|
by Yehuda Lieberman
Translated by Mira Eckhaus
The history of the united branch of Poalei Zion with the S.Z. in Radomsko, as a
body with organizational and social momentum, begins with the unification
conference of the right wing of Poalei Zion with Tze'irei Zion, which was held
at the end of 1925 in Warsaw. Three delegates from Radomsko participated in
this conference: Aryeh Tzipler, Zisman Ofman (who were perished in the
Holocaust) and Chaim Goldberg (immigrated to Israel in 1935). And immediately
after it, a branch of the united party was organized in our city, where a group
of members of the right wing of Poalei Zion merged with members of S.Z.
Along with the Poalei Zion group that joined the united party were members with experience in public and party action. Most of them belonged to the Poalei Zion movement from its early days. Among them, we should mention the member Mordechai Zelig Rosenblatt, who was one of the founders of the Poalei Zion in our city and participated as a delegate at the Poalei Zion's world conference in Krakow in 1912. He was among the opponents of the left current in the party and with its split, he remained loyal to his views. Among the group of participants were the members Isidore Auerbach, a representative of Poalei Zion in the first municipal council that occurred immediately after the establishment of independent Poland, Wolf Szapira, the Waxman brothers and others. Together with them joined the united party the two former members of the Bund, Zukin Schreiber and Mordechai Aharon Reicher, who were Bund activists in the city in the years1905/6.
Most of the S.Z members were enthusiastic young people, who did not have much experience in public action and their main activity was in the HeChalutz, but they all excelled in their dedication to the movement and their eager for action.
This merge of a group of experienced and representative members with a youth group eager for action, shortly bore fruit. The party began to operate at an increased pace and encompassed in its action all areas of life in the city. Its influence in the public, and especially among the youth, grew and several years later, with the beginning of the 1930s, it became the strongest and most organized public body in the city.
The first committee of the united party included the members A. Auerbach, W. Szapira, A. Zipler, Z. Ofman, M. D. Goldberg, Shlomo Neiman (all perished in the Holocaust); and the members S. L. Waxman, Chaim Goldberg, Y. Lieberman, M. Schitenberg, A. Fishlevitz and A. Goldberg (all live in Israel).
The first steps of the united party were accompanied by many difficulties; The other parties in the city, both on the left and the right wings, did not receive its appearance with much friendship and fought it at every step. In addition, it is worth noting that at the time of the establishment of the united party, the Zionist movement in Poland was in a low point due to the failure of the fourth Aliyah and the appearance of the emigrants phenomena.
This crisis of the Zionist movement was felt more forcefully in our city, as the Aliyah from it was much higher in proportion to other larger cities and hence, the rate of emigrants from Israel was also very noticeable. Among the emigrants were Zionist public activists, who upon their return became fierce opponents and blamed their failure on the Zionist Organization. Upon their return, an anti-Zionist atmosphere prevailed in the city and loosened the hands of the loyalists of the Zionist movement in its various forms, so that the Zionist parties such as HaMizrahi, the Ithachdut, and others reduced their actions.
The crisis in Zionism, which damaged the hopes of the masses of Jews, was exploited by the communist activists in the Jewish Street. The communist propaganda penetrated the ranks of the Jewish youth and many of them, especially among the studying youth, were captured by this propaganda.
The United Party considered, immediately after its foundation, as its first task the fight against the spirit of despair that prevailed in the Jewish Street, for the restoration of faith in the path of Zionism and immunizing the youth against the propaganda of alienation from their people and their national aspirations.
One of the first actions of the united party was to organize the youth and open a club for it. The youth group that was organized by S.Z. even before the unification, formed the nucleus of the youth movement of the united party, which was called Freiheit.
Most of the members of the group lived in the large yard of the Itzkovsky House at 10 Przedborski St. Most of them were young and devoted to the party Among its members were: Yaakov and Rachel Lieberman, David and Leah Widislavski, the brothers Asher and Nathan Grossman, the brothers Yechezkel and Avraham Dickerman and others. Later, with the establishment of Freiheit, Tuvia Bodikovski (from the Ghetto Warsaw fighters), the late Yechezkel Skornitski, Yaakov Shmuel Moshkowitz, Avraham Goldberg, Yetta Moshkowitz and others also joined the party.
