The name Tuvya Borszykowski is engraved with bloody letters on the honored tablets of the eminent fighters and rebels in Poland who, during the savage Holocaust era, defended the honor of the Jewish people and took revenge against the Nazi enemies for the spilling of innocent Jewish blood. His name will also eternally remain engraved in the history of the Zionist Halutz Movement in Poland and Israel and in the hearts of his Radomsker landsleit, who personally knew him or who will study and read his books of memoir about the era of annihilation and the treatises and reviews of others about his personality and heroism. *

At 15 Tuvya was already an active member in founding an organization of young Zionist-Socialist Workers and a year later he was a leader of an entire group in the organization.

* In the 9^th part of this book (“Holocaust and Revenge”), several chapters of his unpublished Memoirs and in addition (in the section “Avengers and Guards”) some excerpts from treatises, appreciations about his personality, which were published in Israel after his death (written by Moishe Basok, F. Heika, Nakhman Blumental, Haim Goldberg, Yitzhak Tabenkin, Melekh Rawicz, Tzvia Lubetkin, M. Najsztat).

Two years later the organization imposed on him the assignment of breaching the anti-Zionist establishment that reigned then in the Needleworkers' Union of Jewish Tailors in the city, which he fulfilled. He was elected as vice president of the Union and there often agitated for the idea of Socialist-Zionism.

Tuvya became known in the city very quickly as an active community worker in a range of institutions and societies and as a cultural worker who with his own strength (he was self-taught) acquired learning and self-education in various areas. He was among the leadership of Freiheit, the Youth movement of Poalei-Zion Ts. S., and an active member of Hahalutz and in the League for Labor in Eretz-Yisroel, one of the most outstanding speakers at Zionist public meetings and beloved lecturers during internal party seminars (about Yiddish literature and history of the workers' movement). He was an active member of the managing committee of the Folkes-University and in the Sholom Aleichem Library and its last librarian. When the Germans occupied Radomsk, he and several comrades carried the contents of the library to a hiding place and right after the war transported the library to Warsaw for its disposition by the Zionist refugee institutions.

After he hid the library (Spring 1940), he was summoned by the central administrative body of Hahalutz and Dror (Freiheit) to Warsaw to join in the organization of the underground movement. His primary work was to organize seminars, to publish leaflets and to carry out cultural-educational lectures [in which he would act out the parts in question] among underground youth groups. At the beginning of 1942 he managed a Zionist-Halutz underground Hakhsorah group near Warsaw and immediately after that he returned to Warsaw and joined the ranks of the Jewish Fighters' Organization that was organized in the ghetto. He visited Radomsk several times on assignment from this combat organization and there attempted to organize a group of young people who would be ready to fight against the Germans.

Tuvya Borszykowski took part in the first combat action against the Germans in the Warsaw Ghetto in January 1943. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 1943) he fought in the ranks of the group that militarily fortified the Central District of the ghetto and he left the Ghetto with the remnant of this group through the underground sewers.


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During the Polish Revolt against the Germans in August 1944, Tuvya fought in the ranks of the Jewish Unit that joined the Polish Partisan Army – Army Ludawa – after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. By a resolution of the President of the new Polish People's Republic, on the 19^th of April 1948, Tuvya Borszykowski received the Grunwald Military Award for his part in the struggle of the Polish Partisan Army.

Right after the liberation from the German occupation, he renewed his Zionist-Socialist activity among the survivors in Poland and called upon the surviving Jews to leave the accursed Europe and make aliyah to Eretz-Yisroel. In 1949, he himself emigrated to Eretz-Yisroel and immediately joined in the creation of the kibbutz for surviving Ghetto Fighters (Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot – Ghetto Fighter's Kibbutz) in Galilee. He did various physical labor in the kibbutz and in the early years was occupied with communal cultural activities, chiefly recording and revising his important horrible memories so that they would serve as evidence for the coming generations. He was one of the founders of the Documentation Center named for the famous Ghetto poet Yitzhak Katznelson, which was built in Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot. The full collection of Tuvya's published writings and unpublished manuscripts is found in the Center.

