[pp. 155-156]

Yisrael Fenster

Just as in all the other towns of Poland, the Jews of Bursztyn also overcame much pain and suffering. Hundreds of years of living on this soil did not extinguish the generations of prejudice, widespread [blood] libel, and the senseless hatred of the non-Jewish populace toward us. However, in this headstone that we are erecting for our town, we are also looking to immortalize, along with the pain, every light-filled moment in the history of generations of Jewish life on this very soil.

In the Bursztyn registry book, which was handed down from generation to generation, safeguarded and [then] lost, along with the Jews of Bursztyn, was recorded the first arrival of the Jews, whom Prince Jablonowski brought to Bursztyn. Along with the ungenerous [or stingy] words that remain in my memory, the objectiveness and honesty of our grandfathers, the simple Jews of Bursztyn, remain etched in my memory. Although they understood the factors that swayed the prince to bring the Jews and build special houses for them, they could still not forget the act itself, and observantly underscored this; the refined humaneness, which the Poles so seldom showed us in all the later generations, up until the final destruction.

At R. Zelik Hammer's [home] there was a registry book, which was already hundreds of years old. In this registry, all the important events in Jewish life in Bursztyn were recorded. Many generations recorded the events of their [own] time, there.

In that registry was also recorded that the first Jews had been brought to Bursztyn by Prince Jablonowski, who hailed from the Polish royal family, Skarbek.

The prince built

[pp. 157-158]

special houses for the Jews. Some of them stood until our [own] time, and we [still] recall them. 1) The inn/tavern, which bordered on the prince's palace. More recently, Chaim David Glaser Z”L and his family, as well as the children of Wolf the Great [or Big Wolf] Z”L, lived there. 2) Opposite the inn/tavern was the house of Yehoshua Hammer Z”L, where until the Second World War lived his son, Itshe Hammer Z”L and his family. 3) Opposite the house, from the other side of the street, was the property of Moshe Leib Tobias Z”L (opposite the pharmacy). On that property there also once stood such a house. The house burnt down in 1901, or 1902. 4) There, where the profanation, a tavern in which sharp [alcoholic] drinks were sold, once stood – the profanation was the property of the prince – up until the First World War. Jews would lease this from him.

R. Wolf Krochmal Z”L

If I am not mistaken, the last lessee was R. Berish Gelernter Z”L. As a seller, I recall R. Itshe Gutstein Z”L, there. Until more recent times, the children of Berl Haber Z”L lived in the house. From Meir Gutstein Z”L there were also a few stores in the house.

The houses that were mentioned were big, massive, all built in one style.

In these houses, the prince settled “his Jews.” The prince brought the Jews, so that they would develop commerce in the town and in the surrounding area.

The large mill that belonged to Prince Jablonowski, was likewise, up until the First World War, in Jewish hands. It was leased for many years by the Friedlander brothers.

The mill stood beyond the village of Ludwikowka. It worked by steam and by water. At the time, it was the largest mill in the area; the Bursztyn mill was known throughout all of eastern Galicia.

Above the gate of the mill was written: “Pray and work.”

This is what the prince demanded of his workers, who were all Christians. The administration was, however, entirely Jewish.

Direct and indirectly, the Jews earned their livelihood through the prince's mill.

The courtyard itself at the time, was nearly entirely sealed off to Jews. The palace, as it was called in Bursztyn, stood in the center of the Jewish neighborhood/area. A Jew, however, did not dare to venture there.

They would sometimes call in a Jewish artisan when he was needed. A Jewish physician, then, when there was no Christian one.

Jewish merchants would not be permitted into the palace.

Opposite the courtyard, in the equerry, where the stalls were housed, was also housed the administration, the office. There, one would settle matters with the Jewish merchants.

Following the death of the old prince (he committed suicide), in 1910, approximately, the “younger prince,”

[pp. 159-160]

as he was called in Bursztyn, took over the inheritance. He did not take over a terribly big inheritance, for the elder [prince] had already squandered a large portion of his estate.

Several tens of villages surrounding Bursztyn were at one time the property of Prince Jablonowski.

Following the First World War, the younger prince apportioned the majority of the remaining fields and lived well. From the great estate remained the palace with 700 acres surrounding the mill. The younger prince indeed, died young. There remained the princess and four daughters. The princess, who hailed from Greece, ran the small enterprise by herself. She was a very likeable and liberal-minded woman.

Over time, Jewish merchants, artisans, and so on and so forth, began to enter the courtyard. The writer of these lines would frequently arrive before the princess and her daughters, so as to cut their hair and give them permanent waves. The eldest daughter married a baron, Heydel was his name. Following the princess' death, Baron Heydel was the landowner. He transformed all of the terrain into rivers and raised fish. Bursztyn's Jews partook of this fish on the Sabbath. Part of it went to livelihood. Jewish merchants from Lemberg, Drohobicz, and even from Warsaw, would come to purchase the fish.

The Jablonowski courtyard does not exist any longer, exactly like there are no existing Jews in Bursztyn.

The Russians sacked the palace. All that remained was a small house in a corner, a chamber. In the ruins lives the only surviving Jew of Bursztyn, Fishl, the tailor's son-in-law, Ulke the shoemaker.