This group of activists invested all their time in the youth organization and established a magnificent branch, which surrounded teenagers, mostly from poor places, boys who were working from their early youth in order to help their parents with the livelihood. These boys and girls found warmth and joy in the youth club after a hard day's work and considered it their home. Educational work of great importance and bearing results was invested in this youth, most of whom did not receive a normal education at school age. Study groups dedicated to various subjects were created, which were persistently and devotedly managed by the members M. Z. Rosenblatt, Aryeh Zipler, Chaim Goldberg, Y. Lieberman, M. Schitenberg and others. The joining of Prof. Bromberg to the educational action among the youth contributed greatly to its development, and he won the hearts of the boys and girls for his dedicated work for their benefit (See a special list on page 219 on Freiheit).
The second area that the united party approached immediately after the union to take care of with all the vigor and dedication was the educational and cultural action.
The first committee of the united party
Sitting (from right): Meir-David Goldberg, Aryeh Zipler, Isidor Auerbach, Wolf
Szapira, Zisman Ofman;
|
The library contributed a lot to the education of the youth and was an important channel of influence for the national and social ideas that the party advocated (see more about the library and its development in a special list in the book).
The cultural and educational activity of the party branched out over time and encompassed many areas. In the 1930s, it founded the People's University, that gathered hundreds of listeners around it. The university was headed by Prof. Israel Bromberg and among its lecturers were Dr. Shafir, Dr. Sack of Czenstochov and others. The university has held dozens of lectures on various subjects. In the winter season of 1930, 40 lectures on literary, historical and economic subjects were held at the People's University and were attended by nearly 4000 listeners.
A group of members together with Dr. A. S. Yoris (1930)
Standing (from right to left): Shlomo Neiman, Jacob Lieberman, C. Goldberg, S.
Brenner, Shmuel Neiman, M. Schitenberg.
|
The branch committee members together with A. Bialopolski (1933)
Standing (from right to left): S. Neiman, M. Schitenberg, A. B. Eisen, Y.
Weinterter;
|
Even in 1931, the university was active and popular in the city, but due to several harassments by the police, who supposedly found a defect in the lecture hall and defined it as unsuitable for gatherings, the university had to stop its activities.
The cultural activists in the party established a drama circle, a choir and an extensive network of evening classes that gathered around them hundreds of people and fans.
The founding of the Hapoel organization contributed greatly to the development of physical culture among the Jewish youth in the city. The Hapoel developed at a rapid pace and became one of the largest sporting organizations in the city. The Hapoel was engaged in many sports and included hundreds of members.
In the first years of its existence, the united party concentrated on an extensive and vigorous propaganda operation. Its first club, in Holzberg's house, in Shul Gas, was buzzing with vigorous activity. On Shabbat nights we would hold debate stages, question and answer evenings, etc. Our public propaganda was accompanied by heated debates from the party's opponents. In addition to the oral activity, we also acted through proclamations and written circulars, in which we explained our perspective to the Jewish workers and youth and called them to join our ranks. The party was aware of what was happening in the world, and in the Jewish world in particular, and every event, whether it was in the general Jewish area, in the Zionist movement or in the local area, in the organizational and cultural activity, found its expression in public meetings, oral conversations and written letters to the Jewish population in the city.
The extensive and vigorous campaign bore fruit and the influence of the united party grew more and more in the city. In this action we were helped by the members who were at the head of the movement in Poland. We were visited by the members A. Reiss, the late M. Neishtat, N. Tigar, Israel Ritov, the late A. Bialopolski, the late L. Shpizman, N. Kantaravich, Dr. A.S. Yoris, L. Kroy and others. I would like to mention the constant help of the member Lazer Levin of Lodz who was sort of a resident of Radomsko even since the time of the Poalei Zion party before the split. The atmosphere of despair from the Zionist idea and the wave of alienation from national aspirations backed down in the face of the onslaught from party activists imbued with the belief in the rightness of their socialist Zionist way, and with the load of hopes they carried in their hearts, they swept after them many into the ranks of their party.
