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One of the well-known figures in the city was ‘Tall Meir.’ He was a tall, long-limbed man. He wore a black kapote, long curly sidelocks, and a short beard. He was not considered much of a Maskil, but despite this he was known as a person adept in a variety of fields, especially if it had something to do with memory. From time to time, it was possible to run into him at the occurrence of a joyous occasion or, if it was the case, a situation of sorrow and mourning.

If there was a wedding in the city, Tall Meir was among the first people to reach the location of the celebration. Dressed in his black glistening kapote, he stood at the main entrance to a large hall. Beside him the kapelye (the orchestra) of Zisha Klezmer stood ready, yet another prominent sight that was known in the city. At the moment when the invited guests began to enter, Tall Meir would loudly announce the arrival of a guest by his insignia, or first name, family name, and adding all manner of descriptors to the invited guest. During these announcements, Zisha Klezmer would strike up the band to play a short walking song. This scene went on until the last of the invited guests entered the hall. Understandably, everyone dispensed a few coins into a plate that stood beside the orchestra.

When this scene of receiving guests was over, and together with the families of the bride and groom, Tall Meir would announce the way to the wedding canopy. He entered the bride's room, where she sat with the women surrounding her, and here, Tall Meir proved his skill as an orator. In a sentimental talk, in the special language of poetry, with music and song, led by the orchestra of Zisha Klezmer, he reminded the bride of the important event in her life about to take place, her departure from the ambit of her parents and entry into family life, and he wished her a glorious future.

Should it happen that the bride was orphaned without a mother or father or both, Tall Meir would remind the bride of those who passed away, telling of the great virtues of the deceased, and of the great sorrow that they were not privileged to be present for this celebration, and see Nachas from their daughter. Tears rolled from the eyes of the bride, and the eyes of the women surrounding her, as they were accompanied by the orchestra with sad music.

Afterwards, Tall Meir gave a signal to cover the face of the bride, and lead her to the wedding canopy. In the meantime, he went to the groom's room, and gave the signal to escort the groom to the wedding canopy. When the bride arrived, the groom was already standing there, with his escorts standing at his side, ready for the wedding ceremony.

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When the wedding ceremony was over, the guests circled around the tables where food was served, starting usually with fish and challah. The meal was prepared by Tova di Kekherin, (Tova the Cook), a well-known cook from the city. The groom split open the large challah, and then the grabbing of challah slices commenced. This was done especially by young girls, since a slice of this sort was considered a good omen for a wedding to take place soon. A ‘gold soup’ was provided for the young couple, who were obligated to fast the entire day before the ceremony. When the meal was finished, the tables were cleaned off in order to prepare the hall for dancing.

Before the meal was over, Tall Meir stood beside the young couple, and announced a Drasha Geshank, a collection of presents, in a loud voice. First of all he announced the Drasha Geshank from the groom's side. Members of the groom's family came up to the table and presented a gift that was examined by Tall Meir. He announced both the characteristics of the gift and its value. This was not always appropriate for the occasion. When he examined an envelope with money, he would often announce an amount that was double the actual gift, undoubtedly in error. With the end of the assembly of gifts from the groom's side, he announced the Drasha Geshank from the side of the bride.

The dancing began after the gifts were cleared off the tables. At that point Zisha Klezmer activated his orchestra to play at its full strength. The mothers of the couple, who came from a very observant family, danced a mitzvah tentzel with the new couple, each holding on to the edge of a handkerchief. Another dance was the braygess, in which the dancing couple are separated and by hand movements one asks of the other to be reconciled, which actually took place at the end of the dance. Salon dances at weddings of this type took place, by boys with boys, and girls with girls. At weddings of more progressive families, the young people danced as couples. Zisha Klezmer had to be paid separately at the end of each dance. In general, the money paid to the musicians was gathered by the young people who were wedding guests. The orchestra of Zisha Klezmer was hired for a number of hours and then they played group dances of that period such as Les Lanciers and the Quadrille.^[2]

When an accident occurred in a family, and one of the members of the household died, the news was immediately relayed to Tall Meir, who immediately began preparations for the burial. He knew the cemetery in all its detail and advised the family in regard to a desired place for the burial. Generally, he personally did not take part in the funeral of the deceased, but when the funeral procession reached the cemetery, Tall Meir was already standing beside the open grave. After the burial ceremony was completed, including the keriah^[3] for the mourning members of the family, he consoled them and expressed his hope that they would not know anymore sorrow.

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He seemed to not observe burial spots or the dates of death, but amazingly, he knew how to identify every place in the cemetery, remembered every date of death, and notified family members about the Yahrzeit date. When the family reached the cemetery, Tall Meir was already standing there.

Tall Meir did not forget the few people from Zolkiew who had made aliyah to the Land of Israel. He notified David Tuviahu each year, in The Land, of the day of his father's death. The latter, by way of a reply, would send him an Israeli lira as a thank-you for his attention to detail.