[pp. 161-162]

Yosef Schwartz, New York

How much dedication and endurance, devotion and intelligence was demanded, in order to establish in those up-to-the belt sinking-in-muck Jewish towns in Galicia; schools, which should inwardly, in [terms of] content, be Jewish, and should give their children modern mastery [or knowledge] and secular knowledge!

The school named for Baron Hirsch in Bursztyn was the source from which the most dedicated and active of our town drew spiritual [or intellectual] resources at that time, for the holy matter of education.

The Jews of Bursztyn did not agree so quickly to send their children to a school in which “Goyish” was taught and one sat without a cap [i.e., a yarmulke or kippah]. It did not take long, however, and the poor Jewish populace was persuaded by this serious aid, which the school was offering. Already in the beginning of the school year 1898/9, 135 children registered, among whom 28 were from the surrounding villages, where Jews dwelled.

The school consisted of two first grades. In the kitchen, which was organized by the school, sat 80 children; one hundred benefited from aid and clothing and schoolbooks with writing utensils. With time, the aid included even more children. The school arranged various excursions, in which children who were also from outside of the school, participated.

That same year, the school administration arranged evening courses for adults, in

[pp. 163-164]

which 58 fully illiterates participated. The same teachers taught them in the evenings reading and writing. 42 of them sat through exams, which they did well on.

The second year, many new students arrived, and two more classes were added. They added another teacher for general studies, Miss Solomka Reichman, and a new teacher for Hebrew, Peretz Gross.

In 1902/3, the school received an official permit. At that time, it consisted of four grades, and still belonged to the lower category. The number of students climbed to 219.

The small yeshiva in Bursztyn

The crowdedness was felt and disturbed the school's development. A decision was made to build a special school building. A place was already even purchased, but apparently, the board of trustees was lacking funds to proceed with the building.

The same year, the school administration sent several students to artisans, to teach them trades. One as a tailor, two as tinsmen, and two as carpenters.

The school expenses for that year, not counting the pensions of the teachers, came to 10,394 kronen. To this, the city municipality contributed 1,000 kronen, and the cultural municipality, 400 kronen.

The number of children that attended the school was, according to age:

Under 6 years	3 boys
6-7 years	15 ”
7-8 ”	26 “
8-9 ”	21 ”
9-10 ”	26 ”
10-11 ”	18 ”
11-12 ”	13 ”
12-13 ”	16 ”
13-14 ”	7 ”
Over 14 years	1 ”
	145 children

In the first grade there were – 46 children, second – 50 children, third class – 68 children, and the fourth grade, 32 children. In total, there were 145 school children, with an increase that same year, 1902/3, in the evening courses, in which learned:

From 14-17 years	8 students
” 17-20 ”	16 ”
” 20-24 ”	8 ”
” 30 and above	4 ”

Just as soon as the boys completed the fourth grade, the school administration saw to it that the child should study further, or they saw to it that two years later, the child was handed over [i.e., admitted] to learn a trade.

At the end of 1904, when the school was already in

[pp. 165-166]

its own building, in the so-called narrower street, or, as it was referred to: Asher Deichsler Street (under table/chart no. 628, which cost 24,560 kronen and 25 heller), the school administration gave [the building] over to the schooling of artisans, bakers 1, tailors 1, shoemakers 1, tinsmiths 5, carpenters 1, boys. The school administration would itself also pay the costs of sending poor children to study in higher schools [schools of higher education], gymnasia and government schools, and would take care of them in their dormitories in Lemberg, Stanislawow, and also Krakow, insofar as room and board.

The elementary school in Bursztyn, hundreds of Jewish children received elementary knowledge here

I began attending the Baron Hirsch School. It was at Asher Deichsler's home, where we school children would ourselves work the garden. Already for the children of the third, fourth grade, small wallets were distributed by the leadership of the schoolteachers. Under the personal inspection of Fogel, every boy, following the teacher's example/demonstration, buried his own wallet with a diskal. They passed out various seeds: carrots, beets, beans. The school child, the owner of the wallet, after attending to his wallet, recorded his name on a writing tablet, and placed it in the front of his wallet. Twice a week, beginning in the fall, the teachers went out to attend to [matters] (repairing, cleaning out the muck, and in this manner, pick up the pieces of earth that would crumble/break down during a beating rain) with the children. Everyone with his [own] wallet.

Every boy was so bound with love to the agricultural work, that even when one was out of school, he would go to see the fruits of his labor. The children were enchanted by this work, such that if

[pp. 167-168]

one [of them] found a piece of free land next to his parents' house, about which one was scarcely bothered insofar as a garden [was concerned] (it was sooner a place in which to pour out the slops) these very children from the Baron Hirsch School would clean it up and plant it with something, at least with flowers – and the parents, overworked, worried about where it [i.e., money] would come from – after all, it was already Thursday – for the Sabbath, would reap joy from their Yossele, Shloymele, or Chaim'l. Although most [of them] conceded that God must help, and that he would soon help [them] out with their livelihood, he was already viewed as a companion/an assistant by some of the artisans.