The first grave that was dug in the newly created Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot was a fresh grave for the heroic Ghetto Fighter Tuvya Borszykowski, who was not defeated by the German murderers, who took revenge against them and gave up his flesh to the holy ground of the Land of Israel. A pity, a great pity that it was so premature

L.L.

* The Holocaust Era memories of Tuvya Borszykowski are reflected in three published books: “Lightning in January” (1941-1942); “Among Falling Walls” (1943-1944); “Spring in January” (1945). Return

Harav R' Abraham Benzion Bornstein was born to his parents, HaRav Shabtai Bornstein, may he live long and happily, and Rebbetzin Chaya-Feiga née Litmanovitch, in Radomsk on 5 Shevat 5679 (5 January 1919). On the month of Marhesvan 5685 (1924), he arrived in Israel with his parents. He received a full religious education in chadarim and yeshivot in Jerusalem.

He excelled with true piety, good heart for people, in-depth study of the written and oral Torah and great knowledge of general science. He was the rabbi of “Mishkan Meir” synagogue in Shikun HaVatikim in Netanya. In his last years he was the Rabbi of Binyamina. His home was wide open to all who needed his help. During his lifetime he wrote and printed his thoughts that he voiced publicly. His books, Resisei Tal (on the Torah), were published in Tel Aviv in 5721 (1960).

He passed away in Beilinson Hospital at the age of 44, on Rosh Chodesh Elul 5723 (21 August 1963), and on the next day was brought for eternal rest in Har HaMenuchot in Jerusalem, in the Hasidim section.

After his passing his widow Rebbetzin Ester Bornstein, and her children, printed a third book that he left in his handwriting: Resisei Tal (on the seasons of the year).

May his memory be blessed.

R' Yakov Mordechai Gold was one of the superlative scholars among the Ger Hasidim in Radomsk shtiebel. He was famous for his wisdom and wit, and also behaved gently and generously in all his manners between one person and another.

In his youth he was a student of the famous Rabbi of Amstov (near Częstochowa(, and at the age of sixteen he received rabbinical ordination from him.

His memory is kept within us forever.

He spent his childhood and youth at the “school” of the Polish Jewish town – in the cheder. But already at a young age was interested in social problems and stood out in his public sense and his activity, which served as a guideline for him all the years of his life.

From the prime of his youth, he studied and worked and engaged in public affairs with vigor and loyalty until his death. At the age of seventeen he joined the Zionist movement and was among the founders of HeHalutz movement in the city. The wave of public awakening, which struck the Polish Jewry in the 1920s, found fertile ground in Radomsk. Over time, Radomsk became one of the lively centers of public and cultural activity, especially in the Zionist field and its branches. And it can be said, without exaggeration, that a large part of this activity must be attributed to young Haim, whose passionate faith and activity soon made him the focus of all the Zionist-socialist activity in the city.

Together with his activity in Freiheit, HeHalutz, Poalei Zion (Zionist Socialist), the League for Eretz-Yisrael HaOvedet, HaOved, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael, Keren Hayesod etc., he has done a lot for the professional union, educational and cultural institutions, and economic organizations. He gave his time to everyone, and it is no wonder that the attention of the central institutions in the capital city was directed to the lively young man from Radomsk and gave him suitable roles.

At the end of 1933, he was called to Warsaw by the central office of his party (Poalei Zion - Zionist Socialist). and was assigned the role of party's secretary in the capital city. It was a responsible position, at that time the movement was constantly on the rise, which led to organizational problems that even a mature and experienced activist had difficulty overcoming. And here, it turned out that the young man from Radomsk was able to fulfill his role well - in his loyalty to the idea, dedication to his job, and above all, in his human approach to the individual member. In all of these he soon gained the respect of the leaders and members of the party, because he knew how to penetrate the depths of the political doctrines, and the relations between the parties in the Jewish street of that time.

Throughout that period of activity, including being a delegate to the Zionist Congress and the World Congress of the Socialist Youth in Vienna, Haim kept in his heart the vocation imposed on a Jew - aliyah and work in Eretz Yisrael. At the end of 1935, he abandoned his respected position in the capital city of Warsaw and made aliyah to Israel.

