{Page 86}

Images (II)

Bendet Fett

by R.B./D.L^[103]

Translated by Roberta Newman

Bendet Fett was, without a doubt, one of the most interesting and popular figures in Dembitz. During the course of more than thirty years, he was active in an indescribably self-sacrificing way in the Zionist movement, serving for years as the chairman of the Zionist local-committee, and never seeking any sort of public recognition for himself. Nonetheless, he never let an opportunity pass by to put his shoulder to the wheel.

Though he was not an orator or himself a highly educated man, he was one of the most devoted cultural activists in town. The Hebrew school had his devotion, above all, to thank for its existence and further development. But this was only one side of his activism in this area.

Perhaps even more important was the role he played in the expansion of the Yiddish and Zionist press in Dembitz; and later, in the dissemination of Yiddish and Hebrew books. On the surface, it was a matter of making a living. The truth, however, ran a lot deeper: he became a newspaper agent and a book merchant because he had an deep-seated interest in disseminating Zionism and secular culture -- two things that were, in the town, tightly bound together. When he first began to order a few copies of the Lemberger Togblat, the Yud from Krakow, Yidishn arbeter, and Voskhod, there was no living to be made from it, so few was the number of purchasers. If he had paid more attention to the small hotel he had, he would have been more successful in business. For him, however, more important than the hotel was the fact that young people came to see him and that something could be done for Zionism, for the progressive youth. Only slowly did the business grow, together with the movement. He became the distributor of newspapers in Dembitz, for Jews and non-Jews alike, and his book dealership was also model business. True, even then, thinking about business was not his main thing--this he left to his wife, Chanale--and he was preoccupied only with Zionist activism. And this was treasured by everyone in Dembitz.

If a man with this sort of exceptional energy had received a systematic education and had not been confined to the milieu of a small town, he could have accomplished a lot more, no doubt. In Dembitz, it took more time to get things done.

Yes, Bendit Fett was a stubborn man. In his youth, when he had opened his hotel, he had come up with an invention: a clock that would wake the guests, everyone at the specified hour, so that the hotel owner didn't have exert himself in the night to wake them up. This was a product of small-town hotel experience. Bendit Fet allowed this invention to be patented in Vienna for the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire, and maybe also in other lands--and for years nearly jumped out of his skin with impatience, waiting for the patent to take off. But no one presented himself, no one in the world needed the patent. His friends and even his nearest and dearest in Dembitz sang a song about him, with a special tune, and that was known by everyone in Dembitz:

Bendit Fett with the clock
Has a face like a carcass...^[104]

He was an eternal fighter for culture, for democratic procedure in Jewish life, and he had much gratitude and love for every person who was educated and knowledgeable and who appeared in the city and did something, And who even spoke of whether it had anything to do with Zionism?

Honor to his memory!

{Page 88}

Dr. Pinchas Laufbahn

by Yitzchak Freiman

{photo of him page 88 upper right}

{photo page 89 bottom right – Dr. Pinchas Laufbahn and his brother Israel}

Pinchas Wolf Laufbahn and his brother Yitzchak were my brothers-in-law. I would not have taken it upon myself to describe his illustrious personality if there were in our midst someone who is more expert than myself about this era. A Yizkor book about Dembitz – which was his birthplace and field of activity for the course of thirty years – would be incomplete without mention of him. I will therefore attempt to describe on paper some elements of his personality.

