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[Page 312]

My Best and Dearest Radzyn Jewish brothers in New York!

A fter more than six and a half nightmarish and difficult years, brought on by the war, after six and a half years being torn away from our homes and families, we a small group of Radzyners , returned from Russia. We found none of our near ones and could not even recognize the town in which we once lived .The houses are gone, and the streets of our Radzyn are unrecognizable. We met only a few Radzyn Jews who were saved from the hands of the German murderers. Just a shadow of the four thousand Radzyner Jews. There are now left in Poland up to 220 Radzyners, spread out among a few towns. We are in a terrible and disastrous state, with no means of making a living, uprooted, hungry and sick. Where we spend the day we do not spend the night, we are literally homeless. The help given by the committee is minimal. Therefore we appeal to you our closest brothers in America to help us materially, the sooner the better. In Lodz we have set up a committee with five members, which quickly organized a campaign among Radzyner Jews to which they contributed their last coins for those who were needier. We collected fifteen thousand zlotes, which we immediately distributed among the most destitute. There are already some seventy Radzyn Jews in Lodz and others will are still coming. If you could send money with an emissary it would be appreciated.

This is the composition of the committee.

Honorary President H. Burstein (The secretary of the Jewish Community in Lodz)

Itsche Meir Reb Eizish
H. Liberzon – president (is already in Austria)
Yisrael Appeloig (has left for Germany)
Moshe Goldfarb – Treasurer
Zavel Fine – Member
Ethel Tshervian – Member

We ask to send all correspondence and aid to the following address:

A List of Holocaust Survivors who gathered in Germany

1. Abman, Wolf
2. Abman, Freda
3. Eagelnick, Golde
4. Appleboim, Yankel
5. Appleboim, Henech
6. Appleboim, Menachem
7. Appeloig, Yosef
8. Appeloig, Blume (Fishboim)
9. Appeloig, Zelig
10. Appeloig, Yisroel
11. Ackereisen, Yitzchak
12. Ackereisen, Feivel
13. Ackereisen, Avraham
14. Barger, Mottel
15. Butman, Yoel
16. Blumenkop, Zlote
17. Blumenkop, Sarah
18. Blumenkop, Manya
19. Berman, Regina
20. Goldbord, Leibl
21. Gottesdiner, Yisroel
22. Gottesdiner, Chaya
23. Gottesdiner, Sarah
24. Goldwasser, Yosef
25. Gradovtchick, Leah
26. Greenberg, Dora
27. Greenberg, Tetsche (Zilberberg)
28. Grindland, Chana
29. Gritzmacher, Sheime
30. Horowitz, Bashe (Vorember)
31. Himmelboim, Binyomin
32. Hirshbein, Yitzchak
33. Hirshbein, Yossel
34. Hirshbein, Miriam
35. Hirshbein, Rachel
36. Hirshbein, Pola
37. Herbst, Mendel
38. Vagonski, Isaac
39. Volovski, Malka (Burak)
40. Vassershtrom,Yisroel
41. Vassershtrom, Menuchah (Fleisik)
42. Weissgroz, Nechemia
43. Weissgroz, Rachel
44. Weissgroz, Malkeh
45. Weisman, Fradel,
46. Weitzman, Itke (Goldwasser)
47. Visoka, Binye (Shulman)
48. Vrubel, Shiye
49. Vrubel, Liebe (Fleisik)
50. Vrubel, Tzviah (Shulman)
51. Zaltzstein, Zanvel
52. Zaltzstein, Mordecai
53. Zilbermintz, Yankel
54. Zilberberstein, Chaim
55. Szelonickviat, Berish
56. Turkeltoib, Yossel
57. Tannenboim, Tzviah (Appleboim)
58. Tentzer, Gusta (Finkelstein)
59. Last, Bracha (Feigenboim)
60. Liberzson, Hershel
61. Liberzson, Rachel (Artstein)
62. Liberzson, Tzviah
63. Liberzson, Zelig
64. Leichter, Yoseph
65. Levin, Tobe(Branitzka)
66. Moravietz, Rachel (Zysman)
67. Migdal, Feivel
68. Mittlebach, Leah (Appleloig)
69. Mintzmacher, Shalom
70. Nussboim, Moishe-Hersh
71. Sudberg, Frania
72. Sudberg, Chana
73. Sudberg, Yente
74. Pasternak, Azshe
75. Farbiasz, Lieber
76. Fine, Sara
77. Finebuch, Bracha (Artstein)
78. Fleisik, Devora (Lerner)
79. Fleisik, Michael
80. Fleisik, Lipe
81. Friedman, Tzvia (Zysman)
82. Friedman, Moishe
83. Freter, Rachel
84. Kagan, Shoshe (Goldstein)
85. Korman, Sender
86. Kupervasser, Devora
87. Kuperschmid, Moishe
88. Rovniak, Leibl
89. Rovniak, Hertzke
90. Rosenboim, Levi
91. Rosenboim, ???
92. Rosenblum, Peretz
93. Rotshtein, Chaim
94. Rubinshtein,Yossel
95. Rubinshtein, Simeh (Weissgrosz)
96. Shulman,Yisroel
97. Schtzupak,Yosef
98. Schmietankah, Nechemia
99. Schmietankah, Dovid
100. Schmietankah, Chana (Rosenboim)
101. Shenker, Shprintze

