Yiddish Section

To Our Landsleit
by the Book Committee

Translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund

Years of effort and striving, physically and spiritually, years of searching for the opportunity and methods, through small groups of Dynower, to memorialize the memory of our kehile [organized Jewish community], finally had the appropriate results in the form of the Sefer Dynow [Book of Dynow], which is now before us, dear landsleit [people from the same town].

We can establish with satisfaction that we have scrupulously fulfilled the duty that was placed on us – to save from extinction that which was expressed with such authenticity, which marked the life of our Jewish community in Dynow over the course of more than 20 generations.

Of the hundreds of cities and shtetlekh [towns] in Galicia, where there were Jewish communities until the Holocaust, only 70 have published Yizkor [memorial] Books. And in all of Poland (plus Galicia), with its 2,000 Jewish communities, only 400 have published such books.

There are certainly various reasons, some objective and some even totally tragic. We are very upset at the thought of so many legendary Jewish centers with their rich past and generations-long traditions being forgotten. This fact left us with a feeling of dissatisfaction about our plans for reaching the publication of our book.

We also had an important mission with this publication of saving the Yiddish words from annihilation and immortalizing them for future generations. These words will reach everywhere a Jewish heart is present. – – –

We spent three whole years and so much effort gathering and assembling various details about our community with its joys and suffering, with its great hopes and dreams. All of this we achieved only

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partly, because our unsatisfactory methods and the will to publish more quickly limited us.

We also can say with sorrow that a number of our landsleit here and in Israel and abroad did not answer our communications about taking part in writing for the book and providing other help, each according to their ability.

Our most important purpose was achieved even when we admit that it is not complete. We will express here our acknowledgement to all who have offered their backs and helped carry the load of this production, which had no lack of moments of crisis and other difficulties.

We give special recognition to the co-workers from among our landsleit, who so generously helped with the publication of the book, among them a few people from Yad Vashem – [the World Holocaust Remembrance Center], Mr. Musinger from Rzeszów, Mrs. Shifra Igra from Jerusalem and Moshe Rinat for his beautiful, devoted work in editing.

With full recognition and gratitude, we remember our city's Mrs. Rywka Vinik (now Klein) and her husband Herman, of Ecuador, for the help and contribution to our reaching our goal.

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