[pp. 273-274]

Jewish Intelligentsia

[pp. 275-276]

Our town, with such a small Jewish community; nonetheless, during the final decades of its existence, managed to take in and absorb within it, social, cultural, and political streams, and aspirations of the major creative Jewish collectivity in Poland. Little Bursztyn also had a number of Jewish intelligentsia [members] and serious social leaders. The notions of national and social freedom struck deep roots here. With Chasidic fervor and devotion, the youth threw itself into the struggle for the realization of the thousand-year-long dreams of the Jew and human-being.

This was mostly people who had leapt over the fence of our town, into the broader world, and felt the crowdedness there; for in their hearts, they carried with them the soulful breadth of the town and returned to serve it and to be the tenth man to make up the Minyan, with the goodness and joy of Jewish stubbornness, unrest, and desire for creativity.

I recall Dr. David Maltz as if in a dream. He was a lawyer, a man of average height, with a pointy little beard. A distinguished personality in the Zionist movement of East Galicia. If I am not mistaken, he was among the delegates at the First Zionist Congress. H

e was a first-class speaker. He was very popular and beloved far beyond Bursztyn by Jews and non-Jews.

They would relate in the town: before Austrian times, while he was running as a candidate for Parliament as a Zionist representative, who was also supported by the Ukrainians against a Polish candidate, Dr. Maltz once held an election speech, at which the Ukrainians even hoisted him up in their arms.

Dr. David Maltz was an able journalist; his articles were mostly about Zionism, [and] would be printed in the Yiddish newspaper, which appeared in Lemberg, “Dos Tag[e]blatt,” as well as in the Polish liberal press.

His children he raised in the Jewish and Zionist spirit. His son, Edik, he sent to the Baron Hirsch School, along with the children of the simple common people.

His daughter made Aliyah in the beginning of the 1920s to Israel. She worked hard at building roads and houses; she became ill and died.

The brother-in-law of Dr. Maltz was Dr. Mordechai Ehrenpreis, Chief Rabbi of Stockholm, and a well-known Zionist activist. The wife of the director of the Baron Hirsch School, Anshel Fogel, the wife of Dr. Maltz, and Mordechai Ehrenpreis, were sisters and brothers. Their father was a bookseller in Lemberg.

[pp. 277-278]

Following the First World War, Dr. Maltz did not return to Bursztyn; he settled in Lemberg.

He did not take any part in Bursztyn's political life of Polish Jewry during the two world wars. This was likely because of his poor state of health.

Dr. Maltz died before the Second World War.

Before the First World War, there lived in Bursztyn a family named Rapoport. There were 2 adult sons and a daughter in the family. The older son was named Valya. He was a teacher at the Polish school. This Valya possessed the rare ability to observe and describe people. When he was still a youngster, he wrote essays [that appeared] in the Polish newspapers.

Following the First World War, he was once again a teacher in Bursztyn. He kept himself far-removed from Jews and from Judaism. He was a member of the Polish Socialist Party (P. P. S.).

During the course of time his first work, “Before Caesar's Times,” “Za czasów Cesarza,” appeared. After that, [there was] a comedy, “Manageria,” which was a satire on the social life of the intelligentsia in Bursztyn.

These two books right away made a name for him in Poland.

The comedy was played in all the largest Polish theaters.

In 1922, he fell ill with tuberculosis. (His younger brother, Maciej, also died from the same illness).

He lay in critical condition, receiving one blood transfusion after the next. The doctors saw in advance a quick end.

I would often visit him at that time, devoting myself greatly to him. Around him walked a Christian girl who was working during her post.

Once, when he felt very weak, he called me over to him and asked: I should go to the religious house of study, see a few Jews there – they should recite Psalms and beg God that he become well. I fulfilled his request. The Jews begged God – and he became well. That is why he married the Christian girl… He left Bursztyn. He became one of the greatest humorists in Poland, under the well-known name, Wilhelm Rohrt. It was said that he had totally left Judaism. He would frequently come to Bursztyn to refresh the graves of his father and brother. Primarily, he would always leave behind money so that candles be burned in the synagogue and that poor Jews recite Psalms.

Dr. Wolf Shmarak moved to Bursztyn during the First World War. He took over the house of the director, Anshel Fogel. He hailed from a well-known Zionist family in the vicinity of Stryj; he was tall, slim, with an original Jewish face. He right away became socially active in the town.

