of the soul

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over the heart, if you were easy-going under its influence; this is what happened to my father, who loved the Jews of this city in their joy and in their sorrow. Instead of donating to international causes, he switched to become a follower of Keren HaYesod (a Zionist fund-collecton organization) and dedicated his spare time to community Zionist endeavors. The Polish socialist had been transformed into a follower of the ‘HaShomer HaTza'ir’ movement, that bore to patronymic (Ofieka) of the Shomrei branch, and he carried it to the end of his life. He was known as the ‘Father of the Shomrim’ even outside the boundaries of our city. Our house was open to the members of the movement, and was a lodging place for guests from the senior leadership, or just plain members of the movement who were visiting in Sokal. My father dogged our efforts, helped to overcome various and sundry difficulties, would present us to the government and even visit our summer camps, in order to come in direct contact with the youth, and also be faithful to his own credo, freed of the confines of his home, family and school.

He found an interest in Jewish folklore, and loved to hear stories full with Jewish experience from the common folk. He took pride in his Jewishness in his relation to non-Jews, and for this he gained their respect, no doubt to this orientation . And I remember very well how he once brought a new seal to his office, on which his first name ‘Ephraim’ was written on its whole face, to replace the old seal that only showed the first letter, ‘Aleph.’ As to the question regarding the reason for the change, he replied: ‘So that they know I am not ashamed of my Hebrew name, rather I am proud of it.’

And today, as my memories of that period pass before me, it is not possible for me to avoid praise for my father and mother, to whom I was an only son, and there is no doubt that they etched ideas into my back, and despite this, consented to my chosen path, the path of a pioneering Halutz, whose presence was proclaimed on all the visible walls in its own name in the eyes of these people, such as medicine, law and other outlets.

My mother, Rivka Leah (Rena) was a personality that ran deep, with a refined soul, faithful and compromising. She inherited the writing of Joseph Fish and his special virtues: love of nature, love of the people, proper leadership and organization. She completed her formal studies at the gymnasium in Brody and at the University of Lvov and in addition she acquired the drama skills in the spirit of the great actress Adina Simashko.

Of the many fields of community activity, she stuck with those that had the means to lighten the burden on people, and to permanently assist with an open door to people of the city. She encountered the poverty of people face-to-face, when the principal of the municipal school for girls asked her to provide from her skills and crafts, and organize various cultural initiatives among the students, who in large part were Jewish, and to recognize the economic circumstances of many of these girls. Her soul was excited to the point that she decided to abandon what she was asked to undertake, and dedicate herself only to social help within the Jewish society. She knew no rest when she found out that almost a third of the city's Jewish children were malnourished, and from that time onward, she dedicated all of her time to providing food for the city's poor, in particular the children, both those whose poverty was evident and those whose poverty was hidden. She was always full of energy for finding new sources she required: flower

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days, tzedakah (charity) parties, donations, and reaching out to donating local institutions. The goods consisted of clothing, additional food, organized activities for the very small poor children, and many other undertakings.

After my father died, on the eve of World War II, she began making preparations for aliyah (immigration to the Land of Israel) but did not make it, because the War surprised her; because she has been staying with relatives in Lvov for a longer time, she remained there until that bitter and terrifying day. She was murdered by the Nazi troops. Her last letter, which reached the Land of Israel by way of the Red Cross, was sent in 1942.

Translator's footnote:

1. Instructor or teacher. Return

I made myself a guest in Sokal for two years, and I still dream about those days, the ‘times’ that I had there. At the beginning of the month of Iyar 5684 [May, 1924] my feet trod for the first time in Sokal in the early morning hours. I was apparently taken aback by surroundings that were alien to me, after a trip of a day and a night from the city of my birth, Horidnika. The difference in the atmosphere of the two towns could be felt not only in the ambience, but also in the way of life and the order in which events took place. The purpose of my coming here was of the sort ‘exile yourself to a place of Torah.’ But this was a willing exile, and during the rather short time, it was transformed into a second manifestation of my birthplace. At the beginning of what I have to say, I have to emphasize that the bonds of retention literally pleased me to a great degree. The causes that compelled this to happen were the people who received me, not only with open arms but with the affection that comes from an understanding heart. I was smothered with boundless love and an endless commitment. Today; now that forty years have passed since I looked at that pleasant childhood era, it is almost difficult to convey in simple words what the heart feels and the poverty of language in which to express in writing that which I received, and felt in those days. Nevertheless, I will attempt to establish a proper monument of memory…

