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Charity and the doing of good deeds were not alien to the Jewish settlement in Sokal. From time immemorial, the Jews were suffused with Torah and genuine piety, which was expressed in an identical way on the Jewish social life of Sokal. Every Jew of means was someone who gave to charity. A feeling of compassion and genuine help – these attributes stood out quite markedly for Sokal Jews.

For many years, it has been the responsibility of the Jewish community to help poor Jews. However, with the decline of the social significance of the communities, when long-life contributors and a variety of contributors reigned there, it was first at the end of the 18^th century that religious-philanthropic organizations first began to be established, later on there were social community groups and societies were established. The philanthropic activity on the Jewish street was well-developed and the Sokal community, when it came to rendering help, it stood on a sufficiently high level.

With the growth of the need on the Jewish street in Sokal, the process of charity distribution could not satisfy all of the needy Jews in the city. Jews, who at one time led the lives of balebatim, suffered intensely from the economic crisis in the years before the outbreak of the World War I and were left literally with no income. To help these impoverished Jews, who were too ashamed to beg and ask for donations – the balebatim of means saw that charity initiatives must have a greater social character and to this end they founded the Society for the Support of the Poor, with the goal of providing the poor Jews with heat during the winter months. At the head of this society and in the years 1913–1914, the activist R' Mendl Beria (called Red Mendl'eh) stood at its head, and thanks to the broadened help activity of this society, in time, it became an important factor in all areas of socio-economic life on the Jewish street in Sokal.

From the outset, this society was principally concerned with providing kosher food for the Jewish sick, who were confined to the general hospital of Sokal. The society was founded after the outbreak of World War I by the very special woman of Tzedakah, Chana Kreminer ז”ל, the widow of the sage R' Shlomo Kreminer ע”ה, who died at a very young age, as a victim of the typhus epidemic, which reigned in Sokal immediately in the first months of World War I. The good-hearted lady Chana Kreminer ז”ל looked after the needs of the sick in hospital and after that, when they left the hospital. After the fall of Austria, the management of the society was taken over by the energetic lady Podzamczer and thanks to her committed work the society strengthened its comprehensive help for sick and poor Jews in Sokal. The gymnasium professor Dr. Zeinfel ז”ל did much to assist in the development of this society.

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The Philanthropic Activity of the Young Women's Circle

The necessary humanitarian activity of the mentioned Ladies Society ‘Ezrat Nashim’ did not remain without an influence on a circle of young ladies, in particular those raised in the Zionist organization, who assumed the task of looking after the fact that there was no lack of bread for the Sabbath in any Jewish home. The good-hearted young girls carried out their mission quietly, and modestly, taking great care not to deride the honor of the impoverished Jewish families. Thanks to their committed and well-organized help initiative, indeed was there was no hunger or want in any Jewish home in Sokal, and there was no lack of Challahs and bread. The names of two young girls remain in my memory, Donger and Frenkel, to whom the ongoing strength of the management of this society could be attributed.

Care for the poor and sick always took first place in the philanthropic activity of the Jewish street. Since time immemorial, there were special groups with this purpose in almost all Jewish homes, who had the objective of providing free medical help to the sick and poor, to provide for their medicines, and in general to save the Jewish poor who were sick. Such a philanthropic society existed in Sokal under the name of ‘Bikur Kholim,’ which was first founded in the year 1913 with the social activist R' Ephraim Gross ז”ל at its head. The members of the society looked after the help for those Jewish sick and they would often sleep at their homes for entire nights, if this was necessary.

Hunger and need reigned on the Jewish street in Sokal after the World War I. With the help of the general Jewish advisory committee in Lemberg a Jewish Help-Committee was also established in Sokal, whose activity consisted of dividing Jewish financial contributions among the needy in a limited amount. This support served to quiet the hunger of a small number of families… but this was just a drop in an ocean of poverty.

It became clear to the local society activists, that this philanthropic help-activity cannot lighten the sorry state of the impoverished Sokal Jews. In searching for means, how to utilize these funds gathered in the city in a more effective manner, and what we got from the advisory committee in Lemberg, we understood, that our central goal was to make it possible for the financially ruined Jewish worker, storekeepers or retail merchants – to get back on their feet and start up their businesses again, thereby helping them to become productive people, who are able to earn a living on their own.