Following the First World War, when a large part of the Bursztyn youth was leftward-inclined, Dr. Shmarak was the leading champion of the Zionist idea.

We, young ones, who believed with

[pp. 279-280]

complete faith, that Socialism would bring equality and salvation for the Jews in the diaspora, strongly opposed Dr. Shmarak.

I recall the following episode: It was in the beginning of the 1920s. Dr. Shmarak Z”L spoke at the religious house of study, which was packed full of Jews. He said the

President of the Bursztyner Credit Treasury Sitting from the left: Dr. Wolf Shmarak, Yisroel Lasberg, and Shmuel Muttermilch

Unfortunately, the prophecy was fulfilled in an utterly terrifying form.

Despite the opposing outlooks, he would meet with us, discuss. Regarding the Poalei-Tzion he would say: You are Zionists in quotation marks. The Galicianer Poalei-Tzion was, as is known, much more radical in its Socialism, than the Poalei-Tzion in other parts of Poland. It called itself: Jewish Socialist Workers' Party (“Poalei Tzion”), and this is what he referred to as Zionists in quotation marks.

Dr. Shmarak was a contributor to the Zionist daily newspaper, “Chwila,” which appeared in Lemberg. He was one of the most distinguished Zionists in the area. A sharp polemicist, but always in an elegant form, not personally offensive.

He was one of the most popular lawyers in Bursztyn and was a long-term councilor at the Bursztyn Magistrate.

I had the honor of sitting with him for two years in the Magistrate's Jewish sector. His every move made an impression on all his listeners. Jews and Christians. He always fought for Jewish rights and honor. The final years he was ill and had much pain in his legs. One would frequently encounter him on the street clasping his wife's arm.

[pp. 281-282]

Dr. Lipa Schumer

A Bursztyn-born, learned in cheder, and at the religious study house. He studied medicine in Vienna. Right after the First World War, he came and settled in the town.

At that time, a terrible typhus epidemic raged in the area, and Dr. Schumer right away had his hands full of work. I recall him running around from house to house. He climbed down from one wagon and up onto another one, until he himself grew ill with spotted typhus. His young, healthy body overcame the illness; he became well [again].

He was the most popular physician in Bursztyn and the surrounding area.

The Jews of Bursztyn were proud of him, one of their own people. When he would come to the religious study house to speak about Zionism, or about civil matters, Jews would beam from pleasure. He would interweave a verse or Midrash with his sermon.

Unfortunately, Dr. Schumer never had any time to devote himself to social, cultural life in the town. He was always racing, always running.

Until … until the Second World War broke out. The Russians entered the town. Living in fear. Not being able to sleep calmly through the night, should someone come to “take you [away],” the ache from the plunder of that which was hard-earned – [and so] Dr. Schumer aged early. I remember very well those days. The truth is that compared to what happened afterwards, during the time of Hitler, this was heaven.

Dr. Schumer and his family had the fortune of rescuing themselves from Hitlerist hands and being among the small remnant of surviving Bursztyn Jews.

Dr. Schumer did not live to see our “memorial book.” He died on 10.11.1959, 18 Cheshvan 5720 [1960]. May his memory be for a blessing.

When the First World War broke out, Minne Tobias, the son of Avraham Eli Tobias, was studying at the University of Lemberg. He was called up to the Austrian military, served as an artillery officer, took part in the battles, and was wounded.

Following the war, he returned to the town. It is worth mentioning two facts that had a major effect on Tobias – formed his world outlook and path in life as a Jew and human-being.

During the war, he became acquainted with a Russian Jew who was taken prisoner by the Austrians. This Jew, who was very enlightened [or, an adherent of the Jewish Enlightenment] and proficient in the new Hebrew and Yiddish literature, became the attendant of the Austrian officer, M. Tobias. That very attendant, the simple Russian soldier, began to read and recite with his master Yiddish and Hebrew literature, Bialik and Peretz, Mendele, and Sholem Aleichem. The Russian Jew had a tremendous influence on Tobias as a Zionist and Jewish man of the people.

Following a characteristic episode, which demonstrates the relations that existed between an officer and his attendant. Minne related it himself:

Once, in the evening, my attendant read Peretz, as usual, with heart and fervor, and I swallowed up each of his words. That day, I grew very tired, and I do not know how it happened. My eyes closed

[pp. 283-284]

and I fell asleep… I was awakened by the book closing loudly with a bang. My attendant stood up red with anger and shouted: You are indeed nothing more than an “egg-man” (Minne's father was an egg dealer)… Tobias forgave him, and the Russian Jew continued to learn to love his people and his spiritual treasures.