Pinchas Laufbahn was born in 1892. His father was Reb Eliakim Getzel. As his brother Yitzchak, he studied Talmud and Rabbinical law from the mouth of his grandfather, Reb Yehuda Leib the Rabbinical judge, who wished to educate his grandchildren solely in Torah. However, with the three youngest, his will did not stand up to the spirit of the time. Due to the influence of his brother Yitzchak of blessed memory before he made Aliya, Pinchas, who was very diligent and quick to learn, started learning at the Gymnasia as an external student, and graduated after four years of study. Before that time, he joined Poale Zion in the city, and participated in the cultural activities of the local group. It didn't take long for Pinchas Laufbahn, who was still a young law student at the University of Krakow, to begin to rise to the ranks of leadership in the local Poale Zion, along with Naftali Shneur, Mendel Wilner, and Ruchama and Shimon Gruenspan. Already in 1912 he participated in the election campaign for the Austrian parliament as a supporter of the Zionist representative Dr. Sirop. It is important to point out that most of the Zionist lecturers did not yet know how to speak well in the vernacular, and were also very far from words of Torah. He appeared on the scene, as the grandson of G-d fearing and observant Jews, with a sharp and clear manner of speaking, absorbing the spirit of the culture of Israel and fighting for national recognition, for democracy and Haskala.

All of these activities, both within the community and outside of it, ceased with the outbreak of the First World War and the exile of the Jews of Dembitz from their city. Only in 1916 did they return and slowly begin to renew their way of life as it was previously. With the end of the war and the disbanding of the Hapsburg monarchy, the opportunity arose again for communal activities, and Pinchas Laufbahn was among the leaders. However, during the war a noticeable change took place in Jewish life in the city. The former leaders, heads of the community and the Hassidim, were at a complete loss as to how to go about the task of reconstructing the destroyed city, and in particular they shied away from the new task of guarding the security of their living conditions, which came to be in actual danger due to the growing Polish nationalism in the renewed nation. From that time, Pinchas Laufbahn, in his capacity as a trained lawyer, became involved in all organizational activities of the Jewish community of Dembitz. He was one of the leaders of Poale Zion, working shoulder to shoulder with Shimon Gruenspan who was his junior, and he was recognized by all of the Zionist streams in the city. He was involved in the establishment of a branch of “The Jewish Nationalist Organization of Western Galicia”, as well as the organizing of assistance for the needy of Dembitz. He did not neglect the political and cultural activities either. Later he was involved in every effort to renew life in the city, and to help the Jews gain appropriate status.

Pinchas Laufbahn was one of the chief spokesmen and activists of the new style. He was successful in his leadership and influence upon Poale Zion in Dembitz. He served as its chairman from 1920 until the time of the holocaust. He also played a leading role in municipal politics, as well as in the community.

Along with Shemaya Widerspan, the leader of the Zionists of Dembitz, Pinchas Laufbahn and his comrades worked successfully on behalf of the community. The regional government in Krakow appointed Mr. Shemaya Widerspan as the temporary chairman of the community. When elections took place a few years later, the Zionist party ran and received the majority for the first time. Dr. Pinchas Laufbahn and Shimon Gruenspan were elected to the city council. Pinchas fulfilled his role with responsibility and strong resolve, which was a new phenomenon in the community of Dembitz. When it came time to set the budget for the community, he entered a small allocation, which generated the opposition of the entire anti-Zionist camp – the small allocation was for the Keren Hayesod. When the Hassidim on the town council opposed this powerfully, there were some delegates who wished to forego this for the sake of peace. However Pinchas Laufbahn stood his ground as a matter of faith, and the allocation was accepted.

Pinchas Laufbahn was blessed with an exceptional memory. One occasion where his spectacular memory was displayed was at the occasion when a strike broke out among the ritual slaughterers (shochtim), who demanded from the head of the community that they be allocated two kilograms of meat from every animal that they slaughtered, over and above their monthly salary from the town council. When the butchers complained that this would be impossible, since every animal that is found ritually unfit (treif) is sold at half price to the Christians, one of the members of the council stood up and proposed a compromise: that the butchers give to the shochtim two kilograms of meat from any animal that is found to be kosher, and none if it found to be treif. Pinchas Laufbahn then retorted that, as a lawyer who was not that familiar with this matter, he was surprised that such advice be proposed. This was that since it says in the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) section Yoreh Deah in the chapter dealing with the laws of ritual slaughter, in such and such a clause, that it is explicitly forbidden to differentiate between a kosher and treif animal when it comes to allocating a stipend to the shochet, lest the matter come to permitting a forbidden animal in order to benefit from the allocation. This retort was a topic of discussion for everyone.