[Pages 321-325]

There under the little green trees Little Moshes and little Shlomos play no more It's been long since Moshe has gone to the forest And Shlomo has reached a new shore Let me tell you now, their story again About Little Moshes and little Shlomos, and the life that was then. This shtetl was like all the shtetls around Surrounded by forests, with a river flowing through With fields along the length and breadth Sown and farmed by the peasants With gardeners, bathers and Sadovnike Jews And Market–day each Wednesday and pompous fairs Many peasants with their heavily loaded wagons With merchandise of all sorts for all that wanted Wheat merchants, swift and strong like burning fire And wagon drivers ready. A bustling town! A shtetl with Jews, many workers and very few rich men A Rabbinical court. A Rabbi and Chassids And a youth who felt that their shtetl was small And wishes to go out into the big wide world Radzyn was a town with varied dwellers Like all the shtetls around it But now we'll leave the shtatl aside And tell of just two who lived there in stormy times The country didn't hear much of Moshe There were no legends about him, and no songs written of him Until today, no one has built a memorial for him But still, Moshe was a hero of heroes His childhood years flew by, Hot summers, cool autumns, and snow falls Behold he sits in Cheder and ponders a Rashi.

[Page 322]

The hours pass by, night is already falling And can Mendel Hersh, Lipa's son, the teacher, understand That besides for Chumash and Rashi, the street is so beautiful And that swimming in Midlartzik is so refreshing Or the fun of racing on the open meadows To play tennis on the empty field And even the balls made of rags, (fathers don't give money for balls). You find him later with the rich children In shul by “David Fishel's”, that's where he is learning now He is learning Tanach and Hebrew and other studies (Blachovitsh is the teacher there, ever so devoted And he and Shua Friedman help raise the generation) He left the Jewish school in Pawshechna Fought with the gentiles, and learnt there with fear That's how his childhood and school years disappeared A Jewish teen, in the cycle of life. A Jewish teen in the cycle of life What can he demand, to what can he aspire If the shtetl is small, and around him, it is shining The country is like a stepmother, an obvious enemy From early on, he searches for the point of the journey Is it possible to escape the horrible threatening days The streets of the shtetl crisscross, they run on far Those who seek their fortunes, search on the other side of the ocean On far off seashores, although foreign and alone He sets out on the long journey Another one gets fascinated by the tidings from Israel What the Jews are building there for their Jewish brethren A third one says “fight!” against the bad world And will fight with power for his rights Moshe, a boy no more, left the shtetl then He learnt a trade and works very hard In his workplace, Moshe took up

[Page 323]

