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The Jewish School

With the expulsion of the Russians in 1915 and the closing of the government school, there again remained in the village no institution for general education. Yet “out of the strong came sweet” .

An intelligent brother and sister, young people around the age of twenty, students of a school in Vilna, Yosef and Fanya Mitelensky, entered into the business of education, and with the help of an additional number of young people from the village decided to establish a Jewish school. The example of Vilna itself stood before them, which after the expulsion of the Russians established many such schools. This was a Nachshoni^[70] [courageous] endeavor, rare and wonderful, which only thanks to their strength of will, their vigor, and the public spirit of these two, became a fact.

The Jewish School in the period of the German conquest during the First World War The Teachers: M. Litvak and Team Kotz, May the Holy One avenge their blood

The problem was known: The school was obligated to fulfill the role of both the secular school and the cheder, and it was necessary to arrange a program of learning, find appropriate teachers, an appropriate location, and also teaching supplies, materials and a budget.^[71]

The establishment of the school was, nevertheless, one of the great wonders of that period. Excellent teachers were brought from Vilna. The brother and sister Rovovsky, and M. Litvak, and afterwards Rivka Edelson and Tema Kotz^[72] (who became famous as one of the outstanding personalities of the Vilna ghetto). The school resided in the building of the Russian school, which was furnished with all the necessary equipment: blackboard, benches, inkwells, maps and the like. The language of instruction was Yiddish, and the Germans, who considered it – apparently – as a dialect of German, supported the school completely. They took care of cleanliness, heating, and even paid the salaries of the teachers. In addition to that they freed the teachers from manual labor, and even provided hot meals to the needy children.

Once a minimum of hours in German language instruction had been promised, the Germans did not involve themselves further in the learning program, and it was all arranged by the teachers. These, their inexperience notwithstanding, created in short order an orderly school that infused a spirit of culture within the life of the entire village. Chanukah and Purim parties that the teachers arranged were considered events in the life of the village on account of their rich content, and were remembered for many years afterwards.

However, the school did not last for very long. As the German conquest neared its end, the teachers left, and the others who had come did not have the strength or ability and maybe not the interest to continue. The fund of tradition decreased, and the number of students as well.

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Financial difficulties accumulated, and there was recognition that it was necessary to contract the number of classes and teachers. The end came and went, and with the conquest of the town by the Poles the school was closed completely. Since then there has been no hope of reviving it.

The Polish political environment of economic and cultural oppression vis–à–vis the Jews determined the fate of the Jewish school. The Poles established a general Polish school, and over time, not many of the Jewish children began to visit it. On the other hand, a few traveled to Vilna to study in the High Schools there, and Hebrew study in the village once again became limited to the study of Hebrew alone. Except, instead of the traditional teachers, young teachers appeared who were brought to the village for a season or more, in order to protect the ember so that it should not be extinguished.

Indeed, the Hebrew education of that period resembled flowery embers in which the fire did not strengthen into flames. Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Levin, in particular, excelled in his efforts; he provided from his own personal means a fair portion of the salaries of the teachers, and in general dedicated himself to the education of the youth.

As a result of the various regimes and periods there also came as intrinsic parts of them results in the system of the Hebrew education in the village. The “Cheders” [see note 56] closed one after the other following the deaths of the elder teachers, and no new teachers came in their place. In the last years of the village the matter of Hebrew education was turned over to the hand of Rabbi Perecowicz^[73] who was crowned as the last rabbi of the village in the 1920's.

After many attempts, the opportunity came to his hand to establish a school from the “Ezra” foundation. Many students did not visit this school, and those who did, did not continue in it very long. As competition to it there appeared the previously–mentioned Polish National School, which provided a well–known general secular education. “Well–known” because the Polish National School provided the right to girls to be accepted to the governmental seminary for female teachers which existed in the village, and even though the boys had no business with it, the Polish and general professional languages were also comprehensively well–learned there, and if the Hebrew school was religious in its foundations, the general education was given to the students in only minute measure.

One of the excellent teachers in this school was Chaya Bunimovitz*, one of the few daughters of the village who in the time of the czar studied at the gymnasium. After she completed her required studies she settled in Troki and they began to turn to her to give private lessons, and when the religious school was established she was invited to be the teacher for general professions. Chaya, who was educated and intelligent, was blessed also with a gift for teaching, and to her credit one can attribute the little of general education that was available to the students of the religious school to learn.

The way of life of the Jews of the village did not differ much from their kindred in the other village of the Lithuanian diaspora. The public lives were mainly concentrated around the synagogue, which stood in an unpaved alley, and which became a quagmire after even the lightest rain. Like most of the houses of the village, the synagogue was built of wooden beams, except that on the outside it was covered with painted boards, whose paint faded with time until their color was unrecognizable. Between two stories was the house, the lower floor for the men and the upper floor for the “Women's Gallery”. There was also a “shtiebl”^[74] in the same building, and at the time that one minyan was praying in the synagogue, a second minyan was gathering in the shtiebl, composed of those impatient ones whose patience for hearing the trills of the passing cantor or the drash^[75] of a visiting rabbi or maggid^[76] had worn thin.

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There was also a “polish” in the synagogue, in which householders would get together and stand and walk around and talk during the time of the Torah reading, or during the time of the repetition of the shaliach tzibur^[77] – ordinary conversations, even though the rules prohibit this. This “polish” increased especially on the eve of Yom Kippur, when the gabbais^[78] of all the societies would seat themselves by their basins [collection baskets], and each of the worshippers emerging from the afternoon prayers would be asked to pass in a row before the basins and pay off the obligations that he volunteered to donate during the course of the year, whether as fixed bi–weekly payments or pledges for being called up to the Torah. Next to the southern wall of the synagogue, next to the big sign of “The One Who Gives Salvation”^[79], stood a giant burnished brass Chanukah menorah with eight branches and a shamash [candle that serves to light the other candles] decorated with lions and eagles. Only a very few towns in this region could afford to adorn their synagogues with such a beautiful decoration as this.

Two shamashim^[80] served in the synagogue, the shamash of Assi and his deputy, but with the death of the last deputy, another was not appointed in his place and the head shamash, R' Zvi Hirsch Shuvin, “Hirscha the Shamash” who was young and vigorous, received also his responsibility in exchange for some increase to his salary, which was rather meagre to begin with. Every Friday “Hirscha the Shamash”, like the chazzan [cantor] Menachem Mendel Poralinsky, would pass by the houses and collect the pennies that each person had pledged to pay him each week. And since, in sum total, the weekly money was extremely modest, the congregation also provided lodgings to the shamash. This was found in a section of the synagogue, and was passed from shamash to shamash together with the position and the “entitlement”, and in most cases together with the daughter, (because the shamashim did not have a cash dowry for their daughters in the regular way, so the daughters were transmitted to their groom along with the “entitlement” and the position, after one hundred and twenty….^[81]

One room on the ground floor of the synagogue building was used for the purpose of Torah study and welcoming guests. Torah study here refers to a school for the children of the poor, who could not afford to pay a teacher, and welcoming guests in this context means a place to stay overnight for poor passersby. With the departure of the shamash Reb Simcha and the appointment of his son–in–law Zvi Hirsch in his place, he forbade (since, as it was mentioned above, he was vigorous and sharp–witted), a war on these two institutions which was like an incurable thorn in his flesh, until he succeeded in getting them out of his vicinity.

The courtyard of the synagogue was expansive, and within it was also found the house of the local rabbi. This house was new and of value, and was erected especially for Rabbi Nahum Greenhouse^[82], who served in his time as the rabbi of the village. R' Nahum, who was a great in the Torah and who had an extremely pleasant appearance, was worthy to serve as the rabbi in a village larger than Troki, but his Zionism impeded him. He was one of the chief assistants of Rabbi Reines^[83], who was one of the first founders of the “Mizrahi”^[84] and a delegate to the Fourth Zionist Congress.

During that time, Zionism was a serious flaw to a rabbi in Israel, and, his excellent personal qualities notwithstanding, he did not manage to acquire a congregation in keeping with his worth. Lacking a choice, he remained to serve in Troki, and from within recognition of good, the townspeople erected for him a house in the courtyard of the synagogue. In the last years the Jewish school was also erected in this courtyard, and the members of the community invested much energy in its buildings and its organizations.

