[Page 181]

Cognizant of our responsibility, we dedicate ourselves to the difficult work of perpetuating the memory of the Jewish Communities in Bielitz–Biala.

We submit this book to the former members of these Communities, who, through their work and achievements, shaped a picture of Jewish Community life of the time.

The intense assistance of a small group made it possible to realize a long–held ambition and to publish the book.

The editor had only a small amount of written material at his disposal, and was thus largely dependent on the memories of contemporaries and those who shared his fate. Unfortunately, this material could not be fully exploited, as in the course of time, a series of people who stood in the center of events have died. We thank all individuals and institutions who furthered the publication of this book with advice, actions, moral and financial.

[Page 180]

According to records in the Breslau State and City Archives, the first documentary evidence of Jewish settlement in Bielitz was from the second half of the 17^th century, when the local government of Bielitz belonged to the Duchy of Teschen.

The first mention of Jews in Bielitz in these archival records dates to the year 1677. On December 8, 1677, the Breslau [now Wroclaw] Merchants [Association] complained to the Silesian Superior Bureau about customs in Teschen, and mentioned in the process that a “new Customs Jew” had settled now also in Bielitz, where one had hoped to be able to evade these customs charges, and levied customs there. This probably referred to a member or employee of the Jewish customs–leasing family Singer, who lived in Teschen since 1640. Jakob Singer and his family, resp. descendants, leased the customs office, which had been established in the Duchy of Teschen during the Thirty Years' War at the Jablonka Pass. An important trade route between Breslau and Hungary passed through Teschen; it was much used by Breslau merchants. As the customs here were allegedly six times as much as was charged by the Bielitz–Saybusch route, the Breslau merchants tried to circumvent customs in Belietz. The Teschner customs lessees knew how to bar the door. The erected a customs office in Bielitz, which was presumably managed by a family member. This Customs Jew was probably the founder of the Bielitz Jewish Community. He stayed there, because a report from 1700 states, “Here there's one sole Jew, who has leased customs and brandy sales, already for thirty years, does not pay any other protection fees.”

As can be seen from this report, this Jew, whose name is unknown to us, had leased customs as well as brandy sales in the municipality of Bielitz. He paid no protection fees to the local authorities, probably because he was included in a Teschener letter of protection. This changed when the Austrian government, early in the 18^th century, regulated Jewish life in Silesia both by reducing their number and their permitted spheres of activity. They would only be allowed to peddle; leasing was to be forbidden them. The superior bureau prohibited customs leasing to Jews in 1716, and in 1724 leasing of nearly everything except pubs. So Jews in Silesia were restricted in occupation (with a few exceptions, engraving, gold smithing) to peddling or running an inn. For permission to carry on these occupations, Silesian Jews had been required since the Toleration Edict of Emperor Carl VI of January 10, 1713, to pay “toleration fees” to the government. The government leased rights to collect toleration fees to Jewish and Christian lessees. In the year 1733, Jakob Wiebmer and Johan Michael Egner were “constituihrte administhatores” for Silesia, having the task of collecting these fees from Jews. (Among the defaulting toleration fee payers was Isac Glatte, who probably came from Klattau in Bohemia).

In the year 1736 another census of Silesian Jews was undertaken. The local governments were supposed to submit a list of all Jewish marriages that had taken place between 1726 and 1736. (They reported there had been none in Bielitz). A toleration tax list of Silesian Jews from about 1737 lists four Jews in Bielitz municipality:

Josef Moses

Abraham Loebl (Kurzwald)

Isaac Glatta

Moses Hertzka.

An edict ordering the eviction of non–privileged Jews from Silesia was issued on June 14, 1738. The expulsion could not be carried out completely, because the Chamber of Commerce, a division of local government, advocated for certain categories among the non–privileged Jews. The incipient war with Prussia in 1747 also hindered further execution of the expulsion order. In 1751, a list of Jews in the part of Silesia remaining to Austria (Principalities of Teschen, Bielitz, Jaegerndorf) was created. This list contains three privileged Jewish families, who were spread over many villages, and who were innkeepers. In the individual villages, there were usually two or three families. In Bielitz there were three related families: Joseph Moses, his son, son–in–law and the latter's father, who was a half–time Rabbi. Joseph Moses was Factor for the Count of Haugwitz (who owned Bielitz municipality).

This family later took the surname Paneth. It seems that in 1751 Joseph Moses, with his in–laws Moss Salomon and Mandel, along with their families, employees, and servants, formed the Jewish Community in Bielitz – but were not officially recognized as such. Of the children of Joseph Moses, who was described as a grain dealer and Purveyor to the Court, and was also a scholar, the oldest son was given residence rights in Bielitz, in accordance with the Familianten laws of the time, while his second son, Jecheskel, born in 1783, occupied himself with Talmudic studies and became a well–known Rabbi. He studied at the Yeshivot in Leipnitz and Prague, where he received a scholar's diploma around 1802. In 1807, he was Rabbi in Ustritz, 1813 in Trzall (Slovakia) and from 1823 in Karlsburg (Siebenbuergen). There he died in 1845. Among his numerous descendants were famous Talmudic scholars and Rabbis in Hungary and Siebenbuergen.

During his employment in Terzall [sic], in 1816, Rabbi Jecheskel Paneth received a call to this birthplace, Bielitz, which he did not accept. This call was signed by 18 Jews – probably the (unofficial) Jewish Community of Bielitz.

1. Maitmann	10. Moses Samuel
2. Jehuda Loeb Rosenfelf	11. Sender Schaefer
3. Samuel Pless	12. Abraham Aberfeld
4. Benjamin Sew Malzen	13. Naftali Zwi Pless
5. Jecheskel Herzberg	14. Abraham Lichtigstein
6. Abraham Chajm	15. Selig Gudemann
7. Moses Biesenfeld	16. Weissberger
8. Simson Schaefer	17. Paneth
9. Aron Berg	18. illegible

[Page 177]

Whoever occupies himself with the history of the Jews in Bielitz, does not only have to cover the history of the foundation of the kehila, not only uncover the traces of Jewish residence in this city as far back as possible, which is very tedious, but, much more importantly, deal with the question: From when and in what degree are the Jews in this city, regardless whether “resident” or transient “strangers” of significance in the development and formation of their own, special Jewish Community, or for the wider community. Regarding the second part of the question, namely their importance for broader Bielitz, a few illuminating sections can be cited from a work, which was compiled with extraordinary thoroughness, objectivity, and not least with honest fairness, and surely offers one of the most interesting and important chapters for the history of the city Bielitz. That is, sections of the work, “The Bielitz–Bialer Sheep's–Wool–Wares–Industry in its Historical Development”, presented by Dr. Theodor Haase, Vice–Chair of the Bielitzer–Bialer Chamber of Commerce, Teschen, 1873.

Dr. Theodor Haase was one of the most prominent and significant figures of the city Bielitz as well on account of his successful work for the community as a while, as also for his most honorable service as pastor of the Evangelical (Lutheran) parish. The latter is to be noted particularly when considering opinions and reports of events concerning Jews. The reports in this work are, by the way, confirmed by original documents reprinted in appendices. To understand properly the importance, emphasized in this book, that Jews had already won in the 18^th century with their mercantile (wool and cloth trade) and later by manufacturing (textile industry, fine dying, etc), and occupied in increasing degree, whereby they contributed significantly to the development of the textile industry as well as to the blossoming of the industrial city Bielitz, should be presented via a description written by a contemporary of, and eyewitness to, the subject.

The description, set down verbatim by Haase (p. 99) reads: “The primary supports for the local residents are making cloth, selling cloth, the wool trade, which are mostly directed by Jewish businessmen. Making cloth, and thus selling it, are important. There are about 520 master cloth makers, who employ several thousand local residents. Their wares go to East and West Galicia, to Hungary, and to Turkey. (All countries in which trade was almost exclusively conducted by Jews) – About the number of houses and residents of Bielitz, the same remarked as follows: “The city itself is of no great area, because it consists of only 90 house numbers; thus the suburbs are all the greater, are very populated, one counts in the entire city with suburbs 550 house numbers, and 4200 residents, without many foreigners, who reside there, but are not to be considered residents.” Without a doubt, among the “many foreigners” [sic], who are not yet to be regarded residents, long–time Jewish residents are meant. Cloth making and associated industries gave the city its character. The Cloth Makers' Guild with 520 and the Cloth Trimmer's Guild with 30 members, contrast with the Cobblers' Guild with 17, the Butchers' Guild with 12, the Bakers' Guild with 9, and all other guilds with even less members, and were thus those who were “commerce”, thus by numbers alone decisive for city events. They were ‘the Masters of the City' and called themselves thus.”