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Management of the Kupat Gmilut Hasadim in Sokal Sitting (from the left): Asher Weniger, Dr. David Kindler, Isaac Birnbaum, Gzhegasz Januvczynsky, David Byk Standing (from the left): Secretary Levin, Meir Linsker, Aharon Lawrence, Gasthalter, Shimon Byk, Ber'l Levin, Szafransky, David Bard

The first secretary of the Fund was Fraulein Rikl Levin, who, with extraordinary commitment for a minimal loan fulfilled her missions. In the branch of the Sokal ‘Kasa Kopiecki’ (Merchant's Bank) she conducted the agenda of the Fund from a small table which stood there in a corner…

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distributed loans from 50 to 200 zlotys, that were paid back in weekly minimal instalments as small as 1 zloty… the management of the fund imposed significant difficulties on her. Especially before Passover, when it was necessary to buy up goods for the stores, and the requests for funds always rose, and the Fund did not have the necessary capital to satisfy everybody who approached them for help. At such a time, this writer took out a personal loan from the ‘Merchant's Bank’ of two to three thousand zlotys and with this sum, he was able to fund all of the loans that had been set up.

With every day, the significance of the Gemilut-Hassadim Fund grew for the manual laborers and small businessmen. The importance of this institution showed itself especially during the general economic crisis in Poland in 1929, when a frightful need reigned over the Jewish street in Sokal and tens of Jewish families were faced with bankruptcy. The management in Sokal of the Gemilut-Hassadim Fund at that time decided to carry out a large initiative to broaden the activity of the Fund and thanks to that initiative it became possible to rescue working places from going under and to create jobs for the pauperized Sokal Jews. Thus, for example – a number of years before the outbreak of the World War II, a strong boycott against Jewish residents penetrated the Ukrainian villages around Sokal, the last of them were compelled to leave and relocate their homes in Sokal. For each refugee from a village, the management of the Gemilut Hassadim Fund bought a cow and in this manner created new possibilities for the relocated village Jews to find new work and ways to earn a living.

On the eve of the World War I, a severe economic crisis cut out the foundations of Jewish economic life in Galicia and thousands of Jewish families were left without an income. The difficult struggle of the Jewish business circles stopped the leaders of the society at that time. As a goal, it set for itself the creation of a rescue initiative, that was to create the means for a broadly-branched help-activity on the Jewish street. Almost all Jewish settlements in Galicia carried out such intensive initiatives, first of all to provide the Jewish merchant and working man with cheap and accessible credit.

The Zionist organization in Lemberg started this initiative in Eastern Galicia, where, at the initiative of the Zionist organization at that time, in 1913, under the leadership of Dr. Brody, a central Credit Union was created, which opened its branches in a whole network of cities.

In Sokal as well, the local committee of the Zionist organization, with Dr. David Kindler at its head, began an initiative, to open an account in the Lemberg ‘Credit Bank’ and for this purpose a larger fund was gathered. Regrettably, the outbreak of the World War I in the year1914 disrupted this initiative. The fallen credit institution was never founded and the assembled funds became completely devalued during the time of war.

At the end of the year 1918 – when the bloody World War I ended and Galicia became a part of the independent Polish state, which replaced the fallen an wrecked Austrian monarchy, the social activists in Sokal made a great effort to once again build up the ruined Jewish business positions. The situation of the Jewish merchants was particularly severe, who because of the scarcity of credit, were not in a position to source the needed merchandise.

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With the help of the central ‘Joint’ in Warsaw, which began to direct a Jewish credit-cooperative, the Sokal activists of the general Zionist organization, together with a group of energetic merchants, decided to found a cooperative banking institution for Jewish merchants. Under the leadership of the well-known merchants Babad, Markus Kiehl, Yitzhak Kiehl and Ber'l Levin a larger sum of money was raised, and therefore the ‘Joint’ felt secure in enlarging founding capital with a sum of money that was gathered in Sokal proper.

