-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Great site I have learned a lot about my fathers origins. Why don't you remove the commercial posts from your guestbook?
Brian
Brian Alpert <balpert1@nyc.rr.com>
New York , NY USA - Sunday, September 21, 2003 at 12:21:02 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Sanders' theory is that having the sugar cube visible for all to see,
while drinking tea, was a sign that you could afford sugar. I'd like to
expand this with some nice info in an eMail which I kept an year ago - but
could not find on-line now. I had to do some research for a friend. His family is related to the
Weizmanns from Motol. Chaim Weizmann, the first president of modern Israel,
was born in Motol, in today's Belarus. Searching for Weizmanns and Motol, I
came across this. The author of the eMail.mentioned quoted his uncle Aaron.
Aaron - believed to live across from the Weizmanns in Motol - said that
"the Weizmanns were so rich" that....
"they had sugar in their tea every day." !!
Certainly many of us take some things for granted nowadays - sugar, for
example. Extracting and refining sugar from sugar beet was the activity of
some of my family members. Probably, the Weizmann's sugar came from sugar
beet, too. By the way, I remember the tradition of cube-in-teeth and tea- in- tall-
glasses (with and without handles) for family members originating as North
as Vilna Gubernia and as South as Kremenchug, Ukraine. Who copied whom?
Carlos GLIKSON
Buenos Aires, Argentina .
- Monday, September 15, 2003 at 20:22:38 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are the second to ask for where you can get a copy of the book. I
will forward this to Ron Sandler. Somehow the families all tie
together. Same names with Deutsch-Taitz, same region they left and now
Haverill being in common. Just have to put it together. I am sending
this E-Mail to Ron Sandler and perhaps he can help you too. Might try
Amazon.com as I have found hard to find books there many times.
Hi Ron,
Always difficult to find woman when you don't know their married
names. I suppose finding an obit is one of the best ways. I have done
that myself. The New York Times does have an index to its Obits going
back to the dates you are talking about. I'm sure major libraries have a
copy, I used one at Yivo. There are other data bases that may help, but
they are long shots. You could also look for them on the SSDI. They may
have signed up for social security after they were married. Although
they may still be alive. I have the index on cd, so I could look up all
woman with the first name of and look for proper birth date. You have to
use last names on the internet. I haven't used it for a long time,
because I don't have that program on my
hard disc now. of course, the best way is to find someone in that family
you
can contact. The book you mention, From the Hill to Main Street, do you know the
author, how can I get to read a copy? I still have Taitz living in
Haverill. Ron
> Hi Ron
>
> I think the piece that I need to research in NY is what are the
> married names of the children of Jacob (Jakob) Goldberg and Rebecca
> Deutsch Goldberg. According to the 1920 Federal Census they were
> living at 259 East 98th Street and they had two children Claire/Clara
> Goldberg who was born in 1914/1915 and Sylvia Goldberg who was born
> 1917/1918. At the time of the marriage, I know Jakob was living at
> 214 Clinton Street and had emigrated months before the wedding on July
> 21, 1913. Rebecca Deutsch was living at 22 Rutgers Road in Manahttan
> and she emigrated in 1908. I am pretty sure, even though the Israeli
> cousins tell me otherwise, that Rebecca was the sister of Nathan
> (Nafulle) Deutsch, Abe
> (Abba) Deutsch and Arthur (Chaim) Deutsch.
>
> Do you have any suggestions on how I can locate these daughters? I
> suspect if I can find the obituary newspaper article for Jacob
> Goldberg and/or Rebecca Goldberg it might list their survivors. The
> daughters' > married names hopefully would appear. I can't find any on line
> records for that purpose. Also, I have no clue when Jacob or Rebecca
> passed away nor whether they passed away in New York. I suspect they
> were in the City through the 1940s as my father remembers one of the
> daughters married an Italian who owned a bar in the Bronx after my
> father was discharged from the army. Any suggestions? Any Jewish
> groups that would keep track of deaths or burials? Rebecca was born
> in 1891 according to the Census and Jacob was born in either 1888 or
> 1885 depending on the record. Abe was born in 1890 and Nathan was
> born in 1895. Somehow have to track down Sylvia and Claire/Clara and
> hopefully they are still alive.
>
> I just located the decendants of Nathan Deutsch in the State of
> Washington, Chicago, and NV. Just need this last branch and I think
> we found all the descendants with the exception of Lazar Deutsch. I
> have communicated with a descendant of "a" Lazar Deutsch who came from > Scionysis in Lithuania who Thekla Nordwind located. Not to far from
> our Dolhinov. Might be the right connection but I am not able to
> confirm at this point.
>
> The 1857 Census Records from the Vilna archives are now being
> translated and hopefully we will find more descendants from earlier
> branches. Jewish Genealogy is still trying to raise a few more dollars
> for the 1934 Census. Who knows if the family was even in Dolhinov in
> 1834 though? Anyway any thoughts on tracking Syliva and Claire/Clara
> Goldberg would be very helpful!
>
> Ron Deutsch.
- Sunday, September 14, 2003 at 07:15:29 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ -----------------------------------------------------------------------
If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.
( Isaac Newton ) Credit - We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -
- There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. - Opportunities multiply as they are seized. ( Sun Tzu I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting.
( Mark Twain )
)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This past June, during my 10th trip to Lithuania, I obtained a copy of a
hitherto unknown record stored in the Panevezys archive. On my previous
trips to this archive, only a few Jewish records could be found. The archive had a 1940 record of property owned by Jews, and a collection of
pictures of Jewish owned factories and mills from the interwar period.
This time, with the help of Genady Kofman, the Chairman of the Panevezys
Jewish Community, another record of Jewish interest was found in the
archive. In 1947, 31 Jews in Panevezys submitted an application to the Minister of Culture (Soviet) for the return of a former Synagogue building. The Minister of Culture, before deciding, instructed the Mayor of Panevezys to first find out if the Jews already had a synagogue. If they did, they would not need a second synagogue. Apparently, the Minister did not know that, with 31 Jews, even two synagogues may not be enough!!
Following is a list of the 31 Jews who signed the application.
1 DUDIK, Girsh son of Aron
2 LEVIN, Lazarus son of Izrael
3 KAB, Mausha son of Shliomo
4 CHVOTSKY, Gershon son of Gutman
5 ALPERAVICH, Yudel son of Mendel
6 FISHER, Efroim son of Abram
7 BIN, Izrael son of Zelman
8 GONTOVNIK, Boris son of Vulf
9 KLEIMAN, Izrael son of Isaac
10 FEIGEL, Zelman son of Leib
11 KAGAN, Sholom son of Aron
12 LEVIT, Simon son of Jakub
13 MANDEL, Slave daughter of Simcha
14 KRAVETZ, Etel daughter of Girsh
15 OSHRY, Grisha son of Aron
16 SHERMAN, Yosel son of Meyer
17 MAGID, Icik son of Yankel
18 MAGID, Mausha son of Yankel
19 SHIPEL, Yankel son of Yudel
20 MAGID, Benjamin son of Yankel
21 CHVOTSKY, Yasha son of Gutman
22 SIYON, Simcha daughter of Motel
23 CIRLIN, Kushel son of Alter
24 TIGEL, Abel son of Meyer
25 SKURKAVICH, Kopel son of Yudel
26 BRIKOV, Roza daughter of Kapel
27 MUNICK, Samuel son of Abram
28 SEGAL, Meyer son of Nochum
29 KLOTC, Sholom son of Poric
30 SEGAL, Mausha son of Gecel
31 KATZ, Sara daughter of Leib Howard Margol
-
- Sunday, August 17, 2003 at 13:28:40 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comprendo todos estas publicidades que aparecen en la página que ya tomé como propia.
El ansia de venta de una sociedad mercantilista no puede estar nunca sobre los sentimientos y la historia de un pueblo.
Ruego a estos señores abstenerse de adicionar estos tipos de mensajes.
Pedro Alperowicz <salonelcano@arnet.com.ar>
Buenos Aires, Argentina - Friday, August 01, 2003 at 18:25:40 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thank you for the wonderful website and all the information about
Kurenets. I was reading some of the Kurenets stories one evening this
week and saw the paragraph copied below from "By the Nails of the
Eradicator."