The picture painted by the author will stand out of its frame even more prominently, in that it was shown, that the Jews among the guild cloth masters, were not regulated by the local government, nor considered “tolerated” or “foreign”, but considered the by the “masters of the city” of the time, the most successful and influential members of the population, as useful, even indispensable coworkers; stated more plainly, valued as contributors to the increase of their net worth and well–being, it being to everyone's benefit to keep them.

But the interests of the residents were not the sole decisive factor. All those who had feudal rights, their officials, and each and everyone who was in a position of power, wanted their cut. If the burdens of these were so large, that the Jews could not carry them, and thus touched on the interests of the remaining citizens, then these advocated for Jewish interests as if they were their own. Thus the situation was favorable to the Jews in the industrial region of Bielitz. After the Guilds had first intervened with the nobles on the side of the Jews, in that they submitted a deposition Jews were indispensable for commerce, they also urged the national government to act against illegal acts by the nobility.

To follow up this report: on August 21, 1761, the Guild submitted a petition, signed by its most prominent members, to the city council: “a noble council will benevolently permit that we Zechmeister [Masters of an obsolete trade not included in dictionaries] of the Cloth Makers' Guild, in the name of all the Guild fees, may petition, with persons representing not only the Cloth Makers' Guild, but at the same time the entire community, through the conduct of the local Ducal Domnii, which eminence issues [decrees], against Jews trading here from Poland [to their] apparent damage and disadvantage. An eminent council knows more than too well, that at the present time wool isn't just only appallingly expensive, but also hard to come by, so that many poor masters would have nothing to work with, were Jews not importing the necessary wool, partly from Silesia, partly from Poland. One has thus taken great pains to attract Polish Jews here, because one gets double advantage from them, in that on the one hand, they bring wool here, on the other hand, take cloth in exchange for it, and even buy additional, which they take from this country and thus create a significant advantage to this little city, to say nothing about the what the royal coffers gain in customs, the ducal and city dominio in tolls, and private individuals in selling them board and lodging. The decree by the ducal dominii against the Polish endangers every one of these benefits. Because even if Polish Jews are required to pay a so–called protection fee, that is, one ducat per person, with the proviso that if they refuse, they will not be permitted to stay here, nor trade here, and Jews spread this information, deciding therefore they prefer to stay away, it becomes clear what significant loss and damage would be caused. We lay great value on it, that these, although few, but highly useful and necessary Polish merchants should be preserved, so we see ourselves necessitated to grasp whatever means we can, to preserved this business. We do not want to go into here, to what extent and how much the Ducal dominii are permitted to levy protection money on outsiders trading here, and staying for a short time, but we want only to state that we do not understand at all, what this ‘protection' is supposed to consist of, given that when Jews arrive here, they stay either in public inns or with other residents, rent their own buildings for storing wool, live in the city and do their business with its residents. When now the ducal dominium hinders the same, and people, who bring in needed wares and benefit the city, and arbitrarily lays imposts on them, it would appear to be against all constitutions and laws.”

“Nonetheless, we wish for a decision from a high national authority, and only remind a little that the ducal dominium, calling itself protector of the city, in the view of the city itself, and the benefits brought by the Cloth Makers' Guild, should be much more concerned with encouraging trade and travel, and thereby bringing the economy and trade into a better state, than with depressing it. It thus falls painfully on us, that on the side of the ducal dominii, the Jews of Oderberg and Sorau have obtained, by voluntarily paying the so–called protection money, exclusive rights to import wool, to the detriment of those who do not want to pay the illegal fee. ––– Because of this situation we feel ourselves compelled to refer the matter to an eminent council, and to consider it proper, with your grace, to present the situation as soon as possible to the royal authority.”

“At the same time, the Saluschin Jews Jakob David and Feibisch Wolf came to Bielitz. Hardly arrived, the authorities demanded protection fees for five years in advance, altogether 10 ducats. Because they refused to pay, the castle duke had their horses and wagons confiscated; when the citizens Gottfried Sommer and Johan Henssler accepted responsibility for them, the Jews' possessions were released. Thereupon the city council gave notice on August 29, 1761 to the Provincial Elders, explaining the motivations of the Guild, that “Jews from the Kingdom of Poland” should be permitted “their continuing trade”, given that “several years ago, a published patent tried to motivate Polish Jews to trade with Austrian Silesia”. The city attracted “mutual commerce in wool, cloth, grain and other wares the greatest part of its income from that kingdom”, therefore this commerce “should be made easier by any means possible, rather than more difficult.” This document, signed by Mayor Ferdinand Czerna, councilors Andreas Krischke, Georg Krauss, and Gottfried Machatschky, as well as Notary Heinrich Gottfried Frantz, did not fail in its purpose, and levying protection fees was most strongly prohibited the ducal authority. Nonetheless, the same dared to exercise this same arbitrariness a few years later. When, in February 1769, Jewish wool merchants arrived in Bielitz, the castle steward summoned them, demanded protection fees from them, and when the intimidated men still dared to make “modest protests”, grabbed a stick with which he beat them down from “the topmost step to the bottom”, so that they were in pain for several days. This time the matter went to the royal office, which immediately ordered the city council to demand to see the notification which gave him authority to levy this fee. The only thing the ducal authorities could show, was an “extract from the High–Kingdom–Ducal Haugwitzian Bielitz pension calculation”, which showed that, starting in 1750, Jewish wool merchants – in the early 1750s exclusively from Oderberg and Sohrau – paid a protection fee to the duchy, but not by what right they had been levied. On February 23, 1769, the city council laid this document before the royal officials, who, on March 21, 1769, ordered the Provincial Elders to cease entirely the levy of protection fees from Jewish wool merchants coming from Poland to Bielitz, because no proof had been delivered that the ducal authorities possessed the right to levy such a fee, and because hindering the Jews in their commerce with Poland was to the detriment of the entire region. This decree freed the way for the Jewish wool merchants, and they came to Bielitz in increasing numbers. That in spite of this they were not unmolested, and still exposed to acts of hatred, is shown by this example given by the author: “An example of fervent hatred occurred on February 3, 1786, against the local tolerated Jew Hirschl Mendl. The plaintiffs appearing before Mayor Christian Kirschke, Attorney Jacob Anton Alscher, and councilor Andress [sic] Hampel in the Bielitz City Hall demanded no less than that Mendl should be prohibited “selling of wool in Greater Poland, to which the might of the Bielitz city council obviously did not extend.”

[Page 172]

As further proof, that Jews resided in the city Bielitz in significant numbers at the end of the 18th century, we cite the following comment from 1817.

On Introducing the Wednesday Market in Bielitz

1. The request of the Bielitz Jews to introduce a second weekly market.
2. The advocacy for this request on the side of the Bielitz city council.

Esteemed City Council!

As long as Bielitz has existed and enjoyed city rights, the same has had the right for weekly market here, which is held on every Saturday; it is undeniable that centuries have passed, since this city's charter existed, and it is equally true, that when this charter was granted the city, probably there were not so many hundreds of residence, as there are thousands today: The neighboring city Biala was founded far later, formed since that time, and has only expanded to its present boundaries in the last 50 years, and which, as is known, is dependent on city Bielitz, so that both cities comprise one public: now both these cities and their 8000 residents, according to the conscription register count, are permitted only one weekly market – on Saturday; and in proportion to the increase in Christian residents, so have the Jewish residents increased in Bielitz, who, according to their religion are completely excluded from its advantages and amenities, which these weekly markets are supposed to give the public, and actually do; and just this circumstance motivates the undersigned to their request most humbly in the name of all the Jews. An esteemed city council wishes to request higher authorities to permit a second weekly market in Bielitz on Wednesdays.