The school instruction, as generally in the government schools, was in Polish. The teachers would also speak Polish amongst themselves; only the Hebrew teacher, Peretz Gross, would speak to us in Yiddish, even when he taught something from another subject matter. Discipline was strict. The teacher was never without his rod, although it was seldom used for beating. The first grade would learn all the time, all the subjects, aside from Hebrew. That was taught by Miss Segal. The second, third, and fourth grades were taught by Fishl Rottenstreich and Fogel. Also, Gross would assist with the general subjects. And when he would have the Hebrew one in the first grade, Miss Segal would help out with other classes with something from the general subject matter. Religion was taught in the Polish language. There were chapters from the prayer book that were specially translated for the Baron Hirsch School into Polish. In the third and fourth grades, religion was taught by Director Fogel. From the very beginning, we had to translate “Ma tovu ohalecha” up until “Aleinu le-shabeach.” If one of the children became an orphan, he would be taught extra to understand the Kaddish. All the children would receive ready-made notebooks for writing in calligraphy. Just as soon as he [the child] completed one notebook, he received another. I recall my friend, Yitzchak Schneiweiss-Cohen (today in Israel), whom I always envied for his beautiful and quick penmanship. Until I had completed one notebook, he had already completed two. Excelling in beautiful penmanship were Nachman Kutner and a carpenter's son, Duntzi, who became a home schoolteacher, after completing the Baron Hirsch School. He would instruct children, and in this manner, aided his poor parents.

In every classroom hung four pictures. The Kaiser Franz-Joseph 1 and his wife, Elizabeth, and the Baron Moshe and his wife, Clara Hirsch. At the beginning, before the study hour began, we would always say a prayer in the Polish language for the life and well-being of the Kaiser. If I am not in error, we would also sometimes say the same prayer in the German language.

From 8 to 10 we learned. Then, there was a break of approximately fifteen minutes. We would go out to play in the yard, where there were swings prepared for gymnastics. There was also a broad, splendid bar, where we would do “squats.” There was also a special hour for physical culture. Our teachers, each one with his class, would spend this hour outside. Even at the coldest times, we would have to be outside.

In the lowest level of the building were: an administrative office for the teachers, where they would hold their conferences, an apartment for the school caretaker (this was a tall Gentile, whom we called “speedy”), and the bathrooms.

She [the caretaker] would have [more than] enough trouble from us. Given that we small urchins were not always disciplined, we would occasionally write on the walls in the corridor, and not one of us was severely reprimanded for doing this, if caught. Particularly, by Director Fogel.

During the winter, in a special, prepared room, lunches would be distributed to the poor children. These were cooked by an experienced cook, Mennie Mindeles, whose boys went to school together with us. One of her sons, Itzik Hersh, studied very hard. The school administration sent him, after he completed school, to a tailor, to learn; and indeed, up until the Second World War, he was a good men's tailor in Bursztyn, where he was gassed [to death], just like all of the Jews of Bursztyn, by the Hitlerists and their accomplices, may their names be obliterated.

Every year, on the occasion of Franz Joseph's birthday (the 18th of August), would be a holiday for us children. We would arrive, festively dressed-up. The “tluzmizshlekh” or boots were shined or smeared with trona (which we would purchase for a greitzer [i.e., a ‘kreuzer’] from Itzele Schapira, or Koppel Henech). At the synagogue, we would cover the Torah ark with the festive curtain [used for covering the Torah ark]. All the important proprietors, along with Zelig Hammer, would already wait at the synagogue. The rabbi, as well as the adjudicator of Jewish law, would hold a talk for the Kaiser, and at the end, we would sing – not in Polish, but in German – “God Save.” Once, I recall, the mayor, Bodni, an old Ukrainian, who by profession was a bricklayer, also came to the school.

At the school would also gather the Jewish intelligentsia, lawyers, doctors, and also their children, who came for vacation from the gymnasia in the large cities, such as Lemberg and Stanislawow.

The Jewish pharmacist, Tierhaus, would come with his wife and two sons. After finishing the birthday of the Kaiser, we began preparing once again for the school year (the 1^st of September). Already two weeks before the beginning of the school's instruction, the teachers would sit for a few hours of the day in the school's administrative office and record the small 5-6-year-olds, who had begun to attend the school.

An entire year during which we learned, it was not too bad for the schoolboy, but a few weeks before the end of the school year (the end of July), most [of us?] attempted to reconstruct/retrace that which had come earlier, which had perhaps been frivolously/rashly lost. With fear in our hearts, we awaited the certificates [i.e., report cards]. Not one [person] was yearning to be [simply] a “passing” [student], just so that he could enter the next grade. He who schmoozed the best, those who knew for certain that they would pass, waited with fear in their hearts for the “award” of a little red book with lovely stories for their best certificate/report card. In every grade there were 2-3 such boys.

The worst was for the boy who was not a bad student, but whose single shortcoming was his conduct. There was a special category on the certificate, which in the case of a negative comment, would impede one from going on to a higher class. It happened to me, myself, during the first half of the year when I was in the second grade, that I received such a “reprehensible” [mark or comment], but I tried (with the help of my mother Z”L, who explained to me the entire half-a-year, what came of disobedience) to repair this. And with “manners/mores,” it was not at all an easy matter. Children would divide themselves up according to the “better” and “lesser” [ones]. Arguments with name-calling would occur, and this would often lead to scuffles in the yard, during the “break” [i.e., recess].