Naturally, when he arrived in Israel, he was offered positions suitable for his talents and experience in managing the branch of Poalei Zion Zionist Socialist, the largest branch throughout the Diaspora. But Haim did not lie to himself and did not abandon the path he preached to others - self-fulfillment. For three years he worked in road construction around Haifa and as a laborer at the “Pinzia” factory. In 1938, he was accepted as a member of the “Ot” cooperative in Haifa.

He worked for about twenty-six years at “Ot” and left his mark on it with his natural inclination to a life of sharing, his loyalty to the cooperative and dedication to the members. His tireless energy, and his economic talents, made him immediately upon his entry into the cooperative one of the determining members in it. It did not always come to him the easy way, because of being loyal to the principles he fought for, whether in relation to accepting members or in other matters of principle. But his influence in the cooperative was very great, and, indeed, more than once he came up with a new idea, and this by the virtue of his sincerity and human approach.

As soon as he joined “Ot,” his activity began at the Cooperative Movement and its institutions, mainly in the Cooperative Committee in Haifa. As a member of the cooperative, he devoted much of his thought to the problem of mutual aid, the concern for the aging and disabled cooperative member, the widows and the survivors, and was one of the initiators of the various activities in this area. In this activity he realized that the individual cooperative would not be able to carry the burden alone, and a joint institution for the entire movement must be established. He joined the small group of members, under the guidance of Professor M. Bagenson, who initiated the establishment of a pension fund of the productive-service cooperative, “Magen,” and from the day of its foundation he was one of its most active and dedicated members. With the power of his influence and belief in the fund's mission, and a lot of work, he managed to introduce the pension fund idea to all the members of the cooperatives and led to the joining of many to the fund.

Another chapter is his activity for his townspeople. Nothing was too big or too small for him, in this activity. He devoted himself equally, and with the same intense excitement, to all his social and economic enterprises of the Organization of Former Residents of Radomsk in Israel. With his help to the new and veteran immigrant, the establishment of Charity Fund in Tel Aviv and Haifa, in the construction of two apartment buildings in Holon for new immigrants and handling the publication of the Yizkor Book for the destroyed community.

Also, his private home became a meeting place, an address to all in need. His entire activity in this area is a magnificent story integrated with human and glowing revelations, hidden in the hearts of many with feelings of gratitude.

Another chapter in his history is his dedicated activity in the Haganah. He adhered to specific teachings, despised violence by nature and stayed away from military rituals. He joined the Haganah immediately after his arrival in Israel. He overcame the inclinations of his heart out of an understanding of the necessity of having a Jewish defense force and followed all his superiors orders f as an ordinary member whenever necessary.

The mental eagerness to lend a hand to anyone in need, and alleviate the plight of others, made him resourceful person and revealed in him the qualities of a man of virtue in the deepest sense.

When the cruel disease struck him and confined him to his bed, the concern for the future of his family gnawed in his heart. Concerns, which are too heavy to bear, occupy the whole person and do not allow him to turn to the concerns of others. Even then he was revealed in all the greatness of his spirit, and despite his mental state and great suffering, he did not lock himself in the corner of his suffering and did not wallow in self-pity. As before, he showed interest, curiosity and concern for the affairs of others. He did not rest or was quiet, and did not stop offering help to anyone in need. It seems now that his actions for others, despite his physical weakness, were a tonic for his aching soul.

Touching to the heart was the struggle he waged with his illness while continuously following the work of the publication of the Radomsk book. He was the man who initiated the idea of ??publishing the book in memory of the martyrs of his city. For years collected the material for his writing from all over the world - he was full of anxiety for the fate of the book in recent times when his physical strength was running out. He found joy and comfort in the fact that the man who fulfills his idea was found, and if we gave him another two years of life, this would have made him very happy, because he would have had the privilege of seeing the idea fully realized.


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While lying on his deathbed, Haim participated in all the matters of the publishing of the book, proofreading, correcting and drafting, and in his last days he was able to see a printed part of the book and it made him feel uplifted and was for him a healing drug from his severe pain.

It is a shame, a great shame, that he did not get to see the full realization of his idea.