Also, in regard to the Jewish citizens, the situation is that none of them can make the least thing, which is true for the major part of the citizenry, but not all, so the Jewish residents flatter themselves, that supported by the foundation of the high government, which has no intent to exclude any resident on account of religion, thus no Jew from the benefits of a beneficial political–citizens' institution, that a higher office is moved to improve this detriment to Bielitzer Jews, and the many transiently residing foreign tradesmen;

The reasons for this petition are evident and speak for themselves: an esteemed city council presents to higher officials to encourage that

1. both cities Bielitz and Biala comprise of about 8000 locally–born residents, that further
2. in both cities a cloth factory, much trade and commerce bloom, and that first is so important that when cloth manufacture is in full gear, the workers employed thereby possibly number over 1000, therefore, finally
3. the military garrison in both cities, the many assistant workers needed in cloth manufacture, servants, and foreign merchants who stay temporarily in the area, etc. – thus about 12,000 souls total, who, in both cities are limited to one weekly market and thus have to buy on Saturdays provisions for the entire week: the conviction that this petition is necessary squeezes itself out of all this that
4. this situation has an unfortunate effect on the cost of living, on the cost of the first and most necessary provisions, and that this must have a negative effect on the population of both cities.
   For example, butter, which is a prime component of the weekly market in the months of May and June, when many households procure their stores of it for the next winter, would certainly be 30, 40 or even 50% cheaper if both cities had instead of only one, two weekly markets. – Why? Because the demand is too strong and the sellers take advantage of the press of buyers, and take as much advantage as they can of the occurrence, and it's the same with other articles, and especially those which are indispensable for the winter, and what, particularly affects the Jews, so the
5. weekly market in Bielitz and Biala excludes them completely, because according to the dictates of their religion, they cannot do business on Saturdays, which are their Sabbath, cannot buy nor sell, and as their number has increased significantly, and in addition there are 100 foreign Jewish tradesmen – trading wool or buying cloth – always staying here and in Biala, finally in connection with the Jewish residents, the situation is such that none of them can buy for themselves the least thing, which, in the view of most of the general population, is not the case, so the Jewish population flatters itself that, resting on the liberal foundations of the royal government here, which does not differentiate among its citizens based on religion, and does not intend to exclude Jews from its beneficial institutions, that a higher authority look favorably on mitigating the unfortunate condition of the Jews of the city Bielitz, as
6. the Jews in Bielitz pay acquisition taxes and other extraordinary levies constituting nearly two–thirds of the sum collected from all the Jews in the county, which is very hard on some of them, and can only be paid through great effort, so it would be greatly to be wished that their situation be ameliorated to some degree by access to a weekly market, as they are now constrained to deal with so–called “Kiepler” or other middlemen. And finally
7. for both cities Bielitz and Biala it is especially important that many Galician and Polish flour dealers visit each weekly market, and that in Poland, as well as Galicia, fruit, flour and victual dealing is permitted – so it's to be expected that, if there were to be a second weekly market on Wednesday, surely many Galician and Polish Jews would visit the market with grain, flour, and victuals, thereby creating competition and price stability. And as now herewith
8. the great utility of a second weekly market would benefit not only the Jewish, but also the Christian residents, primarily the poorer class, which is the most numerous and is seldom able to procure a week's supplies at once, and is not to be ignored, that this beneficial institution would create competition and price stability – which the government strives to achieve – must have great influence and is almost the only measure to this purpose, moreover
9. that the city Teschen, whose Jews are far fewer in number and taxation, has been granted a second weekly market on Wednesdays, so thereby the Jews of Bielitz hope, in all confidence, that an esteemed city council as well as a highly esteemed royal county office will support this petition as well as that a high provincial office will graciously do the same.

B.

The local Jews requests, in the attached petition, that higher offices intercede on behalf of granting the city Bielitz permission to hold a second weekly market, every Wednesday. The attached reasons are thoroughly true and the situation correct, that the entire population of both commercial cities, Bielitz and Biala, depends on a sole weekly market on Saturday, and the poorer classes, especially the numerous local cloth workers, are not always able to buy provisions for an entire week in advance.

As introduction of a second weekly market on Wednesdays will lead to more competitive pricing of provisions, as these are often driven to the utmost by the press of buyers, to the detriment of the poorer citizens, not less the circumstance that there's only one weekly market, hinders desirable competition from bakers and independent butchers from the country, who run the danger that unsold goods will spoil before the next selling opportunity, the market a week away, should finally also be considered, that the Jews, correspondingly increasing in number, derive no benefit from the weekly market because of their religious beliefs, – so an active city council feels duty–bound to support the measure.

Bielitz, August 6, 1817.

[Page 167]

In Silesia Jews were limited, according to the so–called Tolerance Grants for the Duchies of Upper and Lower Silesia of April 17, 1752 and December 15, 1781, as well as the Court Decrees of May 1, 1794, permitted residence accompanied by the then–customary limitations to a certain status of families (Family Places), along with: building a Synagogue, hiring their own Rabbi, and electing directors, items all connected to special conditions. Only their private exercise of religion was permitted.

To obtain certain communal institutions, the Jews in Silesia formed three corporations or communities, under the legal designation “the Jews”, such as “The Jews of Teschen District, the Jews of Troppau–Jaegerndorf and the Jews of Weidanau.” Each of these corporations or communities were headed by a tax collector, who functioned to execute all the tasks required of Jews, such as collecting the Jewish taxes, religious contributions, administering the communal treasury, compiling records, granting certificates when issuing “family places”, etc. Because of these legal requirements, and actual circumstances, all the Jews in Silesia of the former Teschen County had a kehila recognized by the secular authorities for many years, and supervised by them, whose meeting place was in Teschen, and to which the Jews living in Bielitz and Belitz governmental district also belonged.

With the supreme decision of Febrary 2, 1828, the Court Decree of Febrary 6, 1828, Zl. 2956, Bielitz Jews were permitted to build a Synagogue.

On the strength of this permit, the Bielitzer Jews bought, in 1831, the building C–N 98 on Temple Street in the Lower Suburb, and was recorded for them “according to Jurisdictional Record of May 13, 1831, of the Bielitz City Council in the Duchy Silesia, being highest bidders for the Ernst Gottlieb Kunz house no. 98 in the Lower Suburb, along with all furnishings for the purpose of refurnishing same as Prayer House, according to supreme permission.”

Based on this record, the purchased real estate was recorded, under the description “Jewish Prayer House” as property of the “local Jewish Community” in 1831.

From the promissory note recorded in the same record, Bielitz March 8, 1839, it's apparent that A. J. Bruell, M. Riesenfeld, and W. B. Herzberg were at the time executives of the “Bielitz Tolerated Jews”, and that, through their efforts and the above–mentioned permit, a “prayer house, new, and massive, judicially assessed at 6838 fl has been built.”

According an original entry of July 14, 1843, the Bielitz Jews submitted to “His Majesty Emperor Ferdinand I a most humble petition for permission to furnish their supremely permitted prayer house with an organ”.

The so–called Emancipation (full civil rights) for Jews first occurred in 1848, when the Decree of April 25, 1848 expressed the equality of citizens before the law and the free exercise of religious practice explicitly for Jews. The Royal Patent of March 4, 1849 assured Jews of the right to conduct religious services publicly, independent regulation and administration of their affairs, as well as possession and enjoyment of their institutions and funds. These determinations were superseded by the law of December 21, 1867, still valid today, according to which the Jewish Community was designated “a state–recognized religious community, delegated to regulate its affairs independently.”

The Jews of Bielitz, in addition to building a Synagogue as describe above, received permission for their own cemetery in 1849. The purchase price was raised from voluntary contributions of the members; on the property were built the cemetery hall (burned in 1900), the morgue, and the watch house.

In 1852 Bielitz Jews received permission to keep their own birth and marriage registers, as well as a separate death register.

In spite of all this, the Bielitz Jews had to pay contributions to the Teschen Kehila until 1852, and were subordinate to their Rabbi and executive board. An obvious result was that the Bielitz Jews tried to free themselves of this limiting and burdensome union, particularly of the contributions they had to send to Teschen, whereby in later years much friction and conflict between the Jews of Bielitz and those of Teschen arose; this even led to summons of both Communities by the provincial officials of Troppau in 1862, who ruled that Bielitz' community should become independent.

After negotiations lasting several years, finally, in 1865, the independent formation of the “Jewish Kehila in Bielitz” occurred, with statutes presented Oct. 25, 1865, by B. Hollaender, Salmon Tugendhat, and Dr. Ig[naz] Roessler as representatives of the Jewish of Bielitz, and confirmed by the Royal Provincial Ministry of the Royal Silesian Provincial Government in Troppau on December 27, 1865.

The form of the community according to the statues of 1865 did not last long, as already on November 1, 1870, new statutes were submitted, which altered the executive board to a chair and nine councilors; these were elected directly by the membership. Voting rights required an annual contribution of 6 florins. To consult and determine the most important manners, the executive board had to bring in a committee of 15 more voting members, to be elected by the council. This representative committee replaced the previous general meeting of all members, and if necessary, joint meetings of the council and the representative committee were to take place.