However, a degree of forgetfulness has fallen in connection with those who are no longer with us, but not on all of them, even if many years have passed. I think that I am not exaggerating if I say that I cannot and I do not belong to those who want to forget…

In the home of my uncle R' Israel Rapaport, I found, as it is said, a parents' home, despite the fact that he was insistent that on Sundays I should communicate with my home in detail about my condition, the circumstances, and accomplishments in my studies, etc.

In the meantime, I reached the age of thirteen, and was entered under the tutelage of R' Abraham Yaakov, melamed, to study with him for one ‘time-period.’ There, I found a class of students of my age, all alert and vibrant, who accepted me quickly and turned me into one of their own. As was the custom in those days, new clothes were tailored for me by Shlomo'leh the Tailor for my

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Bar-Mitzvah day, and a black hat was bought for me from R' Mordechai Kiehl. And to make the hat fit my small head, they put a piece of a carton that reduced the empty space. They then bought the material for a kapote from R' Issachar son of Flam, and sent me to R' Sholom Rentzelmakher to draw a Star of David on it, along with the letters of my name. My aunt Juta Leah knitted on my behalf out of silk thread out of love and good intention. In honor of the occasion, I received the prayer book ‘Nehora Mealya’ with a summary of ‘Derekh HaChaim,’ of the elders of the Rabbi of Lithuania. The writing on my Tefillin, which my father ordered for me, was given to the hands of the scribe (sofer stam) R' Moshe of Kitov, and he sent them to me by mail; even though I did not travel home during the ‘recess’ between the “times,” but rather made an effort to remain for the High Holy Days in Sokal to absorb the air of prayer in the Great Bet HaMedrash, and all that is incorporated into the holidays…

In the meantime, my uncle decided that it was incumbent upon me to study with R' Chaim Shabtais who was known in the city as a Sage, and not merely as a ‘melamed.’ But he only took two students and taught them literally from morning to night. As a partner, they matched me up with Dov Berisz Rapaport, the son of Leibusz, a grandson of Moshe Rapaport. The content of our study was not longer than it would be for a class populated by many students. In those days for many nights, we would sit in the Bet HaMedrash literally by the light of a candle, because this was before there was electricity in the city. R' Yaakov Yossi would distribute these candles for study and so that I would not be left in want of light. Regarding his good deed, the mother of my aunt, who was nicknamed Blimeh'leh, would give him a generous portion of candles, as was needed for a guest to the Bet HaMedrash, and students who were veterans at the Bet HaMedrash knew Blimeleh's handwriting; and students knew that they could turn to her to obtain a suitable evening meal, doing so anonymously and not being compelled by any custom. She regularly sent meat, fish and challahs to her married children in honor of the Sabbath.

When we were returning from Sabbath prayer to go home, it was customary to first enter [her home] to wish her ‘Shabbat Shalom.’ In front of my eyes floats her noble and upright image with her head covered by a silk kerchief. During the week, she would usually be shopping for the Sabbath, and to serve the buyers of finished products, because on the Sabbath, not only did she shed her weekly garments, but there was a thread of goodness pulled over her face. Blimeleh came originally from Uhniv, the daughter of Rabbi Moshe Levi Margulies “The Great.” Her brother was the Rabbi of Krasnobrod, and as a Belz Hasid, would be frequently invited to visit his sister's home while traveling, and I could sense the deep feelings of affection and respect that she would show him.

