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Economy, Institutions
and Organizations

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The Jewish community in Korets was resurrected at the end of the First World War. With the outbreak of the October Revolution, the Russian Jews were given permission to establish their independent power.

In accordance with this letter of authorization, elections to the community council were held in Korets, and the following community leaders were elected: HaRav Nehemiah Herschenhorn, HaRav Lidsky, Avigdor Hedien, Dr. Zeitlin, Dr. Yakov Herschenhorn, Aizik Horowitz, Yitzchak Whiteman, Leibel Acher, Matik Finkelstein, Izy Kaminer, Asher Toybn, Seidl Feifer, Aizik Chimenis and Meir Isar's.

The community was formed during the days of the Petliurans regime. Those only printed large banknotes of 50 Rubles. This situation paralyzed the economic life in the city, because small change wasn't available.

The community council has done something very special to overcome this problem. It printed various bills of Rubles, Kopecks and half Kopecks, in Hebrew and in Russian.

Banknotes issued by the community council in Korets

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Due to the shortage of paper during the war, the money was printed on various sheets of paper that were available. The banknotes were signed by HaRav Nehemiah Herschenhorn, Yeshayahu Solomoniak and Dr. Yakov Herschenhorn. On the back side, the banknotes were only stamped with the Hebrew seal of the Jewish community council of Korets. The merchants came to Rabbi Herschenhorn, paid with a large bill, and received change with the money that was issued by the community. The same thing was repeated when they wanted to replace the community's money with government's money.

The community's money also served as a bill of exchange between the Jews and the Christian residents, who called it the “Jewish money.”

In this manner, a major obstacle that blocked the Jewish trade in the city, which suffered a lot during the war, was removed.

In 1928, the Polish government enacted a law that authorized the establishment of Jewish communities in rural areas. This law gave validity and state status to the Jewish community council. According to this law, Korets and adjacent Mezeritch, constituted one community. Of the 8 members of the community council, Mezeritch received two representatives.

The first election to the community council was held in 1928. The following community leaders were chosen from among the residents of Korets: Baruch Teitelman (Agudat Yisrael), Efraim Goralnik (Merchants Association), Dr. Shmuel Finkelstain (Hitachdut), Dov Berenstein (Poalei-Zion), David Ronis and Seidl Feifer (Tradesmen Association). Pinchas Eisenstein and Yakov Smola were chosen from among the people of Mezeritch.

Baruch Teitelman was elected as chairman of the community council, the secretary was Yisrael Zipinsky (General Zionist), and Meir Rosenblatt served as a treasurer.

The religious council, which was headed by HaRav Moshe-Mordechai Lidsky, stood by the community council. The rest of its members were: HaRav Avraham Zilberman and HaRav Moshe Routblit. They served as the community's clerks and received their salary from its funds. The duty of the religious council concentrated, mostly, on overseeing the Kashrut and the supervision of the Jewish cemetery.

Also the men of “Chevra Kadisha” [Jewish Burial Society] were community officials. David Ronis served as chairman.

The Jewish bathhouse was also under the authority of the community council. The official in charge of the bathhouse was Shlomo Halperin. He was the proprietor of this hygienic institute, and he set the rules. It should be mentioned, that the bathhouse excelled in its cleanliness and in its fine arrangements. The payment for bathing was very low, and the public enjoyed it almost free of charge.

The community also undertook the registration of birth, marriages, divorces and death.

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The members of the community council joked, that one of these four functions was completely unnecessary. That is to say: a person must be born, the same applies to marriage, and the same applies to death, but a divorce isn't a necessity. Therefore, the rabbis of the religious council always tried to impose peace between a husband and wife.

In addition, the community managed not only the Korets' books, but also the books of the communities of Berezdiv, Krasnostav and Gorodnitsa. The management of these ledgers was in the trustworthy hands of the clerk Yisrael Zipinski.

The community imposed taxes, which had the validity of governmental taxes, on the Jewish public. It collected tax from the slaughtering of small and large animals, and also from the revenues of the slaughterhouse and the cemetery. But, it didn't only take from the public, it also gave.