Formal minutes of meetings were only kept beginning in 1870, from which the events described below are taken.

According to the new statutes, there was an election for officers on December 18, 1870. 68 votes were cast. Elected chair was Benjamin Hollaender, and councilors Ferdinand Brueck, Adolf Bruell (vice chair), Albert Neumann, Salomon Pollak, Max Pollatschek, Wilhelm Schaeffer, Salomon Tugendhat, Sigmund Weissenberg, and J. Zeisler.

There were elections every three years, resulting in B. Hollaender serving as chair until his death (died Jan. 2, 1879), and after Jan. 23, 1879, Adolf Bruell.

Other councilors were elected in subsequent years: Dr. Engelsmann (1873), Moritz Pollitzer (1873), David Hoeniger (1873), Dr. Ignatz Roessler (1975), Abraham Gross (1880), Josef Perl (1882), S. J. Halberstamm (1882), Moritz Braunberg (1885), Heinrich Heilpern (1885), Dr. Wilhelm Muenz (1885), Viktor Schaefer (1885) and Samuel Tugendhat (1890).

118 votes were cast in the 1885 election, and in 1891, 111.

The last reorganization of the executive board occurred on the occasion of the law of March 21, 1890, No. 57 R–G Bl.

According to this law, the community had to be governed by a committee of 30 tax–paying members, from among whom the chair, vice chair and 8 councilors were to be elected. The first election according to this law was on May 21, 1895. 224 votes were case; chair of the entire committee was Adolf Bruell, elected on June 5, 1895, who occupied this post until his death on March 5, 1898. The vice chair at that time, Salomon Pollak, was elected chair after Bruell's death.

The Synagogue built in 1839 eventually became too small, because the number of members increased steadily. Except for the so–called Polish Prayer House, which already existed in 1870, additional Synagogue affiliates were held, as documented already in 1871, in various rooms and finally in the examination room of the former Jewish Elementary School. The question of building a new Synagogue was first taken up in 1878, in the general meeting of the directors and the committee on March 4, 1879, as well as in a general assembly convened for this purpose, “The urgent necessity of building a new Temple was recognized, and the wish expressed, to build the same without delay, and if possible by not increasing contributions from the members.” The specially elected committee of seven, chaired by Dr. Engelsmann, speedily solved the problem set them. On a lot bought from the married couple Karl Traugott and Charlotte Bathelt on Pechring Street, the monumental temple designed by Architect Karl Korn was erected by the firm Em. Rost in Biala. The means needed were raised by interest–free partial obligations of 25 fl., which were collected from the membership, by using community resources at hand, taking on a mortgage, as well as through sale of the old Synagogue building.

After receiving an occupancy permit and the now necessary lot and street regulation [permits?], the festive dedication of the new Temple occurred in Sept. 21, 1881. The entire cost of construction was up to 93,800 fl.

There was a Hebrew school, founded and supervised by the kehila even before they built their own Jewish Elementary School. The older school had no fixed address, rooms were rented from outsiders; it had to move repeatedly, and was unable to meet the physical and hygienic requirements of the National Elementary School Law. The kehila was forced to decide to build a building for its school, from which it could not be evicted, and which conformed to the requirements. In 1871 the kehila directors decided to build a school, and immediately started planning. The necessary capital was raised partly by a levy on the members of 25 fl each, and partly by a mortgage. The design was ready in 1872, and was built by Master Builder Karl Kunz in Bielitz. It began as a private elementary school for Jewish children, and in the course of time became a 5–grade elementary school for boys and girls, receiving accreditation in 1877.

In 1901 the kehila decided to relinquish the school, which they had founded and maintained until then, because the new Silesian provincial school law required that the school be run either by the province or Bielitz city. The affected school officials had to accommodate the students, or create an appropriate school and hire teachers. The result of lengthy negotiations was that the building would remain the property of the kehila, continue to be used as a school, but that in place of the Jewish school, there would be a public elementary school with five classes each for boys and girls under common administration. The teachers who had been hired by the kehila were retained, and became employees of the province; all the benefits promised by the kehila were studied and resolved according to regulations. Religious instruction continued as a required subject, paid for by the provincial government, instruction in Hebrew language became an elective paid for and supervised by the kehila.

In the chronicles of the kehila, Dr. Lasar Frankfurter is named as the first Rabbi; he also taught at the Jewish school. Before he came, the Rabbi in Teschen also served in Bielitz. After the death of Dr. Frankfurter on Dec. 7, 1873; he left the kehila a legacy of 300 florins' worth of stocks and bonds; after advertising for the position, Dr. Wolf Lesser was voted his successor [from the applicants] on Feb. 16, 1875; he held this position until his death on Feb. 11, 1882. Dr. Adolf Kurrein was voted his successor on Aug. 31, 1882; he resigned on Jan. 19, 1888. Dr. Saul Horowitz succeeded him with the election of March 21, 1888, but could only be appointed religious instructor until after he had obtained Austrian citizenship. He left the kehila at the end of 1895, having been offered a professorship at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau. His Eminence Dr. Markus Steiner was elected to succeed him on March 12, 1896.

The kehila was always particularly interested in religious education. In the elementary school, in addition to required instruction in Jewish religion, Hebrew language was also taught as a standard subject, required of every student. The Rabbi or teachers at the elementary school supervised religious instruction at the middle schools, and as early as 1880 required religious practice in the sense of the school laws, and a regulated service every Saturday afternoon were introduced, which was conducted after that.

In the place of the cemetery building which burned in 1900, a new hall was built at the expense of the kehila; at the same time, the cemetery wall was built using donations from kehila members.

For many years there were no provisions for the kehila secretary, records, and the Rabbi's office. The current chair of the executive committee, Rabbi, or clerk stored the respective documents and records in his private home, and the kehila secretary also stored documents in his home. This situation, untenable in the long term, led to a decision to establish a kehila and Rabbi's office in the school building, which was executed in 1899. This situation did not pertain long, because shortly after the school's alterations, the kehila office had to be taken out of the school and moved to rental space.

The kehila administration had already concerned itself with the question of obtaining an appropriate lot for building a kehila office in 1895, and in that time, the lot across from the west side of the Temple was eyed for purchase. This project did not succeed. Only in 1903, after a clear decision of the executive board on June 7, and from the representative council on June 10, 1903, the purchase of a lot at the corner of School and Elisabeth Street, across from the northern façade of the Temple, was approved, and a committee chaired by the kehila chair, consisting of several of the representatives, delegated to direct the purchase and construction, solved the task. In construction, care was taken to include an appropriate celebration and prayer hall, as well as necessary facilities for the kehila and Rabbi's offices; the basement was laid out so that it could be rented to the Jewish soup kitchen; apartments in individual stories were intended for residences for the Rabbi and Chief Cantor; one of the apartments was modified to correspond to the needs of the philanthropic organization Bnai–Brith, which had applied to be a rental partner at the start of the building program.

Construction began in May 1904. The lot was bought with assets at hand; the construction appears to have been financed by a mortgage from the Bielitz Credit Union.

[Page 159]

The development of “Haschachar” was not easy. It not only had to survive a generation, in which honest belief in the progress of mankind, personal fate and that of one's brothers, trusted in the then still dominant, but already shallow stream of liberalism, so that every single Jew, whose intellectual world had been shaken by Zionism, had to confront it. He had to grasp correctly this revolutionary concept, in order to use this new weapon to come to grips with the “Jewish Problem” occupying him, gain an overview, in order to stave off all the hypocritical ideas that promised much and were thus seductive. We young Jews then sensed intuitively that all intellectual travel provisions that our parents and Jewish educational institutions gave us for future life, got lost along the way. We felt that our “being a Jew” had to suffer from the very nebulous “being only human” idea, that trading centuries of secure people's values for something unclear, undetermined, problematic was recommended us.

It's clear that such thought could only appear among those Jews who came from the East, where they still had the opportunity to enrich their knowledge from the original springs of Jewish learning, which had not yet been sickened by the intellectual pallor of the Jewish west. So it's no wonder that particularly in Bielitz, where “east” and “west” meet, it was first the “easterners” on whom Zionism with its logical consequences had to work its way in – and that they became the first apostles of this idea. And so it was young Jews from the east who influenced founding of the student organizations “Hasmonaea”, “Chewrussa”, and “Emunah”.