The united party in Radomsko considered its main role as the cultivation of the socialist Zionist idea in the Jewish Street and in activity in the Zionist movement. Whether it was in the field of collecting funds for the national funds and whether it was in the field of Zionist propaganda, but its main support was given to the Zionist labor movement and its institutions. Its participation in the League for the Working Land of Israel made it one of the most active in Poland and fostered the idea of Aliyah and self-fulfillment among the Jewish youth in the city, brought hundreds of them to join the HeChalutz and the HaOved, to go to training and prepare for Aliyah, and many of them also had the opportunity to immigrate and they now live in Israel.
As a workers' party that was well rooted in the city, the united party did not abandon the roles imposed on it by the conditions of the place and the environment.
The members of the party who belonged to the trade unions experienced a hard struggle for their rights to organize and perform advocacy action, and the party assisted them and began a campaign against the leaders of these unions, who tried to harm the rights of our members. This struggle was long and difficult and mainly concentrated in the sewing and the leather professions, which were in the hands of the left-wing Poalei Zion party and the communists.
In the 1930s, a center was established in the city for the trade unions that
belonged to the Working Land of Israel movement.
[Page 183]
The party took an active part in the work of the center in both improving
working conditions and in organizing support for the labor movement in Israel
and in fostering immigration to Israel, and indeed many of the center's members
were privileged to immigrate to the Land of Israel in the framework of
HaOved.
With the beginning of the 1930s, the united party departed the period of its organization and the struggle for its place among the other parties in the city and became an established and well-known party, which had a hand in everything that was done in the public sphere and even managed to stand at the head of the action in certain areas.
In the community elections held in 1931, the united party had a considerable victory when two of its members, Z. Schreiber and M. A. Reicher, were elected as members of the community council and the member Z. Szapira was elected as a member of its management, and was later appointed the deputy chairman of the community in Radomsko.
It was an unexpected victory, because the right to vote for the community was limited to men only and this institution had always been in the hands of the ultra-orthodox.
Another success in the municipal territory was the election of the representative of the united party, the member A. B. Eisen to the city council. It should be noted that the representation in the municipality was for many years in the hands of the left wing of Poalei Zion party and the replacement of their representation by the united party involved a fierce struggle.
The united party considered itself as part of the workers' movement and as a partner in its ambitions for the liberation of the working man, and starting in 1926, party members participated in the May 1st celebrations in the city, often jointly with other Jewish workers' parties and the Polish Socialist Party (P.P.S.).
This is how the united Poalei Zion party in Radomsko turned from a humble body that was established in a period of despair from the ideas it espoused and had to fight to prove the righteousness of its way, to the most powerful Jewish party in the city, whose activities branched out and expanded and surrounded all the areas of public life in the city.
This branching is evidenced by the multiple institutions in which the party operated and the large number of clubs it established, starting from the first club in Holzerberg's house (Shul Gas) to the spacious Borochov Heim at 40 Raymonta St. with its large hall and the many rooms in which the various party institutions were concentrated.
And when I ask myself what was the secret of the strength of this party, which knew how to overcome so many difficulties and succeed where others failed, I find it in the following points:
The devotion to the Zionist idea was also a hallmark of the other movements and parties that belonged to the Zionist movement, but the members of our party, as noted above, knew how to fill their organizational framework with practical content. This content was based on the assumption that as long as we operate in the diaspora, the local public action must be combined with the desired goal of socialist Zionist training and immigration to the Land of Israel, that is, not a negation of the diaspora but action within it for the sake of the entire Jewish public, which the Zionist part in it considered its future in leaving the diaspora and building a new life in the Land of the Fathers.