The community council had its own matzo factory. On Passover eve, they sold matzos to the needy for a very low price, and gave free matzos to the poor, without a payment. All the deficits were covered by the community council. The project “Ma'ot Chitim” [food for the needy], included a good portion of Korets' Jews, and if not for the support that we received from our brothers across the ocean, who knows if we were able to meet this social project.

The community's most important project was “Ma'ot Etzim.” In the summer we bought a large amount of wood and dried it. Freidel Katz gave us a storeroom to store the wood. In the winter, when it was very cold, the city's poor came to the storeroom and received dry firewood. They received the wood for next to nothing, and the losses were covered by the community council.

Before the “High-Holidays” and Passover, the community fulfilled the mitzvah of “Matan B'Seter” [secret almsgiving]. I divided the money with my own hands, and I can testify that many enjoyed it.

In the thirties, the community council performed a very important operation that should be written in the pages of this memorial book: During the First World War, fierce battles were fought in Korets and the vicinity between the Polish and the Russian army. Many corpses of Polish soldiers were buried temporarily in Korets' killing fields.

In 1930, the city authorities decided to remove the corpses of the unknown soldiers from the temporary cemeteries and bury them in a military cemetery. When the graves were opened, the corpse of a Jewish soldier was discovered. And how they identified it? After all, the flesh fell a long time ago and the bones dried - the found a small rotten Siddur and remnants of Tefillin straps in his grave.

The city's governor approached the community council, and requested that it will take care of the burial of the Unknown Jewish soldier. HaRav Lidsky, Baruch Teitelman and Dov Berenstein arrived to the place. The soldier's body was found in a special tent that was decorated with the state's flags. The body's vertebrae fell apart and the bones shifted from their connection. HaRav Lidsky, who was an expert in Talmudic anatomy,

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placed the bones one next to the other, and put the skeleton in a coffin together with the Siddur and the straps.

The Unknown Jewish soldier was buried in the Jewish cemetery in a military ceremony. Almost all the city's Jews and representatives of the Polish authorities attended his funeral. The community council immortalized the martyr with a headstone on which the following was inscribed:

The funeral of the Unknown Jewish soldier

In 1935, new elections to the community council were held, and Yoelik Malier was elected as chairman of the board. The board members were: Dr. Wolach, David Ronis, Dr. Shmuel Finkelstein, Baruch Teitelman, Efraim Goralnik, Yakov Smola and Pinchas Eisenstein. This council functioned until the Soviets entered the city during the Second World War.

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It is impossible to talk about the Jewish economy in Korets in terms set by the sages of the economy. We didn't have a scientifically developed industry - not a heavy industry or even a small industry. We had a lot of destitute people who offered their workforce, but they couldn't find employers. The fact, that here and there, the figure of a Jewish “capitalist,” in the scale of a small town, appeared in our city, isn't enough to change the gloomy state of the Jewish economy in Korets.

Those who wish to know the economic structure of the community of Korets in the past, should bother and read “Emek HaBacha” [“Vale of Tears”] by Mendele^[1]. Maybe I wasn't accurate in my expression, because masses of Jewish youth rejoiced and danced in the streets of Korets, but, it was a dance on the edge of the abyss, and on burnt bridges. Pitiful and depressing poverty prevailed at home. The poverty monster fixed its eyes from all the corners of the house, struck roots, and spread through all the holes and cracks of the rooms.

Economically, the city was destroyed long before the Holocaust. The economic situation of the Polish Jews, in the years before the Second World War, was ruined, but the Jews of Korets were helpless and stood on the brink of total destruction.

After the First World War, an economic destruction was derived on Korets with the signing of the peace treaty between Poland and the Soviets. The border between Poland and the Soviet Union stretched behind the sugar factory, which was right in the city. The city lost its “hinterland,” the living space, and was cut off from many villages which served as a market for its merchandise during the days of the Czars. The city was closed on three sides, and only one side, which was in the direction of the city of Rovno, remained open. The economic life was paralyzed. The border undermined the economic foundation of the Jewish community of Korets, and a general impoverishment of the entire community began.

The four tanneries, which employed a considerable number of Jewish workers, and marketed their products to great distances - closed in 1925 from the lack of a suitable market for their products.