As his eminence Rabbi Dr. Steiner demonstrated in his essays published in the “Jewish People's Paper” [Juedisches Volksblatt], “On the History of the Jews in Bielitz”, there were actually no indigenous Jews in the city. Jews from Slovakia, who, by the way never played a special role in Jewish history, and who were nearly the first in Bielitz, only succeeded to leadership of the later established kehila by their priority. For in these Jews, giving themselves out to be Magyars, there was long–standing antagonism against “the Poles”, which very soon transferred to the Jews arriving later from Galicia. This event resulted in the fact that the new Zionistic idea, which recognized no geographical distinctions among Jews, spread more easily among them.

After part of the middle school youth had been won, and fervently worked to enlighten their parents, the ground was ripe for founding a “citizens' union”, and I was assigned by the “Zion” organization in Vienna to promote founding such a group. Along with F. Rabinowitz z'l, Adolf Huppert, David Alexandrowicz z'l, and with help from the Ferialverbindung ^[1] “Emunah”, the statutes for the “Haschachar” association were written, presented for official permit, and after obtaining this, founded as a propaganda–meeting held, at which Dr. Leopold Kahn from Vienna made a sparklingly fiery and captivating speech. This meeting formed the corner stone of “Haschachar”, and achieved local significance through the declaration of the eminent Rabbi Dr. Glaser from Biala, that he would join the new organization. In the first general meeting following this one, Dr. Kahn and Rabbi Dr. Glaser were voted the first honorary members of “Haschachar”.

As then among the majority of Jewish kehila representatives, the executive board of the Bielitz kehila opposed Zionism. They argued occasionally at propaganda meetings with the “young Zionists”, without letting their strong conviction in “liberalism” be shaken, and emphasized with all the “Protestrabbis” of the time the “collective Jewish community”. They considered themselves German Jews and didn't notice, or didn't want to notice, that the liberal party in the national legislature had already clouded their original clear program with anti–Semitic bacilli, and that, particularly in Bielitz–Biala, they were occasionally used by the Germans to hinder Polonization of the cities. Representative of these men was at the time the Viennese Kehila, led by their president Dr. A. Stern in the sense of German liberalism, and they cited with particular satisfaction Dr. Guedemann's “National Jewishness” – a reply to Herzl's “Jewish State”.

“Haschachar” began to make the kehila leaders uncomfortable. It happened, I believe, for the first time in the Bielitz kehila, that in conjunction with the elections of 1898, “Haschachar” called a large election meeting, in which I was requested to explain the Zionist program. All the small peddlers, artisans, and small merchants appeared in large numbers; they listened intently to the explanations, their heartstrings vibrated and woke in them notes, which the gray every day had so strongly damped.

The executive board of the time was represented only by vice chair Salomon Tugendhat jr. z'l, who did not at all address the Zionist program in his rebuttal, but only protested that solutions from the east were being carried into “our” kehila… The old litany of non movere, the old word, “Quiet, quiet, don't make a sound!”…

Footnote

1. A Ferialverbindung was, according to online sources I consulted, a social club. The term is unique to Austria. It was probably similar to a fraternity. Return

[Page 157]

The national awakening of the Jewish people in the 19^th century will always remain a highly interesting and attractive chapter for the observer of Jewish history. What distinguishes this period from all other epochs of Jewish history since the destruction of the Jewish state, is that visible manifestation of a conscious will to action, to independent intervention in fate, in contrast to previous mere enduring. In short, passive, degraded Jews became active.

The mightiest echo to the cry of salvation of the Jews was to be found among Jewish students. Especially [image 172 is blank. Image 171 is pictures, with Hebrew captions. Image 170 is page 156, so no text was lost] the Viennese Jewish students, fruitfully inspired by constant contact with the intellectual leaders of the Zionist movement, marched early to the difficult work, to pave the way for the awakened Jewish nation.

Even before Herzl's “Jewish State” shook up the Jewish nation with its revolutionary effect, there were in Vienna a number of Jewish–nationalistic student organizations. “Kadinah”, for about a decade and a half, as well as “Unitas” and “Ivria”. The purposed of these organizations was masculine defense of the Jewish reputation and the spread of Zionist ideas. If this goal was achieved in the metropolis, so the need was soon felt to transplant nationalistic feelings of honor and Zionism to the provinces. The first ones to do this were affiliations of Jewish students.

In fall 1896 the nationalistically inclined segment of the Jewish students in Bielitz created the first Jewish–academic fraternity in Austria. This fraternity was “Emunah”, a Ferialverbindung.

During the 1896 vacation a number of Jewish students, Philipp Singer, Karl Wagner, Josef Klipper, Moritz Tramer, Hugo Serog, who had accepted the ideas of Jewish modernism, decided to spread these ideas in Bielitz. To attain this goal they reached an understanding with the Jewish–academic organization Ivria, who supported their undertaking with the greatest alacrity and amiability. With the help of Ivrians, a Garantiekomitee ^[1] was organized in early September 1896, for an Agitationskommers ^[2], to which in addition to the above–mentioned, Mr. Schembeck and Max Hoeniger belonged. This event was arranged in the same style as the annual Zionist events, gathered the heads of the Jewish communities of our sister cities, Rabbis Dr. Glaser and Dr. Steiner, Jewish activists and representatives of the press. A large number of Ivrians attended, among them, as spokesmen, Mr. Karl Kohn, Fried, Pobersky.

On their return to Vienna, the students mentioned above became more closely connected. They earnestly discussed Zionism and were always to be found together at Zionist meetings and festive occasions, so that the Viennese students gave them a name: “The Bielitz Section”.

On Oct. 23 the “Bielitz Section” was at Café Jaegerhof, Vienna IX. Discussions about the best method gain entre in Bielitz for the Zionist cause, and to organize Jewish students in Bielitz in a Jewish–nationalist sense, led to the fortunate decision to found a Ferialverbindung there. This decision created immense enthusiasm. In a way exclusive to youth, the students hugged each other and swore to bring their idea to reality.

So that evening, of glorious memory, our dear Ferialverbindung was founded, to which we all owe so much.

Already in the next days the members met to elect officers. The first directors were: chair, stud. Med. Max Hoeniger, vice chair: stud. Tech. Philipp Singer, secretary: stud. Tech. Josef Klipper.

The officers began their term by introducing regular articles, in which the fundamental principles of the organization, its bylaws, and the program to be developed in Bielitz were expresses.

The purpose of the organization was to be awakening and encouraging self–consciousness and unity in the Jewish–nationalist students in Bielitz–Biala and vicinity. To reach this goal, several means were proposed.

The organization's activity was expressed in numbers, periodical, open meetings that spread the Zionist idea among the Bielitz populace. In these meetings, specific Jewish themes were discussed openly for the first time in our sister cities. The excellent attendance at these meetings proved the need for this sort of discussion. That our kehila leaders, whose range of activity had been limited to date to the ritual realm, had a cow about the impulsive expression of the nationalist idea could not surprise anyone.

This work of unification did not merely extend to the sister cities. Starting with the notion that the Zionist idea had to be spread as widely as possible, “Emunah” sponsored organizational meetings in the surrounding localities. So in the course of years, Zionist–themed meetings were held in Kenty, Andrichau, Wadowice, Saybusch, Ernsdorf, Skotschau, Golleschau. Everywhere the connection was received in a most friendly way; in many localities they were offered the Synagogue as locale by the local leadership. In Ung.–Hradish, Loschit, M.–Ostrau and M.–Weisskirchen delegates furthered the founding of organizations and chapters.

The founding of the Zionist organization “Haschachar” in Bielitz and the Jewish Gymnastics Club joined in the association in very special ways.

While in Biala the kehila leadership and all the Jews were sympathetic and understanding to us, the Bielitz population found their way to us without their elected representatives. The list of our sponsors may serve as proof of the cooperation we found in all levels of society. It would be wrong to think that only the sponsors supported us. Because while one person showed through his contributions that he supported us, another worked with us in that he won additional members and thus worked toward the spread and deepening of the Zionist ideal.

Footnotes

1. A committee of some sort. I could not find a definition online. Return
2. Agitation is an old-fashioned word for advocacy campaigning, and a Kommers was a form of student event that included drinking. I conclude this must have been an event to bring in new members that included a party. Return

[Page 154]

“Chewrussa” was founded in 1896, at the time Theodor Herzl was writing “The Jewish State”. Two young students at the vocational school, Otto Feldmann and Salo Storosum organized the first Jewish students' association in Bielitz. They did not at the time know of Pinsker's “Auto–emancipation” and they also didn't know about the “Kattowitzer Conference” founded in their neighbor city in 1884.