Already, in the first month of its establishment, the Merchants-Bank carried out and intensive initiative led by the merchants Babad and Kiehl, in allocating loans to its members under light conditions. The popularity of this institution grew daily, and in time, it was able to turn over the management of the bank to a separate employee, because the leadership to-date worked in the bank for free. In their place came the merchant R' David Byk, who had liquidated his own business and took over the management of the Merchants Bank. With his overabundance and skillful work, R' David Byk led the Merchants Bank to the level of a true institution, which thanks to the needed activity, received recognition, and the full trust in the Jewish business circles in the city. Thanks to the continuous development of the bank the spirits rose from year-to-year, as did the reserves and contributed capital.

Apart from the previously mentioned people, a lot of effort to develop the bank was also invested by the Bank-bookkeeper Parnes, the Secretary Leah Gleicher, and the leader of the credit promissory note department – Ber'l Levin.

From its income, the bank was able to support a variety of Jewish philanthropic and cultural institutions in Sokal, such as the Hebrew School, the Ladies Committee, which was fully engaged with supporting half of the Jewish school students.

No record or memory remains of this necessary and decent Jewish institution, which held a most important role in the economic position in Jewish Sokal. Along with all of Sokal Jewry, it was exterminated.

The influence of the Hitler régime in Germany ran into a fertile field in Poland. Several years before the outbreak of the World War II, the Sanacja government in Poland still harbored the illusion that a pro-German political stance had real foundations, and could be the point of support for Poland's independence. Polish ministers traveled to Hitler's Germany and learned the work required to implement a solution to the Jewish problem.

Heavy and dark clouds began to gather on the horizon for Polish Jewry. On one side the Polish administrative authorities – recognizing the official ‘owszem’- exactly the opposite of the Polish government, used every means at their disposal to marginalize the Jews from their economic positions, and by contrast, those hungry to devour the Jews, the anti-Semitic circles developed a

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vigorous anti-Jewish boycott agitation, whose goal was to uproot the Jewish means of making a living, Jewish businesses.

In this atmosphere, of striving for extermination of the Jewish masses, when the anti-Semitism in Poland relentlessly grew stronger and stronger, Jewish community activists organized an economic self-help effort on all sides. At the same time broad community forces were activated in order to deliver help to the Jewish poor, which grew to embrace more and more people with time.

During this difficult period community activities among Sokal Jews did not fall by itself. There already was, from prior times, an active circle of Jewish women at work in Sokal, that developed a good-hearted philanthropic initiative for the good of the Jewish poor in the city.

And when the economic condition of the Jewish populace in Sokal became so fearfully grim, there was literally no hunger in a single Jewish home; those of us, active in the Ladies Committee, considered our responsibility that lay upon us, in such a difficult situation and we decided to broaden our activity in synchronization with the new immense objectives on the plain of social work assistance.

For this purpose, we first reorganized our Ladies Circle and elected a new leadership with Mrs. Dr. Wolfram at its head. She was the oldest among us, and possessed considerable organizational skills and most important of all… a golden heart.

Our central activity during these difficult times, was to arrange for food that could be distributed for the Jewish children in school, even though there was general food available , but the Jewish children did not partake for two reasons: first was the malevolent attitude of the teachers towards the Jewish children, and the second reason was– Kashrut.

A summer camp for school children in Sokal in the year 1937

Later on, we opened a kitchen, which was set up in the yard of Bart's large wood business. There, children

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were able to get a tasty midday lunch. During the summer, we would also open children's summer camps.

It was Mrs. Menkes ז”ל our last leader, who showed an unusually outstanding commitment in directing this work, as well as the dedication of her soul. We collected money from the Jews that still were able to earn a living, so that during winter, all the Jewish children got coats and warm shoes. We carried out this activity until the city was taken over by the German murderers.

During the Nazi occupation, it was not possible to carry out any sort of social initiative in the Sokal ghetto. Apart from the kitchen, which was run by the Judenrat, there were only a few Jewish families capable of sustaining themselves with a lunch for this, or that hungry Jew. But this was just a drop in the ocean, because hunger and want reigned in the Sokal ghetto.

Breakfast for poor children in the yard of Abraham Bard in Sokal First from the left: Mrs. Rena Menkes

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