And I recall such an instance. By us there was a boy who was a big slugger. We would refer to him as Shmuel Reczki (Wolf the horseman's boy. Naturally, he had friends who were strong horsemen). There was an instance when he picked a quarrel with Sumer Kleinfeld, one of Ezriel Kleinfeld's strong lads from Korostowice. It was precisely at the pump (where one had hung a chain inside of a small cup [with the message]: pumped water for drinking). Shmuel and his

[pp. 171-172]

friends had already long since prepared the strong lad (who was, in spite of his 12-13 years, a student in the fourth grade), [and] picked a fight with him; however, Sumer, a sturdily built, hardworking village boy, who would help in the village, along with his brothers, attend to the fields on their property, did not want to suffer from this little Shmuelikl. And when he [Shmuelikl], under the pretension of his friends, wanted to tear out the cup of water from Sumer['s hands], Sumer did not spend much time thinking, and split open Shmuel's forehead with the cup.

In a minute, all of the teachers were [standing] around. They brought a doctor. He bandaged up Shmuel's head. But with lightning speed, Shmuel's father, Wolf the small one, as well as other boys, big ones from among the horsemen, came to get a hold of the village boy. But Sumer was already on the other side of the fence, and through Prince Jablonowski's garden, he ran to his home in Korostowice. It was long months that Sumer did not appear in the town. Over a year later, in the summer, he left for America. People schmoozed that it was on account of the horsemen that he had fled.

Such a lot of scuffles in smaller numbers would often be played out among us little “urchins.” So it is no surprise that every year, there would at least not be any large percent, but indeed, [there were a] few with “reprehensible actions.”

In general, though, the Baron Hirsch School was a blessing and a help for the children and for our parents in the town. Even the most religious Jews in the town, who were initially not satisfied with the Baron Hirsch School (out of fear of a bad Jewish path) to send their children to [the] school, would indeed with respect, bring to our teachers their children to register them. It is a shame, they would say, that there is no Baron Hirsch School for girls.

Speaking about the Baron Hirsch School, we will also recall the so-called Baron Hirsch Banks. In the town there were two official private banks. One was Avrahamele Bobar's bank, and the other one, if I am not in error, Neiberger's. Aside from this, there were the so-called “chashters,” [i.e., money lenders] who would take very large percentages. A poor artisan or a petty merchant could never come borrow there. Firstly, one needed to have good co-signers, and secondly, as much as was possible to pay up such high percentages, these “IKO” Baron Hirsch banks became a salvation for the poor artisans and petty merchants. One could borrow there up to 200 kronen for a year with a very minimal percent [i.e., fee]. This percentage was taken so as to cover the administrative expenses, and at the time of the co-signing, they did not scrutinize so carefully. It used to be that the borrower could be both the husband and the wife. It could reach up to 400 kronen within the [same] family, and every week they would bring in partial payments. Director Fogel and one of the teachers oversaw the banks. Mostly, it was our teacher, Fishl Rottenstreich. The school as well as the bank were [both] active until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. After the war, when Austria broke up, the building of the Baron Hirsch School served the Jewish community. The Peretz Library was there until 1939, approximately 20 years, since 1919.

[pp. 173-174]

These were people whose desire and activity was driven by a deep feeling of responsibility and by much love for the Jewish child. They possessed within themselves the synthesis of old Judaism and new scholarship, lofty humane ideals and moral beauty. They dreamt and believed that the loftiest and most beautiful ideals of humanity would be fulfilled, and that the Jewish people would have its national establishment. Therefore, they and their teachers are so deeply etched within our memory.

Anshel Fogel was the soul of the Baron Hirsch School. Always serious, even strict. One seldom saw a smile on his face, even in the company of the other teachers. Not only the school children, but the entire city had a great deal of respect for him. When teaching the students every class period, he would make it so clear, that the children would leave [at the end of] the hour of learning with him like newborns. He would place the most weight on that which he had taught, so as to plant love for physical work in the children. He hated idlers. It would occasionally happen that the poor people would come to the town with their wagons; right away they would take the children on their hands, letting them loose through the doors. But if a single wagon were to come into the school, Fogel would become terribly upset. Even then, if it was an older person, he would give him a donation with such anger; one time he said to us children: You will turn into such parasites if you do not learn a trade. He held highly of farming peasants. He would also persuade children who wanted to learn something to go to the IKO school in Slobodka-Lesna, next to Kolomyja. But in our town, there were few who participated. If they were already going to learn a trade, then they would learn to be carpenters; tinsmiths, plumbers, and watchmakers. Fogel was not strictly religious. He would only go pray with a Minyan on Jewish festivals and holidays. But when his father died, he only first shaved after thirty days, and for an entire year, went three times daily to the synagogue to say Kaddish.

His wife was a book peddler's daughter. His name was Yaakov Ehrenpreis. He had three daughters and a son, Dr. Mordechai Ehrenpreis; the chief rabbi of Sofia [Bulgaria] and then of Stockholm. Three of Yaakov Ehrenpreis' daughters lived in Bursztyn. These were Fogel's wife, Dr. David Maltz's wife, and one that was not married, [who] represented the lawyers' administrative office of her brother-in-law, David Maltz, the well-known Zionist leader, who twice ran as a candidate for the Austrian Parliament. Mrs. Fogel ran the girls' vocational school. They had two daughters. One, the younger one, died young. The other one, although raised by Polish

[pp. 175-176]

-speaking parents, later became the well-known Yiddish writer, Devorah Fogel. Anshel Fogel, right after the First World War, left for Lemberg, where he worked as the secretary of the Jewish community. He died in the 1930s.