Next to the synagogue there existed various societies, similar to other places in the rest of Lithuania. The most honored of them, the “Shas”^[85] Society, of which all of the heads of households – except for the tradesmen, of course, were members, used to establish regular study of a page of Gemara^[86] a day; in the summer, before the afternoon prayers, and in the winter, after the evening prayers. Also, Mishnayot Societies used to set a fixed hour for Torah study – two Mishnahs after the morning prayers. The number of regular participants in the Shas lessons and the Mishnah was rather small. Compared to this, their numbers grew several times at the time of a celebration, such as the conclusion of a tractate or order, since then they would bring schnapps, and sponge cake for dessert, and the preparation was great.

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Generally, the poor of the people and the tradesmen participated in the “Well of Jacob”^[87]. This lesson took place each evening between the afternoon and evening prayers. And a second, the “Human Life”^[88] Society, a lesson on this work took place once a week on the Sabbath, prior to the afternoon prayers. Most of the members of this society, like those that came before it, were of the simple among the people.

At the ends of the Sabbaths, between the afternoon and evening prayers, (after the third meal^[89]), practically the entire community was assembled for the reading of Psalms, when one person would read verses aloud and the congregation would repeat after him in unison.

The living spirit in these societies was Reb Aharon Eliyah the Shochet^[90] (Schneider), who had always given the lectures for the mishnayot^[91] “The Well of Jacob” and “Human Life”. The page of Shas was taught for a long time by R' Chayyim, the son of R' Daniel Rabin. This R' Chayyim had a butcher shop from which he used to support himself, yet, unlike the other members of his trade, the butchers, he was a scholar, sharp and expert in the Shas and the deciders of rabbinic law, and in possession of a vast memory. His Talmud was fluent in his mouth, and even when the travails of his labors did not allow him time to prepare for lesson, he would explain it to his listeners with a simplicity and ease that would captivate the hearts of those who heard it, and would arouse towards him a feeling of respect. After R' Chayyim's death, this responsibility again fell on R' Aharon Eliyahu, even though in the village there were, besides him, a number of Jews who knew Torah who were capable of doing it. There was for example R' Uriah Broida, a scholar, expert and sharp, who a majestic appearance and pleasant ways. However, he was spoiled all his life, and like a silk cloth laid on the table of his father–in–law, would never agree to burden himself with any trouble. The burden of earning a living, a weaving store, was laid on the shoulders of Fayge his wife, whereas he, R' Uriah, had the practice of rising late and arriving to the synagogue after the end of all the minyans. Certainly R' Uriah was God–fearing and observant of the commandments, but he did not reach excessive zealousness. He enjoyed his solitary prayer, interrupted for his enjoyment and peppered with secular conversations on matters of politics and the like. R' Uriah did not find pleasure in any burden or obligation, not even the burden of teaching the page to the Shas Society. Again, it was left only to R' Eliyahu the shochet to accept on himself, as was mentioned, the additional obligation. From then on the days of R' Eliyahu became crammed full, for in the essence of the matter he was a shochet, and he was forced to walk a long distance once or twice a day, and sometimes also at night, to the slaughterhouse, which was at the end of the village, across the bridge, at the top of a high and steep hill, the ascent to which would exhaust his strength and shorten his breath. In addition to this, R' Aharon Eliyahu taught a sort of private Gemara lesson to some of the youths of the village who were past the age of cheder. The most excellent quality of R' Aharon Eliyahu was his patience, and this endeared him to all who knew him. He did not know any kind of anger, and this was foreign to his spirit. “An impatient person cannot teach”^[92] became changed for the better in referring to him – “not an impatient teacher”. When R' Aharon Eliyahu fell to his bed with a serious illness from which he would not recover, the tenure of the slaughterer fell to his son, R' Kalman, and the teaching of the lessons in the various societies, also, in sort of a natural way, was placed on his shoulders as well. However, rarely was there a resemblance between father and son like that between R' Aharon Eliyahu and R' Kalman his son. The manner, the ways, the fear of God and the straightforwardness were transferred to him as if by inheritance, except that the innocence of his way and his caution in an easy matter as in a difficult one engendered for him unusual respect and admiration. Indeed, it was enough for him if once in a while he uttered an exaggeration or a joke, even if it was unintentional.

It is not possible to recount the public institutions of the community without mentioning an undertaking which, if not entirely sacred, its importance in the secular life of the community was above all doubt – the bath house. This institution was established by the community as an addition to the kosher mikvah^[93] and served all of the townspeople over the course of decades, including those who were not Jewish. Once or a week or every two weeks,

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on Thursday, they would heat the bath house for the women, and after Konkov (a non–Jew), the bath house attendant, would go out to the city street and announce in a loud voice “women, to the bath house!!”, the daughters of the village would come out of their houses with bundles under their arms to purify and wash themselves in honor of Shabbat. In like manner they would heat the bath house for the men on Fridays.

On the Lake

Public life of a secular nature, except for the attempt to establish a Zionist organization at the start of the century, only developed in the years after the outbreak of the First World War. And if at the head of the traditional life of the community stood the householders, that is, village men of middle age and older, the secular arena of public life was constituted by the field of activity of the youth, which really inspired the spirit of the community, because the grace of the youth was entirely spread over it. It was the youth that really left its impression on it, one best expressed by the verse: “one generation goes and another comes^[94] – and Troki exists forever!”

The truth of the matter is that the youth in Troki became the elders, as in every place, but there the process was very slow and drawn out. The transition to the status of elders was delayed to a very mature age, and the “youth” was composed of several generations: from the “children” who were older than high school age, to the “youths” who were 40 and older.

They did not hurry to marry in Troki, and even though every mother of young daughters would make a firm decision that a daughter would enter the marriage canopy no later than the age of 18, these decisions remained slips of the tongue only. As the age arrived, the matter was so far from reality that the decision appeared to be only a dream.

A young man of 18 had, as a matter of course, no real occupation, and no real chance of standing independently. He was dependent on the table or store of his father, a “table” that with great difficulty withstood the difficulty of the times. And when the man–child grew up and went, he would, little by little, become accustomed to this non–independent life, or that a great force would uproot him from his life of unemployment, and would establish him, as it were, on his own feet:

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a daughter of the wealthy, a dowry, and a new store…. There were no rich people in the village, and (in any case) no daughters of rich people. The sole source of a dowry was, therefore, some rich uncle – of course, in America. Yet, (wealthy) uncles did not grow on trees. The “youth” would increase his efforts but not succeed in that effort.

What was the occupation of the youth in the village?

Except for some exceptions, who were, in this and later periods, sitting in Vilna for continued learning – professional or general – the youth did not engage in anything. The daughters were helping their mothers in the household or in the store, if their parents had one, and the sons were, as they grew into adults attempting little by little to enter into “the world of commerce”, that is to say, to go out of Thursday, which was market day, to buy the products of the farmers; pork, fruit, and produce, to sell in Vilna at a profit. Most of them, however, were unemployed, without work or any occupation, as was mentioned.

Athletic teams or organizations, in which the youth could find an outlet for their energy, did not exist in Troki. The library therefore served as the center of communal and cultural life for the youth.

This library was founded before the first world war, as was mentioned, as a Hebrew library for the children, by a Hebrew teacher who dwelt temporarily in the village, for a year or two. At the initiative of the same Hebrew teacher, there also was founded a wide circle surrounding the library. The group was composed of “honored members” – of an older age, “young members”, and “readers”. In the natural way the library was established and developed by the donations of the members and the payments of the readers. Since there were no expenditures and all of the income was dedicated to the acquisition of books, indeed in the space of a few years the library grew and expanded, until it filled the “ark” [cabinet] that was acquired for it at its founding. The children who managed the library debated the question: from where could an additional cabinet be acquired, and also the money to rent an apartment? A room for one cabinet was found by one of the parents voluntarily, but two cabinets and a growing number of readers – was already a great struggle. Nevertheless, salvation came, as usual, from an unexpected source: “Yakopo”^[95], the Jewish Aid Council, whose center was in Vilna^[96], began to receive (this was in the twenties) great sums of money from the American “Joint”^[97]

General view, looking from the hill of the city park

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for the purpose of distributing them among the Jewish communities who were in need of constructive assistance, with Troki among them.

What constructive assistance was it possible to give to Troki?

There were no cooperatives for manufacturers or consumers in Troki. There were also no schools for the training of professionals. And, those few craftsmen, the tools of their craft were with them, and they had no need for modern tools – (when they brought a small delivery of axes, hammers and plains from America, not one person was interested in them, and they were sold at the cheapest price to just home–owners.)

Let's say a bank. Indeed, the Jews rose and established a bank. “Yakopo” allocated an amount of money in the form of a loan, and the bank was opened. All the men of the community were registered as members of the bank, which became an effective financial instrument, because it offered to it members credit assistance at low interest. It was also known that “Yakopo” offered help also for cultural needs, and in this category were also libraries. The matter served as a foundation for accelerating political unrest, which had begun some time before, and concentrated the youth around the small and developing library.