The united Poalei Zion party in Radomsko, as a party whose immigration to Israel was at the top of its agenda, had the privilege of having some of its members immigrate to Israel and cling to it, but most of its members knocked in vain on the gates of the country and were unable to enter it. These lines are dedicated to those members who remained in the diaspora and perished in the annihilation that came upon the House of Israel by the Germans.
Members of the Freiheit at
the farewell party on the occasion of the immigration to Israel
of the member Aharon Fishlevitz (1932)
Top row (from
the right): A. Birnbaum, S. Grenk, Rushatsky, Fishel Zandberg, H. Zuckerman
|
The party's committee in 1932
Standing (from the right): M. Schitenberg, S. Neiman, M. A. Reicher, A. B.
Eisen, Y. Lieberman;
|
by B. Ben-Yehoshua
Translated by Mira Eckhaus
Our city of Radomsko, the city of Tiferet Shlomo, was a city that
had everything in it: Chassidim of all kinds, fierce opponents and
scholars, houseowners and laborers and God-fearing people who are well versed
in the Otiyot Ktanot (small letters). The similarity in all of them
was in their love of Israel and their longing for Israel. Among them were
elders wise scholars, such as Rabbi Mendele Frankel (may God avenge him), the
brother-in-law of the Rebbe of Radomsko, who himself was a descendant of the
Rebbes of Hanchin and Fiscena. He was a dear Jew, in whom dwell both the
greatness and the Torah. And in the same way he showed a great love for every
Jewish matter and especially for the Land of Israel. Rabbi Mendele did not fear
the derision nor the mockery of the detractors, and united with the
common people in order to found the Histadrut of the
Mizrahi in the city.
The teachers' member of the Mizrahi school (in 1919):
Top row (right to left) Rosenzweig, Meisel, Grant, school principal,
Hirsh, Aharonovitz,
, bottom (first from left) Hashchevtzsky David.
A group of teachers of the Mizrachi school (in 1919) with second class students
The second in importance was Rabbi Avraham Moshe Waxman, a very respected and
honored person, who threw everything behind and devoted most of his time and
energy to the affairs of the Land of Israel and fulfilled personally the verse:
with all your heart and had the privilege of immigrating to Israel
(he and his wife, who made a living here on a small scale, passed away at an
advanced age in Jaffa). Avrahamtchi Minsky, a Jew of great traits, served as
the secretary for Jewish affairs in the city (magistrate) and was determined
with all his heart to do favors for every Jew, regardless of party or lineage
status. Reb Mendele Fischhof was a wealthy merchant who was willing to close
his shop in the middle of the day in order to collect money to the Jewish
National Fund or to fulfill whatever task the party imposed on him. He was weak
in body but with a noble spirit and an honest opinion. Reb Leibel Zilberberg
(the Shpiliter traveling agent), one of the first Hovevei Zion members,
man of letters and well-mannered, who was willing to give his life to do a
favor to a Jew.
Reb Shlomo Naimark had a gentle soul and was a rich merchant. Similar to them were Reb Yehuda Salzman, Mordechai Rosenzweig (he and his sons who were among the first founders), Michael Waxman, Yaakov Hartman, Reuven Lieberman, Yaakov Yudkevich, Avraham Ze'ev Goldberg and Yechiel Shlomo Shittenberg, the late Yehoshua Elazar Rabinovitch, and may they live a good and long life, Reb Shlomo Rabinovitch, one of the first to settle in Kfar Hasidim, and the teacher Binyamin Yemini (Karamzin) who was one of the founders of the Mizrahi School and its director until the day he immigrated to Israel.