In contrast to her, her husband, R' Simcha Kohen Rapaport, appeared to be “very correct” (a sign of this could be recognized with the recitation reserved for the ‘Kohanim’), but the truth of the matter was he was gifted with a healthy sense of humor and a faithful commitment to those around him. I recall, on one of the evenings in which the spirit moved him, I would say he told me, with a joy that bordered on being fresh: when his grandmother Ethli ע”ה traveled to his wedding, she suddenly started to dance in the wagon, clapping her hands out of her joy at being privileged to participate in the wedding of her grandson and to see that both the groom and the bride had shaved their heads… The Rapaport

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family became related to the tree of R' Chaim HaKohen, the Av Bet Din [Chief Rabbinical Judge] in Lvov (Lviv), and a street was named after him there.

My uncle married my aunt Juta Leah, the daughter of R' Elimelech Ashkenazi ז”ל from Horodnoko, a descendant of the Sage Zvi the Rabbi from Lithuania, [who was] known throughout the Rabbinic world. When he came to our town, while still young, he continued studying at his father-in-law's home and his older brother-in-law's (my father ז”ל) home until he was ordained as a rabbi.

Very frequently, he diligently studied his texts until late into the night. He attempted to master secular subjects in the same way. After a few years passed by, when he ran the business in partnership with his father, he became fully fluent in Polish. As an activist, he was a member of the community council, together with his friend R' Meir Leib Glazer, and under the leadership of R' Bezalel Szmutzer. There was no shortage of sharp words exchanged in this council, and in particular, regarding the question of the Rabbi there was a difference of opinions. And the Belz Hasidim, who comprised the majority in the Bet HaMedrash, did not always respect the sitting Rabbi, even though he was also a member of the Rokeach family… An incident occurred that the Rabbi, while in a state of agitation said the janitor Yaakov Yossi was “the easiest among the easy,” and he received the following reply: “And if you are correct, the tongue of the scales should serve as proof.” Let us turn to the students of the Bet HaMedrash, among whom are found young men with broad and thorough knowledge of the sea of Talmud and the writings of Poskim. Of the excellent ones among them, I recall Leib Itamar's (Unger) who generated much respect on our behalf. This gentleman makes me think that he served in the rabbinate in one of the cities of Galicia. Shimshon Sh., who was added to our study group, was thoroughly versed both in secular subjects and published sayings in the Warsaw [magazin] ‘Jude.’ After a few years went by, he married the daughter of one of the Warsaw Rabbis, a true inheritance of a woman, and by so doing, seized an esteemed place among the Warsaw rabbinate royalty. I stayed in touch with him even after I had left Sokal. I had the opportunity to be in his ambiance during the summer months in the Carpathian Mountains, and was pleased to see him take pleasure from the glory of nature, its beauty, and I obtained special affection from Yaakov Glazer, the son of Meir Leib, where I was invited frequently on the Sabbath, to follow up on my study progress. His outward appearance was somewhat strange compared with the other Bet HaMedrash students, with his beard like part of his clothing: long below and short above, more modern. Among those who tested me periodically, we had R' Fogelman, the father-in-law of R' Moshe פ”ר^[1] the father-in-law of R' Moshe Nahum, the son-in-law of Eliezer Gandz and others .

I cannot leave out R' Pesach Muster, the son-in-law of Shlomo Zuckerman and R' Ephraim Krisnapoler that were considered to be Sages. The spot where they prayed was beside the tables at the northern wall of Bet HaMedrash, the Belz fortress. Occasionally they would turn to me with a question as to how could my heart be filled if I do not travel to Belz once, to circulate in the shadow of the ADMOR R' Issachar ז”ל; there, they argued, I will find God-fearing Jews, possessed of great Torah knowledge, who come there from time to time, and perhaps the spirit of modesty will pass over me and I will not be able to hold on well that I am among the students of the Bet HaMedrash, filling myself full of Shas and Poskim, and I felt that they wanted to convince me

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and instill in me that I belong to the ‘souls of Esau,’ meaning those native to this area although my origin was not from Belz, but from the area around Lezhensk, Czortkow etc.