The period was at the end of the first world war, when the Russian revolution and civil war ignited. It was a wonderful period of public awareness. The soldiers who had been drafted into the war were freed and Returned to their homes, the captives too were also freed or fled from their camps^[98]. Similarly, those who had been drafted for forced labor (by the Germans^[99]) Returned home. The migration to America that had absorbed important parts of the youth had stopped at the start of the war and had not yet resumed, and Aliyah to the land [Palestine] – this was the period of the Third Aliyah^[100] – did not find her pioneers in the village. All the youth stayed concentrated in the village, entirely awake and ready solely for communal action; the library was a broad base for action.

Preceding all, of course, was a general assembly of the youth with many participants, and the election of a library council. At the head of the council stood Arieh Gisser, the cantor's son. He served in the Russian army, and at the outbreak of the war was sent to the Galician front. After some time he was taken captive by the Austrians, but, since he was an intelligent and capable young man, he was appointed by them to be a clerk in the military office, and in some mysterious way acquired the trust of his supervisors, and walked about freely like one of the soldiers. Nevertheless, he never got over missing his parents' home, so he forged a document with a travel permit and Returned to the village. This was the period of the German conquest, and his appearance in the village dressed in an Austrian army uniform was the greatest sensation. When Arieh came Friday night to the synagogue for prayers, all the Jews of the village gathered around him to bless his arrival, all of them full of excitement and amazement. However, although he was sharp and quick, Arieh forgot to consider one important detail: that is, what would the non–Jews say? That is, the German officers who were still in charge of the village? And, in fact, the next day the German officers appeared at his house, but to his luck he had time to escape out the window and disappear. The members of his household said that he had Returned to his Austrian “unit”, but the truth of the matter was that he remained in the village, in the underground organization. The penalty for that in those days was death, but he was not intimidated. His suffering and hardship are difficult to describe. Every day he would change his hiding place, because he needed to remain hidden even from the Jews, who were liable to unintentionally reveal the secret. In this way he passed many months in voluntary confinement, out of constant danger to his life and the lives of his friends, in whose homes he found shelter. When Arieh emerged from the underground, his body was not broken and his spirit was not depressed. He was full of energy and hungry for activity. The library enchanted him and offered him a broad field of activity.

The council at whose head Arieh stood was active and energetic. His friends – five – really competed in their dedication to the matter. The treasurer, Yaakov Meir Bunimovitz*^[101], who was involved in the library from the days of his childhood, (and he was already 19), Zvi Iliansky, David Zvi, etc.

The days were the days of the first Polish rule, the days of the oppression of all

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national life of the Jews, and the council, that saw danger in leaving the library without official authorization, decided to work for the legalization of the library. The attention stole time, energy, and nerves. The Poles were not happy to authorize a Jewish library that was apparently communist. It was necessary also to be concerned with the books. The existing books were mostly Hebrew, and there was concern also about the Yiddish books, since many of the youth did not know Hebrew. They were deciding also about a reading room, a cultural council house for the youth. But it was impossible to take any kind of action while the library was not recognized by the Polish government. Again, they were taking steps to hasten the legalization of the library, until finally the yearned–for permit was received, and the way to real actions was opened. The opening of the reading room, which was delayed until the receipt of the permit, was an important event in the life of the village. The small room that was rented for this purpose in the apartment of Yisrael Nudler*, next to the Pravoslavis Church, was filled every night with readers until there was no more room. The new books that were acquired expanded the numbers of readers several times over.

Nevertheless, the expanded action required additional efforts. The reading fee that in the past served as a unique fixed source of income was no longer enough to cover the expenses, and the help that was given by the “Yakopo” was made to serve only for self–action, but was not enough to meet the needs. The council decided, therefore, to organize a “Development Day” for the good of the library.

In pairs, the beautiful young women of the village went out to raise money to support the library. The Jews donated, but in the main it was the Poles and even the Polish soldiers that dwelt at the time in the village who donated. The amount that was collected exceeded expectations, and ensured the library's budget for a few months.

One source of income for the library were the “Soirees” that were organized once or twice a year. And apart from the money that was sacred to the library, it was one of the important events in the life of the village.

Among the “movers and shakers” in the organizations of the balls were Yosef* and Fanya Mitelensky^[102]. Their parents – Yisrael and Leah Mitelensky, who were simple people and almost new settlers in the village, made much money in the mechanized shoe factory that they established, and they thought it proper to give their children a “modern” education in keeping with the '20s, which meant that they taught them music. Yosef was placed in a conservatory in Vilna, and for Fanya they bought a piano. But even with their position on this, there did not stick to the brother and sister even a trace of snobbism; in fact it was the opposite – the simplicity and pleasantness of their ways, their good temperaments and their natural intelligence endeared them to the youth and placed them at the center of the community life of the village.

It is no wonder, therefore, that the “Soirees” that the youth of the village organized were, to a great extent, the fruit of the initiative and efforts of Yosef and Fanya, and their excellent taste exceeded all that the neighboring villages had to offer. These “receptions” had a wonderful program, with a choir in which participated all the youth of the village, with dances and performances.

These “Soirees” also gave Yosef an opportunity to bring to the stage his little musical compositions, which, owing to their beauty and grace were brought to the theatrical stages of the schools in Vilna and were sung by all.

Yosef's participation in the organization of the receptions developed into a sort of tradition, and even after Yosef left Troki and moved to Vilna on the occasion of his appointment to a position that he received in one of the offices, he didn't neglect the opportunity to come to the village and participate in the organization of the “Soiree”.

The programs of these “Soirees” excelled, as was mentioned, in their good taste and variety.

The highlight of the Soiree was the choir, in which almost all of the members of the village participated. The songs that were sung by the choir – which were from the classical musical literature, sometimes in Yosef's translation of them into Yiddish – were well–known

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The string band that was organized by Zvi Mitelensky Seated from right to left: 1. Michael Hasda* May God Avenge his blood, 2. Tuvia Levter May God avenge his blood, 3. Shimshon Kahan the Composer May God avenge his blood, 4. Yonah Savirsky, 5. Yitzhak Vilkilsky* May God avenge his blood, 6. Sonya Mitelensky May God avenge her blood, 7. The Conductor Zvi Mitelensky May God avenge his blood, 8. Nyuta Mitelensky*[103] 9. Nahum Zvi* May God avenge his blood, 10. Shlomo Aharonovitz* May God avenge his blood, 11. Dov Gershovsky[104], 12. Yosef Shub, 13. Yitzhak Zenerman May God avenge his blood, 14. Eliyahu Kotz* May God avenge his blood

Ranked second was the performance of a play, usually by Shalom Aleichem^[105], the reading of a literary work or a concert by a mandolin ensemble (after Yosef moved away from Troki and could no longer actively participate in these performances, mentioned above which was established by his brother Zvi, who, although he lacked a musical education, was nevertheless talented and in possession of initiative). Most of the young men and women participated in the ensemble, and they invested many hours in practicing and in rehearsals. Indeed, not many months went by from the day of its creation before the ensemble reached a level at which it could perform on the stage at the artistic Soiree, and the reputation that went out about the ensemble was unique, so that the adjacent villages began to invite the ensemble to appear at their own “Soirees”.

After the conclusion of the artistic program, the “free” program would begin. This was composed of a number of sections, an important one of which was a flirtation game called “Air Mail”. The “Air Mail” was in fact a box in which the participants would insert letters to the one that their heart desired. At regular intervals, the “postman” would announce the names that were on the envelopes, and the most popular of the boys, and especially of the girls, was measured by the number of letters that they received.

The snack bar that constituted a fundamental, not–to–be–missed part of the program, was made up of all kinds of cakes, sandwiches, candies, and, most importantly, ice cream, which was, generally speaking, an extremely precious commodity in the village. Sometimes they would also add a raffle. For this purpose, before the “Soiree” a couple or two would visit a house or two of the residents and collect a few belongings that could serve as an example for a general store: cups, bowls, toys, sweets, books, notebooks, and sometimes even a watch (a cheap one, of course), and all this served as stimulation for the game and competition – and fundamental for entry.

However, the main part of the “free” program were the dances, which continued,

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actually, often until the light of morning. This part served as an attraction for ticket–buyers who were not Jewish – German or Polish soldiers, depending on the government at the time, whose intention was not to enjoy the performances but simply the desire to dance with the beautiful Jewish girls.