Haim Goldberg lived and was active in an era that was very rich in the creative strengths in Jewish society – the era of our national renaissance in the form of Zionism. Haim Goldberg, with his deep belief, strong devotion and strong feeling of responsibility, was the ideal representative of the era in Jewish Radomsk.

Haim Goldberg was born into a family of workers and men of the people. From his grandfather, Reb Mordekhai Skalke and father, both leading members of the Khevre Kadishe, he inherited his love of the Jewish worker and folk and he brought this love to the idea of Socialist-Zionism. Haim Goldberg founded and led various institutions for the young in the Zionist-Socialist spirit in his home town of Radomsk, was active in cultural and sports organizations, in K.K.L. and Keren Hayesod and the like. Later – in the Center of his party in Warsaw – Haim Goldberg was the unelected but virtual representative of all of the party members who were in need of counsel or assistance as he was always ready to be of assistance to everyone.

It is self-evident that with his aliyah to Eretz-Yisroel (at the end of 1935), various workplaces were suggested to Haim Goldberg that expressed his capabilities, earnings and administrative experience. However, a person such as Haim Goldberg would not leave the way of Halutzish physical labor that he had enjoyed his whole life and believed correct. The first 3 years he worked as a common laborer on highway construction in the area of Haifa and a short time as a worker in the glass factory, “Penizia.”

In 1938 he joined the printing cooperative Ot in Haifa as a member, in which he was active in the course of 26 years. During that time he thoroughly studied the history and basis of the cooperative movement in Israel and grew accustomed to its ideological and organizational framework and was one of its prominent community workers and activist builders. His special concern for the social security and future of the members of the cooperative enterprise and their families carried him to the front rank of originators, founders and chief leaders of the special cooperative pension fund, Magen (Shield), in which he was active until the last day of his life.

A separate chapter of his life in Israel was his deep love of people that created for him a great circle of friends among all social strata, cultural leaders and community activists, politicians and academics, landsleit and co-workers, particularly for the common working man, for the man in the street. He was always ready to give support in every way. Therefore, he was beloved and esteemed everywhere.

The savage Holocaust arrived, the extermination of European Jewry and the Jews of Radomsk by the German Nazis. His heart and soul, his whole being was not only shocked by the cruel extermination process, but with his life's path of inspiring and organizing, he – together with certain other fellow landsleit – took to rescue activities for those individual survivors among his landsmen, both when they were still in Radomsk or in the D.P. camps, or on the way to Eretz-Yisroel, and later when they had arrived in Israel. Haim did not rest. He did everything in order to help them. In addition to his widespread communal duties he also took upon himself, literally with love, the not easy task of intervention with institutions and individuals on behalf of the new immigrants. In addition, he assisted in creating the Interest-Free Loan Fund in Tel-Aviv and Haifa that actually helped out his Radomsker landsleit in settling in their new home.

The Jews in Radomsk were destroyed; they were no longer present. It was necessary to erect a headstone for them; one must immortalize all those who had lived and had an effect on Jewish Radomsk in a Yizkor Book – a gigantic task. Haim Goldberg took this sacred work upon himself and in the course of years indefatigably collected material about Radomsk in general and about Jewish Radomsk in particular.

It is impossible to comprehend the effort, intellectual and physical, that he made in collecting such a colossal amount of material, in writing and in photographs, for this Yizkor Book. Here, too, he showed his intellectual level; he embraced everyone with his full soul, not omitting even one layer of Jewish society in Radomsk. He searched for every trace, every piece of information about ancient Radomsk and collected, literally, a treasury of documents about the spiritual personalities of the Radomsker Rabbinic Dynasty, and also about every other social or economic group.

Even for those who worked with him in this area, it was a surprise to see the great spiritual strength that accompanied the search and collection of documents and newspapers, in archives and from among private collectors. Haim knew and understood that everything must be collected and immortalized, he separated everything and created an appropriate section for each theme and searched for appropriate people who could adapt these sections.

Fate treated this great and gentle man cruelly. He became very ill. However, even then, the severe physical pain did not hold him back from his sacred mission of setting down and of publishing the book.