Although Belietz may at that time have been a liberal German city, there were at the “Higher State Trade School” anti–Semitic streams, introduced from the Sudetenland by German students, who took their nourishment from the Dreyfus case. Nearly all of Europe suffered from anti–Semitism grasping in all directions. The Jewish students at the vocational school suffered from their fellow–students in the German–nationalist student organizations. The thought of the national independence movement on the one hand and the wave of ever–increasing anti–Semitism among the German students on the on the other hand, was determining for founding “Chewrussa”. The student organizations were unsanctioned, and each student who belonged to Chewrussa was in danger of being expelled from school. This, however, deterred no one, and after a short time there were a significant number of vocational school students in Chewrussa. In the beginning it was purely a social organization, one met during recess, one spoke of personal matters, but also of current political events. Chewrussa members only met in formal meetings Saturday afternoons. For a while they met in the Werber Mill, and then in Karl Borger's private business school. Slowly the meetings gained content, one talked about Jewish affairs the world over. One read Herzl's newspaper “The World”, courses on Jewish history were held, and it didn't take long for the Jewish organization to become Zionist. According to the German pattern, each new member was first Hospiant, then Fox, and after passing a test on Jewish history and the geography of Palestine, Bursch [Fellow] and after graduation “Old Man” of the organization.

Almost at the same time as Chewrussa's founding, a second Jewish organization, “Hasmonaea”, whose members were students at the German Gymnasium and the German Real Schule ^[1], was founded. In individual cases, gymnasium students were admitted to Chewrussa. The aims of Chewrussa were to encourage upright and mutual friendship, and to educate people to be upright and proud Jews. There was scarcely any Zionist activitism before the First World War. Slowly there was increasing contact with assimilated Jews, who were very skeptical of Chewrussa. Step by step the young men succeeded in gaining sympathy, friendship and recognition in Jewish homes. Various events, like dancing classes, semester parties, and anniversary celebrations contributed much to furthering contacts. The goal, promulgated by Nordau – physical fitness for Jewish youth, to make upright young Jews from bent–over Jewish boys , was carried out into the Jewish neighborhoods, so it came that many members of Chewrussa demonstrated their abilities on the Maccabee gymnasium floor or on the football field of “Hakoah”.

The outbreak of the First World War changed relationships completely, because the majority was inducted into the military. Contacts between club brothers were broken and first taken up again, as friends returned home from the theater of war or Russian prisoner of war camps. After reactivation, an association of “Old Men” of Chewrussa was founded, and in conjunction with that a “Cartel of Zionist–technical Organizations” of the trade schools of Bielitz/Bruenn/Bielitz [sic]. The reordering of the political map after the First World War changed some things in Chewrussa; there was an influx of Jewish students from the east, from Lodz, Warsaw, and other cities. They sought connection and found it in Chewrussa. Already in 1923 the first members of Chewrussa signed up for Aliya.

Unforgettable for Chewrussa are the names of Eduard Feuerstein, Professor at the Vocational School in Bielitz,

Dr. Michael Berkowicz, Professor at the Gymnasium in Bielitz,

Karl Borger, teacher at his vocational school in Bielitz

Their help was recognized by Chewrussa, and the 14–18 year–olds were proud of their support.

In 1926 the A. H. organizations of the Zionist–technical association Chewrussa/Bielitz, Jordania/Vienna and Hasmoaea/Bruenn decided to combine into a single organization, which they gave the name “Haboneh”, with headquarters in Bielitz. But at the outbreak of the Second World War “Haboneh” was dealt the same fate as the rest of the European Jews. Those who survived, now live spread over the entire world, only 90 of the far more than 200 members live in Israel. In spite of the enormous distances; brothers live in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Brazil; there is still warm contact.

Footnote

1. high school emphasizing mathematics and science, as opposed to the classics of a gymnasium Return

[Page 151]

More than 55 years have passed, as in the year 1912 I was accepted into the Maccabee Athletic Club Bielitz–Biala as its first pupil. I want to try here to report something of the activities of this club, which grew close to my heart; although it's not easy to write down my memories after such a long time has passed.

The times, about which I want to report, are the period from 1912 to 1928. What happened before and after this time are stories I heard from older and younger members of the club.

Maccabee was founded in 1906/7 because of the urgent necessity for providing Jewish youth in Bielitz, whose numbers were growing year by year, with a physical outlet. The F. F. F. F. club in Bielitz did not accept Jewish members. As all foundings of Jewish Athletic and Sport clubs, a group of young Jewish craftsmen and white–collar workers – countable on the fingers of one hand– , inspired by the Zionist Congresses and above all by the visionaries Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau, banded together to exercise in the exercise room – it could not be called a gym – of the Jewish Elementary School in Gisel St.. This situation became impractical after a few years, and the leaders of the club succeeded in renting the gym at the Middle School for two nights a week. After the successes of the men's team and with strong support of the Jewish population, a women's team was also founded. Now the club began to develop both in technique and socially, and to play a role in Jewish life in the city. This was 1908/9. To develop further, it was necessary to have appropriate instructors, and after Jewish instructors could not be found, physical education teacher Mr. Klimecki was engaged for the men's team and Mr. Laskovcki for the women's. This division lasted until shortly before the First World War, 1914–1918.

As initially mentioned, I was admitted as the first pupil in men's athletics in 1912, after my technical abilities as well as talent for sports were recognized. This was quite unofficial, because according to the school regulations of the time, it was strictly forbidden for students to be members of a club. Professors at the Middle School, Werner and Fink, who were themselves active club members had to close their eyes (which they did gladly) so that I could participate in exercise unhindered. – At the time there were two men's teams and one women's team. The high point of the season was the Channukah celebration, where there was usually, to celebrate the Maccabees, an exercise exhibition in the hall, presented by both the men's teams and the women's team, followed by the “Maccabee–Athletic–Club–Ball”, which was particularly popular among the entire Jewish population near and far. Excursions into the marvelous scenery around Bielitz on Sundays and holidays served to preserve and expand social and friendship circles. – There was a very special event in July 1914 for Jewish athletics; the district athletics day in Brno, in which all the Jewish athletic and sports clubs of Austria–Hungary participated. Maccabee Bielitz was also represented there by a men's team and a women's team. For me, as youngest participant and active athlete, participating for the first time at such an impressive event, this athletic festival was a special milestone.

Scarcely had we returned from Brno to Bielitz, the First World War broke out. This wide–ranging and world–shattering event had, naturally, a devastating effect on our general social life. The majority of active athletes and leading members of the club were called up immediately, and at short intervals, nearly the entire men's team. With my 15 years, I remained nearly alone with two or three younger members. The two instructors were drafted as well, and it looked as if it would be necessary to close the club. Only the women's team remained at full strength, and it was an inspiration and duty for those staying behind to keep it up against the other members' return. As chief athlete, I first took over the women's instruction and then began to coordinate men's, in which I naturally had to attract youth, above all students and vocational students. An older men's team was also activated. From this time on, I took over the entire athletic enterprise, which I did until 1928.

With war's end, November 1918, our athletes and officers came back, and one started, with combined efforts, to intensify athletics and club social life anew. Naturally there was a break with old views, and one began to admit all Jewish youth from age 6 up to Maccabee, and thus into club athletics. – The successes were astonishing, and there were athletic days in which, from 5 to 10PM, an average of 320 athletes participated. The members were divided into four groups as follows:
Girl beginners to age 13, about 65 participants
Boy beginners to age 14, about 100 participants
Women from 14 up, about 70 participants
Men from 15 up, about 80 participants

And twice a week, 75 minutes per evening. Now a special problem cropped up, and that was the question of the demonstrator. With such participation, there had first to be a solution to training demonstrators. But the techniques also had to be adapted to the progressive methods practiced in all sports. I was thus sent in 1922, at the club's expense, to the Technical School for Exercise (Hochschule fuer Leibesuebung) in Berlin, and there took a course in athletics and sports instruction. With new methods and knowledge of sports I returned to Maccabee Bielitz and right away began to train demonstrators for each of the groups, whereby I selected young talented athletes from among our members. – With this staff of demonstrators it was possible for me, for the first time, to activate the club and lead it successfully. The club then achieved, as far as it is possible for me to determine, the best and most active years of its existence. When I became independent in 1928 and went to Kattowitz, I could, with pride and satisfaction, turn over my post to a paid physical education instructor from Vienna.