Various and odd stories circulated in the city regarding the figure of Tall Meir. It was told that he visited the homes of the assimilated in order to remind them of the Yahrzeit days of family members who had passed away, sometimes more than once, and he received a special payment for recitation of the Kaddish. It is told that in one instance while visiting Dr. Tirk, a dentist in the city, Tall Meir told him twice about the Yahrzeit of his mother. This angered Dr. Tirk, and he complained that for his father, he is prepared to pay him twice, but regarding his mother he said it was doubtless that he only had one mother.

When Zolkiew was captured by the Germans, and because they began to tear down the headstones with the help of Ukrainian anti-Semites, to be used to pave roads, the Parnassim of the congregation gathered to assess the situation. They decided to make a chart of the cemetery to mark the names of the deceased and the places where they were buried, so that when the war ended, they could erect new headstones.

Tall Meir was called upon to participate in this task, and with the help of sketchers, began to prepare lists that Tall Meir could designate from his memory, to mark the locations of all the deceased.

Fate decreed otherwise. The war went on for years. The Jews of Zolkiew were exterminated, and with them, the congregation disappeared. The Jews were exterminated, and with them, Tall Meir and Zisha Klezmer.

May their memory be for a blessing.

A headstone in the Zolkiew cemetery with the insignia of the ‘HeHalutz’ movement

1. A musical group ranging from a band to an orchestra. Return
2. Les Lanciers is a variant of the Quadrille. These were popular dances in Europe during the 18^th and 19^th century. Return
3. The Hebrew word for ‘tearing,’ which refers to the tearing of an item of clothing worn by close relatives of the deceased, a sign of their bereavement. Return

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The change in values among the youth in Zolkiew continued and deepened. The ‘golden youth’ saw no value in detailed study. Because being able to engage in open businesses was more or less constrained for Jews, they often turned to the occupation of a furrier. Furriers put down roots in the city, and embraced workers from all ranks of the Jewish populace. Furriers were university graduates, Yeshiva students, and ordinary folk of the masses. It was necessary to have a source of inexpensive capital to develop and fund this type of work. Community activists exerted effort at the beginning of 1930, to create a Credit Union Cooperative, whose central goal was to help out the retail furriers with the extension of cheap credit and low repayment terms. The central branch was founded by the Central Cooperative in Lvov, and also by members who owned taxis. In Polish, this group was called Przediębiorstwo Autobusòw Zólkiewskie, abbreviated as P. A. Z. The union of the autobuses was Jewish, and the anti-Semites mocked the abbreviation by calling it Parszywy Autobusy Zydowskie.^[1]

The management of the Credit Union worked as volunteers, and its two officers received a meager salary. In addition to its economic objective, the Credit Union Cooperative also fulfilled a specific cooperative role. The management of the Union spoke Hebrew well, and were even employed by the Davar newspaper. More than one of the youth entered employment because they wanted to enjoy ‘The Atmosphere of the Land of Israel’l by reading a Hebrew newspaper. Among the steady visitors was Dr. B. Grill. He came by each Friday to receive the modest gift of a pack of cigarettes from one of the managers. The managers and others who were present, enjoyed his visits, during which time he spoke in German. The Credit Union Cooperative stood out every time there were serious difficulties, but its activity was not silenced until the bitter end of the entire city.

An Alley in Zolkiew

The sign of the Jewish Credit Bank in Zolkiew

1. Contemptible Jewish Buses Return

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Many varied factors set the tone of the city of Zolkiew, one of which was the furrier trade, which shaped a part of Zolkiew's reputation. The furrier trade was the principal business of the city after retail sales. This profession put its own unique stamp on the experiences of the city. It was an industry which breathed life into the city and brought special recognition to Zolkiew.

The furrier trade began in Zolkiew in the early years of the 20th century. Its popularity increased after the 1920's to the point that it was difficult to find a home in the city in which the furrier business had not penetrated, and employed at least one of its residents.

There were two reasons for this substantial rise of the furrier trade. First, it took only about half a year of training in order to attain a minimal knowledge of the trade. Second, if the trainee had a quick grasp of the work involved, he could expect to earn a respectable living in a short time. This was an accepting profession, and whoever was involved in it could expect to climb the ladder of earnings handsomely. In reality, the trainee began to draw a salary after several weeks of training.

The furrier trade was a purely Jewish trade, and it attracted respectable parts from all segments of the Jewish populace. At first, the profession was taken on by young people who did not succeed in integrating themselves into their parents' business. Or, for social reasons, unable to complete elementary school, and after only four years of study, they had a franchise in the profession. In the 1930s, many young people joined this profession as they did not have the means to continue their studies at Polish universities because of the severe restrictions that stood in their way. As a result, the furrier trade was, without exaggeration, the trade to which all segments of the Jewish populace were attracted. Despite the fact that the profession was thought to be the business of adult men, both women and girls were gathered into its ranks, and it was quite common to find entire families earning their income from it.

