[Page 107]

Volkovysk was surrounded not only by villages where the Jews were a majority, but also many villages where they were a small minority. Krzemienica was one of these.

There were many Christian villages around Volkovysk, and in each one, there were solitary Jewish families. In Krzemienica, there were only three Jewish families among sixty Christian families, and these were: the Reznitsky family, the Pomerantz family, and the family of ‘Yud'l the Dyer,’ (that was how everyone called him, and I don't remember his family name).

The Reznitsky family leased the flour mill from the landowner, Zhurov, and operated it from 1929 on. During the period of its management, the family introduced many improvements to the mill that was driven by water currents, and we added a diesel engine, because of which we were then able to grind all sorts of flour. The Pomerantz family had a store, which apart from selling market goods also sold trifles, and the Dyer's family dealt in the combing of wool for the town residents, and the peasants in the vicinity who would bring their wool to them.

Until the outbreak of the war, the Jews lived quietly in Krzemienica, which served as a sort of ‘spiritual center’ to the Jews in nearby villages, who would gather together to celebrate Jewish holidays, and to form a prayer quorum (i.e. minyan), which they could not do in each village separately.

The issues of the village were handled by a local committee headed by an elder, called the Soltis. The police station with four policemen oversaw the nearby area, and another institution – distribution of the mail. The Christian children got their education and upbringing in a local Polish public school, and for the young Jewish children up to the age of nine, a teacher was brought in from the outside for ‘semesters’ of instruction. There were two ‘semesters:’ One from after Passover, up until Rosh Hashanah. The second – commencing from the first day after Sukkoth until Passover. Children ages nine and over, were sent to Volkovysk for further education, and they would be lodged in the homes of Jewish families for a set fee. This was the case with myself and by brother Shimon ז”ל, who both went to school in the city, and we would come back to the village for vacation and holidays.

With the outbreak of the war, when the Russians reached the village, they immediately confiscated the flour mill, but because of the intervention of the local residents, my mother Malka, was designated to run the mill on behalf of the government. With the entry of the Germans, the Jewish families were brought to Volkovysk, and from there, they went on their last journey to Treblinka, along with the other Jews of Volkovysk.

My brother and I managed to be saved, because we reached Vilna after the Russians had turned it over to the Lithuanians. The youth movement at that time was organizing escapes of the young people to Vilna, in order that they find some way to reach the Land of Israel from there. I yet succeeded in visiting my mother, and my brothers, Yossi and Moshe, in Volkovysk before the Germans entered, and we agreed amongst us that if it should happen that she does not receive and letter or sign from us, this will be a positive sign that Shimon and I succeeded in our mission to reach the Land of Israel. It then happened that during the Nazi occupation, when Dr. Resnick found refuge in Krzemienica, my mother told him, out of a sense of satisfaction, that at least two of her sons managed to reach the safety of the Land of Israel. She naturally did not know that the war had caused the two brothers to become separated, and only at the end of the war, did we find one another, as a result of the efforts of the organization of the displaced persons of Europe. I joined Kibbutz Netzer Sirni, and after a time, transferred to work in the Histadrut in Hadera, and my brother Shimon ז”ל was a senior government official – the head of taxation for the north of the country.

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