Even though he was busy as a lawyer, he did not begrudge his time for communal and Zionist matters. No political or cultural activity took place without his input, or at least without his knowledge. The emissaries of the Zionist organizations knew only two addresses in Dembitz – that of Dr. Pinchas Laufbahn and that of Shemaya Widerspan. They would donate personally, as well as organize events. During all the years, he stood at the helm of the successful Poale Zion library, and concerned himself with its development. He also served as a stage-manager for the dramatic club, which was under the auspices of the cultural committee of the movement.

With all this, his door was always open to anyone in need, whether for charity or for free legal advice. Poor people always found an attentive ear in his office.

As a Torah scholar and an intellectual, he was able to harmoniously blend the spirit of the tents of Shem and the beauty of Yefet^[85] in a non-contradictory fashion. Thus he won the trust of all of Dembitz Jewry.

He left Dembitz at the beginning of the Nazi conquest. He moved to the Soviet sector, and traveled with many Jews to a remote area in the depths of Russia. From there, he attempted to get to Israel. Yitzhak his elder brother, did everything in his power to bring him here, however at the time when they he had just about succeeded, when the possibility arose, he was stricken by a serious illness. This tireless activist closed his eyes forever, and did not see the Land.

It is an honor to remember him.

{Page 89}

Tzvi Wolf

by R. B.^[105]
Translated by Roberta Newman

{photo of him page 89 upper left}

Hersh Wolf

When Tsvi Wolf died in 1956 in Haifa at the age of 61, it is no exaggeration to say that he was one of the most popular people of the Second Aliyah^[106] because of the role he played as one of those who had helped lay the foundations for the present day burgeoning Jewish settlement in the Jezreel Valley.

For 45 years, he lived and worked in the Land of Israel, and for the most part in the most dangerous circumstances. When he made aliyah from Dembitz in 1911 as one of the first olim, the young man already had behind him several years of intensive party and cultural activism as one of the first members of Poale Zion. And so the organization arranged a fine banquet in his honor, at which Naftali Shnier, Mendel Wilner, and Ruchama Grünspan spoke. Upon his arrival in Israel he joined Hashomer and from then on the matter of Jewish vigilance and defense was always at the center of his interests. From the time of the establishment of the first Jewish settlements in the Jezreel Valley, he served as mukhtar of Beit Alfa and Tel Yosef, which means he was the person responsible for the safety of those settlements. At the same time, he served as the emissary of the Jewish National Fund, and especially of Khankin, may his memory be for a blessing, for land affairs, which gradually became exceptionally developed. And he carried on this work for the Jewish National Fund with great care and tact until the last years of his life, earning himself friendship and honor within all the Arab circles which whom he came in close contact.

His funeral was attended by a large crowd, representatives of the city of Haifa, staff of the Jewish National Fund, comrades from Hashomer, and Arabs from the environs.

Honor to his memory!

{Page 90}

Shemaya Widerspan

{photo of him upper right}

In a fine room that testified to the affluence of its owner, a man who was not young paced back and forth, repeating to himself without stopping: “olowek iparon, olowek iparon, olowek”, ^[86] with an expression that indicated that these words did not fix themselves into his memory easily.

He repeated the obstinate word over and over again with the stubbornness of a child until it was fixed in his mind. Then his face beamed. He was happy.

This was Shemaya Widerspan, who was about to visit the land of Israel. He prepared for this journey with energy and enthusiasm. There were few people of Shemaya's age who gave themselves over to the Zionist movement without bounds such as he did. We were never short of people who were dedicated and were willing to accepts tasks for the sake of the movement, however there were very few to whom we could turn at all hours of the day or even the night in order to attract them to a new activity or a new idea.