The sugar factory didn't employ Jewish workers, even though it was a large factory which employed hundreds of workers. We can't see it as an economic factor of the Jewish community of Korets. The Jews didn't participate in it, not in the production and not in the preparation of the raw material. The many sugar beets fields, which provided the raw material, belonged to the rich farmers or to the owners of the neighboring estates. The Jews weren't employed in it, not even as brokers.

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Only one Jew was employed in the manufacturing process. This fact emphasizes the economic detachment of the Korets Jews.

Therefore - Sapir's factory which produced coarse fabric for the peasants' winter coats and employed two Jewish workers, a primitive cotton-wool factory which worked only to satisfy the local needs, and the Hirschfeld brothers' flour mill which employed a number of Jews - were, in fact, all the “industry” of Korets.

The phenomenon of a great master, such as, R' Yakov-Yosi Horonsteirn, the owner of large estates, dense forests, and large economic enterprises - was “out of the ordinary.” But, this master belonged to an earlier period, to the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century. At the end of the First World War, the industry of Korets has been reduced, if not completely abolished.

Even the small industry was in bad shape. This “industry” was reflected in sewing clothes for the shops. There were a number of hatters, carpenters and blacksmiths, who sold their products at the fairs. The competition between them was unruly and hard. They lowered the price of their goods, so they could somehow exist. All of them were desperately poor, and struggled hard for their food.

Against this background, it isn't surprising that there were so many shops and shopkeepers. The shops were dense and stacked on each other, and the poor quality of the merchandise testified, like one hundred witnesses, about a business that barely supported its owner.

The main “supplier” and the trading center of Korets' Jews, was the city of Rovno, which was a distance of 60km from it. Few of the city's dealers traveled to Warsaw or £ódŸ to bring larger quantity of merchandise from there. Therefore, the merchandise was delivered to Rovno, the wagon owners loaded it there, and brought it to the city. During the years, with the development of the transportation, the merchandise was transported by trucks.

The ongoing trade, the daily trade, was weak and concentrated, mainly, on the clothing and the footwear industry. The domestic consumption was small because of the low standard of living. The traders earned the bulk of their livelihood from the official and unofficial market days, meaning, a market day for the immediate and the distant environment, and a market day for the immediate environment.

The internal market day served, almost, as the basis for the existence of the small trade, because it was the only trading day in the market. On the official market day, which brought thousands of peasants to the city, dozens of merchants who

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A “fair” in Korets

Some of Korets' small merchants participated in the market days of the nearby towns, and even reached faraway places. Because of transportation difficulties and rough roads, the traders loaded their goods on the wagons during the day, and left for Hoszcza, Tuchin or Mezritsh in the evening. After a whole night of wandering, they set up their stalls and prepared themselves for the day of redemption. There were those, that this fateful day constituted the main source of their income. Needless to emphasize, that this mediation was done very cheap. The quality of the goods was poor, and its price was very low. The bargaining was random, and often gave a large profit to the seller, and poor quality of goods to the buyer. Of course, this matter didn't only characterize the mediation in Korets, it was a common practice and the conventional form in the Polish market. Therefore, market days were one of the most important links in the spinal cord of the Jewish economy in Korets. The competition between the traders was so great, that they didn't even earn the minimum necessary for their existence. Enough for me to mention, that a large family existed on 20 Zlotys a month, a pittance sum which was only enough for brown bread. When the Poles opened their own stores, and convinced the non-Jewish population to boycott the Jewish shops -

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the situation became catastrophic and hopeless. It was sad to see the city's Jews in their ugly poverty, their faces afflicted with grief, their foreheads creased with worry, and their helpless eyes waiting for a buyer to enter. And when the “Redeemer” came, this held the wing of his garment and said “he's all mine,” and this drew him close to him and said “he's all mine.”

It's worth noting two other industries: fruits and vegetables. The focus is particularly on the fruits, since the entire vegetable market was in the hands of the farmers and didn't require any mediation. The local market supplied and sold the vegetables to the Jewish community of Korets. We only know about one type of vegetable that the Jews dealt with and marketed in great quantities - the onion. They gathered the onions from the surrounding villages, marketed them throughout Poland and even abroad. In the surrounding towns, the expression “a bushel of onions” was used as a nickname for the Jews of Korets. But this “vegetable” wasn't only known as popular compote, but also as an important economic industry, and part of the mediation that the small trade in Korets was engaged in.