Haim Goldberg, the great man and Jew, on whom weighed the responsibility of immortalizing Jewish life in his birthplace, Radomsk, alas, did not have the privilege to see his work completed. Let this book serve, too, as a scared memorial for his dear soul.

Being Zionists, they immigrated to Israel in 1935 with their family members. The absorption in Israel was not easy (the children were still young). Despite this, they were happy that they were able to immigrate to Israel before the Holocaust.

My father passed away in 1946 and my mother in 1949.

May their souls be bound up in the bond of eternal life.

He was not a member of any party, but every year he purchased the Zionist shekel and donated handsome sums to the Zionist funds. With the establishment of the “renewed” State of Poland (1918), he felt the pain of the Diaspora and made sure that his sons would learn a trade, although from an economic point of view it was not necessary.

Without being affected by the 1929 riots in Israel, he decided to liquidate his business, immigrate to Israel and join his three sons who immigrated earlier. In Israel, he built a house and planted an orchard. Although he was not satisfied with his financial success, he did not voice a complaint, or a grudge, about it all the days of his residence in Israel. On the contrary, He did not look down on those who could immigrate to Israel, and did not do so.

He passed away in Tel-Aviv, 7 Iyar 5724 (19 April 1964) at the age of eighty.

A pure soul in a working body - one overlapped the other. She was pious in her faith and was heedful of a light precept as of a weighty one. When we sat on Shabbat eve at the prepared table and she lit candles, holiness, peace and tranquility spread on her face - and we felt an immeasurable feeling that “two ministering angels, messengers of the Most High” were with us at the table.

She worked devotedly, to the point of exhaustion, for her home and children.

She was tolerant and raised her children to acquire a profession in order to train them for working life in Eretz Yisrael.

She admired the way of life of the pioneer period in Israel, and in 1929, when the horrifying news about what was happening in Israel - she decided to liquidate her good business and emigrate.

With great sorrow, and out of respect and admiration, she received the news of the death of her grandson, Tzvi z”l, in the War of Independence.

She passed away in Tel Aviv, 3 Sivan 5719 (9 June 1959) at a ripe old age.

In 1926 he cuts short his studies in the gimnazium “Zielinski” and makes aliyah to Eretz-Yisroel with the Hazomir Hatzair movement. He joins the Tel-Yosef Kibbutz, where he works as a farmer. Then he builds his own farm in Tsofit and lastly specializes in reviving old citrus orchards and planting new orchards as an official of the agency.

He died suddenly while buying plants for an orchard in the Galilee (the 7^th of May 1962).

D.Kh.

He was Hovev Zion [Lover of Zion] since his youth and in 5681 (1920) traveled to his beloved Eretz Yisrael. He was pious and humble, and I remember that he often performed acts of charity. With his little income he brought, with modesty, bread to many homes. He brought every weak man into his house - fed him and gave him a drink. First in Neve Tzedek and later in Jerusalem, in every place his home was wide open. He had a warm heart. He borrowed enough money to bring another family, and another relative, to Israel.

The rabbis of Jerusalem authorized him to teach. He was ordained by the Great Rabbi Avraham ben David of Dzikov (Poland), and the Great Rabbi Yisrael-Nisan presiding judge from Akawe.

He loved the truth and hated lies and flattery. Was loyal every Jew and always prayed for the wellbeing of the Jewish people.

On 4 Tishri 5715 (1 October 1954), on the day he was born sixty-six years ago, he suddenly became weak, and the disease overcame him. He passed away on 7 Tishri 5715.

May his soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.

Already in his youth, Yisrael was fed up with the accepted way of life according to which every Jew was sentenced to engage in trade. He loved nature and the way of life related to it, and even then, the attraction to Eretz Yisrael was rooted in his soul - both under the influence of his studies in the cheder and the influence of the Zionist preaching in the youth circles. When he reached adolescence, he decided to make aliya to Israel despite the vigorous opposition of his parents (in 1921).