The Magistrate – the City Council – was not a youth organization. In general, if the Poles had wanted, they could have established the entire Council in their own hands, without a single Jew elected. However, two or three Jews amidst 12 elected, gave reason for praise of the council from a democratic aspect. The Jewish members were usually elected by an election agreement with the Poles, and their work in the village was likewise done within this “agreement”. It did not occur to the Jews that their purpose in the village was to fight for rights, such as village jobs, a village budget for the Jewish school, support of the library, and so on. They sat on the Council, therefore, to represent the Jewish population on the City Council, and in order that this “representation” should be as smooth and as comfortable as possible. The Jews would send representatives that would be accepted by the Polish members, and who would establish for them friendly personal relationships – that is, meeting and drinking a “l'chaim” together.

An adult Jew, the father of children, of course, could not have the free time to sit in a neighborly way with the Polish head of the Council and drink until they were drunk. The responsibility of the “Representative”, therefore fell to the responsibility of the “Youth”. For many years this responsibility was placed on the shoulders of Meir Klausner, and in the last years also Shimon Zvi* was sent to the village at the behest of the Jews.

The two of the them, Meir and likewise Shimon, belonged to the “Youth”, primarily because they were both single. The matter was especially known regarding Meir: at the age when his friends of his own age already were taking care of sons and daughters, Meir was still young and single. This Meir was a man of pleasant conversation and pleasant ways. For many years he served as a travel agent and businessman in the streets of Russia, and this way he acquired much experience in human relations and unusual life experience. From his travels and adventures in the various Russian regions they used him as a source for never–disappointing “happenings” and tales. And, his knowledge of how to tell them well endeared him to all his listeners, Jews and gentiles alike.

The Market Square, view from the lake

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His house – actually the house of his father, R' Aharon Kadish, that he inherited from him – was one of the nicest in the village, and furnished with great taste, and, according to the opinion of the village, quite elegantly, and served as a pleasant meeting placed for friends and neighbors. This engendered friendly personal relationships between Meir and the enlightened echelon of the Polish population, to which the choice members of the village, for the most part, belonged. It was natural for Meir to be chosen as Magistrate by the Jewish population.

Shimon Zvi was Meir's complete opposite. From the days of his childhood Shimon never left his parents' house, and never left the village. He never in his life conducted any business, and did not even involve himself in his father's – Shmuel Mikhlis' general store, except for maybe a few hours a week on market days. Shimon was involved in the life of the village and, it would appear, never aspired to leave it. Apparently, a life of idleness was also not too difficult for him. On account of this he did not seek escape in any cultural or national involvement, and grew up without any deed or purpose. For some reason he never married, certainly because he never happened to find a bride with a large dowry, which without a doubt was appropriate for her in the opinion of the village. With all this Shimon was quiet, polite, educated (in the regional school), and had pleasant ways. After Meir settled in the village, Shimon became his friend and his confidant, and thanks to him he entered into the society of the Polish “intelligentsia” in the village. Over the years the village youth decided to dispatch Shimon to the Magistrate as their emissary, and he fulfilled this mission as well as could be expected. That is to say, he became a good and valued friend to the head of the village, and to his secretary. This involvement, it would seem, tied Shimon even more to the village, as if he had found in it his purpose. Even during the time when, little by little, most of the youth left the village in its thronging to the land of Israel or to America, Shimon remained in the village until its bitter end, and found in it his death at the hands of the Germans.

The next generation of youth, those born in the first decade of our century [the 20^th century], whose coming of age took place in the stormy period of the end of the First World War (which in this part of the world did not end in 1918 but was drawn out and extended to 1920 and even after that), was impressed with the seal of the periods of the third and fourth aliyot.^[106]

The village did not participate in the Aliyah of the Biluim^[107], and none of the villagers knew anything about it.

With the Second Aliyah, however, one or two of the village youth did emigrate to the land [of Israel], but this was an individual aliyah, without the youths who were leaving maintaining any connection those who remained behind, and without their influencing their education in any way. An important source of inspiration from the land of Israel that the children of the village (who over the course of time became her youth) were able to accept was one teacher who was brought from the land to guide the students of the school. The man was one of the members of the “Old Settlement”^[108], and he didn't know much about the new life that was growing and developing in the Land, however the essence of his presence in the village concretized the legends that were told about the land of Israel, and increased the yearnings for the homeland, which were nurtured in the hearts of the children and youth within the way of life of a Jewish village in the diaspora. The library also contributed more than a little to the strengthening of the longing, as it contained some of the best works of Hebrew and Yiddish literature, among them the works of [Moshe] Smilansky^[109], [David?] Yellin^[110] and Brenner^[111], who revealed knowledge of the new life being established in the land. The book “Yizkor”, which included stories about the lives and deaths of the first “Shomrim”^[112], was a “best–seller” in the village, and these stories, which were read enthusiastically, brought about the inculcation of love for the land and implicit desires for the personalities of the heroes that fell, and for following in their footsteps.

When the period of the Third Aliyah arrived, there already existed in the village a strong pioneering fermentation, and the appearance of the “Ukrainian Pioneers” in Vilna virtually opened

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a horizon for the youth who were weighing the possibilities for the future. However, the strongest impression that was made on them was by the appearance in the village itself of several youths from the Vilna “HeChalutz (The Pioneer)”^[113]. These young men, who were about to depart for the Land and before their departure came for a one–day trip on the village ponds, became the center of interest for the youth. That same night they sat into the wee hours on one of the balconies of the houses, surrounded by all the village youth, and sang some of the songs from the land of Israel. The influence of this visit lingered for many days, but it also had immediate results: 3 young men – spoiled and delicate youths – registered as members of “HeChalutz” in order to make aliyah to the land^[114] [of Israel]. These three were Chaim Schneider, Yosef Zenerman, and Naphtali Gisser. The surprising fact was that their parents, who were of the leaders of the village, people of action, respected merchants, honored in their community, agreed to the matter. And, not only did they agree, the matter was blessed with large expenses – in order to merit the certificates, the boys first had to undergo professional training in Vilna (in the carpentry school of ORT^[115]). That meant that the parents had to support their sons in Vilna, with food and an apartment, for a full year, and that came to a substantial amount. In addition to that, the cost of travel to the land, and this is the key, was enormous, and constituted a heavy burden on the families' budgets. Not only the cost of the passage itself was included, but a “wardrobe” of clothing, undergarments, bedding, and more. Nevertheless, the families bore this burden with love and diligence, until the boys departed for the land.

The letters that were received from the pioneers frequently opened a small window to the village into what was happening in the land, and brought it thousands of miles closer to the village. And, even though much of the embellishment that was painted in the imagination faded as a result of the boys' stories,

The first pioneers that made aliyah in 1923 Top, right to left: Yosef Zenerman, Naphtali Gisser; Seated: Israel Zablodovski[116] (Amir), Chaim Schneider

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the fact of their integration there changed the relationship to aliyah from an experience of adventure to something real, clear, and certain. A number of youths that decided to make aliyah immediately, and others that registered for aliyah some time later, made the decision to establish a branch of “HeChalutz” in the village. Yosef Baskin took an active role in this mission; at that time he served as Hebrew teacher in the village.

The Federation of the Young Pioneer

Guidance for the establishment of the branch and its administration was received from the center of “HeChalutz” in Vilna. Yosef Bankover^[118], who was one of the heads of the Center, extended much help in this matter. The meeting of the foundation was established with the participation of Avraham Bilipolsky, may his memory be for a blessing, who was sent to the village by the center of “HeChalutz”. Bilipolsky gave three speeches, one after another, in the course of one afternoon, and it is difficult to describe the strong impression that he made with them. This was a style that they were not used to in the village. And, notwithstanding the fact that this was the period before he had visited the land, the description of it in his mouth was so convincing and so attractive that many of his listeners were transformed into his followers and admirers. However, there were not many candidates for aliyah in the village in that period. The expenses of making aliyah were, as mentioned, so high that aliyah became a privilege for the children of the elite only, and the ones who were the children of those with no means didn't dare to even dream about it, for where would the money be found? Nevertheless, nearly all the youth registered as members of “HeChalutz”, since the work of “HeChalutz” was principally intended for spiritual and professional training of its members. That is to say, to instill in them knowledge of the Hebrew language and the history of the Zionist movement, and this to accustom them

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to manual labor, which was desired in every place and in all possible circumstances.