At the outset, I did not take their offer until one Friday night of the parsha of Khukat, when my uncle decided that I should join him and spend the Sabbath in Belz. We got to Belz and entered an inn where we left our belongings, and from there we turned to the Rebbe's courtyard. Because the Head Gabbai, R' Aharon Yehoshua was a member of our family, I had a feeling of being home, and on the same day we were received by the ADMOR.

A group of Sokal halutzim before making aliyah Second from the right in the first row: Jonah Meller and her Husband Moshe Beri (living today in Havatzelet) and Rachel Meller (living in kibbutz Schiller)

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reminded me that thirty years ago, my grandfather, the Rabbi of Horodnoko visited him, and the two of them played around with Torah expressions, and he revealed that there was a family connection between us, the closeness of family stemming from the House of Belz and also connected genealogically to the tree of the Sage Zvi. During the time the table was being set, I was notified of a place to stand on the pedestal of the first window. At the time he blessed the wine, he threw me a look that was enough to cause me a particularly pleasant feeling. When I returned to Sokal I decided to relate my deep impression, and the sum of the impression was I left with a pardon that reached the level of ‘and they were joyous with trembling.’ Beside the tables of the Bet HaMedrash young men were sitting and learning, whose appearance gave testimony that they were members of ‘Tze'irei Mizrahi’ [The Youth of Mizrachi] and standing out among them were Yaakov ז”ל, Moshe Anker, Polack, Tziler and others. Yaakov ז”ל made aliyah to Erez Israel and succeeded in making an impact in the ‘Torah v'Avodah’ [Torah and Work] movement.

And little by little, this concept rooted itself in the Jewish street, and many young men and women joined the ranks of those to be trained for aliyah to Eretz Israel, but to my sorrow, only very few were privileged to make it. On one of the Sabbaths, it became known that Dr. Shimon Federbush was preparing to deliver a speech in the Bet HaMedrash. When it came to the following Saturday morning, at a very early hour before services at the Bet HaMedrash, we were surprised to see that the window panes had been removed from their places and cold and wind reigned in the middle of the building. My brother took an interest in what had happened, and here was my uncle's answer. From Friday on, parsha VaYekhi 5685 [1925] boors that had dressed themselves to appear as Hasidim incited several riots, threatening that they will take down the windows of the Bet HaMedrashas well as several menorahs. On the following morning, everything was in its place, and order was restored. Years afterward I visited Sokal, in 5697 [1937], after living in Eretz Israel for three years, and I found many changes. The concept of a national Zionist movement was buried in the city's streets. Even though I was received courteously, despite being a student of the University of Jerusalem, I was very surprised when the father of David R' Simcha R”f let me sit in his permanent place in the Great Synagogue.

Translator's footnote:

1. A Rabbi with certain specific expertise. Return

Zabuzhzhya – in Polish ‘Za Bugam,’ – in Yiddish it was called ‘Under the Bug’ – was a suburb of Sokal with over 2000 residents, of which approximately 70% were Ukrainians, about 30% were Polish, and barely a prayer quorum of Jews. Despite the proximity to Sokal, the entire region of Zabuzhzhya had the character of an isolated singularity, and even though the residents there were [involved] in administrative, economic, and cultural activities, and were tightly bound to the city of Sokal and the one independent institution was the volksschule [public school] there, they nevertheless ran separate and personal lives.

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During the First and Second World Wars Zabuzhzhya had an important strategic meaning. In July 1914 the Austrian soldiers dug fortress hills on the hilltop beside the small church, diagonally across from the entrance to the large bridge over the Bug. Sokal was separated from Zabuzhzhya by two bridges: one larger, and, half a kilometer away [about one-third of a mile], a second, smaller one. Whenever Sokal was in the midst of a battle between opposing battle sites, passing from the hands of one protagonist to the other, both bridges were damaged and were later rebuilt anew.

A separate, important role was played by the Bug River during the last World War, in 1939, when Soviet Russia agreed with Hitler's Germany that Poland was to be divided between the two countries. At that time, Zabuzhzhya fell to the Germans and Sokal remained in Soviet hands, and as a result, the Bug River became the boundary between these two ‘allies.’