As for the fruits, it's not an exaggeration if we say that this industry was entirely in Jewish hands, and served as an important economic factor in the city. The Jews purchased the fruit when it was still on the trees, guarded it for many months until it ripen, brought it to the city, and marketed it all over Poland.

Two merchants associations existed within the cauldron of this poverty, the big merchants and the “Small merchants association.” The most prominent merchants were: Zafran who bought the sugar from the sugar factory and marketed it to the stores, and Guralnik and Maliar who engaged in the forest trade and were also the owners of flour mills in the vicinity of Korets. The big merchants were organized in the “Merchants Association,” which was led by Tzvi Koshter. The committee members were: Emanuel Tzitrin, Eliezer Glumberman, Yehusua Sendler, Moshe-Hirsh Barak and David Feldman.

The small merchants were also organized in their own association, which was headed by Perlman. When he immigrated to Canada, the leadership was given to Pinchas Gendler and several other activists. Among them were Yitzchak Neiterman, Meir Erlich and Mendil Nodlir.

The committee's role concentrated, mostly, in alleviating the heavy tax burden that weighed heavily on the small merchants. However, the wild competition and the heavy taxes brought an economic disaster to the big merchants and to the small merchants.

The Jewish craftsmen in Korets were organized in the “Artisans Association,” which was organized in 1922. Among its organizers were: Nachman Rochman, Moshe Gildnman and Shmuel Perlman. Its duty was to increase the aid, prepare the craftsmen for the exams, and protect their interests. They were represented in the community council by David Ronis and Zeidel Feifer. Their representative in the city council was Nachman Rochman. Their representatives were very active, and also participated in the assessment committee of the income tax governorship.

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In 1935, an extensive committee of the “Artisans Association” was elected, and served until the outbreak of the Second World War. Its members were: Nachman Rochman, Zev Brazov, Moshe Gildnman, Shmuel Soitzer, David Ronis, Yakov Riess and Moshe Vitvat.

No wonder that charitable institutions bloomed in such a bleak economic situation. A large number of the city's Jews lived on welfare. A “Women's Committee” was organized at the end of the First World War and its role was to provide assistance to the poor, especially for the holidays. The committee members were: Dr. Zeitlin, Dr. Herschenhorn, the wife of the pharmacist Herschenhorn, Chaya Sendler, Bluma Zafran, Chana Beritshka and Chana Gluberman.

The grave situation forced the city's activists, the community officials and the public institutions to increase the aid to the needy. They tried to facilitate, as much as possible, the situation of the city's poor so they wouldn't suffer from the shame of hunger. For that purpose they opened an “orphanage,” a clinic, summer camps, “Kupat Gemilut Chasadim,” [Interest-Free Loan Fund], “Maot Hittim” [Matza Fund], and “Maot Etzim” [firewood fund]. They also provided meat and matzos for Passover, and gave free medical help to poor patients.

It's worth noting the participation of the organization of former residents of Korets in Boston, USA, in the aid work, especially with the “Maot Hittim” project before the holiday of Passover.

The city's activists have done great deeds in this area. Thanks to them, many of the Jewish families of Korets were saved from hunger, many orphans found a roof over their heads, many elderly people spent the rest of their lives in a “nursing home” under human conditions, and many children received a traditional Jewish education. Their names will be remembered forever together with the rest of the martyrs from Korets.

Translator's footnote

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Korets stood out with its main street, whose length was approximately 2 kilometers. It was the main artery of commerce and economic life. The vast majority of the shops and business concentrated in this street. In them, our brothers sat by the counter and waited for the arrival of a buyer.

There were also shops on the side streets, but the access to them wasn't easy at all. Swamps and puddles were created there during the autumn season, and the legs sunk into the sticky mud. And also here, the same bleak and depressing picture: Jews eagerly waiting for the arrival of a peasant who provided the income to the city.

And when they were rewarded with the arrival of a buyer, they attacked him from all sides and nearly tore him apart. This one pulled him here, and this one pulled him to the other side. And when the shopkeeper managed to bring the peasant into his shop, it turned out that all the trouble was for nothing, because this buyer needed the goods that were available in another shop.