The spiritual training was an important foundation for the plan of every candidate for aliyah, a foundation whose importance sometimes rose above professional training. For that reason it took place next to the Land of Israel Office^[119], which had among its responsibilities the approval of candidates for aliyah, “The Labor Division”, a sort of examination committee, before which the pioneers who were candidates for aliyah would appear. The members of the committee would inundate the candidates with all different kinds of questions, such as, “what is the difference between Political Zionism^[120] and the teaching of Ahad Ha'am^[121]?” Or, “what is the name of the first collective farm that was established in the land of Israel?” and the like. Truth be told, that in the village, the youths who were members of “HeChalutz” were not prepared to answer these types of questions, and it was imposed upon the to read the history of Zionism on one foot…

The press from the land, which were received regularly, “The Kuntrus” and “The Young Worker”, was therefore learned by heart, and what was going on there served as the basis for topics for discussion and dispute at the branch meetings. As mentioned, the action of “HeChalutz” was led by the center in Vilna, and sometimes there came from it a visit to the village and lectures. By chance, or not, the leadership of “HeChalutz” in Vilna was found in the hands of members of Dror^[122] (such as Bankover, Bilipolsky, Guberman and more), and in the natural way the strength of their desire of these members was to broaden their influence on the Jewish street. In Troki it was done by Guberman, who came one day for a visit to the village on behalf of “HeChalutz”. He assembled a meeting of all the youth, pioneers and non–pioneers, and lectured on the program of “Dror”. At the end of his lecture he recommended the establishment of a “Zionist Socialist Dror Collective”. Since there were not in the village any other political parties, no one opposed the idea, and all of them registered for “The Collective”, even though no one understood the need for it (since between the goals of “HeChalutz” and the goals of “Dror” there wasn't, in the opinion of the youth of the village who lacked political awareness, a concrete difference). All the members of “HeChalutz” registered. However, also for “Dror”, but the worry of the active members was how to divide the activity between the two organizations…. There wasn't a chance for elections to the Zionist Congress, the matter apparently became clear, but there weren't elections,

A group of pioneers at work From right to left: Avraham Nudler, may his memory be for a blessing; Yosef Shub; Binyamin Bunimovitz*, may God avenge his blood; Nahum Zvi*, may God avenge his blood; Zev Pokroyski; Michael Hasda*, may God avenge his blood.

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and to create an organization only for the occasion of an election – their national experience did not suffice. In any case, this organization did not proceed, and its members were satisfied that they were not arousing them to action, to something unclear, when they had before them a concrete field of action in the framework of “HeChalutz”.

After a year of activity, the first member was approved for aliyah – this was Yosef Girshovski^[123] (Guri), one of the youngest in the branch, yet one of the most enthusiastic about aliyah. All of the branch followed with excitement after the stages of the “approval”. The member's status grew before the members of the center in Vilna, and his examination by the “Division of Labor” was transmitted to the members in a report that was detailed and precise. When the day of his aliyah arrived, at the end of the winter of 1924, it was a great festival in the village and especially in the branch, which saw him as their first fruit^[124]. The farewell party that was arranged for him – the first of its kind – was the expression of the embodiment of a great dream. The members of “HeChalutz” saw the door to the land opening for them, too, and their excitement on the occasion of the event was great than expected. After Yosef's aliyah, the branch continued its work with greater vigor.

At the same time, there were organized in the villages surrounding Vilna collective settlements of “HeChalutz”, and some of the members of the Troki “HeChalutz” registered for and transferred to these settlements. The branch of “HeChalutz” in the village, from then on, was made the recognized body by the center for distribution as it saw fit, and when it again received an allotment of “certificates” for distribution, two of them were transmitted by them to the branch, for distribution as it saw fit. In its meeting, the branch authorized two of its members for aliyah; Zvi Vershel, (one of the first organizers of the branch), and Asher Straus (Shomrony)^[125]. The aliyah of these two members on September 25, 1925, appropriately marked the beginning of organized aliyah by members of “HeChalutz”, but the crisis that in the meantime occurred in the land, and the reduction of the number of certificates that were given, stopped the work of the branch. The last to make aliyah were Zev Pokroysky, and Yehoshua ben [son of] Arieh “Bankovitcher” may his memory be for a blessing (killed by Arabs, together with his wife Shoshana and their two children, in Tiberias, in the events of 1936^[126]), whose aliyah was authorized within the framework of a collective settlement in one of the villages that were near Vilna. To this list also should be added Avigdor Chasdai^[127], who, although his aliyah was authorized by “HeChalutz HaMizrachi” [see note 127], it seems that an important motivator and stimulus for his aliyah was, without a doubt, the branch of “HeChalutz” in the village. There also should be added to the list Yehuda and Zipporah Pokroyski, and Ephraim and Breina Potashnik, may her memory be for a blessing, who made aliyah to the land in 1925 as “capitalists”, not by means of the branch, but again surely due to the influence of the fermentation of awakening desire for aliyah in the village. And, finally, Shmuel Gitlitz, who made aliyah in that same period – the fall of 1925 – in a roundabout way from Kovno in Lithuania; the fact of his aliyah was influenced by those same sources from which were nursed the members of “HeChalutz” in the village: the tradition, the education, and the good spirit of a modest and God–fearing Jewish village.

The village had a bridgehead and this fact facilitated the movement. Again, this was not a Nachshoni [courageous] deed, – for the road was paved – but simply a technical problem, and this problem was solved in all kinds of ways according to the possibilities that existed in each and every case, such as a request by relatives, a tourist visa, and the like.

Those who, on account of their religious views or the views of their parents did not join in “HeChalutz”, registered for aliyah through “The Mizrachi Chalutz” in Vilna. After some time there also was established a branch of this organization in the village. And, also the collective for training was founded on the farm that was across from Lake Zatrotshi, which belonged to Count Tyszkiewicz^[128].

Also a branch of Betar^[129] was founded, at the start of the 1930s, at the initiative of Benzion Levin and his brothers Nahum and Yishayahu. And, although the branch really did not influence it, indeed this too strengthened the Zionist fermentation.

Truly, the depression and lack of work in the land of Israel and the limitations of the Mandatory government^[130] weakened and sometimes also paralyzed the “Chalutz” effort and aliyah. Yet,

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the chain was not disconnected; aliyah to the land took place through all of these years, sometimes a youth aliyah, sometimes a parents' aliyah, and sometimes both together.

However, the source of strength that stimulated the movement of aliyah to the land in the later periods can only be seen as a result of the efforts of the “HeChalutz” organization in the village, and to the credit of this organization one can attribute to the very few – to the 50 young men and women who made aliyah to the land with a period of 15–20 years, and were save from the fire that spread over this beautiful and faithful village.

The relationship of the Karaites to the Jews in the last period were polite and even as good neighbors. Nevertheless, one of the things that was taken for granted was that the Karaites were not good supporters of the Jews. Indeed, also from the Jewish side the appropriate love was not felt, in the natural way, for members of the same race and extraction. It was accepted, apparently, on the basis of distant history, that in hatred of [the people] Israel the Karaites exceeded even the Christians. This phenomenon was especially strange in light of the fact that despite the bad relations that existed between the communities in the past, in recent times there had existed between them almost no economic competition. The Karaites were sustained by agriculture or government service, professions in which the Jews did not have a foothold, for they were sustained by trading and business. Nevertheless, it is possible that the Karaites hated the Jews out of acclimation to covert feelings of the Russian government, and lately the Polish government, and the Jews Returned hate for hate. It is similarly possible that the rights that were given to the Karaites by the government and the Karaites' ability to acclimate easily to every government, caused this hatred, which was therefore only revealed out of jealously and contempt.

However, the true nature of these relations was likely to be revealed without embellishment in a final test, with the conquest of the village by Hitler's troopers, when the sword was raised against the Jews and the Karaites together. At that time the Karaites fabricated the theory that they did not in any way belong to the Semitic race, and that they were descendants of a Mongolian Tatar tribe. They brought this theory before the Nazi scholars, who brought it to the Jewish scribe Kalmanovich^[131], one of the famous researchers at YIVO^[132], asked him to state his opinion. The facts and the science did were not in line with the humanitarian, yet

Training collective of HaPoel Mizrachi at the Zartoshti Manor House[133] next to Troki

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in order to save the Karaite community from destruction, Kalmanovich stated the opinion that the Tatars are Karaites and not Semites. The Nazis approved the decision, and the Karaites were accepted as Tatars. After the matter became known to the Jews, a few of them attempted to disguise themselves as Karaites. However, when the Jews made themselves Karaites, the leaders of the Karaites offered to the Germans a specific list of all of the members of the Karaite community, saying, whoever was not on the list was not a Karaite. From the unfortunate Jews, this last lifeline too was taken from them…

The relations with the Poles that were in the village and surrounding area were reasonable. Trading relationships existed that were comparable to those in the other villages in the region. The Jews provided for them the products of their industry: sugar, salt, kerosene and the like, and they would purchase from them their agricultural produce. Similarly, the Jewish workers would perform all kinds of work for the farmers. However, such were the relationships in appearance only, and those with internal covert feelings were hard–pressed to lay aside their opinion. The “Gentiles” hated the Jews with a hereditary hate, and also were envious of them because “they don't work and they have everything”, and the Jews felt that they were in exile among gentiles who did not have any affection for them. Although these feelings were, for the most part, kept hidden underground, they found outlets in various opportunities: during disputes between Jews and Gentiles, in discussions of the Gentiles amongst themselves and the Jews amongst themselves, or when a Gentile would become drunk and begin to curse and abuse the Jews, to threaten to strike them and sometimes to actually do so.