The beginning of this organization was underground, in the Fallush of Kopel, the shamash of the Beit Midrash. Kopel was one of Dr. Herzl's admirers and despite being supported by the houseowners, the worshipers of the Beit Midrash his heart was open to everything in Zionism. He was ready to give up the livelihood of the shamash (shamoshes) in the Beit Midrash of the holly congregation Radomsko and immigrate to Israel. It is my duty to mention two veteran Hovevei Zion, who were devoted in heart and soul to the Zionist idea, and they are Rabbi Moshe Lebkowitz, the minstrel of the city, who considered it a sacred duty to play at every Jewish wedding songs of Zion that spoke to the heart and shed tears of sadness, grief and longing for Israel and its sanctuary, and last but not least, Rabbi Michael Wassertreger (the water pumper) who was the first Hovev Zion in the city. He sent all his savings to London to buy one share of the Jewish Settlement Treasury. It was told about him, that when he received the share, he wore Shabbat clothes, went up the spring hill, holding the share in one hand and the pole and the buckets in the other hand and blessed: she'hecheyanu vikiyimanu vihigiyanu lazman hazeh (that you kept us alive, sustained us and brought us to this occasion). He sang Hatikvah, danced out of joy and sang: Work is our life, it will save us from every trouble in our country. He was an innocent Jew and passionate about the idea of immigrating to Israel and building it. There were many more like him and their name will be mentioned in the book.
All of these carried the burden of the movement and devoted the best of their
energy and time to the idea of the Land of Israel for the people of
Israel, according to the Torah of Israel. They collected funds at every
opportunity for the benefit of the Jewish National Fund, the Redemption Fund,
and every charitable matter. Their reward was disgrace and blasphemy that they
received from their opponents, Zion's haters.
The foundation of the Mizrahi School
In 5666 (1916), the Hebrew national religious school, the first in the city and
the surrounding area, was founded by the Mizrahi. It was headed by Reb Mendele
Frankel, his deputy Reb A. M. Waxman, Reb Shlomo Rabinowitz, and his
secretary Binyamin Yemini (Karamzin).
[Page 185]
It was a bold step to do such a thing in the city of Radomsko and its hostile
environment without any budget or support. On the other hand, there was
enthusiasm for the need of the hour. The state of education in Radomsko was
similar to that in other Polish cities in those days. Every
non-successful person would serve as a young teacher and teach
Torah while using a stick and a leash. Many left the cheder and went to gentile
schools and many remained ignorant only few were privileged to reach
Talmud studies. Of course, there was a great commotion in the city: the
Mizrahi came to distance our sons from their God-fearing. They will
learn the Bible
and Hebrew in Hebrew! And even gymnastics and singing and
everything else that is forbidden. However, the people of Mizrahi did not
hesitate, they continued and succeeded in their mission. Within one year, the
school was filled completely and despite the boycott, the slanders and the
expulsions from Ger's Shtiebel, Jews sent their sons to the Mizrahi school. To
the school's praise it must be said: it was non-partisan and accepted any
student whose parents wanted to give him an orderly traditional education.
Also, there was no discrimination between the rich and the poor. The school's
committee was represented by all the Zionist parties: Reb Mendele Frankel
served as the chairman, Reb Shlomo Rabinovitch was his deputy, Reb Shlomo
Krakowski, who died in Israel, Reb Hillel Zumbek (general Zionist) served as
the treasurer, H. Feingold (general Zionist), the late member of the committee
Reb Yitzchak Aharonovitz, and many more. The teacher Binyamin Yemini (Karamzin)
assumed the management, not in order to receive an award, and managed it until
the day he immigrated to Israel. The best teachers in the field of education in
those days were invited to serve as teachers: H. Hirsh, H. Grant, H.
Hashchevtzsky, H. Meisel and more. The chazan (cantor) of the city, Reb Shlomo
Zaks, taught Hebrew-Zionist poetry and young Zionists taught Polish,
gymnastics, etc. The director H. Yemini also taught sacred studies.