Those who entered this profession in Zolkiew did not do so with the full range of expertise in the field. There was more specialized knowledge for advanced furrier work, which was the legacy of the masters of this profession in the large cities of Lvov, Cracow and Warsaw. This expertise manifested itself especially in the work on fur remnants that had fallen during the cutting of the full fur piece. The remnants were packaged and sold by weight to the workers in Zolkiew, whose own level of expertise had become well known. Zokiew received a steady stream of fur remnants, even from outside of the boundaries of Poland. These pieces were known by the name Frizianer Shticklakh,^[1] which were carefully sorted into different categories, which according to their condition, would set the price.

A special experience was developed around the trade of working with the remnants of completed fur pieces. There were no factories in Zolkiew for fur processing. The work was largely done in one room of the workers' residences, where they sat on chairs and benches beside a long table, engaged in connecting one piece to the next, sewing them by hand, and stretching them on their knees or a table edge. They accompanied their work with song. The skill of this aspect of the trade became evident in their knowledge and ability to join small pieces of fur, not even 2-3 centimeters long, in such a way, that someone looking at a garment from the outside did not sense the presence of the sewing connections that had been made on the inside. In time, the first sewing machines began to reach the city, but they did not change the beginner's trajectory of learning, which was manual only.

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They made complete jackets out of the fur cuttings in Zolkiew, which were then sold in the big cities and even shipped outside the country. The jacket was sewn from six set pieces, those being: the back, two pieces for the chest, two sleeves and a collar. The experts of this trade were those who knew how to make the back and the two pieces for the chest. Workers at the second or third tier level worked on creating the sleeves, and the preparation of the collars was done by the trainees. The salary earned depended upon the level of the work done. After all of the parts were finished according to the illustrative charts that had been laid on the table. The inside was made wet, smoothed, and stretched on wooden boards with nails, where the top part of the material was attached to the board. After the pieces had dried, they were removed, straightened, and joined together in the form of a complete jacket, but with temporary stitching. When the jacket reached large cities, it was fit to the size of the body of the buyer, and the lining was put into the jacket.

By and large the furriers received a daily salary for their work. There were some who worked by contract, depending on the different parts of the jacket, and they did this work in a shop dedicated to this work, or in their homes when they received the fur pieces, paying for them by weight. During the thirties, a new approach was adopted for working with the pieces, and the creation of the jacket plates, or balamim, that were 0.9x0.4 meters, from which they would create the finished jackets.

The Zolkiew furriers were organized into two unions, but it was not compulsory to join a union. The work distributors were part of the Workers' Union, (Master Verein) and the workers generally belonged to the Fur Workers' Union (Kirzhner Verein). There were instances in which workers who were members of the Fur Workers' Union achieved some distinction. They succeeded in bringing in a number of kilograms of fur pieces, and hired several workers in their homes. Because of this they became distributors of work. But despite this they were not denied the ability to continue to be members of the Fur Workers' Union.

There was also a practice of pirating an exceptional worker from his workplace to another one, in return for the promise of a higher salary. Under those conditions, the two unions did not have as much influence. There were times when the Workers' Union announced a general strike in connection with the number of hours worked and the related salary. The unions did not lack organizational background. Some of the pioneering youth who worked in this profession were in the Fur Workers' Union. These young people were under the influence of the leftist unions in the city, such as the Union of Poalei-Zion Left, and the communist youth, which was illegally organized in Poland in those days. The two unions of craftsmen and workers carried on joint organizational and cultural activities, and arranged parties and presentations when various drama groups performed. As a result of the financial prosperity of the craftsmen, the unions sought to obtain a better building from Christian hands, and this intensified the enmity of the Christian residents towards the Jews.

During the years 1930-1935, some of the Jewish youth who were members of the furrier unions in Zolkiew, left the city, and moved to the neighboring larger city of Lvov, where they developed their skills in cutting. Some also moved to Lvov in order to qualify in the profession of making complete fur garments, and especially in the cutting of skins. In 1837, there was a global furrier meeting held in Paris, and tens of people from Zolkiew attended this meeting. A number of them remained in Paris and became part of the fur trade there. Those individuals contributed to the development of work on fur in Paris. A few went to Argentina and the United States, especially those who fled during the Holocaust. Those who were able to flee can still be found in their new locations to this day, as they are living from the business in the fur trade that wandered with them from their birthplace.

Members of the ‘HeHalutz’ Movement in Zolkiew – 1933 Standing (left to right): Hella Cohen, Fried'ka Mamber, and Zutra Rapaport Sitting (left to right): Rivka Lida, Brunya Cohen

1. A ‘Frizierer’ in Yiddish was what they called barbers and/or hairdressers. This expression denotes this merchandise as ‘Pieces that Were Cut Professionally.’ Return

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