To the degree that hatred of Israel sprung from the envy that “they don't work and they have everything”, it was clear that this was baseless hatred. Only a few families were able to sustain personal existence at all. For most, all the members of the family worked from morning until evening in order to earn their daily bread, and most of the Jewish families were in need of assistance from their relatives across the sea – from America, and even (in the later years) from the land of Israel. However, the financial situation of the “Gentiles”, the workers and the farmers, was so inferior that the stressful lives of the Jews seemed to them like exaggerated wealth.

Quiet prevailed in the village during the years following the nullification of the decree of expulsion and the time of the resettlement of the Jews until the outbreak of the World War in 1914. The uprising of 1905^[134] did not leave a great impression in the village, from whence came neither industry nor a proletariat. The pogroms that took place in most of the villages of the region after the suppression of the revolution indeed caused great anxiety for the village Jews, but all was completed for the best, thanks to the restraining influence of the elder Catholic priest over his congregation. The Jews of the village remembered his kindness in this, and after his death they all participated in his funeral, and marched behind his coffin together with the members of the Catholic community, with the permission of the rabbi, bare–headed, without negative feelings over the presence of crucifixes and many other Christian holy symbols.

The upheavals that occurred in the world with the outbreak of the war in 1914 made severe marks in the village. The front was near and the war was felt immediately. The army draft affected many families, and the pranks of the Russian Stormtroopers, especially the Cossacks, on the Jewish population, caused dread to fall on the population. The Jews were called “internal enemies” of Russia, and many expulsions of Jewish communities began from the area of the front and the strongholds.

Troki, which sat on the main road to Vilna – to the east, was a community for convoys of vast numbers of exiled Jews that were ordered to leave their dwelling places on a day or two's notice. Endless lines of wagons laden with household and kitchen implements, old people and babies, were drawn through the lengths of the streets of the village, with other family members progressing slowly step by step alongside the wagons.

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Sometimes there were exiles who remained in the village an hour or two before continuing on ahead – to the east. There were also those who remained overnight in private homes or in study houses that were turned into a center for aid to the exiles. The young men and women of the village were enlisted into the efforts. The residents distributed meals to their unfortunate kin, organized a kitchen, and the exhausted wanderers received a hot meal.

However, many days had not passed before the Jews of the village were also forced to pack their belongings. The fate of expulsion had indeed passed them by, but with the nearing of the front they left the village, together with the rest of its inhabitants. The Russians and the Karaites, who were closer to the regime, transferred to Russia. The Poles fled to the forests, and those Jews who were afraid of the mischief of the Cossacks more than they feared the shelling – fled to Vilna. The departure from the village was done in great panic. Between the front and the village (100 kilometers west of Troki) was found the famous Kovno Fortress^[135], which was made to prevent the advance of the Germans over the course of many months. However, when the fort was captured in the summer of 1915 – to the surprise of many – after only a short battle, a rapid withdrawal of the Russian army occurred. It was not long, before in the quiet hours of the evening, the explosions of shelling began to reverberate from the nearby front. Again there was no choice except to pack belongings and flee. Only a very few of the Jews had horses and wagons of their own, on which they loaded all of their household goods. Most, however, needed vehicles hired from the Gentiles, or from the wagon–owners in Vilna, which led to terrible profiteering that allowed for the saving of only a portion of their belongings, with the rest abandoned.

The arrangement that the Jews made in Vilna, which was crammed full of refugees until there was no more room, from the aspect of both housing and of financial support, was one of the most depressing chapters in the life of the community. Fortunately, this did not continue for long; after 30 days of fierce battles that took place in the village, the Russians were forced into a hasty retreat from the entire region, on account of a wide flanking movement that the Germans carried out that almost encircled Vilna itself.

On Yom Kippur of 1915 the Russians retreated also from Vilna, and the Germans captured the city. The next day, a few of the refugees from the village went out – “scouts” – to tour the way back to the village, which was already in the hands of the Germans. After they found that it was possible to Return to the village, the Jews began to slowly and hesitantly Return. Many remained afraid of a Russian counterattack and delayed their Return, and some of these also saw before them a chance to organize themselves in Vilna. Yet, little by little, the numbers of Jews Returning increased, and life began to be established anew. The first innovation of the German regime was the appearance of the Jewish police, the militia–man. This was sort of the first revelation of equal rights. Four Jewish policemen were authorized by the German Commandant, and on this account the village harbored much envy.

The conquering regime of the Germans had its own purposes and considerations, as a result if which was destroyed the financial basis of the village Jew. The Germans confiscated most of the agricultural products and forbade trade in them. Manufactured products – kerosene, sugar, salt and the like – were impossible to obtain (except for those which the German soldiers stole from the army warehouses and sold). The selling of wheat, apples, eggs, butter and the like was forbidden, and even free trade in bread was prohibited. Bread was restricted to a ration of 100 grams per person per day, and even this tiny amount was comprised of a mixture of barley and potatoes.

The shops were emptied, and some even closed. Residents who has previously been wealthy were reduced to a piece of bread. The poorest of the people and the workers went swollen with hunger. An illegal market developed. They would go out on foot to acquire the produce of the villages, and would bring the merchandise home on their backs,

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and the next day would continue on foot with it to Vilna. From time to time the Germans would catch the “merchants” and confiscate the merchandise.

For some reason the Germans downgraded the position of the village as a county seat, and fixed the center of the region in Koshidry, which was closer to Vilna. In addition to the fact that this caused a constriction of income, this placed a terrible burden on the townspeople in particular, who were in need of the courts and the county offices.

There was additional trouble from the separation of the village from Vilna, from an administrative perspective. During all the years of the conquest, it was forbidden to move to Vilna. However, the village was connected to Vilna inseparably from economic, social and cultural perspectives, and was unable to come to terms with this severance. Despite the prohibition, the connection with Vilna did not cease, and Vilna's influence on the life of the people of the village was not weakened in any regard.

The “kidnapping” into forced labor brought more than a little suffering to the village. A few of the youths and even heads of households were sent to work camps a great distance away from the village. In addition to that, the villagers were obligated to go out to forced labor without pay at least one day a week. The work varied: arranging graves for those killed in the war, collection of the shrapnel from shells and bullet casings, road paving and picking wildflowers for German industry. There was an impression that the basic intention of the Germans was not the work itself, but the subjugation of the population and disrespect for its rights and honor (after the adults were sent to forced labor camps, boys and even girls age 12–13 were impressed into these labors. House arrest that began in the village at 10:00 each night also caused more than a little suffering.

The German conquering regime continued for over 4 years, without any great change. The Treaty of Brisk^[136] that was signed with the Soviets did not object to the position of the Germans in the region, but the severity of the regime was somewhat lessened.

The strength of the blows with which the Germans were struck on the western front were what forced them to leave the area. However, from the time that the Germans were prepared for withdrawal, again there was no organized power to whom it was possible to turn over the governance of the region, despite the multitude who were jumping at the opportunity. In the village there developed a sharp war of opinions, which reached its peak in the latter part of 1919, when two movements crystallized: a left–wing one that centered around the “Union Club”, which was organized by one of the members of the Karaite community, which had Returned in the meantime from Russia (together with most of the refugees that had fled because of the Germans and Returned after the signing of the Treaty of Brisk), and the second bourgeois, under the leadership of the elder Catholic priest of the village. The Jewish community was this between the hammer and the anvil: since most of them were merchants and shopkeepers, they were connected to the propertied regime and opposed to the Soviets. In addition to that, they did not have any faith in the Karaite leader of the “Union Club”. Yet, they were also not for the second faction, since it did not have any plan for the establishment of a sustainable regime, and identified with the Polish National Movement, which had already succeeded, by means of its misdeeds in Congressional Poland, to throw down terror on the Jews and acquire their hatred (the Lithuanian National movement, in which the Jews saw the redeeming angel, did not have supporters in the village, except among the Jews).