In Israel he worked as an agricultural laborer in the moshavot in Judea. As a dedicated halutz [pioneer], and took


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it upon himself to meet all the difficulties of this position. He knew hunger, scarcity, illness and hardship, but he never complained and regretted. As a laborer he moved to Zikhron Ya'akov, to the bosom of R' Nathan Cohen's family. There, he met his daughter – Miss Rachel. She was an exemplary village girl: diligent in the farm's work, with charitable qualities, and a bold young woman who knew how to gallop on a noble Arabian mare and hold a weapon when necessary.

In 1923, Yisrael married Rachel and settled down in Zikhron Ya'akov. The marriage worked out well because they both had distinct pioneering qualities. Both knew how to adapt to the conditions of the land, the difficulties of the pioneer's work and the dangers that lay in wait for them in the days of riots and bloodshed.

Yisrael Wicentowski was brave man and proud of the life of pioneering fulfillment. He was always the first to take any risk when called to defend the settlement and the tasks of the generation.

In 1934, he joined the transport in Israel when he entered as a member of “Egged.” In the days of the 1929 and 1936 Arab Riots, and in the following years, he did not hesitate to take on any dangerous mission in any place destined for calamity. He carried out his duty at the wheel, and more than once served as a convenient target for the enemy's shots. More than once, he saved his passengers thanks to his courage and composure in time of danger.

During the Second World War he was recruited to transport military equipment in convoys from Israel through the desert and Iraq to Iran, and from there (Teheran) he brought the children of “Youth Aliyah.” During the War of Independence, in constant danger to his life - and he was already middle-aged then - he transported soldiers and supplies to vulnerable places - to the north and the cut off Galilee, and from there, from the besieged kibbutzim, he brought their children to safety.

In 1954, he retired due to heart disease, but when his wife Rachel passed away (1952) he did not live long after her. He passed away on 20 July 1956 and was brought for burial in Zikhron Ya'akov next to his wife.

His descendants: his daughter Yehudit wife to Yosef Feldman, their son David and daughter Hana (in Tel Aviv). His daughter Tikva, wife of Arye Rabinovitch, their son Yisrael named after him (in Tel Aviv). His son Mordechai, an engineer, his wife Arela Bironika (née Cohen-Zedek) and their sons Danny and Gadi (in Tel Aviv). His daughter Tzvia, wife of the engineer Ilan Epstein and their sons Eitan and Eyal (in Tel Aviv).

The articles published in her memory will testify to the affection and appreciation she acquired from her acquaintances.

Among the active members at the Ramat HaHayal branch is Sarah Zylberman, the coordinator, who works voluntarily - active and alert to all. Here is the opening of the children's institution, housewarming and, of course, Sarah is among the organizers. She is among the first to teach the language, to organize a meeting, a trip, a movie day and an ideological circle of the Histadrut [General Workers' Federation]. She is not called by her first name, she is called - the Organization of Working Mothers. And her way - the way of every working mother, the way of a worker in Israel.

We heard nothing from her about the state of her health, she was always at full strength and a smile on her lips.

Untimely, in the middle she was suddenly taken.

Her memory is preserved in her actions.

In 1917, she married Binyamin Yemini (Karmzin) who organized the Mizrachi school and was its principal to the day of his immigration to Israel (in 1920). Shoshona and her small son arrived in Yaffo on the day of the riots, 1 May 1921, and she was miraculously saved from the hands of the rioters.

Her two sons; Yisrael and Yigal, were among the first volunteers to the fighting Jewish Brigade and helped save Jewish children from the hands of the Nazis and from monasteries. Despite her housing condition in those days, her home was open to any immigrant who arrived in Israel from our city.

In 1954, she traveled with her husband on a teaching mission to the countries of North Africa. She fell ill there and passed away after returning to Israel.

She left behind two sons, two daughters and eight grandchildren.

May her soul be bound up in the bond of eternal life.

She passed away in Jerusalem in 1942.

Dovid, son of Yissachar Nunberg, was also in Radomsk in 1878.

He passed away in Tel Aviv in 1959.

Their home was open to all our townspeople. They left behinds sons, daughters, and grandchildren who are involved in the life in Israel.

Their son, Yakov (“Yankale the saboteur”) fell in 1948, during the War of Independence on the defense of Kibbutz Gal On in the Negev.

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