In 1945, when the Soviet Army was victorious, after having driven the German soldiers from Polish territory, the new Poland was established, including our territory of Zabuzhzhya, which was allocated to the Hrubieszow province, which fell into the Polish state, with the city of Sokal initially belonging to Soviet Russia. Thus, the Bug River became the boundary between Soviet Russia and Poland.

The Small Wooden Bridge Over the Bug

Another completely different set of Jewish leases was set up for the land parcels near Sokal. Such a large parcel, which belonged to the local Christian prefecture and encompassed a variety of waterways, was set up in Zabuzhzhya, and was inherited from pious Christians.

Two Jewish lessors remain in my memory, who, whenever the time came to set a new lessor from the Zabuzhzhya prefecture territory land parcel, one would push through the price, not paying

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any fee for the lease held on the church parcel. One of them was Lejzor Gantz and the second was Ephraim Lawrence. When the opportunity came to acquire control, each would conduct the business differently. For example, Lejzor Gantz never held a leadership role, and only he, his son Abraham, or his son-in-law would come into the yard daily. All three, however, didn't know much about working the land and, not being facile with the Ukrainian language, it was hard for them to establish themselves with the field workers, which caused the economy to suffer a great deal.

By contrast, Ephraim Lawrence, always retained a director when he acquired a leased parcel in Zabuzhzhya; at one time it was a certain Motty'eh Sinkaver and another time a Jew from Stanislaw, Moshe Yaakov Fingerhut. Ephraim Lawrence himself understood very well how to manage an agricultural lot of land, and being facile with the Ukrainian language he knew how to get along with the workers. Together with his son Aharon, he conducted a masterful administration, and gained deep respect from all those involved in tending the parcel.

Ephraim Lawrence, a very refined Jewish man, worshiped in the Strelsk Kloyz, where a separate group of Jews prayed. Braunstein of the mill also prayed there, always wearing a fine tall cylindrical hat on his head. The Fasses with their sons and sons-in-law, for the most part landowners and good lessors, the Kharkas, who were fine and interesting people, Mordechai Kiel of the plumbing factory and printing operation with his son-in-law, Asher Weniger, Zalman Hoffner with his children, a very prominent member of the balebatim and other Jews from the balebatim.

Other Hasidic Jews prayed there such as Jonah Tzippor (I do not remember his real family name), and his nickname was based on it. The meaning of his first name ‘Jonah’ means a pigeon… Herschel'eh Unger, who was also called Herschel'eh Mizishes the Dayan, prayed there, as well as Zalman Makh, who had the franchise of leading the prayer service every first Sabbath of the new month. Although he was not a healthy man, and blessing the new month strained him quite a lot, he did not want to give up this franchise. I later heard that he blessed the new month this way for many years… I no longer heard him because I transferred myself to the Husiatyn Kloyz.

A precious soul who remains in my memory from my childhood was Joseph Weniger ?”?, who envied me when I–being a kohen–took part in the Dukhan, (priestly blessing). I was a Bar-Mitzvah boy at the time and he was barely nine years old, he would approach me with such a deep feeling, saying “I so envy you, that you have the privilege to bless the Jews and wish them well… I only wish I could do that… how fortunate would I feel…” Already then, his heart grew strong with the need to wish everyone well. And, indeed, this decent feeling manifested itself in full measure in the later years of his life. One time we met each other in Italy; another time, in America, and another time in Israel… The impulse and readiness to offer help to every needy person was always evident. Regrettably, he is now in the Other World. He died in Rome on November 30, 1965… he was afterward laid to rest in Tel-Aviv.