The ideological dispute was resolved by forces that were found outside of the village. The Soviet army, which advanced following the westward–retreating German lines, conquered Vilna and also Troki without any fighting, and established its regime in the region. This was the period of military communism, and at the head of the village was placed a “Military Revolutionary Council” of workers and soldiers, who were chosen by the workers and soldiers that were stationed in the village. Of course, most of the Jewish population did not have the right to vote, but 2 or 3 Jewish craftsmen were admitted to the council. This was a show that was touching to the heart, and as funny as one, when they were gathered on the day

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of the election of the craftsmen – those who had the right to vote – in the synagogue, and were directed by the officials of the congregation how and for whom to vote. These craftsmen – utter paupers – saw themselves suddenly as the heroes of the day, as if into their hands was entrusted the fate of the members of their congregation.

The events of this period occurred with dizzying speed. On Passover of 1920 there suddenly appeared at the train station in Vilna a trainload of Polish legionnaires. The Poles, who were equipped with fine equipment and armed with modern French weapons, chased the Russians from Vilna and captured it. They celebrated this conquest with a bloody rampage in the city, and carried out a slaughter of the Jews. Upwards of 60 Jews, and among them the writer A. Veiter,^[137] found their death at the hands of the victorious legionnaires.

The Poles captured Troki a few days after these events. They did not hurt the Jews, but the regime they established boiled with malice and hatred that heralded for them a bitter future. The victory over the Russians instilled a feeling of pride in the Poles that remained in their minds. The rights of the Jews were as nothing in their eyes. Their attacks on the Jews were a daily event, and they paid no attention to their complaints.

Nevertheless, this Polish regime did not continue for long. Not six months had gone by when the Red Army^[138] carried out a powerful counter–attack. Vilna was conquered in a storm, and the Polish forces retreated beyond Grodno and Bialystok. Troki was not in the path of the retreat, and only a few solitary units wandered on the way for an overnight stay or to loots spoils. The Polish government officials packed their things and left, and since there was no government left in the village, a civil guard of the Jewish, Karaite and Polish residents was formed. Each night the guards would go out to the streets of the village, weapons in hand, to protect it from robbers. However, the Jewish population that had not been harmed during the time of the Polish conquest of the village decreed that it must bring its victims at the time of their death throes.

There was a cruel act of murder that was executed by the Polish soldiers on Yehuda Rashkovitz, which left a shocking impression for many years after. This Jew had a horse and a wagon, and when the Polish soldiers came and took them from him during their retreat, the Jew became stubborn and would not give them to them, but offered to transport them to their destination, past the town of Rudzishki^[139]. The man went out with them, but after a few days had passed and he had not Returned, his sons went out to look for him and found him laying by the side of the road slaughtered by sword.

The Lithuanian Republic, meanwhile, had succeeded in establishing a police force, and had signed a treaty with the Soviets^[140]. According to the treaty, Russia recognized the rights of Lithuania and Vilna. After the expulsion of the Poles and the conquest of the region by the Soviets, Lithuania demanded its rights from them, and indeed the Lithuanian Army crossed the previous Lithuanian–Polish border and advanced until it reached the gates of Troki, and a small unit even entered the village. However, this unit backtracked until the bridge, since it was guarded by the Soviet army, which was advancing to the village from beyond Vilna. The bridge became, from then one, the border between Lithuania and Russia, and the village remained in the domain of the Russians, who immediately established governmental institutions, and at their head the “Revolutionary Military Council”. A few of the Jews of the village – merchants and shopkeepers, who were afraid of the Soviet regime, exploited the closeness of the border, crossed the path to the bridge – to the Lithuanian domain, and lodged in the houses of the Polish neighbors, so long as the members of their households in the Russian domain would bring them a hot lunch every day.

At a high level there was conducted, apparently, a negotiation between Lithuania and Russia on the fate of the village, and, one afternoon, the Soviets suddenly packed their belongings and left the village, but within a few hours Returned and captured it. In the village there broke out quarreling and sharp differences of opinion between the two regimes. One day the debate reached the level of the arrangement of a referendum. It was the Sabbath day, in the afternoon, when there appeared from Lithuania, armed with a pistol (in order to demonstrate the measure of its importance in the eyes of the Lithuanian regime) Tzvi Levin, a Jew from the residents

[Page 50]

of the village, who had fled there previously, who called all of the populace to action, Jews and Gentiles, for a gathering of the “Plebiscite”. The gathering took place by the town square, and one of the high officials of the Lithuanian government took part in it. All of them, of course, were against the Bolsheviks and cried “Long Live!” in honor of the Lithuanians. Despite this, the Russians remained in the village for another few months, until after the signing of the peace treaty with Poland, and only afterwards was the region turned over to Lithuanian hands, together with Vilna at its head, and including Troki. It seemed that an end of the suffering had come. Troki Returned to being a county town, relations with neighboring towns were renewed, and a strengthening of the economic conditions began.

The President of Poland, Moscicki[141], on his visit to Troki

The last Polish adventure in this region at the end of the world war occurred in this time period. This adventure brought about the first disaster on the League of Nations (the United Nations that existed between the two world wars) and served as a precedent for the other disasters that came one after another from various sides until it was decided it would not continue to exist. According to the Treaty of Versailles^[142], Vilna was turned over to the Lithuanian Republic. Poland objected to this decision, but various councils, which were set up by the League of Nations to address this question, expressed their agreement with the decision, who accepted it as full and final confirmation in the plenum of the League of Nations. However Russia, who in this period remained outside of the League, supported the decision. The populace was not asked their opinion, and even if they had been asked there was no doubt at all as to the result: except for the city of Vilna, there were no great settlements of Poles in the region. The village population was largely Lithuanian or Belorussian, and only a minority was Polish, and the Jews remembered the harm that the Poles had done to them during Passover of 1920. Because of all this the Polish government was not able to stand against this universal public opinion, and on October 7 1920 the “Treaty of Suwalki^[143]” was signed, according to which it ceded Vilna to Lithuania.

However, not two days had passed from the day of the signing of this agreement when, on October 9, the Polish General Zeligovsky encircled Vilna. Two Polish divisions led by this general proclaimed themselves as “the Central Lithuanian Army”, and went out to conquer Birtan – Vilna. Vilna's fate was decided, even though in Troki, which was on the Lithuanians' way to retreat to Kovno, the Lithuanians conducted a

[Page 51]

cannon battle for several hours. The battle did not help and did not hurt; the Lithuanians retreated, and the Poles captured the village. Together with the Lithuanians, a few Jewish families who lived in the village left it, and fled to Lithuania out of fear of the conquering Poles.

The behavior of the Poles was more humane this time. They placed for themselves a political purpose for the long term and were no longer able to neglect the quality in the world communal opinion. Their plan was: to establish elections in central Lithuania and the “same” (Parliament) that would be chosen would decide on the annexation of the region to Poland. The border would be positioned a few kilometers west of the village, which was again cut off from its neighboring villages across the border, and whose residents were distanced again from their relatives and families that were in these villages. The farce of central Lithuania continued for about a year and a half, and after the rope was officially attached to Poland in March 1922, the fate of the Jews from the village was tied once again to the fate of the Jews of Vilna, and, for better or worse, to the fate of the Jewish collective of Poland.

Their fate was one, but opposition to the fate and the war against it, differed. For the Jews of Poland, the Poles were, as always, the dominant people, and the desire to become like this people and to assimilate into it was, as it were, in the nature of things. But under the rule of Czarist Russia the Poles had a great measure of independence. It was not so in the Vilna region. Here the Poles had no rights, and they were subjugated almost to the same degree that the Jews were subjugated. From the time that the Poles came into power, they were, therefore, “the slave that rules”, and their arrogance over the Jews in the village was harmful and insulting. The “abominations^[144]”, with whom the Jewish youths used to do battle as equals, suddenly were elevated above them, made officials in the government and officers in the army, and related to the Jews as inferior.

The economic situation of the Jews likewise continued to deteriorate from year to year, and the decrees grew worse and worse. Laws prohibiting work, and selling on Sundays, the monopoly on cigarettes and tobacco, the law banning animal slaughter and the sale of most agricultural products, caused the diminishment of most sources of the Jews' livelihood. The Jews of the village were deprived of income, and with this became more and more dependent on aid from their relatives across the sea. There were almost no families who did not receive help from America, and to a greater and greater extent, from the land of Israel. This period, which lasted nearly 20 years, heralded the end of the community. There did not appear to be a ray of light or ray of hope on the horizon. These were twenty years of constant fear, of humiliation and subjugation.