He was honorable. He did not concern himself with his status in the community, his age, or even accepted principles. On many occasions, it was possible to see him sitting and adjudicating trivial matters with the same seriousness that he would deal with serious matters. He would talk to the youth as he talked to the honorable communal members. To him, there was no difference between a great and small task. He accepted every task with willingness and fulfilled it in its entirety. For several years, he was the chairman of the local Zionist committee. For many years he was the patron of the Zionist youth movement. For many years he participated in every activity and every meeting for the national funds, for the Hebrew University, for summer camps, for Hachshara Kibbutzim ^[87], and for the Hebrew School. This was all over and above his communal activity for the town and for the general institutions. If a delegate was needed for a convention of the movement, Shemaya would go. If the power of the movement was needed for Sejm elections, Shemaya would provide it. He never was stingy with his time or money. He was not a speaker, he was not an ideologue, but he nevertheless aroused feelings of honor in every place. This was primarily due to his sincerity. In the same manner as he reviewed and studied Hebrew words, he studied problems. He found solutions with utter sincerity. His pleasant sincerity was what endeared him to people. He was far away from zealous extremism. He would play the role of arbiter during any conflict between various factions. He would propose compromises for such disputes, and involve himself whether the matter was large or small.

Until the day of his death, he was the central address for the Zionist movement in the city. When he returned from his visit to the Land, he told us about the beauty and wonders that he beheld. Once again, he exhibited a childlike innocence and boundless enthusiasm. This enthusiasm did not permit him to dwell on the problems in the Land, nor to see the shadows. In his stories, everything was nice. As he described the Galilee and the Kibbutzim, he saw himself as fortunate that he was able to witness all this with his own eyes.

It was later related to us that Shemaya had planned to make Aliya. Indeed he already had made preparations for such, however death overtook him first. The news of his passing came to us when we – those whom he encouraged – were already in the Land. The news caused us deep mourning. It was written to us that the mourning in the city was great and deep. This can be well understood, since everyone held him in esteem and loved him. It is fitting that his name be remembered by all of us, since he dedicated so much for Dembitz Jewry and for the Zionist movement.

{Page 90}

Ben-Zion Widerspan

by A. Haber

{photo of him page 90 left}

Ben-Zion Widerspan of blessed memory has been etched in my memory already for dozens of years as one of the most prominent people of Dembitz. His ideas were not hewn out of the Kloiz (Hassidic prayer hall) and the Beis Midrash. He was a man of the people, a worker, and his love for his nation, its language and its future was boundless. He was never stingy with his money, time or efforts as a communal activist. He worked for the benefit of all. He was one of the founders of the local Hebrew School, and one of the main people who was concerned with its upkeep. He expended great effort to acquire a building for this institution, even though the financial footing was not solid. However, due to the efforts of several people who were as persistent as he was, such as Bendet Fett, Meir Steiglitz, Shemaya Widerspan, Yochanan Sommer, Moshe Kerner, Reuven Sommer, as well as, may he live long, Fishel Kessler, Daniel Kerner of blessed memory, and Yudel Gruenspan (Bar-Natan) may he live long, who answered the call of the committee on numerous occasions, a significant sum of money was raised for this endeavor. The building was purchased, and it served not only as the home of the school alone, but also as the center for all local cultural activities, the headquarters for all the different youth groups of every stripe, as well as the pioneering headquarters for all ages.

All the residents of the city and its area, Jews and gentiles, knew the school building. It was even known to the area governor, who was an anti-Semite and attempted on several occasions to close down the school by force of the police.

The institution, which was not yet a full fledged school, stood up to its mission, and many of its alumnae live and are active with us today in Israel. Numbered among the alumnae and teachers are the teacher Weinberg, the author Pinchas Lander, and Chana Gruen.

Ben-Zion Widerspan served as the gabbai (trustee) of the Great Synagogue of Dembitz for many years. Most of its congregants were already Jews who did not wear streimels, who were artisans or members of the free professions.