How sorry we are for our loss…

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About 50 meters further west from the courtyard, lived Shlomo, who operated a saloon. I never knew his family name, because I called him simply ‘fetter (father) Shlomo’ and his wife [I called] moomeh Bluma. Both were my godparents. The peasants called him ‘Shlomka.’ He held onto the saloon until 1915, when the Austrian military again took possession of Sokal after bloody battles around Zabuzhzhya, during which time he was struck by an enemy bullet and died after severe suffering. His wife Bluma, died immediately after him during a cholera epidemic. My sister died from that very same epidemic,

Shlomo's son-in-law, Leib Rodelheim, a Sage, was a very decent Jewish man, who had three daughters and a little boy named Fish'ehleh, a very weak child and born with a hunchback. Despite all the attempts by the father, Fish'eleh had no interest in learning and also had no strength. For this reason, Leib Rodelheim allowed two younger daughters, Leah'cheh and Gittl [to study], and only the eldest Zema became a seamstress. The two daughters did well in their studies and knew how to read a page of the Gemara with Tosafot better than most boys, who impatiently sat on the benches of the Bet HaMedrash.

During the First World War, Leib served in the Austrian military and took part in the battles on the Italian front, from which he returned sick and broken. During this entire time, from the beginning of his military service, he nourished himself only from dry bread or zwieback and fruit; he did this, because he did not want to consume treyf (unkosher) food.

The concession for running the saloon and tobacco sales, which during this entire time was performed by his wife Baylah, were taken over by the Polish authorities after the fall of the Austrian monarchy – and the Rodelheim family was left with no means to earn a living. Leib bought a cow, from which he extracted a living, and lived in great deprivation. Every day, at 6 in the morning he would lead the cow to pasture and while the cow was grazing, he would recite the entire text of the Psalms. After noon, when again he went out to pasture the cow, he would study Medrash and recite ‘Shaarei Tzion,’ or simply look into a book. But he could do all this in the summer when pasturing was free for everyone. During the winter days, he no longer had anything to feed his cow with. I remember that already by the first months of spring, the poor cow was barely able to stand on its feet.

Rodelheim's eldest daughter married, but his two younger girls sat and learned. Later, when the Soviets occupied Zabuzhzhya, Leib was sent off to Siberia… he took along his ailing son, hunchbacked Fish'eleh. When I caught up with them at the home of R' Yitzhak Kreminer in 1950 in Montreal (Canada), a nephew that had just returned from Siberia, he told that somewhere or another in Siberia ran into Leib Rodelheim with his son, in a frightful condition. They were both lying in the snow at the time, wrapped in a prayer shawl, sick and swollen from hunger. Regrettably – as Kreminer's nephew told me – he could do nothing for them, because he, himself, was at that time a prisoner.

This was the way two pure souls were caused to die…, the heart aches from what the ear hears.

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Across from the saloon immediately at the edge of Konotopy Gasse, Yeshaya Szteger lived with his wife Reizh'eh and their three sons. R' Yeshaya was a Hasid from the Strelsk Kloyz, a gentle, pious man, who never said a word to his wife… But when he needed something from his wife, he would go over to his son Joseph saying: ‘Yoss'l… say to Reizh'eh that I am hungry.’ This son of his was called Yoss'l Reizh'eh's and not Joseph ‘Shaya's,’ The inspection business was run by Reizh'eh alone without Yeshaya's help. She would buy merchandise in the city and by herself carry the packages on her back. It was only later when Yoss'l grew a bit, he would on occasion help her out.

Shaul Tzigman the soap maker lived on the way to the Military Gasse. He had two children: a son, Chanoch and a daughter Pesha. Chanoch used to work at his father's place in the soap factory, and as you understand, he could not compete with the Szargels, the soap makers. But he did make a living from this. Both of them, father and son would hitch a horse to a little wagon, and transport soap into the city. In this process they would also sell pieces of soap to the neighboring peasantry. In 1915 Chanoch was mobilized into the [Austrian] military and was sent to the Italian front, where he was captured and imprisoned, from which he first came home in 1919. He had mastered the Italian language well and he taught all of his friends to speak Italian.

Tzigman's daughter Pesha married Yaakov Bareisz, a son of Chaim Bareisz, who is today a Rabbi in Zurich, in Switzerland.

