[Page 332]

Epilogue

With awe and duty at the same time, I bore the burden of collecting the material, recording testimonies and memories from my townspeople, collecting photos and bringing up memories that were kept in my heart and that cried out to be written for us and for generations to come.

Most of the time I spent on this sacred goal was spent in my spare time after working hours. And so, I am very thankful for being privileged to reach the desired goal and to be an active partner in the establishment of a memorial in the pages of this book to my town of Stepan which was destroyed, and for everything that was in it and no longer exists.

While I was doing this sacred work, I must have been a nuisance to my family and took quite a bit of time from my late wife Helina and my children, may they live long lives.

How heartbreaking it is that my wife didn't get to see Stepan's book, being an active partner of mine in advice and even in action, and especially for the patience and understanding she showed for my extensive and prolonged involvement in this book.

I hope that my active part in this book will serve as a memorial for the holy community of Stepan, for all the members of my extended family who were murdered, and in memory of my wife, the late Helina Peri (née Reichman).

[Page 322]

With the editing of the material that the remnants of the town of Stepan wrote and collected for the book, we became aware of the town itself, its history, its people and its scenery. And it seems that we were born in Stepan, we walked in its streets, we prayed in its synagogues, we washed ourselves in the Horyn River and in its forests we sought concealment and protection from the gentile soldiers that wanted to destroy us.

This book, which is only one link in the large-scale enterprise of the memoir books that appeared and will appear, and which were intended to serve as tombstones for the Israeli communities that were destroyed, and for the vibrant Jewish life in these communities, makes its contribution in the description of the life of the town before the Holocaust, and in the description of the tragic period of the Holocaust itself. A tombstone of feelings of love and longing, whose content is full of fire and tears.

Thirty years after the destruction of the town Stepan, the remnants of the townspeople recreated in writing a list of all the families in the town according to their dwelling place. This is unequivocal evidence that the town and its residents still live in their hearts, and that the memory of those whose lives were cut short by the Nazi beast and its assistants, is not forgotten in the souls and lives of the remnants. Despite the time that has passed and the long distance, their memory is not forgotten.

Fragments of evidence about shreds of life, atmosphere, struggle for life between the straits of doom and bereavement, in the ghetto, in the forest near the killing pits, after all, they are like a source of inexhaustible material for the historian, the researcher, the writer who is talented, has an understanding heart and a discerning eye, that they have the duty to create works that have impact and meaning for generations.

The chapters of Yeshayahu Peri's story about his wanderings and hiding in the forest with his mother, about his sister who stayed in the village among the gentiles, the description of the forced labor camp and their destruction as been told by Yona Rassis, excerpts from the testimonies of Yitzhak Wachs, Aharon Grossman, Batya Sheinboim and Avraham Tchor - they are memorial stones that we must pass on from a father to son, which must be bound in the bundle of eternal memories of the nation.

There was only one Jewish family, the family of Yankel der Kosmichover, among about a hundred Ukrainian families who hate Israel, in a small, remote and poor village on the main road between Stepan and Kostopol, and despite that, this Jewish family kept its image and character. We all should pass on its image to our children.

[Page 324]

In the book, in a thoughtful and careful way, the expats of Stepan expressed their reflections and their perception of the figure of the chairman of the Judenrat in the ghetto, a controversial figure, a subject for in-depth historical and psychological research regarding his role and his fate in the worst Jewish tragedy of all.

It was impossible to include in the book every piece that was written and I hereby apologize to their authors. These were things that seem to us to be of secondary importance against the background of the ongoing town life between the two world wars. These fragments of life and episodes found and will continue to find expression in the Israeli literature that was written and will be written about the life of the town at that time.

Among the chapters that indicate the depth of our brokenness and the intensity of the evilness of our murderers and haters, this memory will also be mentioned in this book, which serves as a monument for the crowned community of Stepan.

[Page 324]

1. Odpost - a fair bigger than usual - following the influx of masses of Christians as pilgrims to the churches in the town.
2. Otlichenik - an excellent student.
3. Olyarnia - olive press.
4. Onotzes - linen cloths for wrapping the feet before wearing them (instead of socks).
5. Bodke - a residential structure in the forest, made of tree branches covered with leaves and soil, covered with branches on top for camouflage.
6. Brusnitzes - juicy and sour berries.
7. Ze Nesha Veshe Wallnostz - the slogan of the Poles at the beginning of their independent rule in 1920, meaning “for our independence - your independence”, and its intention is - we should all make efforts to fulfill our common goal.
8. Zemlanka - a well-disguised underground structure in the forest. It was used as a residence for those fleeing from the persecution of the Nazis and their assistants.
9. Luchina - a wood chip with a high content of flammable resin material (pine tree), it was used to light the houses of the villagers who could not afford to light their houses with candles or kerosene lanterns.
10. Suchoi - dry - very thin, low in fleish.
11. Sinitzes - wild strawberries.
12. Pasteles - a substitute for shoes self-produced by local villagers, braided from tree barks.
13. Puchvalnaya Germute - certificate for an outstanding student at the Soviet primary school.
14. Felsher - a practical healer, without any formal certification.
15. Kolbesnik - someone who prepares sausages.
16. Cloister - Prevoslavic or Catholic Church.
17. Karchun - the name of a Polish village - near the railway line Malynsk-Sarny.
18. Koochma - a round hat made of sheep's fur.
19. Koromislov - a yoke for carrying buckets of water from the river or the well.
20. Kanchik - a stick with leather strips on the end - used by the Rabbi in the cheder to punish his students.

21. Karbunchik - a money note from the time of the tsar.
22. Tzirolnik - a book.
23. Rosel Fleisch - bean stew with garlic and meat – it is more acceptable on Friday's afternoon with a fresh challah for Shabbat.
24. Repatriatzia - at the end of World War II in May 1945, those who were citizens of Poland until 1939 were given the opportunity to emigrate from the Soviet Union to Poland within the borders after the end of World War II.
25. Shul-Gas - the street of the synagogues - the center of Jewish life in the town.
26. Shteit-Of - wake up - the call of the shamash at dawn to get up for the work of the Creator.
27. Latkes - potatoes fritter.
28. Ladishka - a specially shaped clay basin used as a container for milk and its products.
29. Zoyere Milch - soured milk - equivalent to leben nowadays.
30. Kishke - an intestine filled with grit flour and fat - a traditional meal on Shabbats together with the cholent.
31. Zibeles Mit Ayer Un Schmaltz - egg salad with onions and chicken or goose fat.
32. Griven - crusts of goose or chicken fat.
33. Zlotovka - from the word “zloty”, the name of a golden Polish coin.
34. Baz Trees - ornamental trees with fragrant blue-lilac blossoms in early spring.
35. The Vaal - an artificial hill in Stepan, a kind of park surrounded by artificial hills with grass and trees - formerly an ancient Polish fortress.

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