After the First World War, when the Jews of Dembitz returned to their city, they found the synagogue destroyed, just like the rest of the houses. The Russian invaders used the synagogue as a horse stable. The reader's table, the benches, and the holy ark had been burned. Widerspan did not rest until he had restored the synagogue to its former glory, including various improvements. He paid for a significant portion of this endeavor from his own pocket. He fulfilled the role of synagogue trustee with joy and awe on the festivals and holy days. Whoever witnessed him in his role prior to the recitation of Kol Nidre, along with his counterparts, the Shamash Yisrael Einbinder and the Cantor Reuven the son of Reb Moshe the Cantor, cloaked in their prayer shawls and white robes; or at the time of the distribution of Torah honors (aliyot) on festivals or the hakafa (Torah circuit) honors on Simchat Torah, with their great concern not to Heaven forbid offend the honor or ambitions of the worshippers, both regular and non-regular, could never forget this sight.

However, he also knew how to be sharp in this role. In 1924, a group of zealots of “Keepers of the Faith of Israel” attempted to invalidate the cantor (who is now a cantor in one of the settlements in the south of Israel), since he sang in a choir that included women at a Zionist gathering. They even tried to remove him from the synagogue with physical force. Widerspan, however, did not budge, and the cantor remained in his place. He was brought to a disciplinary hearing before the rabbi of the city, however he stood his ground sharply and came out victorious.

As a member of the city council, he played a significant role in combating overt anti-Semitism, which was at that time spreading out in Galicia in general, and Dembitz in particular. He also knew how to win over Jewish friends for the benefit of the community. Members of the Zionist Widerspan family played a role in the development of Dembitz. In their younger days, they built many of the Jewish and non-Jewish houses with their own hands, and later on they served as contractors and planners.

Ben-Zion Widerspan felt all his days, particularly prior to the holocaust, that the disaster was nearing. He desired to make Aliya to the Land, and he even made preparations for that purpose, however he did not succeed. He was unable to do so himself, however two of his daughters, the oldest and the youngest, made Aliya and fulfilled his dreams.

He educated his children in the spirit of Judaism and Zionism, and some of them went on to higher education. One of his sons-in-law in Israel was Zvi Wolf, a native of Dembitz. He was a member of the Second Aliya, one of the first guards of the land, and a man of the land. Ben-Zion Widerspan did not succeed in escaping the Nazi claws. He was killed along with his childhood friend Yochanan Sommer of blessed memory in the Dembitz ghetto, after their strength had been drained by hard labor.

{Page 91}

Shimon Grünspan

by Y. Bar-Yitzchak

{photo of him upper left}

During the period between the two world wars, three communal activists in Dembitz stood out from all the others. These were Dr. Pinchas Laufbahn, Shemaya Widerspan, and the youngest of the three, Shimon Grünspan.

Shimon was the son of Nathan Grünspan, one of the most honorable and well-to-do Mizrachi householders of the city, and Dvortcha, the daughter of Reb Mendel Mahler. He was born in 1894 and educated in both Torah and Haskalah. He oversaw the intelligentsia group of Cheder and Beis Midrash educated people who became involved with European culture. He had many and variegated talents. From his youth he dreamt about higher education and the halls of science. Like many of his generation, he acquired general knowledge as an “extern”, however his formal studies did not go very well. Many stumbling blocks and obstacles interfered with the completion of his studies. In the interim, the place became constricted for him, and he toiled endlessly – as if he was locked in prison – to free himself from his parental home and the town – but he could not do so…

In 1912 he escaped from his home and set out towards the Land of Israel. However he never reached there… A few years later he tried his luck again, he left town, he spent some time in the Diaspora, knocked at the doors of institutions of higher education, and then retraced his steps back again. Thus “one by one, and without being seen, as the stars at dawn, his secret desires were extinguished and ended in silent pain”…

Much water flowed at that time in the Wislok River… ^[88] He had already reached adulthood, and attained an honorable position in the town… but nevertheless – during intimate conversations with him – it seemed as if he was pining for fundamental changes in his life; he still maintained his pleasant youthful demeanor and attempted to free himself from the town, from the “egg”. It was as if “his final desire was concealed within him and he pined for it all his life”… an ear can understand words – if one paid attention to the intimate tone of his words, the impression would be that all of his activities in his private life, in industry and business, as well as all of his communal activities – and he had a great many endeavors in these areas – were only a substitute for something that did not materialize, a replacement for dreams that were lost, for desires that were extinguished…