His place with the fighters, gearing up for the times to come He threw himself then into Life's fervor He's not afraid of hunger and laughs at danger– –That surrounds him, but follows his path Moshe found his path for life So day follows day, and years go by He joined the leagues in the front lines. From times gone by, from the distance of paths The figure of R' Shlomo comes towards me Behold he walks steadily, his head held high He generates power, and he radiates belief He is the Rabbi, and his students– – Are the young fathers, Radzyn Chassids This generation, full of Torah and Heavenly awe And with true belief in the Almighty Creator In the heavens, which are full of His holy name And on earth, He will redeem us when the Messiah will come And until the time of redemption comes He is the Rabbi, A loyal shepherd, a consoler Their leader, their doer, and their supplicator before God For health and wealth, for his herd, his city So what if hatred and fury overwhelm Hanging like a sword over the Jewish streets The Rabbi believes, his faith is strong, That God will guard every Jewish home And protect the Jews, His nation, from stormy times Like a father to his child, like a loyal shepherd For him, everything around him is meaningless Save for his prayers, his learning the holy books The Rabbi is tranquil, he knows of no fear He is protected by the heavens and the holy Torah. In September 1939, the shtetl was awoken By the explosion of bombs, by death and fear

[Page 324]

From then, like a shadow that never passes Death followed all, until the last Jewish soul yet The cross and wings, (swastika) emblem on the uniform of the angel of death He knows of no mercy, no boundary, no limit The old, and the young, the big, and chick–like small There is no more Radzyn, nobody is left But –it's not silent in the shtetl, of ruins and graves, Of lives cut short and holy books burned Of rivers full of tears, of wounds of pain The last cry is carried over the country Of boiling bloods, they know of no comfort And until the last Jew, they cry out for revenge! The Polish forests stand, clothed in night From there, Moshe leads the partisans to battle He gathered them, those who escaped the ghettos Those who jumped from the cattle trains, and hid in bunkers He armed them with guns, with bullets and dynamite Now they carried fire and burning hatred It grew in their hearts like branches on trees And cannot endure, promised no longer to remain silent So they carried along under the wings of night For Germans on the roads, for soldiers on guard For trains cutting through land, like knives slicing through bread For all, they now carried revenge and death Moshe Partisan, his name rang out with terror He reigned like a ghost on the Polish routes The enemies' footsteps burned him, robbed him of sleep, Demanded and judged, sentenced them and punished For homes, fathers and mothers, for ruined cities For snuffed out lives, for jeering and shame. In a house in Wladova, in those trial–filled days R' Shlomo searched for a path to the heavens

[Page 325]

The heavens that hung silent and grim In the face of slaughter and destruction below He fasted many a day, and many times Cried over his Tehillim [psalms] together with the congregation With broken hearts, begged for mercy But his prayers did not reach all the way And but a small handful of people remained alive So what should he do, what advice can he give them What should he tell his flock The Rabbi, R' Shlomo, the last of the readers In the days of struggle with himself and with God Finally, Rabbi Shlomo came up with the answer to the secret If the fate is death, and destruction the end Let it be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth And so from the shtetls, the young and the old Upon instruction of the Radzyn Rabbi, set out toward the forests To the forest they went and with ammunition in their hands Had the enemy pay with their lives for the murder and mockery May be the hand of revenge be praised and exalted As long as there is breath, and until the last licks of spirit Many years have passed since then Poland fell, then was freed and built up again Once again the streets were full of life and joy And the wounds of yesterday are healed with time Just one wound remained, she's bloody and dripping still The wound of the slaughtered Polish Jew. And there under the little green trees Little Moshes and Little Shlomos play no more The earth covered Moshe in the forests with love And R' Shlomo also passed on to the eternal world

[Pages 326-327]

I met Yisrael Lichtenstein for the first time in 1935 in Warsaw where I had gone after living for many years in Palestine. I saw him then full of youthful energy and ready to take on different functions but most of all he wanted to go to Palestine. His brother in Tel-Aviv and my husband, who was a childhood friend, could not arrange this. The obstacles to his doing so were not overcome and the war of annihilation befell him in Warsaw where he had already developed and became known as an excellent educator and talented editor.