Most of Korets' revenue came from the “fairs” that gathered there every two weeks. On those days the city breathed a sigh of relief. The stalls were full of with the best, and there was no need to fight over a buyer because the peasants flocked to the town in masses, and dozens of them entered the many shops.

But, there were poor and miserable who were unable to obtain their own stall. Those went out, in the rain and in cold days, to the outskirts of the city and waited for the farmers' wagons that were loaded with the fruit of their land. All this camp attacked the wagons, and everyone wanted to be ahead of his friend. The astonished and bewildered peasants knocked on their horses and left the Jews with their empty sacks.

There were also merchants who spent most of their days on the road. They reached with their goods to cities and towns, near and far. Their life wasn't very easy. In most cases, they headed out in the afternoon or late at night. They traveled a distance of 40-50km in impassable roads, through mud and rain, to grab a comfortable position for selling their goods. And if you happened to peek inside one of the inns on the road, you could see the men of our city sprawled on the ground, on tables and doors, covered with their coast. They wandered all the days of the week, and on Friday, they returned to their nests - to the families who were waiting for them.

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The Passover matzo bakery of the Kleiner family

These porters were also the guardians of the city. They guarded it from riots and attacks by hooligans. More than once you saw how two of them chased after a mob of drunken rioters, and beat them up. And in an instant, the city remained “free of hooligans.”

And the water-drawers - they intimidated the housewives of Korets. They were the only suppliers of the essential commodity called water, and Woe to the housewife who dared to peek into the barrel to see if it's full or not. With great “gentleness” the water-drawer showered her with his “clean language”…

And the water that we drank, what was its quality? The water was pumped from the river that crossed the city, and when the snow melted it became a source of filth and dirt. The water- drawers poured this “crystal water” into the barrels, and watered the Jews of Korets with it. But for all that, they were laborers who worked long and hard to bring a piece of bread to their families, and my heart cries within me each time I remember them.

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Market day in our city served as an important source of income. On a set day of the month farmers and vendors from the environment gathered and came to Korets, and brought their produce to sell at the market.

Some came in a vehicle and some on foot, in all kinds of roads and paths that led to the city. Farmers from the towns and the villages of Mezritsh [Mezhirichi], Horodnytsya and Morozovka, flocked on that day to Korets.

The preparations for this day of income were many. The vendors from the area started to arrive to the city the day before, and grabbed a place for their stalls. They were forced to guard their merchandise all night from fear of thieves, who, on this day, were very active, because they too threw their hopes that the “fair” will support them with “dignity.”

On this day the city took off its usual appearance. No more yawning behind the shop's counter. No more tales about Rabbis and Tzadikim - the hands were full of work! Abundance of livelihood descended on the city, which, on that day, took the form of a city of commerce to the smallest detail. And indeed, the farmers brought the best - from the dew of the heavens and the fatness of the earth: cows, bulls, sheep, vegetables, various kinds of mushrooms and all sorts of types of grain.

The commercial center was set in “Trobitza” Square, next to Sapir's cotton-wool factory. On one side it was located next to the square of Baruch Goldberg and Shachna Averbuch, and on the other side, next to Ester Chaya-Duvid's. It was very crowded, and in fact, very dangerous.

In “Trobitza” Square stood out “the whales,” the big merchants, Yerachmiel Shapira, Hershil- Mendil Pivin, the brothers David and Meir Bichman, who bought most of the cattle from the farmers, and sold them to the butchers in the vicinity and also to the local butchers. The butchers sold the skins to the tanneries of the Kliefeld brothers, Binyamin Schochen, and Yitzchak and Mordechai Solomianik.

The sheepskins were sold to Shmuel Varnik and Ben-Zion Sliep, who grabbed a place on both sides of Monstirska Street. From these skins they sewed winter coats and hats, with good taste and beauty. This “industry” provided work and income to several families.

Zlata “the goose” bought the geese and the ducks from the farmers.

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Aharon Vsiok and his sons, Tzvi Schtsigel and his sons, Idel Schneider, and Yeshaya Rubin, bought the various types of mushrooms from the farmers.