An elderly couple lived at the beginning of the Military Gasse. They were called Tchop and his wife called Die Tchop'echeh. I cannot remember exactly what their last name was. I only remember that they had children in America, who were employed, from whom they received a monthly stipend, which allowed them to live with some dignity and without worry. I would read the letters, that would arrive for them from America. Old Man Tchop would then relate a letter to me which said: ‘read only what is written in English in this letter… English… he would say…’

Yoss'l Auerbach lived immediately at the start of the Belz Gasse, which led to the train station. His wife's name was Esther and they had four children: Avreimi'tzeh, Azriel, Sarah and Naphtali, the last being called ‘Toli.’ During the First World War, when the Austrian soldiers occupied Zabuzhzhya, Avreimi'tzeh was lightly wounded and immediately after the wound healed, he was taken into the military in the year 1917. After the end of the war both sons came back healthy and alive. Avreimi'tzeh immediately married and Azriel went back to work for Mozhanczyk Meir Meller, where he had learned the trade even before the war. The youngest, Naphtali, worked for Meir Leib Glazer in his printing works as an apprentice. The father Joseph Auerbach worked as a day laborer in the factory, but later on, when he got sick and could no longer work, his wife Esther became the bread-winner. She would buy a little bit of material for sewing notions and take it to the neighboring

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villages, where she made barter deals with the peasants. The entire way – back and forth – to the villages, she would go on foot and drag her sack of material on her back. From this peculiarity she made a living and supported her entire family. In the middle of this, Azriel got married in Radzhikhov, but he wasn't much of a help to his parents, just as they didn't have from the oldest son, Avreimi'tzeh.

Esther never complained and on top of that, she supported her father, Velvel Gruber, who in 1914 had arrived from America on a visit to Zabuzhzhya to his daughter and because of the outbreak of the War, could not travel back. He became completely dependent on his daughter Esther, because he had no assets in Zabuzhzhya.

Sholom Zilber, a son of Hersch Gittelman, lived on the Belz Gasse. His mother, a widow, whom the Jews of Zabuzhzhya called ‘Bobbeh,’ lived with him. While we were still children, we used to listen with great pleasure to her, telling [stories] about the revolution in Hungary in 1848, when the Cossacks entered Hungary, to help the Austrian régime to put down the revolution. She would also tell stories about her wedding to Hersch Gittl'eh's when she was 13 years old – and her husband was 14 years old, and how the two of them played together like children. As to the question – how old are you? – she never gave any sort of an-+- answer. Without a doubt, in the year 1914 she was over 90 years old. Sholom Zilber held his mother in esteem and he treated her like a good and loyal son. His wife, Royza Kandel, was from Vitkev and they had three sons and two daughters. Sholom made his living from a notions store and from distributing milk in the city with the help of his three sons. The sons would gather up the milk very early in the morning from the surrounding peasants, fill the tin cans and with a hand-operated wagon, and take it to their regular customers in the city. In 1908, the oldest son Itcheh emigrated to America and after him, the other two sons followed. Yeke'leh and Chanoch, the first in 1910, and the second in 1911, also to America. One daughter – Krein'cheh married a certain young man from Stoyanov and both of them, after the First World War traveled off to America. The oldest daughter Sarah'cheh also married someone from Stoyanov, a certain Aharon Leimzider, and remained in the house of her parents in Zabuzhzhya. In the First World War, when the Austrians were fighting the Russians on the Zabuzhzhya fields, Sholom Zilber was severely wounded, while standing with his prayer shawl and phylacteries on, and was praying. He immediately died from being hit by a bullet. Temporarily, he was buried in the garden, because it was not possible to give him a proper Jewish burial in Sokal, which was still in Russian hands. The deceased lay this way for about two weeks in the garden, until it was decided to move him to Varenzh, to bury him in a proper place. I was then 14 ½ years old and it was therefore no wonder that the Austrian officer, to whom I went to obtain permission to transfer the deceased to Varenzh and to give us the use of a horse and wagon, refused me with the explanation that the entire area is still experiencing strong battle action.