I visited Devorah Fogel in 1937. She was married to an engineer. They had a two-year-old child, Anshl. Also, her elderly mother lived with them. They had their own house. I visited her a second time in 1940, when the Soviets were already there. She was bitter about the order [of things]; as a devoted Zionist, she saw to what sort of sense this would [all] lead. As a well-known writer, she had the privilege, like other Yiddish writers, to belong to the Ukrainian Writers' Union. She did not want this. She, her husband, and children were murdered like all Lemberg Jews by the Hitler murderers and their accomplices, may their names be obliterated.

His refined face was framed by a lovely coal-black beard. In my memory, he remains [standing] with his fiddle in hand. Just as soon as he appeared before the lectern, even the rowdiest children grew silent. With a shining face he played “God Save, God Protect Our King, Our Land.” We also sang after him with much reverence.

Fishl Rottenstreich was a cousin of the well-known Zionist activist and senator in Poland with the same name. Fishl and his wife hailed from Kolomyja. Aside from singing with us, he also taught us to speak Polish and German. With his students he spoke only Polish. With the adults during the evening courses, he spoke Polish and German.

Following the First World War he returned, following a short hiatus, along with his family, to Bursztyn, where they had their sole house, and he was a teacher in the government [state] school.

He died in the beginning of the thirties. His two daughters were teachers somewhere in a small town in Wolyn.

The most well-natured teacher, whom I recall. He would speak a juicy Yiddish with us, and would have long talks with us, in which he attempted to plant nice manners in us and tendencies toward proper actions. Also, during the excursions, which he would attend with us in the hills and forests, he would make declarations for all of us in Yiddish.

He was a fiery Zionist and at the same time, a religious person. Every day he went to pray in his Tallit and Tefillin. On the Sabbaths and Jewish festivals, he prayed with Neiberger's Minyan.

Pertaining to his most beloved subjects during his talks with the students, were the stories regarding Israel, regarding the beauty of the land, and the vastness of the Jewish heroes.

To the town once came a messenger from Israel. He carried with him a red cap like that of the Turks and spoke only Hebrew. He came to collect money and also sold soil from Israel. Religious Jews purchased it in small sacks and hid it to place under their heads, following their death, in the grave.

Our director, Fogel, looked askance at everything that he considered deception.

[pp. 177-178]

Gross, however, became so carried away by this Jew's lovely Hebrew, that he invited him nearly every day to his home for lunch and would carry on lengthy discussions with him about the Holy Land.

In my memory remains such a picture: in class there is a tumult, which reaches the point of a scuffle between two children. Then the teacher approaches, calls the two excited children over to the table and asks them good-naturedly why they were beating each other up. Chaim, excited, related how he had lost all of his buttons to Moshe yesterday, and so prior to leaving, he had torn off the buttons from his [Moshe's] pants and jacket. Now, he was once again bothering him.

The teacher turned to the children: “Is this nice?” All those in the choir responded: “No!” Later on, all the children listened to his lecture regarding morals and ethics among children and adults.

This took place in the third grade of the Baron Hirsch School. The name of the teacher was Peretz Gross.

During the excursions that we would take beyond the town, the teachers would provide information in Polish. Peretz Gross would always provide his information in Yiddish.

Peretz Gross taught at the Baron Hirsch School from 1900 until 1914, when the First World War broke out. His specialization was Hebrew and Mathematics. If one of the teachers became ill, he would also fill in for other subjects.

When the Russians approached our town, he left for Vienna, along with his entire family.

In 1936, in Lemberg, I visited the Yiddish writer Devorah Fogel, the daughter of our school director. There, I also met our former teacher, Perl Segal, who was already quite advanced in years, around 80-ish. From her I received the address of Peretz Gross. I wrote him a letter in Yiddish, but his reply arrived in German. He was living in an old peoples' home. He wrote me that his son, Henry, was living in America.

For Yaakov Bigel it was characteristic that from his very earliest years he had strived to learn and to teach others. He had very early-on begun to dream about his studies. Until the last day of his life, he clung to the Zionist ideal of liberating the Jewish people from its two thousand-year-long diaspora. In the words of the prophets, he read out [extrapolated] the ideas of social equality; by obtaining higher education he wanted to become more useful and valuable in the struggle for the solution to and existence of the Jewish nation.

He attained higher education but did not live to see with his own eyes the actualization of the Zionist idea.

Yaakov Bigel

[pp. 179-180] [pp. 67-70 - Hebrew]

In our town the Zionist idea began to develop among the masses with the relocation of Dr. David Maltz. [It was] approximately 1900. At that time, that is, before the First World War, the Zionist association “Chovevei Tzion” was founded. Already then, the association attracted the progressive strata of Jews in the town.

The active proponents and co-fighters for the Zionist idea at that time were: Bunem Schapira, the accountant for Friedlander's mill, A. Tauber, Zalmen Stern, Meir Redisch, Moshe Schumer, Vove Wolf David Frankl, Yisroel Jampol, and Minne^[1] Tobias.

