[Page 193]

Some Krosner Jews came back, visited the city and then left. The city was strange to them and the faces were unfamiliar. It seemed to the returnees that this was not their Krosno. Their families were gone, their homes occupied by Poles, and their businesses destroyed. The returnees would have to start from scratch, and many decided against it. They packed their few belongings and decided to leave Krosno for the big cities or to leave Poland altogether. Other Jews decided to stay in Krosno and even established a Jewish community committee to help the returnees settle in the city.

The lists are difficult to read so we decided to rewrite them. We have two pages of names that follow the original name sheets. The second page has the official stamp of the Jewish committee of Krosno.

Last name First name Birth year Place Koenig Helena 1910 Krosno Koenig Ruta 1937 Krosno Sternbach Zofia 1910 Krosno Pferferbaum Jan 1937 Krosno Pferferbaum Manes 1903 Krosno Pferferbaum Fani 1917 Krosno Maisels Hela 1906 Krosno Maisels Fela 1914 Krosno Trynopolski Jozef 1909 Krosno Schwebel Alter–Aron 1887 Krosno Schwebel Anna 188 Krosno Schwebel Mendel 1922 Krosno Schwebel Brononia 1924 Krosno Schwebel Chaja 1924 Krosno Taller Pinkas 1928 Krosno Engel Jozef 1921 Krosno Grunspan Donia 1920 Krosno Rabi Klara 1922 Krosno Gelb Dora 1922 Krosno Grunspan Awraham 1921 Krosno Kalb Mania 1906 Krosno Kalb Osina 1936 Krosno Bergman Dawid 1907 Krosno Bergman Saul 1910 Krosno Bergman Osias 1908 Krosno Bergman Rubin 1919 Krosno Bergman Markus 1916 Krosno Bergman Lazar 1907 Krosno Schachner Stanislaw 1908 Krosno Schachner Hela 1918 Krosno Schachner Moniek 1936 Krosno Elowitz Samuel 1878 Krosno Stiefel Samuel 1878 Krosno Stiefel Hela 1912 Krosno Katz Hela 1917 Krosno Lieber Wolf 1900 Krosno Engelhard Iza 1901 Krosno Schiff Pinkas 1901 Krosno Schiff Necha 1888 Krosno Schiff Josef 1928 Krosno Schiff Rozia 1925 Krosno Kuflick Rpsa 1916 Krosno Keller Markus 1912 Krosno Keller Chune 1919 Krosno Spira Ida 1913 Krosno Spira Mania 1938 Krosno Spira Meilech Her 1919 Krosno Guzik Szyja 1903 Krosno Guzik Jozef 1909 Krosno Linsker Sara 1908 Krosno Rosenthal Nuchim 1910 Krosno Trum Jakub 1925 Krosno Tenzer Leib 1910 Krosno Ehrenreich Wolf 1914 Dukla

Last name First name Birth year Place Landsberger Isydor 1885 Krosno Fries Zofia 1921 Krosno Lipiner Israel 1890 Zrecin Lipiner Helena 1900 Zrecin Lipiner Estera 1923 Zrecin Lipiner Sonia 1935 Zrecin Morgenstern Chaskel 1901 Zrecin Brozinska Irena 1918 Zrecin Bergman Awraham 1927 Zrecin Schenker Regina 1908 Zrecin Grunspan Herman 1899 Zrecin Fessel Pinkas 1907 Zegwice Bigayer Awraham 1892 Zegwice Bigayer Regina 1888 Jedlice Emer Genia 1908 Jedlice Emer Alfred 1930 Jedlice Neuman Menashe 1908 Jedlice Schenker Rosa 1920 Jedlice Riess Jozef 1898 Jedlice Riess Mala 1930 Jedlice Riess Regina 1915 Jedlice Feld Osias 1926 Jedlice Feld Menasche 1927 Jedlice Feld Sonia 1938 Jedlice Denholtz Dawid 1908 Jedlice Denholtz Poldek 1926 Jedlice Denholtz Lola 1922 Jedlice Lerman Eljas 1896 Jedlice Lerman Leona 1902 Jedlice Lerman Bronia 1922 Jedlice Lerman Salomon 1928 Jedlice Ber Estera 1893 Jedlice Ber Jakub 1905 Jedlice Denholtz Gehardt 1906 Jedlice Turk Herman 1918 Jedlice Turk Dawid 1906 Jedlice Kimel Dawid 1896 Jedlice Kimel Esla 1920 Jedlice Unger Lea 1912 Jedlice Unger Samuel 1929 Jedlice Unger Inis 1928 Jedlice Roth Alter 1902 Jedlice Lacher Lea 1899 Jedlice Lacher Leon 1929 Jedlice Fels Sara 1891 Jedlice Fels Chana 1925 Jedlice Hiller Samuel 1942 Jedlice Schenbach Ricchard 1909 Krosno Stern Cesia 1915 Krosno

We copied the names as they were written with their mistakes. We notice that the list contained many Jews who were not native of Krosno but settled in the city following WWII to increase their personal security. The hamlets were near Krosno.

On May 15, 1945, the Jewish committee of Krosno also submitted a list of officers who were elected to represent the community. Their names and titles are as follows:

President Schachner,

1. Stanislaw Guzik, Vice–president, University graduate
2. Josef Helena Stein Secretary, University graduate
3. Stein, Helena Secretary, University graduate
4. Helena Katz Treasurer
5. Wolf Lieber, Member of the board

All members are residents of the city of Krosno. Notice the community stamp and the official notations of the city of Krosno.