Footnote

1. Athletics at the time meant what we'd think of as a combination of gymnastics and calisthenics. The level of gymnastics was not as difficult as competitive gymnastics are today. The concept of aerobic exercise had not yet been developed, so the activities were less strenuous than an exercise club provides today. Return

[Page 148]

In 1922 or 1923 Moritz Popiol founded the Association of Independent Jewish Craftsmen in Bielitz, which he led until the outbreak of World War II. The aims of this association were not merely material in nature, much more the association made it its task to raise the intellectual and spiritual niveau of the Jewish artisan, to raise his reputation among his Jewish and non–Jewish fellow citizens, and to make him an equal participant in Jewish society. It wasn't easy to combat the existing prejudice that Jewish craftsmen (Baale–Mlacha) were unreliable, and that their work was inferior. As the chair of this association was himself an excellent master of his trade, he used every occasion, whether in public discussions or narrower circles, to inspire his colleagues to prove that these prejudices are totally false. In 1935, there was a week–long exhibition of Jewish craftsmanship in the kehila's hall, whose works were not at all second, in execution and precision, to much–valued German products. Jews were represented in nearly all crafts trades; however there were no Jewish smiths or masons in Bielitz.

As already mentioned above, this was only one of the tasks. Every week on Wednesday there were meetings in the crafts premises meetings, sometimes informal, but often with talks in the German language about current political issues, as well as cultural themes. It was surprising, that in this circle so much understanding for all possible issues was evident. To mention only a few of the speakers, I would like to note that Prof. Tuerk and Dr. Zipper were very often ready to speak.

If there was no guest speaker, it was the chair himself who presided over the meeting. Although the association was externally apolitical, its members were 75% Zionists of all shadings. It's thus no wonder that that the association was represented in different cadence, by its members Berek, Fleissig, Gerad, Popiol and others in public institutions like the city government, kehila direction, Jewish credit union, etc.

There were groups, so–called interdenominational guilds of similar crafts, whose task it was, in the main, advocate for its individual crafts with the government, to test the educational achievements of apprentices, and to give them officially recognized certificates. Jewish craftsmen had only limited contact with these guilds. There were hardly any Jewish apprentices in the last years.

[Page 147]

Prof. Dr. Michael Berkowicz was born in Boryslaw on Feb. 3, 1865, and was raised frumm there. But he soon went to Lemberg and assiduously studied the Hebrew language. He was already particularly interested in Hebrew grammar, leading to his nickname “Baal Dickduck” among Chassidim. It was a time when one became interested in general education, even at Yeshiva, and a burning desire for knowledge fueled our students. But need – one correctly calls it the mother of wisdom – drove him from school into business. He did not manage to hold out there long, and returned to study. Finally he passed the entrance exam to the Brody Gymnasium, and eventually graduated there.

In these years he was already friends with three men, with whom he also later remained very close: the older Rabbi Braudes, the wise Yiddish and Hebrew author, Ehrenpreis, the Chief Rabbi of Stockholm, and Thon, representative and leader of the Zionists in West Galicia and Silesia. They were mutually enthusiastic for the Jewish–national idea and Berkowicz, with Ehrenpreis, published a Yiddish people's library. That was not his first activity as an author. Already in 1886, still a student, he was correspondent for a Hebrew newspaper, “Haibri” and he did not cease sending his contributions to Yiddish and German newspapers, always welcome, on the most varied scientific, literary, political, or social themes.

In 1893 he went to Vienna, and the Jewish–nationalistic circles there were most attractive to him. He taught Hebrew courses in “Kadimah”, the oldest Jewish–national student organization in Austria, and participated eagerly in discussion evenings; with Siegmund Werner and Ernst founded “Gamaja”, a Jewish–national association for students from Galicia, which declined the Schlagzwang ^[1], even as Jewish academic associations adhered to it. He himself wrote about it in his “Memories of Herzl” (“Erinnerungen an Herzl”, which he published in 4 parts in 1922 in the “Wiener Morgenzeitung”. There we also learn about his relationship with Herzl. He surprised those who grew up in other circles and views with the fact that Hebrew was being spoken and written, had a large readership, and cited Herzl's words, “A people who has its own language is not dead. Our people lives!”

From then on he instructed Herzl regarding all the significant views of the Yiddish and Hebrew press and also sent Sokolow, the editor of the “Hazefirah”, an explanation in Herzl's name in which he corrected various points that Sokolow had brought out against Zionism in his articles. But only the first Zionist Congress in Basel converted Sokolow.

Berkowicz also attended this unique gathering. He went as secretary of the “Zion” association and, along with others, had his hands full, in preparing the congress. He describes this activity and his feelings much better than we could, in his contribution to the Festschrift, which was published by the Jewish Publishing House to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the First Congress. We found this contribution reprinted in the “Mitteilungen des Zionistischen Kreiskomites” (Communications of the Zionist County Committee) of Sept. 24, 1922.

But his fate drove him on again, and so he came to Krakow, as librarian for the reading society “Esra”, founded by Thon, and made his name there with his lectures. He had already formed a connection to Krakow in 1898 via the Achiassaf Publishing House, for whose Yiddish newspaper “Der Jud” he was editor and director. But the paper was not long–lived, neither was his connection with the above–mentioned society, and so we see him in Vienna again in 1903.

Now he dedicated himself, with the encouragement of his university professor David Heinrich Mueller, to Semitic Studies and achieved his Doctor of Philosophy in 1906. In 1910 there appeared in the communications of the Vienna Academy of Sciences his article: “Der Strophenbau in den Psalmen” (Verse Structure in the Psalms). In the monumental work “Werke Momenta Judaica” he prepared the section “Monumenta Targumica”. Among the very numerous contributions he sent to German, Yiddish, and Hebrew newspapgers, only his articles in “Welt” are emphasized, and especially the essays in which he published the Archive of the socialist author Liebermann, and as appendix to it socialist studies in New York's “Zukunft” in his last years. He earned a permanent place in Zionism by translating Herzl's “Judenstaat” (The Jewish State) (with commentary) and his Zionistic writings into Hebrew.

As his scholarly work could not offer him a living wage, he turned to teaching. 1909–11 we find him at the Gymnasium in Brno and Iglau, and in 1911 he came to the public gymnasium in Bielitz as Hebrew professor.

Now we can stop. Because his activities as teacher, his achievements in the wider circle of local Judasim, as well as in the neighborhood or our two cities are well known. He served well students, the kehila, the cultural club “Tarbuth”, the Zionist Association “Haschachar”, our “Juedisches Volksblatt”, the Jewish youth organizations, which cannot be praised highly enough.

Footnote

1. The only definitions I can find for this phrase online are for chess rules – if a piece can take an opponent's piece, it must do so. I think in a fraternity sense it may refer to dueling, but I've not been able to confirm it. Return

[Page 144]

Jakob Glasner, painter and graphicist, was a world –reknowned artist. He was born in Rdzawki, a hamlet near Nowy–Targ on April 6, 1879. He completed his art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, and continued his education in Vienna and Paris. After completing his studies in 1905, he settled in Bielitz, his creative studio until his tragic end in the year 1943.

Over the years he often interrupted his work to learn about new tendencies in art, to find new sources of creativity. He was often a visitor to Germany, Italy, and France, stayed for longer periods in Vienna, which became his second home. But Bielitz had a particular attraction for him; he was a child of the Beskid Mountains, enchanted by the beauty of nature, and Bielitz lies at the foot of the Beskids. His connection to nature, the mountains, had a magical influence on his art. His love of nature he expressed in his pictures, paintings and sketches, and his wood cuts.

Already in 1908, he participated with the Krakow artist circle “Sztuka” in an exhibition in Vienna, which found general recognition, and later in Lemberg and Lodz, in Berlin, and of course, in Bielitz. In later years, Glasner became close the circle of Jewish artists in Poland, and to Jewish motifs. In 1930 he participated in a major exhibition of Jewish artists in Krakow's “Juedisches Kunsthaus” (Jewish Gallery), along with the prominent Polish Jewish artists – Artur Markowitz, Abraham Neumann, Mosche Appelbaum and Henrik Hochmann.

Jakob Glasner's exceptional art was particularly recognized in the monumental work by the Polish art historian Feliz Kopera, “Polish Artists of the 19th Century”, in which he gives the artist a particularly honored place – “in the not very numerous young generation of artists of this century” – and expresses the hope of seeing him at the peak of Polish artists.

