Brańsk, Poland

Bransk, Book of Memories
(Brańsk, Poland)

52°44' / 22°51'

Translation of
Bransk, sefer hazikaron

Editors: Alter Trus and Julius Cohen

Published in New York 1948

Acknowledgments
Project Coordinator

This is a translation of: Bransk, sefer hazikaron (Bransk, Book of Memories ),
Editors: Alter Trus and Julius Cohen, Brainsker Relief Committee of New York,
Published: New York 1948 (Y 440 pages)

Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Bransk

Purchase details for a printed copy of this book can be found at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ybip/YBIP_Bransk.html

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BRANSK YIZKOR BOOK

BRANSK SEFER HAZIKARON

A written description of her home, people, heroes, leaders of the religious, social, political and economic institutions.
How Bransk lived under the various occupations of both World Wars, her eventual horrific demise as a Jewish community.

EDITED
by
Rubin Roy Cobb

Based on the Preliminary and Unfinished Translations from the Yiddish by Mindle Crystal Gross and Polish by Ania Zilberkant.
Thanks to Michael Redd and Peggy Mosinger Freedman, President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia,
without whose assistance it would not have been possible to place the Bransk Yizkor Book on the internet.

Including

Extensive corrections and missing pages, paragraphs and words added in the preliminary Yiddish translation and confirming the Polish translation.
Maps - details and anecdotes indicated thereon, drawn up from information given by a survivor, Jack (Yankel) Rubin z”l (passed away on 2/13/2011), a cousin of Rubin Roy Cobb (RRC), on flight from New York to Warsaw to film the documentary “Shtetl” for PBS on 10/11/1991 to RRC; thereafter edited by walk through Bransk a few days later with VHS video by Jack Rubin to RRC and further editing with Jack Rubin on 2/15/1992; and editing audio tapes recorded by RRC on 4/15/1996.
Map of Bransk immediately before the liquidation of the ghetto on November 2, 1942 sketched by Zbigniew Romaniuk, a Polish historian/teacher living in Bransk, as well as sketches of ca 1905 and 1932 obtained by him from the Grodno, Belarus archives after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Comprehensive notes and anecdotes throughout.
References from personal recollections of RRC, Wikipedia, Johannesburg Bransker Society.

BRANSK

Book of Memories

by
Alter Trus and Julius Cohen

Published by
BRANSKER RELIEF COMMITTEE IN NEW YORK

Under the Sponsorship of
Bransker Young Men's Benevolent Ass'n

Proceeds of this book
for
Relief purposes for
Bransk

Coordinated by Not'e Kozlovsky

Printed in the United States of America by
The Shoulson Press, 227 W. 17^th St., New York 11, N.Y.
Trades Council New York City 255

Dedicated to the memory of my
deceased father Mordekhay–Abba
deceased mother Sheyne-Yente
my wife Sarah Trus
my children Ruven-Layzer and Nokhman-Aharon
my daughter Khanah
my sisters Zlatke, Bashe-Reyze and Tcheshe
my brother Maishe -Yosl, who fell on the front in
the Soviet military in the battle with the Nazi murderers
my honoured and deceased brother-in-law Khayim-Tsvi Branski
and my nearest who perished in the
gas chambers of the German beasts

Alter Trus
Stockholm, Sweden

PART ONE
Forward by Alter Trus	9
Forward by Julius Cohen	13
Bransk	19
Beginning of the Jewish community	22
Bransk during the time of the Polish Matyezh ^[1]	24
Bransk During the Time of the Kantonistn ^[2]	26
Bransk Synagogues, the Old–Small–Synagogue/House–Of–Study	32
Bransk Rabbinate	35
Town Meat Tax and Management of Synagogue Affairs	49
Bransk Scholars	56
Cantors and Ritual Slaughterers in Bransk	62
Burial Society and Gravediggers	69
Bransk Prayer Leaders	74
Bransk Khasidim	77
Society for the Study of Talmud	82
Talmud Torah Of Bransk	84
Acts of Benevolent Lodging and Visiting the Sick in Bransk	87
Hospitality for Poor Guests – Aid for Poor Brides – Loans Without Interest	91
Psalms Society, Splendour of Young Men, Tailors, Brotherly Love, and Book Correction	96
Sextons and Sub–Sextons	104
Women Synagogue Wardens/Trustees	109
Emigration	114
Epidemics and Fires in Bransk	120
Bransk in 1905	124
Jewish Employment in Bransk Up to the First World War	129
Political Life in Bransk up to the Outbreak Of War in 1914	142
The Cultural Life in Bransk up to the First World War and the Accomplishments of Bransk Children Through Self–Education	144

PART TWO
War 1914	165
38 Months of German Occupation in Bransk	169
Bransk at the Beginning of the Polish Government	175
Polish–Soviet War – 20 days of the Soviet Power in Bransk	181
Bransk in the New Poland	184
Merchants' and Artisans' Fareynm (Union)	187
The People's–Bank in Bransk	193
The Interest–Free Loan Bank in the Name of Sholem Dovid Vayn of Chicago	198
Political Activity of Bransk Jews	203
The Cultural Condition in Bransk after the First World War	214
Professional (Trade) Movements in Bransk	224
Shattered Jewish Hopes for a Better Life	230
The Allowed (Ovshem) Anti–Semitic Politics ^[3]	232

PART THREE
Start of the Second World War	241
Bransk Under the Soviet Regime	246
Hitler's Attack on Soviet–Russia	251
The Yellow Patch	255
Forced Labour in Bransk	258
The Judenrat in Bransk	263
The Bransk Jewish Police	269
Bransk Ghetto	272
The Ghetto is Sealed	276
Liquidation of the Bransk Jews	281
The Tsuker Story	290
The Heroism of Avrume Verpikhovsky	297
The Fire in the Empty Ghetto	301
The Fate of the Bransk Jews in Neighboring Villages	305
1943 Beginning of the Resistance	325
A Small Number of Jews Remain in the Forest	339
“The Partizanke”	351
Jew–Murderers Sentenced to Death	354
One of the 64	363
Bransk After the Liberation	381
Bransk Jews in Various Armies	387
List of Bransk Jews Who Survived	392
Bransk Relief Organizations	396
Julius Cohen Short Biography	432
In Memory	441

Correction
Beneath the photo on the left – instead of Moshe Berel Pelkhovitz, it should be Moshe Penkherzh

Bransk maps

Footnotes (Mindle Crystal Gross) This was a movement to protect the Polish language by teaching it to children who otherwise would speak Russian. Return The capture of young Jewish boys for 40 years of military service. Return The Polish cardinal said that beating Jews was not allowed, but boycotting them was fine with him Return

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