During the years 1918-1920, when the Ukrainian-Polish and Russian-Polish battles took place in our area, when our town of Bursztyn was transferred, hand-to-hand, and Jewish possessions, Jewish honor was for naught, Tobias once saw how a Polish officer was making fun of a Jew and wanted to shave off his beard. Minne defended the Jew and said to the hooligan: I am also an officer in the reserves… The response from the Polish officer was a slap in Tobias' face.

When the Polish forces were mobilized, Minne informed the military forces about this situation, and at the same time withdrew his rights as a Polish officer. The Polish military forces won/made a hit with this [information]. M. Tobias received a message that he was being freed, entirely, from his military service.

After the war, Minne did not continue his studies. He opened a bakery, and together with his brother, Mendel, worked hard and supported his mother and sister. He married the daughter of Moshe Strickendreier.

Minne was an original personality. Intelligent and sharp-witted. He had a major influence on the youth, particularly on the left-wing [ones]; they impressed upon his relationship with work. One could see him carrying loads, carrying water, and in general, carrying out the hardest physical labor. He was an anti-clericalist and an absolutist opponent of Socialism. The solution to the Jewish question he saw in Zionism.

The major reason for his energetic attraction was his great knowledge of modern Yiddish literature. He was the instructor of a whole group of youths. He learned the Yiddish classics with them.

Who from among us does not recall his readings on literary themes? His enthusiasm while reading Peretz, Sholem Aleichem, and Bialik. His theatrical productions, he would bring, together with Binem Lev, to Lemberg, while the Vilne Trupe was strolling [through]. He would observe their performances and later on, their direction and performances of the best plays of their repertoire in Bursztyn.

Minne Tobias did not want to conduct any political discussions with us. Regarding Socialism he spoke with disregard, saying: “You want to make all people equal? Impossible. They are born unequal. Look at me and my wife Hinda! And look at Daniel Krantz and Peya!”

The distinction was not only a physical one, but also a moral one; nobody could deny it.

Minne worked for many years in his bakery. A few years before the war, he purchased a farm in the region of Lemberg. He settled there and lived in a village.

September 1939, when the Red Army conquered East Galicia, they took away his farm, and drove him out of the village.

He arrived in Bursztyn, broken. He once came into my place, holding onto a cane. The wounds of the previous war pained him. He raised the cane and with his deep voice said: “I should whack you over the head with this cane, but you already have enough trouble.”

A few weeks later, the N. K. V. D. arrested me as a “contra-revolutionary” and sent me to Siberia.

[pp. 285-286]

The surviving Jews of Bursztyn relate that Minne Tobias right away recognized the devilish Nazi plans against the Jews; he refused to work with them – he was sent to the Rohatyn ghetto and died there.

A group of the intelligentsia in Bursztyn Sitting from the left: Dr. Shmarak, Mrs. Rurberg, Dr. Klugman, Mrs. Dr. Shmarak, and Dr. Hacker In the middle: The veterinarian Adolph Wattenberg (he was murdered in the woods of Katyn)

[pp. 287-288]

He was a Czortkower Chasid. The entire day he was busy in his glass shop, and in the evenings, he would sit until late at night in the religious study house, and learn together with all the young men, among whom he was distinguished with his learnedness and breadth [of knowledge] in Tanach. He was known as a smart Jew; he had a ready joke for everyone.

R' Feivel Frankl and his wife, Chaya

One of the highest virtues for which R' Feivel Frankel stood out, was his uncompromising way of holding himself to the truth [i.e., stating the truth]. At every opportunity, he told even those people who were closest [to him] the truth to their faces. This is also what he taught his own children.

The son of R' Feivel. While learning in the religious house of study, he joined the First Zionists in the town. He made Aliyah to Israel, was active in “Mizrachi,” and was a trustee of the Great Synagogue of Haifa, being all the while a laborer. He died in September 1954.

He belonged to those well-off Jews for whom money did not mess with their heads, who did not become conceited. Leibush Kletter became friendly with all the fellows [learning] at the religious study house, learned a page of Gemara with them. On the Sabbath, following the meal, he would learn Pirkei Avot [Ethics of the Fathers] with the commentaries, together with them.

He possessed a sharp head and loved to steep himself in the Rambam's [Maimonides'] philosophical method/system.