A Hebrew library was founded next to the school, and anyone who asked for a Hebrew book would come and get one. The wise parents were relieved when they saw their sons return from school with politeness and good manners, dressed in a light blue and white outfit, their heads crowned with a blue and white hat with the Mizrahi symbol in the shape of a rising sun sending its rays from the east. They were happy to hear their sons speak and sing in Hebrew and know how to explain a chapter in the Torah, in the Bible and in the Talmud. When the pressure of the Shtiebel of the Ger's Chassidim increased and they decreed that everyone who sends his son to the school of Mizrahi is not allowed to come in the crowd, the people of the Mizrahi arranged them a Minyan in the school, at the house of Shamai Blacher (the tinsmith). Of course, all the money paid for the vows and alms was kept for the sacred Jewish National Fund. There was a great influence of the Mizrahi on the true Hovevei Zion, to leave the bitter exile and immigrate to the Land of Israel. Among the first to immigrate to Israel were Mr. Binyamin Yemini (Karamzin), Reb Yaakov Sofer (the father of our friend M. Hatumi), Reb Avraham Moshe Waxman and his wife, Shlomo Rabinowitz and others.
In 1924, many of the Radomsko people immigrated to Israel and took part in the building of the center of Tel-Aviv, they built many large houses, but, unfortunately, they could not withstand the crisis of those days and returned to Radomsko. Pity on those who were lost and not forgotten, who perished in the Holocaust!
In addition to the education, the Mizrahi was engaged in the organization of the religious youth for the benefit of building the country. This is how the organization Tze'irei Mizrahi branched out and was founded, whose leaders were: Reuven Goldberg, Meir Karfka, the three brothers: Yaakov, Moshe and Yeshayahu Rosenzweig, Elimelech Schittenberg, Avraham Wolf Goldberg, Hillel Yodkevich, Shlomo Volodovsky, Getzil Eilenberg, Yehoshua Elazar Rabinovitch, Raphael Rappaport , David Margolevsky and others.
The HeChalutz of Mizrachi was founded on the initiative of Shlomo Yechiel Vorshatsky and his friends, who received permission to engage in agricultural work in the yard of H. Eichner's house in the city. Among the founders were: Hillel Yodkevich, Chaim Hamer, Moshe Rabinovitch, Nachum Hocherman, Laibel Shmolevich and Gershon Kokochinsky (the son of Rabbi Shamai Melamed). The young members' operation did not shame the legacy of the elder members: they invited lecturers from outside the city, held classes every Shabbat, sent propaganda emissaries outside the city and founded a real agricultural farm outside the city, where immigrants were trained in agricultural work and where they instilled the idea of the religious pioneer in the hearts of the youth. Every lecturer who came to the city, caused flared tempers among both sides, those who prepared to listen to his words, and those who prepared for a mitzvah war. The war between both sides increased especially when it was known that the girls of the city were also organizing, this thing crossed the limits. This was the view of the exile Israeli girls in a gentile school is the decree of the kingdom and is dina d'malkuta dina, but an organization of the girls for the return of Zion! Has anyone heard about an act like this? And this was where the holy rebellion of the girls took place and they organized themselves under the name Bruria. The activists' members among them were: the daughters of Reb Mendel Frankel; the daughters of Eichner; the daughters of H. Shwiatlovsky; the daughters of H. Rapoport; the daughters of Reb Herschel Tochmeir; the daughters of Tiger. They constituted the religious intelligentsia in the city. In the diaspora they were engaged in collecting funds and training and spreading Hebrew culture for the purpose of training the youth to immigrate to Israel. Some of them were privileged to immigrate to Israel and build their homes there.
The first Tze'irei Mizrahi.
From right to left: Moshe Rabinowitz, A. W. Goldberg, Moshe Hirszberg, Meir Levkowitz.
The members of Tze'irei Mizrahi in 1933
Top row (right to left) Yosef Perzhdborsky, Yochanan Petkur, Y.
Rosenzweig, Strubinsky,
Israel Rosenzweig, Fishel Weiss;
Second row: Laibel Shmolevich, Raphael Rappaport, Yeshayahu Eliezer Rabinowitz,
Hillel Yodkevich, Poznansky; Third row: A. Hamer, Yitzhak Hamer, Strobinski, Shaya.
|
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
Radomsko, Poland Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page
Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 03 Jun 2023 by OR