A group of members of the “State of Israel” Association Hertz Weinert, Yona Krochmal, Yosef Schwartz, Isaac Walpitin, Sala Bernstein, Tuvia and Krancia Schwartz, Koppel Bernstein, Bomech Zager and more

In 1908, approximately, the elections for the Austrian Parliament were held. The Zionist movement already at that time took an active part in the election campaign when the well-known Zionist activist, Adolph Stand Z”L came to Bursztyn to speak at an election meeting. The trustees at the time, who were purveyors of liquor (which they sold to the nobleman), did not want to let him into the synagogue, where the peoples' gathering was supposed to take place.

The young group opened the synagogue and the crowd, for which A. Stand held a fiery speech, entered.

At a second election gathering, which took place at the Polish Peoples' House, spoke the then-current mayor of Bursztyn –

Mayor Diltz. He was very angry at the Zionists, who had the chutzpah to send Jewish candidates to the Austrian Parliament, and menacingly called out: “Do not call out the Wolf from the forest!” – To which Dr. Maltz responded: “We are not afraid, do not frighten us.”

Right after the First World War, a Zionist association was once again founded under the same name – “Chovevei Tzion.” The association was active under the leadership of Dr. Wolf Shmarak Z”L.

This was a period when the Jewish youth in Bursztyn spiritually [or intellectually] blossomed, and along with that you had all the different Zionist hues.

A “Poalei Tzion” group was founded, which for many years had an impact on the Jewish cultural and political life of Bursztyn.

Almost at the same time, the Zionist Socialist Party – “Hitachdut,” was founded, which later on had a great influence on a portion of the youth and was one of the strongest organizations in the town.

The leaders of the “Hitachdut” were very active and oversaw broad information work [i.e., the dispersal of information, knowledge] among the youth. They established courses for those who were preparing to make Aliyah to Israel. They created Hachsharah spots, they taught the Hebrew language, and so forth.

I would like to mention two of the leaders:

1. Dr. David Besen was for a period of time a lawyer in Bursztyn, [he was] a dear and beloved person, did a lot of work for the “Hitachdut,” [and] as a maven of Hebrew literature, he held

literary lectures and was always concerned about the cultural level of the party.
2. Shlomo Handschu-Segal Z”L, a lovely figure. Aside from the cheder, it seems that he did not possess any systematic education, which is why he possessed a strong desire to know and understand. He learned on his own – read a lot, he knew Hebrew well, was versed in the Yiddish and Hebrew literature, [and] was a good speaker. He believed fanatically in Zionistic Socialism and was proficient in all the ruminations and folds [i.e., all the detailed ins-and-outs] of the Torah.

In our town there was no dearth of followers of all the existing Zionist parties in pre-war Poland: “Mizrachi,” “Hapoal Hamizrachi,” “Noar Oved,” and so on and so forth.

All of them, all of them, lived with the hope of being absolved of the diaspora and of someday living a free Jewish and humane life in their own land -------

It, however, turned out differently ----

How horribly different.

Members of the “Hitachdut” in Bursztyn Among other members: Yaakov Nachwalger, Leib Hersh Kimmel, Gedaliah Kitner, Shlomo Handschu, Shlomo Mandelberg

Translator's Footnote

1. This is a male name, although similar in sound to the female name, “Minna” or “Mina.” Return

[pp. 183-184]

Those who are mentioned here have, through their dedicated work, earned for themselves much more than these limited words; in this same manner, many others who haven't been written about here, only because we know such few details regarding their life and activity, have likewise earned this.

The several individuals who are mentioned here are a model of the Jewish national consciousness and unrequited thirst for Hebrew culture, with which these very Jews from our town led their stubborn struggle for the education [or upbringing] of the younger generation.

I do not recall anything precise about learning Hebrew in Bursztyn prior to the First World War, however, there were certainly efforts toward establishing Hebrew courses and bringing in modern Hebrew teachers; [and] aside from that, Gross, the teacher, taught religion, [and] Hebrew in Hebrew at the Baron Hirsch School.

Just after the First World War, in 1919, approximately, Dr. Glazer began to teach Hebrew. He later married a zeman^[1] and became a teacher at the Hebrew gymnasia in Stanislawow.

Following him came Michal Schwartz. During his time, the study of Hebrew became very popular.

He became an able organizer, a good speaker. He founded the Hitachdut, nearly all of whose members learned Hebrew.

M. Schwartz was in Bursztyn for a few years. He was also culturally active.

When M. Schwartz left Bursztyn, and transplanted himself as a lawyer in Lemberg, Miss Sobel, a very capable and energetic [individual] arrived. Aside from Hebrew courses, she also ran, for the first time in Bursztyn, a kindergarten.

Later on, Halitczer arrived. He moved with his family to one of the rooms in the Baron Hirsch School. Halitczer was a religious person with much education and intelligence; we, a group of already grown-up individuals, learned Tanach from him. From all of this, he received no livelihood; [and] as is the custom, when there is no livelihood, one argues with one's wife. [So] he used to say: I speak to my wife and children only in Hebrew, but when I argue with her, “I shift over to Yiddish,” [as] it has another flavor.