[pp. 289-290]

He helped us to understand in an accessible form the logical conclusions of the Rambam.

Every morning one would see him sitting in the religious study house over the Gemara. At that time, he would learn alone; and at that, he smoked a great deal.

R' Leibush Kletter was known as a wise man in every area/field. Just as in the Gemara, so too in politics, he also possessed the ability to explain and demonstrate.

His learning, alone and with students, interested him more than his flour shop, where the main burden lay upon his wife and children. Among his students were also: Yankl Vove, the ritual slaughterer's son, Yisroel Schneeweiss, and I.

He was wealthy, had an aristocratic demeanor, but at the same time, learned a lot. Nearly every day after praying, he would sit in the religious house of study over the Gemara. The fellows in the religious study house had in him a human-being, to whom one could turn with a question concerning a difficult spot in the Gemara. He possessed the strength to clarify in an understandable manner. The same was true of secular matters.

A learned man of a Jew; there was not a day in the week that he was not among the first at the religious study house, where he sat and learned until the final Minyan, which ended around eleven o'clock. Monday and Thursday, as well as Rosh Chodesh [i.e., the beginning of the Jewish month], he would reader from the Torah at every Minyan.

R' Itzik the cantor was concerned that at the religious study house there should always be prepared cake and liquor, with which everyone who had a Yahrtzeit could serve the worshippers.

Aside from the six hours in the morning, he would also learn during the evening hours until late into the night.

I still remember him as a gentle young man, how in the middle of a beautiful day he would interrupt his business and go into the religious house of learning to learn a page of Gemara. On the Sabbath, following lunch, he would come to my home and call upon me to learn until the time of the Mincha [prayers]. He did not like to learn alone and did not consider that someone might think that it was beneath his honor to call upon a boy, that he should learn with him. I felt exalted by this very honor. In my memory remains his great love for learning.

A noteworthy type who represented within him a harmony of enlightenment and Chasidism. He was a Stratyner Chasid, and at the same time, an adherent of secular education.

The handwriting of R' Itzik-David the cantor

[pp. 291-292]

He read Hebrew poetry together with them and the Hebrew weekly, “Hamitzpah,” to which he subscribed at that time. We, Yankl, Vove the ritual slaughterer's [son], and I, gave donations toward the costs of subscribing to this weekly. He was permeated with the deep desire to help the youth receive an education. His ideal was: a religious Jew with a modern education.

He hailed from Kolomyja, from a rabbinic dynasty, and was the son-in-law of Moshe Haber, who owned his own fields, a brickyard, and dealt in

The Henich family in America (sons and daughters of R' Koppel Henich) First row (from the right): Wolf, the mother, Mattel, Ruchtche, Chaim Second row (from the right): Meir, Ola, Bronia, Harry

Koppel did not get involved in Jewish communal matters. However, one knew that he devoted himself to charity for latently poor people. He gave much time to the education of his children, who were noted for their decency. Their father's word was holy to them.

In 1915, when the Russian Army marched into Galicia, they transported thousands of Austrian prisoners through our town. Coincidentally, at the time, Koppel was at his

[pp. 293-294]

father-in-law's [home], whose house stood near the main road, where the Cossacks accompanied the prisoners on their horses. Koppel noticed how one of the multitude of prisoners had stepped out of the line. The Cossack galloped over to him, gave him a whack with his rifle,^[1] and the fellow collapsed, bloodied. Koppel, risking his life, ran out to him with a bowl of water and washed off the wounds. At some point he overheard the wounded man murmuring something in Yiddish. Koppel looked around and saw that the Cossack was busy with other prisoners, so he quickly dragged the wounded man to the fence of the neighboring Christian cemetery. The Cossacks noticed it later on, but they were certain that he was being dragged [away] to be buried and did not react.

Koppel hid that Jew somewhere, and only when the entire body [of soldiers] had left the town, did he take him out of this hiding place. It turned out that the fellow was from Kolomyja. Koppel hid him at his place during the entire period of the Russian occupation.

A year later, 1916, when cholera raged in the town, Koppel died. During the same period, his father-in-law, R' Moshe Haber also died.

His wife, Mattel, resides today in America, along with her children: Velvl, Hersh, Chaim, Meir, Pinye, Ephraim, Rochel, and Sarah.