With the outbreak of the second world war after Hitler's invasion of Poland, the region and Vilna were captured by the Soviet Union and once again turned over to Lithuania. Lithuania became a part of the Soviet Union, and the calamity was postponed, but not for long. A few days after Hitler's invasion of Russia on June 21 1941, Troki was already in his hands, and from then all hope for them fled. It is impossible to obtain any details from them on the last days of the community, and what is known – these are only second– and third–hand rumors.

With the entry of the Germans to the village, the Jews were confined to their houses, and were not permitted to go out into the streets. After a few days, they were taken out of their houses and concentrated in a ghetto which was allocated for them in the area of the synagogue. How many of them and how they existed in this ghetto, from where they obtained their food and how many houses were available to them – one can only guess. They held them in the ghetto for about 6 – 8 weeks, until Rosh Hashanah 5702 [1941], and then they took them out to one of the islands on the lake. They held them on this island without food, without shelter, and without cover from the rain and the cold, 10 days and 10 nights. Jews from six other communities in the area were also brought there:

[Page 52]

Wysoki Dwór, Radzishke, Landwerów, Olknicki, Hanuszyszki^[145] – more than 2500 souls.

The fear and dread that fell on the Jews, silenced in them any will or iota of readiness for struggle, and not one from the entire community fled, not in the period before the ghetto, not from the ghetto, and not from the island – a graveyard. From about 2500 Jews, among them about 300 Jews from Turkey, not a single escapee remained to bear witness. There remained only the witness of their silence – a grave 50 meters long by 5 meters wide…

Translator's footnotes:

70. Judges 14:14Return
71. http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2199147/jewish/Meet–Nachshon–ben–Aminadav.htmReturn
72. https://books.google.com/books?id=GB8uPatYT6kC&pg=PA192&lpg=PA192&dq=tema+katz+vilna&source=bl&ots=Xwdcj70Udn&sig=D4XakXAKvEjDLjV2tzdZoiCG_d4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO6Pqs4fLVAhUh_4MKHbYADOUQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=tema%20katz%20vilna&f=false; https://books.google.com/books?id=HYOUnwFEHd8C&pg=PA403&lpg=PA403&dq=tema+katz+vilna&source=bl&ots=yhlQR_6je8&sig=XSRe8W1MpYDrpz9VHke977bpe7A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO6Pqs4fLVAhUh_4MKHbYADOUQ6AEIODAD#v=onepage&q=tema%20katz%20vilna&f=falseReturn
73. https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol8_00358.html p. 360 Return
74. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtiebel Return
75. http://www.jewish-languages.org/jewish-english-lexicon/words/134 Return
76. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10259-maggid Return
77. http://www.jewish-languages.org/jewish-english-lexicon/words/1529 Return
78. In this context, dues collectors Return
79. https://www.jewishlinknj.com/features/16890-our-prayer-for-the-government-hanoten-teshua Return
80. https://www.britannica.com/topic/shammash Return
81. This is a reference to the lifespan assigned by God to humans in the book of Genesis, and is also the age of Moses at his death. This phrase is used to mean that the person in question, in this case the shamash, should live to 120, in other words, a long and full life. Return
82. See note 77, and also here: https://www.geni.com/people/Rabbi-Nachum-Pertsovitz/6000000010293250362 Return
83. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/isaac-jacob-reines Return
84. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizrachi_(religious_Zionism) Return
85. Shas is a Hebrew acronym formed by the letters Shin and Samech, representing the six orders of the Mishnah. https://byustudies.byu.edu/system/files/pdfs/charts/nt/3-4.pdf Return
86. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/gemara-the-essence-of-the-talmud/ Return
87. https://www.sefaria.org/Ein_Yaakov Return
88. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/avraham-danzig Return
89. https://www.theshabbosproject.org/en/toolkit/seudat-shlishit-ari Return
90. A shochet is a Jewish ritual slaughterer, and typically, the town butcher. Return
91. Mishnayot can refer to the teaching of an important rabbi on Jewish law, not only to the six Orders of the Mishnah. https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Mishnayot Return
92. Pirkei Avot 2:5 “An ashamed person cannot learn. An impatient person cannot teach.” Return
93. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-mikveh/ Return
94. Ecclesiastes 1:4 Return
95. http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/vilna/before/mutual_aid.asp Return
96. http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Vilnius Return
97. http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/American_Jewish_Joint_Distribution_Committee Return
98. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/prisoners_of_war Return
99. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/forced_labour Return
100. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-third-aliyah-1919-1923 Return
101. https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/trakai/tra077.html Return
102. See page 30. Return
103. Notation missing but also murdered by the Nazis, see the List of the Slain. Return
104. https://www.geni.com/people/Shalom-Girshovsky-Gershovsky/4289934979300034911 Return
105. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shalom-aleichem Return
106. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-third-aliyah-1919-1923, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-fourth-aliyah-1924-1929 Return
107. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/bilu-2 Return
108. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/old-yishuv-palestine-at-end-of-ottoman-period Return
109. http://www.ithl.org.il/page_13843 Return
110. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/david-yellin Return
111. http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Brenner_Yosef_Hayim Return
112. http://www.irgon-haagana.co.il/show_item.asp?levelid=61005&itemid=49695&itemtype=3&prm=t=4 Return
113. http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/vilna/before/zionist_youth_movements.asp Return
114. In Jewish circles and traditional, “the land” refers always to the land of Israel, named by the Romans after the destruction of the 2^nd Temple in 70 CE, and called until the declaration of the State in 1948, Palestine. Return
115. https://www.ort.org/about-us/history/ Return
116. http://www.irgon-haagana.co.il/show_item.asp?levelid=61006&itemid=49715&itemtype=3&prm=t=4 Return
117. https://www.encyclopedia.com/politics/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/palestine-communist-party Return
118. https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Korelicze/kor175.html Return
119. https://www.fozmuseum.com/explore-foz/the-jewish-agency-rebuilding-the-land-of-israel/ Return
120. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/political-zionism Return
121. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ahad-ha-rsquo-am Return
122. Other youth movements, youth groups and youth organizations that operated in Vilna included “Hashomer” – the Judah the Maccabi Scouts Union, “Dror” – the “Hechalutz Hatzair” and “Freiheit” Union, “Hapoel,” “Eretz Vedror,” Students Supporting the Zionist–Socialists, and groups of “Noar Lomed (Learning Youth).” http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/vilna/before/zionist_youth_movements.asp Return
123. https://www.geni.com/people/Shalom-Girshovsky-Gershovsky/4289934979300034911 Return
124. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/first-fruits/ Return
125. See page 11. Return
126. https://www.jta.org/1938/10/04/archive/21-jews-slain-in-tiberias-massacre-worst-since-29-synagogue-homes-razed Return
127. https://www.geni.com/people/Avigdor-Chasdai/6000000007049051326 Return
128. http://www.seniejitrakai.lt/u-utrakis-manor-estate/ Return
129. http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Betar Return
130. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overview-of-the-british-palestine-mandate Return
131. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shapshal-szapsza-x0142-seraya-ben-mordechai Return
132. http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Kalmanovitch_Zelig Return
133. http://www.seniejitrakai.lt/place-en-31/text Return
134. https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Revolution-of-1905 Return
135. http://www.truelithuania.com/19th-century-fortress-of-kaunas-201 Return
136. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaties-of-brest-litovsk Return
137. http://www.infocenters.co.il/gfh/notebook_ext.asp?book=89063&lang=eng&site=gfh Return
138. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Red-Army Return
139. https://itouchmap.com/?c=lh&UF=-2618604&UN=-3605334&DG=PPL Return
140. http://gis.nacse.org/tfdd/tfdddocs/archiveApril2010/25ENG.htm Return
141. http://gis.nacse.org/tfdd/tfdddocs/archiveApril2010/25ENG.htm Return
142. https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Versailles-1919 Return
143. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/natosource/nato-s-vulnerable-link-in-europe-poland-s-suwalki-gap Return
144. From the biblical Hebrew root shin–kuf–tzadi, abomination. This word comes to refer to non–Jews, and is an extremely insulting form of reference, worse than the pejorative “goyim”, which originally meant simply “nations”. Readers might recognize the singular forms of this word: shaygetz, a male non–Jew, and shiksa, a female non–Jew. Return
145. https://www.jewishgen.org/communities/community.php?usbgn=-2617231 Return

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