As has been mentioned, he accomplished a great deal in many areas of life. He did not possess a degree for a polytechnic or business school. Nevertheless, on account of his self-study and reading of books he attained a true and deep knowledge of the areas of knowledge that were close to his heart. He was able to translate his knowledge into deeds. (His astuteness was undoubtedly inherited from his father Notele, who was imbued with a sober realism and energy that was very rare among the Jews of the small towns of Galicia. Dozens of years prior to the First World War, Nathan Grünspan founded a large factory in the town, and he was the first in town to install electric lights in his home. Hot water flowed from the taps of his bathtub…). Thus Shimon was a “practical engineer” from birth… He extended and improved the activities of his father's factory. He expanded the factory of wheelbarrows, wagons, etc. He built a modern flourmill that served the entire region. He kept the accounts himself, in duplicate and triplicate. If it were not for the holocaust, he would certainly have added further layers onto the business.

Just as he was very active in business life, he was also active in communal affairs. His talents – including great knowledge, industriousness, working according to principals, pleasant demeanor, personal charm and honesty, as well as deep and warm feelings – endeared him to his acquaintances and put him in the front seat of communal activities, along with Pinchas Laufbahn and others.

Even though he was involved in a specific faction – he was one of the leaders of Poale Zion – he knew how to place the needs of the Jewish people at large over the narrow needs of the faction. Love of his fellow Jew was the main trait of his communal activities. This love was displayed in its full glory during the difficult and serious meetings of the town council that took place in the context of the stubborn and ongoing struggle for the rights of the Jews of the town. The Hapsburg era, the era in which the Jewish elders of the city had grown up, had ended and was not to return. New days arrived… new communal leaders arose, strangers came from afar… enemies of the Jews began to come to the fore… serious questions of life darkened the skies of the community and required a strong stand and a struggle… Shimon Grünspan, along with Pinchas Laufbahn, was ready for this struggle. He did this with an upright posture, social knowledge, and national pride.

Whether as a representative of the public or as a representative of himself… who can tell of all his representations and stands he took for the benefit of individuals before officials and government leaders (whether for the Starosta – the local government, the Wojiwoda – the regional government)? Who can count the number of “requests” that he wrote on behalf of people to civic and national officials? His requests, for the most part, were answered positively, for his pen was sharp, and his style displayed deep understanding combined with feeling. He did not merely utter supplications, but rather words from the heart. His heart went out to those that suffered and were deprived of their rights. He participated in their suffering and took up their case. His words also penetrated the heart. (It is related that only once did he plea and beg for mercy… this was during the holocaust when his family's hiding place was discovered in the house of a Christian worker. He Shimon as well as his wife Rachka and his two sons were being taken out to be murdered, he emboldened himself before his death to request mercy for the life of the gentile who hid them… His heartfelt words influenced even the Gestapo man, and the worker was saved from death.)

If we have been able to present something of the national honor and the pride of the Jewish communal life in our town, it is obvious that Shimon Grünspan played a large role. Therefore may the natives of our town remember him always for blessing.

{Page 92}

Rivka Diament (Eisen)

by Henia Grin-Heistein

Rivka Diament's activities in Dembitz ceased after her marriage, when she followed her husband, Mr. Pesach Diament may he live long, to Germany. There she participated in the circle of Chaim Arlozoroff and Georg Landauer. This connection brought her, after many years, to dedicated activity in the realm of the workers' union and the workers' council of Hadera. This was after her family had made Aliya to the Land of Israel, and after many difficult years of working life in Petach Tikva. In Hadera, her husband Pesach served as the director of the cooperative shop of the worker's union.

With her untimely death, she left her good name behind her in Hadera and its surrounding area. Her son Lieutenant Colonel Yosef Yahalom, and her daughter Aliza, who is a member of Kibbutz Gesher, survive her.

« Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page »

Translator's Footnotes

  Dembitz, Poland     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 11 Sep 2010 by MGH