Translator's Footnote

1. The word that appears here in the original Yiddish text is “rapnik,” whose exact definition I was unable to find in any dictionaries. The closest related word that I have found to-date is “rapier,” which is a type of sword that was used namely in the 16^th-18^th centuries, particularly in France. In the given 20^th century context of World War II, it is possible that this was some type of sword, but perhaps more probable, that it was some form of rifle or revolver. Return

[pp. 295-296]

He was born in 1881 in the city of Bolechow, in eastern Galicia. His mother, Bertha, an enlightened woman, passed down education to her children, so that they should learn according to their talents. Zev studied in a gymnasium in Stryj, and at a young age, the merit of bravery and feelings of self-respect became recognized within him. While he was a student of the gymnasium, a strike was initiated by the entire class, on account of the insulting behavior of one of the teachers. The students were standing up and leaving the classroom every time that the teacher with the boorish behavior would enter. The administration of the gymnasium commented on the unprecedented disturbance with much severity but realized that the 17-year-old youths were standing their ground insofar as their wishes to remove the despised teacher, and that they were not frightened by any threats. The administration was forced to conduct business with the “rebels,” and the event merited publicity among the public and in the newspapers. In the end, the teacher was removed from the classroom, and the administration of the gymnasium took revenge on the forces [behind] the strike and its organizers, who informed on them. Among the students who were sentenced for expulsion was Zev Schmurek and two of his friends. And the decision [was made] that they would complete the seventh grade in Stryj and then transfer to a gymnasium in another city. When he came to study in Lwow [i.e., Lemberg], the students of the gymnasium organized an enthusiastic welcome: a Jewish young man showed the Gentiles how one fights for human honor.

Zev Schmurek studied law in Vienna. Indeed, most of his time and energy he dedicated to Zionist movement activities. The movement was then at the beginning of its existence, and the path of its pioneers was very difficult and full of obstacles. They were met with apathy/indifference and suspicion, with mockery and loathing from among their [own] people, as well as from the environment in which they lived; however, their efforts bore fruit and their lines continued to grow.

Zev Schmurek worked in Vienna and in the provincial towns, particularly, in his city of Stryj, and was a speaker at assemblies and festivities, appeared at assemblies of opponents of Zionism, and let his words be heard, despite the attack on him by the crowd, the heckling, and raising of fists against him.

He and his friends founded a Hebrew school in Stryj, at which generations were educated in the Hebrew language and with love for the [Jewish] homeland. The Jewish students were a target for anti-Semitic teasing, and Zev Schmurek was a member of a combative academic Zionist corporation, and he learned to a great degree to protect the national honor that he possessed. A branch of the corporation was also established with his efforts in Stryj, and he merited celebrating the 25-year jubilee of its founding.

When he returned from Vienna to Galicia, he worked as a lawyer and continued in his Zionist activity. In the year 1911, he married Fannie Frisch, the daughter of Menashe Frisch, the communal activist whose brother was the writer, Ephraim Frisch. During the First World War, he was conscripted into the army, and returned home a sick man, and from then on, he did not return to us. After Poland became independent, he decided to put down roots in Lwow as a lawyer and prepared to make Aliyah to Israel with his family. As per the advice of his friend, Dr. David

The family of Dr. Schmurek From the left: Fannie, the wife of Dr. Schmurek, his mother, Bertha, and Dr. Z. Schmurek. His daughters: Ilana and Milia Standing from the left: His brother, Dr. Eliezer Schmurek Z”L

[pp. 297-298]

In Bursztyn, he was greeted hospitably, and [so] he decided to settle in the town up until the time that he made Aliyah and did not imagine that it would last 24 years – up until his death at the hands of the Nazi murderers.

When he arrived in Bursztyn, [as] the first lawyer there, he quickly became famous throughout the region, as somebody possessing excellent professional talents; and his work did not prevent him from continuing his Zionist activity among adults and youths in the planning and preparations for their Aliyah to Israel. Aside from his work in Bursztyn, he was also a member of the Zionist Histadrut Council in Lwow; he was also involved with Zionist journalism and wrote articles in Polish and in Yiddish. During the elections for the Polish Sejm (House of Electors), he was selected to be a delegate, but the doctors warned him against strenuous work, which would involve trips to Warsaw, and thus he did not agree to be selected as a delegate. However,

