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The Yizkor Book of Mizoch was published in 1960 as a remembrance of the 1,700 Jewish inhabitants of that town who perished in the Holocaust. It serves as a literary memorial, documenting a way of life that disappeared in unfathomable horror with the barbaric mass murder of the community on October 12, 1942. The original publication was coordinated by Asher Ben-Oni and his landsmen, Former Residents of Mizocz in Israel, a mutual aid society sharing hometown roots. To compile the book, the editors solicited essays from those born and raised in Mizoch who had emigrated to safety in decades before the war, and from the handful of Jews from that town who remained and survived.

When the volume was published in 1960, the editors enjoined the reader, “Remember! Pass before the eyes of your soul the images of the precious names of those who are of your own flesh and blood. They will return and live before you and their memories will be etched in your heart.”

I discovered the existence of this book with hopeful anticipation of learning about my family roots and the place my grandparents were raised, and also with immense and overwhelming trepidation regarding the horrible fate that become their siblings, nieces, nephews and cousins. Because the original book was published in a mixture of Hebrew and Yiddish languages, translation of the material was a barrier for me, my relatives and others in the English-speaking world who seek to understanding this rich and wrenching heritage.

Two very amazing things unfolded in the journey to translate the Yizkor Book of Mizoch, and each, in its own way, gives new life and relevance to the lost Jewish community of Mizoch. First, rather than raise funds and hire a professional translator as has been done for other yizkor books, I turned to language professors and students at universities across the United States, and the result was amazing. The commitment of these young people to immerse themselves in the testimonials of the original authors became a labor of love. As they translated, in their minds they walked the streets and fields of Mizoch, joined youth groups, hid in the forests and witnessed unfathomable tragedy.

With their professors, the students crafted every word of the translation to be faithful to the original text while being understandable in modern English idiom. Four generations later, in many ways, these young people developed a profound bond with the authors they translated. The translators are now part of the story and will carry this history within them during their own lives. I apologize to them all for any sleepless nights reliving these stories, but it is our common burden and responsibility to remember, and to them I say, you too are all now Mizochians.

Second, the other unexpected part of this journey is a story my grandparents could never have imagined, the story of how Ukraine has changed in the decades since the Shoah. During my grandparents' lifetime, Mizoch was part of the Russian empire, then Poland, and after the war, Ukraine. Yet, they never imagined themselves as Russian, Polish or Ukrainian. In these ethnocentric places, my grandparents were -- first and foremost -- Jews. My grandparents could never have envisioned a multi-ethnic democracy in Ukraine, let alone one that would elect a Jew as its President.

As the Yizkor Book of Mizoch was translated into English, it was also being translated into the Ukrainian language. History Professor Roman Mykhalchuk, Rivne State Humanitarian University, hails from Mizoch and has made preservation and understanding of the lost Jewish community of Mizoch a passionate focus of his career. Together with his colleague Professor of Languages Dmytro Aladko, a variety of material including my own family story have been translated into the Ukrainian language for use in programs to promote tolerance and to combat anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism. Their work underscores changes in modern Ukraine, the emergence of an independent, multi-ethnic democracy.

As you read this book, I share a passage remembered from childhood, a passage from the Passover Haggadah. The Haggadah said, “In every generation, each person must look inward as though they personally were among those who went forth from Egypt.” In the same way, I ask the reader of this Yizkor Book to embrace this book as though they were personally a part of this tragedy. It is our story. This Haggadah also teaches, “In every age, the concept of freedom grows broader, widening the horizons for finer and more ethical living, and that each generation is duty-bound to contribute to this growth, else humankind's ideals become stagnant and stationary.” While the authors of these essays righteously condemn the horrible misdeeds of many of their neighbors during the Holocaust, it is a grievous error to visit the weaknesses and sins of these forbearers on anyone alive today.

May we all learn from the saga of Mizoch and find strength to fight tyranny and to protect the meek and defenseless in our own age. Never again.

It is with profound gratitude that I thank the following professors and students for their dedication in making these materials available to the English-speaking readers. Their commitment to this project has been an inspiration to me and I will be forever grateful to see the story of Mizoch perpetuated by their work and carried by another generation in their hearts:

Professor Orian Zakai, George Washington University, Washington, DC, with students Corey Feuer and Yonatan Altman-Shafer.

Professor Itzik Gottesman, University of Texas at Austin, with student Clair Padgett.

Professor Naomi Sokoloff, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, with students Nida Kiali, Eiden Harel Brewer, Caleb Bilodeau, Noa Etzyon, Ofir Horovitz, Adam Lamb, Gabrielle Cooper, Shira Zur, Jonah Silverstein and Professor Hadar Khazzam-Horovitz. Also sincere thanks to Professor Or Rogovin of Bucknell University for his support to the University of Washington team.

Danielle Shwartz, Denver Jewish Day School, with students Isaac Makovsky, Joshua Metzel and Samuel Rotenberg.

In Ukraine, I profoundly thank Professor Roman Mykhalchuk, Rivne State Humanitarian University, for his vision in suggesting the translation of this book into the Ukrainian language, and for his unceasing efforts to combat anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism. He has kept the memory of the Jewish community alive with his ongoing professional and humanitarian work.

With immense gratitude, I thank Professor Dmytro Aladko, Rivne State Humanitarian University, for his professional skill and commitment in translating the Ukrainian-language version. Much of his work took place at the same time Russia launched its savage attack on Ukraine. As chapters appeared in my e-mail, he included updates on missile attacks in Rivne, descriptions of death and destruction in the region, and stories of daily air raid alerts. I imagine he completed many of the translations during endless hours in a bomb shelter, peering into the glow of his laptop computer. I also thank him for his friendship and providing his reflections about modern Ukraine.

None of this work would have been possible without the support of the JewishGen organization. This non-profit group provides a framework for translating Yizkor Books, infrastructure for posting materials to the internet, and recently added a program to transform the information into hard-copy books.

I sincerely thank Lance Ackerfeld, Yizkor Book Director, for the guidance he provided to bring this project to completion. Working with JewishGen volunteers Max G. Heffler and Jason Hallgarten, each document in this book was precisely formatted for posting on the internet. Also, thank you to Sondra Ettlinger for extracting the pictures from the original book, enabling their addition to the online project.

I also extend my gratitude for those working and volunteering at JewishGen who translated before I assumed took responsibility as project coordinator. Yocheved Klausner translated the Table of Contents, Nathen Gabriel translated captions and the List of Photographs, Beryl Baleson translated the List of Martyrs from the Mizoch Ghetto and Derman, and when I spotted my grandfather's family name in the photo captions, Yitzvchok Tzvi Margareten kindly translated the vignette about the family of my grandfather's uncle.

Readers interested in additional information about the Jewish community in Mizoch will be interested in the JewishGen KehilaLinks website at https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Mizoch/, where several additional family stories are posted that were not published in the original Yizkor Book.

The list of victims included in this translation is taken from the original Yizkor Book. Since 1960, additional testimonies have been submitted and compiled at Yad Vashem, the world holocaust remembrance center. The central database of Shoah victims' names can be found at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/ where the user may enter the place name of Mizoch to view an updated list of records.

Laurence Broun
Washington, DC.
August, 2022

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