The merchants bought the wheat and all kinds of grain directly from the farmers, and brought them to the flour mills of Yoel Maliar, Efraim Guralnik, Dov Kiperband, the Harschfeldim, and the Bichman brothers; Yokel Zabodnik and the Boff brothers bought the fruits wholesale directly from the trees, and stored their merchandise in the cellars of the Great Synagogue and in the cellars of Yakov-Yosi Horenstein's synagogue; Yosef Kaminstein bought the onions and stored them in barns that were in the homes of Dr. Zeitlin and Averbuch. When they overflowed, the city was “scented” with the smell of onions, which drifted a long distance… and filled all the streets and the houses.

When you walked through the city on a wintery market day, you met Jews dressed in heavy winter attire: wool-lined boots, sheepskin hats on their heads, fur coats and gloves. And in the shops, the women sat dressed in warm furs coats and warmed themselves by the blazing coal pot. The porters and the carters stood in the middle of the street and engaged in exercise to warm their frozen hands.

After the farmers sold their goods, and a small coin was found in their pocket, they went immediately to “make a Kiddush.” They filled in droves the taverns and the cafes of Leah Gilgun, Chaim Gilgun, Freidis and Skliar, and dropped a “Revi'it”^[1] after a “Revi'it” into their throats …

They entered the clothing stores of Tzvi Kiperband,Yosef Serner, Yisrael Ashel, Fitzia Broder, the Silberman brothers, Michael Frenkel, Yosef and Yitzchak Shmuelson, Baruch Lieberman, Dov Priatal, Avrat and Sheinkar. Those felt that day very well…

From there, the farmers turned to the shoe stores of Zisia Segal, Yakov Lieberman, Chaim Zimmerman, Eli Gachman, Gedalia Spielberg, Avraham Kiperband, Shimon Gutnick, Yehuda Golod, Yeshayahu Tzizki and Wassertrum.

In the iron shops of Yehusua Zaltzman, Moshe and Yehudah Kleiner and Brodsky, the farmers bought nails and iron for attaching the hoops to the wheels of their wagons. From there, they immediately turned to the blacksmiths to fix their wagons.

The cellars of the hats dealers, Shmuel Switzer, Shmuel Bershek and Leibel Vioat, were filled to capacity.

The grocery stores of Sara Guralnik, Averbuch, Betzalel Zuker, Ester and Matel Horowitz,

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Hinda Kligerman, Mendel Nudlre, Shmuel Zuker - also tasted the flavor of market day…

The access for the wagons laden with goods, which stood in Shachna Averbuch's square, wasn't one of the easiest things. They were forced to go around and round by Yerachmiel Gilman's shops, or through a narrow path which led from Fitzia Broder's shop to Dov Sukenik's hostel. To get to Yehudah Schneider square - it was necessary to walk through the path that twisted between the butchers' stalls, by the shop of Hinda Ester-Doves (Kligerman) until you reached the home of Ester Horovitz. The mud was deep and sometimes a pair of rubber boots drowned in it. Then, you were forced to pay a porter a few Kopecks to extract them...

On market day the whole family helped their parents, some in preparing the merchandise and some in selling it. On that day, the farmers' wagons, which were loaded with firewood, weren't seen in the city's streets, because it was very crowded and they couldn't find a parking space. Also the wood brokers, Dov Averbuch and Gilman, weren't seen in the street.

Also the carters, who transported the beets to the sugar factory through Kosciuszko Street, weren't seen. The naughty children also sat idle. These pranksters would appear in the street armed with sticks, that a sharp nail was attached to one of their ends. They stuck the nail in a beet and lifted it with their “fishing rod.” The carter raised hell, chased after the children, and returned empty handed.

That day wasn't without its thefts. When the thefts increased, there was no choice but to seek the help of the porters. And when they swung into action, they didn't take pity on the guilty and on the innocent. A pandemonium rose in the market, and those, who didn't have a hand in the theft, rushed to harness their horses and left town.

At the end of the, day the traders rushed to the bank, which was directed by Yehusua Zaltzman, paid their bills before their maturity date, and received a new loan.

Silence prevailed on the next day. The revenue in the shops was weak, and everyone waited for the new market day to arrive …

Translator's footnote

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