The Zionist Youth [in Hebrew: “Noar Ha-Tzioni”] of Bursztyn

Indeed, the police meted out revenge against him, after the passage of several years, when Sejm elections were organized within an environment of blatant terror. Nonetheless, they did not dare to forbid/prohibit Dr. Zev Schmurek; rather, they placed an armed officer at the gate of his home, whose job it was to prohibit him and his wife from leaving the house until the end of the elections. The intention was that Dr. Schmurek would respond sharply to the violation of his civil rights, and they would be able to prohibit him in accordance with the law. However, he did not say anything about the “guard of honor,” but rather, secretly exited his home from the backdoor, accompanied by his wife; and by way of gardens and fields, they reached the ballot box station [i.e., voting station]… With great effort, while he was ill, he crossed the road that was full of barriers, and when he entered the ballot box station, it was understood from the facial expressions of the council members, that they had not at all expected his arrival. The news of his deed spread through the city and elicited laughter and joy among the Jews, and encouraged the vacillators and those who were frightened to go to the ballot box station and vote for the Zionist list.

The celebrations on the Jewish street in Bursztyn were small: the economic situation of most of the residents was very difficult, and the miniscule favored ones, peddlers, and merchants, suffered from a lack of cash flow. Dr. Schmurek exerted himself and established a branch of the “Cooperative Bank for Credit” and the enterprise succeeded and functioned until the outbreak of the Second World War. Dr. Schmurek stood at its head, and all the members of its administration worked as volunteers; from all of them, only one survived, H. Ruhr, who resides in the United States.

Dr. Schmurek hoped that he would succeed in realizing his dream

[pp. 299-300]

and make Aliyah to Israel with his family. His two daughters studied Hebrew. In the year 1928, their father was granted a travel ticket for Israel, with the desire of acquiring a house [there] and bringing over his family members. Two months before his designated departure, he took suddenly ill, and he was not able to go, due to his incurable illness, and he was forced to give up on the realization of his dream.

When the Second World War broke out, the Soviet army regiments invaded Bursztyn, and Dr. Schmurek suffered hardship and persecution: he was driven from his home and stood to be imprisoned, but managed to escape to Lwow, entered the hospital, and his health condition worsened once the Germans reached Lwow. He suffered, along with all his fellow Jews, much torture and oppression. With the Nazi takeover, he did not have any illusions insofar as the fate of the Jews under their rule and was troubled [by the fact] that his health condition prevented him from fleeing to the forest to the partisans, to live or to die there. The job of the members of the “Judenrat” also did not appeal to him; and when the respected members of the Jewish community advised him to lead the “Judenrat” – he refused to accept the position and explained that only a scoundrel would be able to collaborate with the Nazis.

In October 1942, he was deported, together with his wife and mother and their fellow Jews, to the town of Bukaczowce, and from there they were deported to the extermination camp, Belzec. The last time that Dr. Schmurek was seen, he was walking to the train of death, together with his beloved mother. The murderers whipped them and ordered them to separate, but they continued to walk arm-in-arm and with blood dripping, to the train. There, they were separated by force, and they each entered separate compartments. Bertha Schmurek died upon entering the compartment. They said about her that she merited a merciful death on account of the contributions of her heart and her good deeds; she worked a great deal for the sake of the poor, and also established an “Ezrat Nashim” for the infirm and for women giving birth, in the town.

The murderers did not want to open the compartment and to remove the deceased woman, and her corpse rode all the way to the extermination camp.

The wife of Dr. Schmurek was not at home when her husband was taken by the Nazis. When the horrible news reached her, she did not flee for her life; she did not want to live alone and attempted to rescue him with a high price. She walked to the train station and requested from the murderers to search for her husband and to take her in his stead.

As is understood, the murderers did not agree to free Dr. Schmurek, and also placed her inside the train of death.

Dr. Schmurek's youngest daughter, an attractive woman, an artist, resided in Bialystok. Her husband, Dr. Bernzweig, was a lawyer and Zionist activist, and he was among the first victims. Sometime thereafter, she too, perished in the Shoah. In addition, the brother of Dr. Schmurek, an enthusiastic Zionist, was murdered during the first weeks of the German conquest. May their memories be for a blessing!

From the entire family, only his eldest daughter and nephew survived. They were rescued and reside in Israel.

Translator's Footnote

1. This surname has been spelled alternatively in this text as “Shmarak.” The fact that there is generally no punctuation in this memorial book makes transliterating surnames of unfamiliar individuals somewhat of a challenge and involves a certain amount of educated guesswork. Return

Original Footnote

1. This text was received separately, after the printing of the articles in Hebrew, [and] thus, appears in this section. Return

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