It was a decree from the god of history and memory that he should remain among his people in Warsaw and be the right hand man to Dr. Emmanuel Ringleblum the founder of the secret archive of the Warsaw ghetto.

Already in the winter of 1939-40 when the first group of collectors was established, Israel Lichtenstein became the secretary of the archives and the collector and the preserver of the materials. Because of his training as a metal worker, which he had acquired before beginning his pedagogic work, he succeeded in preserving all the material that was collected during the whole ghetto period and to hide them in metal boxes which he made with his own two hands. He gathered all this material in the kitchen of his former school (“Borochov”).There it was sorted, packed and hidden in a special pit dug in the cellar of the house. He was helped by his wife, the artist Gila Sakstein.

His tremendous eagerness to leave behind some remembrance and documentation of the terrible suffering that the magnificent Jewish community of Warsaw had experienced, gave him and his friends the strength to resist the persecution and the destruction. Until the last moment, they were hiding in the depths of the earth doing their holy work. However, with the ghetto revolt and the third German 'Aktzia', he and his family were destroyed by the Nazi fire.

In one of those boxes, Yisrael Lichtenstein's personal will was found in which we are commanded to remember Amalek forever and to record his foul deeds in eternal disgrace. This part of his will, especially the part about the suffering of our town of Radzyn, was edited with great love and perseverance by my husband who was a close friend of Lichtenstein's and collected and carefully edited this material thus creating The Radzyn Book.

Yes, “those who were lovely and pleasant during their lives, and in their death not divided.”

[Page 327]

From the most noted activists of Radzyn Jewry. He was smart, educated and noble, and despite that, a man of the people. He was alert to the goings–on, lent a listening ear to every needy requester. He was beloved by the entire city. He was murdered along with his wife and their daughter towards the end of the war, shortly before liberation.

Externally, he was tall and handsome, but this was accompanied by broad knowledge. He was blessed with rare talent. He was the livewire of many activities and organizations in Radzyn. On top of all that, he had a gentle heart.

Out in the wild, the Nazi beast cut his life short at the young age of 32 years.

[Page 328]

Gershon Hanoch Puntshak

Was among the first members of “Zeire Zion.” He was an educated and refined leader of the Po'alei Zion Zionist Socialists. Fell at Oesweincem.

Shlomo Muscat

One of the spiritual leaders of the Left Po'alei Zion in Radzyn. Murdered by those Poles who gave him refuge.

Yaakov Levi

A leader of the Left Po'alei Zion Youth. Devoted and faithful to both its ideals and to his friends. Fell in the town of Starie-Dorogi in the Minsk district.

Yitzchak Butman

A noble activist of the Bund in Radzyn. He was an intellectual, who lived his whole life in poverty supporting himself by manual labor. Died in exile in Russia.

Leah'tze Gelibter

An activist of the Bund and its representative to the Radzyn City Council. There she was a brave and stubborn opponent of every manifestation of anti-Semitism or reaction.

Moshe- Shua Rotshtein

One of the veteran Bund organizers in Radzyn. He was an intellectual well versed in Yiddish literature. Supported himself by working as a carpenter his whole life.

Chaim-Yitzchak Gelerman

Representative of the Jewish National Fund for some twenty five years. His house served as a meeting place for Zionists of all persuasions.

Matityahu Goldwasser

Served as Gelerman's right hand man in work for the Jewish National Fund and other Zionist funds.Was active and activated others for various Zionist projects.

Simcha Goldwasser

Active in various Jewish national affairs. Director of the Jewish People's Bank after the death of Yaakov Kantor.

Yaakov Blechovitz

Principal of the Jewish National School (later Tarbut School) from the date of its founding in 1916 He educated toward Hebrew and Zionism He played a very important part in the development of the Zionist Pioneer Youth Movements in the city.

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