However, suddenly Sholom's son-in-law, Aharon Leimzider, who served in an Austrian regiment, which was roundly beaten by the Russians in their first encounter in the vicinity of Zabuzhzhya, and Aharon hid himself, in order not to be taken prisoner by the Russians, and immediately, as soon as he found out that the Austrians had retaken Zabuzhzhya, he came home and

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presented himself to his military division. All he asked, was permission to inter his deceased father-in-law in a proper Jewish grave in the Sokal cemetery. Notwithstanding the fact that the entire vicinity around Sokal was still being hit by Russian artillery fire, Aharon Leimzider transported the deceased to the final resting place in Sokal and gave him a proper Jewish burial.

There was a young man named Itcheh Kandel, who belonged to the Zilber family, a nephew of Royza Zilber, her sister's son. When this sister emigrated to America with her four children, they sent her son Itcheh from the ship back to Zabuzhzhya, because he had trachoma in his eyes and for this reason, he remained with his aunt Royza and began to get his eyes healed. In the meantime, the First World War broke out, and Itcheh was mobilized into the Austrian army, where he was taken prisoner in the Serbian campaign, and where he remained until 1920, after which, he returned to his home in Zabuzhzhya.

Now he had the possibility to emigrate to America, where he lives today with his family in Baltimore.

Also, Aharon Leimzider came back from the Italian front intact, despite the fact that he lay in the trenches and took part in many bloody battles. He immediately resumed his pre-war work and later on, with partners, he ran a good and prosperous egg business. With the outbreak of the Second World War, when the Holocaust began and the Nazi murderers began to implement their bloody and cruel extermination initiative, Aharon Leimzider was killed with almost his entire family. Only one little girl of his, Rosalie, managed to save herself. She hid herself at the premises of a neighboring peasant. She afterwards married Joseph Wilder, a son of Sarah Schwartzwald-Wilder and went to America. Sarah Schwartzwald and her brothers and parents lived for a period of time in Zabuzhzhya. They leased a small parcel of land in the Sokal vicinity. Apart from one grandson and Sarah's son, they were all killed, as I previously mentioned.

The Gruber family also lived on the Belz Gasse. That is, Leibusz Gruber, a brother of Esther Auerbach and a son of Velvel Gruber, who as a reservist was called to duty in the Austrian military immediately after the outbreak of the First World War, and seeing as we had not heard anything from him for ten years, they were certain he had been a war casualty. His wife Malia exhausted herself caring for their three children, two girls and a little boy, Abraham'tzieh. When he got older and began to work in the ironmongery of Wolf Byk, he lightened up somewhat, because the son had received full compensation from his employer.

Suddenly – on a nice summer day, Leibusz Gruber appeared on a street in Zabuzhzhya… with a firm soldierly pace he marched with a small wooden box on his back… he had come from Siberia, where during the entire ten years he lived in a Russian prison.

Across over by the Grubers, more to the west – lived Moshe Yaakov Fingerhut, whom I have previously mentioned in connection with Ephraim Lawrence. After the First World War the Polish

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government gave all the war veterans and landowners the possibility of buying ground that had been parceled out and to pay the price in instalments. Moshe Yaakov bought himself several fields of land, from which he made a living and could live in peace. However, he became sick with a breathing disorder, and after a year of difficult suffering, he died. He orphaned seven children, four sons and three daughters. The daughter Toiva-Yossem, after the first World War traveled to America with her children, to her husband. Later on, all of her children died except the youngest son David -‘Dusza’ who remained alive, was rescued from the Nazi Gehenna by a miracle, today lives with his wife and two children in Germany.

Yekl Sinkaver lived with Moshe Yaakov, a son of Motkeh Sinkaver, whom I also previously mentioned in connection with the courtyard of Zabuzhzhya. He married Leib Rodelheim's oldest daughter, Zema. Yekl Sinkaver immediately moved to Lemberg (Lviv) after the wedding, where he worked for Fingerhut's sons, who ran a rice business. During one of the German murder aktions against the Lemberg Jewry, he was killed with his family, together with all of the Fingerhut brothers, and their wives and children.

Here… this is a full accounting of all the Jews from Zabuzhzhya…

These I will remember, and I will pour my soul out for them!

A “crumb” of Sokal Abraham Schiffenbauer and his wife Zlate, daughter of Yehoshua Szargel.

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