Official letter to the mayor of Krosno.

A rare event in Poland between the wars was the appointment of a Jewish official to a high position in the government. This policy changed after the war. There were some Jewish ministers and high officials in the administration. Attacks against Jews began to take place in the countryside that was controlled by the nationalist forces. In September of 1945, a pogrom against Jews took place in Krakow, Galicia. Anti–Jewish incidents multiplied across Poland, their intensity increasing as Polish citizens began to return from the Soviet Union.

The first transports were primarily Polish farmers and skilled workers where the number of Jews was relatively small. As the transports kept coming, the percentage of Jews increased substantially. By July 1946, with the massive arrival of repatriated Polish Jews from the Soviet Union, the number of Jews in Poland swelled to 240,489. Most of the recent arrivals were sent to the new Polish areas where there were plenty of apartments and jobs. The German residents of these areas were forced to leave Poland. Large Jewish communities began to appear, namely Wroclaw (Breslau) and Walbrzych (Waldenburg), among others.

The Polish government and the American Joint helped the returnees settle, but the Polish countryside continued the fight against the Government and the Polish Jews. The height of the campaign reached the city of Kielce where 41 Jews and 4 Poles were killed on July 4, 1946.^[1]

The mass grave at Kielce, Poland following the pogrom. Under the pretext that a Christian child was kidnapped by Jews for ritual purposes, the Poles attacked the surviving Jews of Kielce. The fact that Polish security and police forces joined the mob sent alarm warnings to all Jews of Poland. Jews began to worry about their safety

In 1945, about 5,000 Polish Jews left Poland and crossed illegally to Czechoslovakia. The stream became stronger and in May of 1946, 3,052 Polish Jews entered Czechoslovakia. The number jumped to 8,000 in June. After the pogrom in Kielce, the tide turned to an avalanche. 19,000 Jews left Poland in July; 35,346 in August; and 12,379 in September of 1946. During 5 months, 77,700 Polish Jews left Poland and crossed the border at Nachod in Czechoslovakia. This was a major crossing point, but Jews crossed the border at several other border points. According to American Joint records, it is estimated that 90,000 Jews left Poland in 1946. Fear struck the Jews and they decided to pack and seek safety. The Polish countryside was losing the few Shoah surviving Jews who headed to the various crossing points along the long Polish–Czech borders. The main crossing points were at Kladzko, Walbrzych, Wroclaw, Krosno and Sanok.

Crossing points of the Brichah at Krosno and Sanok, Poland to Slovakia, Subcarpathia and Romania

A group of Polish “Brichah” agents, amongst them Moshe Meiri or better known as Ben. He is at the right corner at the bottom of the picture. The Krosno “Brichah” station was headed by Ben or Moshe Meiri.

Ben proceeded to Krosno and organized a base where the “Brichah” brought small groups of Jews that were about to cross the Carpathian Mountains. They had to rest, stock up on food and prepare for as long trip over the mountains. The Krosno station grew in importance as the number of Jewish refugees increased. The Krosno “Brichah” station would soon decline in importance as the crossing points shifted in a westerly direction, namely Kladzko, Walbrzych.

The road changed since the Romanian authorities closed the Constanta port facilities to the “Brichah” organisation. So there was no point in sending Jewish refugees to Romania with no further exits. Instead, the refugees were sent to Czechoslovakia and then to Germany and Austria where they entered the D.P. camps mainly in the American zones. Still, individual Jews who ventured into the Polish countryside took their lives in their hands as the tombstone below shows. Jews continued to live in the big cities like Krakow, Warsaw, Lodz, and Wroclaw.

“Brichah” agents in Krosno; from right to left; Sarah Pressman, Lena Hemel, Stefan Grajek, Vi Feishter and a police official. The city of Krosno was located near the Polish-Czechoslovakian (presently Slovakian) border. The “Brichah” would bring groups of Jews that wanted to go to Palestine. In Krosno they received their final directions and instructions before they set out to leave Poland.

With the liberation of the city of Krosno, some Jewish survivors began to appear, some partisans and discharged soldiers also visited the city of Krosno namelly Salek Berger, a native of Krosno, who survived the war in Eastern Ukraine and with the liberation of the area was drafted into the Polish Army. Following the war. He visited his native city and joined the “Brichah” in Krosno. According to Salek: “The “Brichah” organization was a secret organization dedicated to send all Jews of Eastern Europe to Palestine. The members of the organization were ex–partisans, camp survivors, discharged soldiers from the Jewish brigade and discharged soldiers from the Polish and Russian armies”. Berger joined led transports of Jews across the Polish–Czech border in the area of Krosno where he knew the paths. According to Berger, the work was difficult, dangerous and illegal. He remained with the organization for some time and then was replaced by another volunteer. Berger himself was sent to one of the D.P. camps in Italy where he remained for several years. He eventually reached the USA.

The city of Krosno was located near the Polish–Czechoslovakian (presently Slovakia) border. Surviving Jews reached the city as individuals or small groups and were organized into transports that crossed the border to Slovakia and then to Romania or Austria. Some individual Jews tried to reach the assembly point in Krosno but never made it as the memorial tombstone indicates.

Yechiel Proper, the son of Arieh Proper of Sanok. This important and kind man was murdered by blood–thirsty killers on the 8th day of the Jewish month of Elul in the year Tashav or 5706. [September 4, 1946]

May they rest peacefully wherever they are buried.

Footnotes

1. Bauer, Flight, p.208 Return
2. Bauer, Flight, p.28 Return
3. Bauer, Flight, p.28 Return

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