Translator's Footnote

1. It is unclear what “zeman” means in this context. It may refer to a surname, a geographic name, or even a profession. For example, if we consider the possibility of it pertaining to a profession, there is a word in Polish that may be a cognate: “ziemianka,” meaning a “landowner.” Return

[pp. 185-186]

There are no more fermenting youths, the rebels against authority, who dared to bring the first shelf of books into the religious town, and called it a library. From these books, there are not even any remaining names [titles]. At that time, when death – with all of its horrors in every which way pursued everyone – the names of the library books fluttered in the wind, like naked shadows from a far-off world; they were desecrated and crushed beneath the enemy's boot.

Up until the First World War, the cheder and the religious study house were nearly the only source from which Jewish children and youth drew their intellectual nourishment in the town. Up until that time, there also existed the 4-grade Baron Hirsch School for boys. Individuals would read a Yiddish book, and a very small number, from [among] those who were perceived as the “intelligentsia,” read German.

Following the First World War, during the time when Petlyura-ists and Polish bands staged pogroms against Jews in our area, from which Bursztyn also greatly suffered, the Jewish youth was very embittered. Many of them emigrated at that time to America and Germany, but not everybody had the means and not everybody was able to emigrate.

Following the pogroms, when the Polish powers in eastern Galicia became poisoned with a more-or-less liberal course for the Jews, the social and political life of the Jews also began to take shape. In our town of Bursztyn, the parties of “Poalei Tzion” and “Hitachdut” were then created. The founders of Poalei Tzion were Fishl Schneider and Yosef Schwartz; of Hitachdut – Michal Schwartz (the Hebrew teacher).

The Poalei Tzion represented the proletariat [faction] of the town. In the Hitachdut congregated the proprietary elements.

Theater groups were created. The first theater director was Isaac Breiter. He was a sign painter. The first “actors” were artisans. With the incoming funds, Yiddish books were purchased.

The first Yiddish books were purchased and brought to the town by Yosef Schwartz. On an old, small shelf they were placed, in the house of Nachman Geller. That is where the Poalei Tzion Association under the disguised Yiddish name: “Professional Association of Non-Professional Workers in Bursztyn” was found. The strange name was concocted, because the Poalei Tzion was

[pp. 187-188]

outlawed by the Polish authorities at that time.

The youth read with a rare and exceptional curiosity and fervor. They read Yiddish literature and translations. They “gulped down” these [types of] books: belletristic, political, and scientific/scholarly literature. In 1923, approximately, under the leadership of Minne Tobias, a dramatic circle was created, which stood on a serious level. Plays with a literary value were performed: “Tevye der milchiker” by Sholem Aleichem, “Der dorfs-yung” and the “Iberiker mentsh” by Peretz Hirschbein. “Der Vilner balabesl” by Mark Arnstein, and so on and so forth.

Thanks to the intelligence and good taste of our teacher and friend Minne Tobias, each performance was a cultural event in the town, and for the participants, a serious school, and a spiritual [or intellectual] pleasure. For the funds that streamed in from the performances, books, Yiddish books were purchased. Their count increased from one month to the next. The books were carried over to the Baron Hirsch School building. Also, the Hitachdut Association, which owned a certain number of books, disposed of these.

The idea of creating a non-partisan institution, in which all of the Jewish youth would gather, regardless of their party affiliations, was realized. The “Library in the Name of Y. L. Peretz” was founded in Bursztyn. The founders were: from the leftist groups: Fishl Schneider, Yitzchak Landner, Yehoshua Jampol, the writer of these lines, and others. From the Hitachdut: Shlomo Handschu, Shlomo Mandelberg, Yaakov Nachwalger, and others. From Beitar: Munye Cohen; Velvl Ostrower and others from the General Zionists: Minne Tobias, Eliyah Fishman, and others.

Leaders of the Y. L. Peretz Association and a group of youth activists in Bursztyn

[pp. 189-190]

discussions developed, which were instructive and educational for the youth.

The number of members of the library grew permanently. With them, so did the number of books. They made big new shelves with a surrounding barrier. New tables. [They] painted the walls nicely. The Peretz Library became a tidy cultural corner. The professional intelligentsia in the town, which for the most part, was far-removed from Yiddish and Yiddish literature, began to look respectfully at the work of the Peretz Library. They became members and began to help with various events that the library would arrange. For a long period of time, the pharmacist, Grinhut [Greenhut], was active as the chairman of the Peretz Library.

Further drawing in the intelligentsia was the strong anti-Semitic course in Poland, which impeded every approach/drawing nearness of the Jews insofar as social life, in general. The young Jewish intelligentsia, which managed, following the torments and persecutions, to complete a Polish high school, could not, on account of hatred for Jews, receive any work. In the final years before the Second World War, nearly all of these young [members of the] intelligentsia remained sitting at their fathers' and mothers' [homes], in the town. They all gathered together around the Peretz Library.

Many endeavored together, held lectures, helped to organize literary evenings, performances: the Hertz Brothers and Syule Weinert, Lobcia Landner, Hersh Breiter, Goldwert [Goldworth], and others. Everything, it is understood, in the Yiddish language. Participating in the Yiddish performances were people who at home, never spoke a word of Yiddish. Hela Landau, in “Polish af der keyt” by Y. L. Peretz, Goldwert in the recitations of Peretz, which were presented in a rich program during a special evening, dedicated to the great Yiddish writer, and which the writer of these lines, directed.