Jakob Glasner found not only his home in Bielitz, but also his studio. The large circle of intellectual artistic friends, the sympathy and recognition which he found in Jewish society, formed a valuable frame for his artistic creation. Otto Schneid, art historian and collaborator at the “Juedisches Volksblatt” dedicated many glowing contributions to Glasner's art, in this Bielitz Zionist weekly, which brought his art closer to the Jewish public and accompanied it with great benevolence. Otto Scheid coined the description of Jakob Glasner as “Saenger der Beskiden, der Tatra, und der Steirischen Berge.” (Singer of … Mountains)

In 1939, a few days before the Nazi troops marched in Bielitz, Jakob Glasner fled to Lemberg. He succeeded in evading the eyes of the Gestapo until 1943. He could not save himself. He fell into their bloody hands and found death there, along with all the Jews in Poland.

[Page 142]

Dr. Traubner's home was Silesia, and his home city Bielitz.

The political and intellectual situation of that time exercised a deep influence on the social and political development of Dr. Traubner. He was member of the Z. M. V. Hasmoneah and the hiking club “Blau–Weiss” (Blue and White). After graduating from the gymnasium, he entered the Legal Faculty of the University of Vienna, finishing there just at the outbreak of World War I. He was a front officer in the war.

Returned home, he began his life's work as jurist. The end of the war changed the political picture – Silesia was given to Poland. The economic depression and the need of the impoverished masses led him to the workers' movement. He marched at the head of the demonstrators who were pressed by want and unemployment. That required not just courage, but absolute selflessness, because the young jurist had just started his career and his potential clientele were the factory owners – he supported the enemies of his employers – the workers!

Dr. Traubner's political outlook was deeply rooted in socialist ideas. It was based on knowledge of the historical development of the economy and the decisive position of the working class, which it had to win for itself by class warfare. Dr. Traubner was in close contact with the Jewish workers' movement in Galicia and Poland. The embattled position of these people led him back to Zionist activism in the frame of Poalei–Zion. With full personal engagement and dedication he worked to build the Jewish state. Even before the Nazis moved into Bielitz, he moved to Zuerich. He died there suddenly in 1962.

[Page 141]

To their blessed memory!

[Page 140]

My blessed Mama, Frida Goldreich, b. 5/31/1886, residing in Bielitz

My blessed Papa, Prof. Fritz Goldreich, b. 3/5/1863, resident in Bielitz, died in Auschwitz on 6/29/1942

My blessed sister Julie Goldreich, b. 7/15/1915, residing in Bielitz, died on the Death Transport from Lower Silesia in February 1945

In sorrowful remembrance

Else Smulowicz

[3 photographs on page]

[Page 139]

In Memory of the Victims!

Ignaz Perl, long–time Chair of the Chewrah Kadischa in Biala,

His wife Henriette nee Midelburg

Daughter Julie married Roth and her children Hans and Eva

In–law Karl Midelburg, owner of a cloth factory

Caecilie Roth, nee Wexberg, widow of the Postmaster and merchant Mortiz Roth in Weichsel,

Son Richard Roth and his wife Irma nee Ring

The daughters: Rudolfine, widow of Heinrich Kohane, and Jenny, widow of Dr. Heinrich Eisner,

The grandson, Master of Law Erich Kohane, Bielitz,

Brother Rudolf Wexberg, Komrowitz, and his wife Erna nee Klausner as well as two sons

Niece Stella Barber nee Wexberg, and her sons Lucian and Marcel, Skotschau,

Niece Stella Wexberg nee Tramer, Drahomischl, and two children

Leo Kohane, Sktschau, his wife Emma nee Urbach, and daughter Olga as well as her husband dr. med. Apperman and their child Irene

Anton Bermann, Director of the cloth factory Schanzer in Bielitz, his son Eng. Paul Bermann and the latter's wife Else nee Schmelz.

In sorrowful memory

Dr. Ernst Roth

[Page 138]

In memory of the victims!

Alexander Fraenkel, member of the executive board of the Kehila Bielitz,

His son Wolfi

His parents Michael Fraenkel, Bileitz, and Agathe nee Dunkelblum

Brother Wolf Fraenkel, Bielitz, his wife and his daughter

Helene Rossbach nee Fleischer, widow of Nachum Rossbach, Bielitz

Son Loebel Rossbach, Bielitz, his wife Sarah nee Rosbach (Teschen) and the children Blanka and Salomon

Daughter Frieda, her husband Berl Siegmann (Bielitz) and daughters Sala and Rita

In–law Hersch–Meier Siegmann, Bielitz, his wife Leah nee Rossbach and daughter Sala

In–law Joachim Rossbach, Biala, his wife Helena nee Rosenfeld and the children Eva, Jecheskel, Israel, Jankel–Meier, and David

In–law Heinrich Goldstoff, Bielitz, his wife Sarah nee Rossback, and daughter Frieda

Nephew Meier Lasar Landau, Bieiltz, his wife Rifka nee Lieblich, and the children Chaim–Salomon and Lilly.

In sorrowful memory

Anny Fraenkel–Roth

[Page 137]

In memory of the victims!

Walter Loewenberg, merchant in Bielitz,

his wife Martha nee Herzberg

their children Susi and Willy

Kurt Loewenberg, merchant in Bielitz,

his wife Steffi nee Schwarz

In–law Otto Schwarz

In–law Karl Herzberg

Cousin Cilli Spieler nee Steinberg,

her husband Ernst Spieler, dentist in Skotschau

as well as their children Ruth and Hans

“In sorrowful memory,

Stella Kolban nee Loewenberg and Dr. Artur Kolban.”

[Page 136]

In sacred memory!

Of our dear parents, siblings, spouses, children and relatives and all the other Jews, who had to pay with their lives only BECAUSE THEY WERE JEWS.

We and our descendants will remember them and the flourishing Jewish Community in Bielitz in love and deepest veneration.

Moritz Nacher, merchant, active in the Chewra Kadischa for many years, Bielitz, b, 1870, murdered 1942.

Ernestine Nacher, nee Schlenger, b. 1882, murdered 1942.

Caecilie Nacher, nee Zlattner, b. 1875, d. 1907

Johanna Mandowsky, nee Nacher, b. 1896, murdered 1942.

Rudolf Mandowsky, bank director, b. 1869, murdered 1942.

Leopold Nacher, b 1898, murdered 1942.

Therese Miodowsky, nee Nacher b.1902, murdered 1942.

Viktor Neumann, owner of a cloth factory, b. 1890, d. 1930.

His sons:

Georg Ferdinand Neumann, b. 1921, murdered 1941.

Karl Heinz Neumann, b. 1922, murdereed 1942.

Dr. Izak Feldman, attorney, died 1946.

Adolf (Abraham) Lewy, merchant, b. 1883

Amalie (Malka)Lewy, nee Eichner, b. 1883

Hella (Chaja) Lewy, nee Tiefenbrunner

Resia (Rachel) Lewy

The survivors.

[Page 135]

In blessed memory!

A large, deeply rooted family, honorable laborers, parents, sister, brother, husbands, wives and children – all fell victim to the Nazi murderers!

Family members:

Our father Bachner, Salamon, b. 1871

Our mother, Bachner, Resi, b. 1876

Our sister Bachner, Olga, b. 1910

Our Sister Eidler, Erna

Our in–law Eidler, Simon

Our niece Eidler, Herta

Our nephew EIdler, Artur

Our in–law Bachner, Mania nee Ruebenfeld

Relatives:

Bachner, Artur, son of Hugo Bachner

Bachner, Lili nee Bornstein, wife of Adolf Teschen

Bachner, Kurt, son of Adolf Teschen [sic]

Bachner, David and Jachet, uncle and aunt

Bachner, Selig, uncle

Bachner family – uncle and aunt and three children living in Keuty

Tyras Josef and Ruzia, uncle, aunt and 4 children, living in Bielitz

Frischer, Hanna and Jakob, nee Tyras, uncle, aunt, and child, Bielitz

Gluecksmann, Toni, nee Tyras, uncle, aunt, and 4 children, Biala

Muenz, Erna and Isidor, uncle, aunt and 1 child, Bielitz

Freifeld, Rosa and Sigmund, aunt, uncle and two children, Dziedzice

Bachner, Hugo, brother, died in Bielitz in 1949, after liberation from a concentration camp. From 1945–49 Chair of the Jewish Committee in Bielitz

Bachner, Mania, nee Rubinfeld, Hugo's wife

Dedicated by

Bachner, Adolf, Vienna, Austria

Bachner, Josef, Nof–Yam, Israel

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