The overseers of the library were always interested in better Yiddish theater. They brought the Warsaw Yiddish Art Theater to Bursztyn, with the artist, Ida

[pp. 191-192]

Kaminski [i.e., Kaminska], at the helm. Invited were Jonas Turkow and Diana Blumenfeld, as well as the Kleynkunst theater, “Ararat.”

The Peretz Association remained in contact with the well-known dramatics clubs, “Goldfaden,” in Stanislawow, which carried out its best works in Bursztyn: “Baynakht afn altn mark”^[1] by Peretz, directed by the famous David Herman of the Vilner Trupe, the “Goylem” by Leivick, “200 Thousand” by Sholem Aleichem, and so on and so forth.

The Peretz Association had a name throughout the entire area. The number of books climbed into the thousands, everything [being] of the best and most refined. The library

Dolek WahlDolek Wahl came from Stanislawow. For a long period, he worked as a dentist in Bursztyn. He was an active Zionist. He was a co-worker in the Peretz Association. He stood out with his fiddle playing and would take part in many (social) events.

The Library in the Name of Y. L. Peretz in Bursztyn taught us to believe in the world and human being, in fairness, equality, and in truth. In the final days prior to the Second World War, when many of the founders and overseers of the library left Bursztyn, some far away across seas, some in other places in Poland, those who remained in Bursztyn – although they grew older and were taken up with livelihood worries – they did not neglect the Peretz Library. For the Peretz Library, one always found time.

The 18^th of September 1939, the Red Army marched into Bursztyn. Two to three weeks later, they called me in to the Commissar of Culture, a young Ukrainian, who was also the leader of the Komsomol (youth organization) in Bursztyn. The young Gentile was named Krivonos and hailed from Berdichev. He wanted to see the library's catalogs and also the condition of the cash box. He was happy with the book materials. They were kosher. Only, he demanded that I give him the keys to the library. That was the end of the Peretz Association in Bursztyn. Later on, the same fellow told me that they were taking the books over, in the meantime, to the Ukrainian “Proshvito”;^[2] that they were creating a big library in three languages: Ukrainian, Polish, and Yiddish. He threw down the books onto the top of the “Proshvito,” but they no longer picked them up from there. They were eaten up and rotted.

The Polish authorities strongly persecuted the Peretz Library during the final days of its existence. During the years 1937-38, the library was shut down twice by the Polish police, under suspicion of Communist activity. The last time, it was locked for three months. Following many interventions, the library was opened – but Dr. Avraham

[pp. 193-194]

Zihring and I had to sign a record in which we confirmed that there were no Communist books in the library.

On the 24^th of June, 1940, the N.K.V.D. arrested me. I am a Trotsky-ite and a Zionist! – They told me. They had a “document” that I had been in the service of the Polish authorities. They did not show me the “document”; they meant, I believe, the aforementioned declaration that Dr. Zihring and I had signed. They asked me a lot of questions about

A group of Bursztyn girls at an evening of parting for their girlfriend Zelde Pomerantz on [the occasion] of her departure for Argentina

May the members who, for many years worked together, actively, in the Peretz Association and were murdered sanctifying the name of God and sanctifying the [Jewish] people, be remembered here.

Our rabbi and leader; he taught a group of us youths to comprehend a Yiddish book. He possessed a rare love for the Yiddish classical literature. For Mendele, Sholem-Aleichem, and Peretz. He would read to us from their works, as well as from Ch. N. Bialik, with great enthusiasm. He was a marvelous oral reader, and with his deep understanding, he would interpret in an interesting manner. Himself a Zionist with far-right views, but as a common man, the Yiddish language and literature was close to him, and his students were nearly all precisely from the leftist groups.

Minne Tobias saw in the appearance of the Peretz Library an important cultural and national factor for the Jewish youth at that time in Bursztyn. He was happy with every new book that was purchased. In the early years he was the heart and the brain of the Peretz Association.

[He] was among the first founders of the library. The most devoted and hard-working co-worker. For many years, he was the librarian. He initiated the first modern catalogs and introduced order and cleanliness into the Peretz Association. He co-performed in the dramatics circle. [He] was a trustworthy and most feeling friend.

Right after moving to Bursztyn he became involved with the

[pp. 195-196]

Peretz Association and for a long time, stood at its helm. A proud, nationalistic Jew and a Talmud scholar, he would frequently hold lectures. He ran the box evenings. He participated in literary evenings. He was very much beloved by the youth for his voice of the people and accessibility to people.

Up until its destruction, he was the librarian, its last librarian. He dedicated a lot of time to the library. With genuineness and devotion [he] worked toward its development.

In the final years before the Holocaust, he actively co-worked at the library, namely, on the annual reports. As a capable illustrator, he would make tables and diagrams, which provided an idea of the activity and growth of the library.

Translator's Footnotes

1. I have transliterated this title according to the orthographic rules of YIVO, since this is how many (or most) library catalogs appear to have transliterated it. Return
2. “Proshvito” refers to a Ukrainian cultural organization established in the 19^th century, which was a proponent of the Ukrainian “folk” and enlightenment. It also served as a cooperative to support the Ukrainians against the Polish nobility and Jewish merchants. Return

  Burshtyn, Ukraine     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 22 Feb 2024 by LA