I have a friend whose name is Sol Shulman. He hid in the forests around
Kurenets with his younger sister (Rita now), his parents, and a
grandmother--the Shulman mentioned in a paragraph copied from Rivka
Gvint's story below is his
father. Sol was 13 I believe when they went to the
forest--the name of Rivka Gvint was not familiar to him. He does
remember Nathan Gurevich, who is also mentioned in her story.

Do you have any information on either Nathan Gurevich or Rivka Gvint? I
would love to get some contact information for either of them for Sol--he
said in Kurenets his name was Zalman Szulman. I believe his Dad's name
was Elijah, but I don't know how that was spelled in Kurenets.

Thank you, very much!, for all the history and photos on your web site.
Kathy Hahn
College of Applied Life Studies


Dear Kathy, Thank you so much for your email! I would very much like to talk to Sol Shulman!!!!!
My grandmother from Kurenets was Bela nee Shulman (daughter of Aharon Shulman and sister of Nyomka and Chana Shulman. pictures;
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/kurenets_portraits/51_big.jpg
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/shulman.html
Nathan Gurevich was the brother of my grandfather. click for pictures of Nathan with the rest of the family;
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/gurevitz.html
His son Zalman (now lives in Germany and Tel Aviv) wrote a story;
http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/kurenets/kur267.html
please email phone number of Sol and his sister. Thank you so much,
Eilat -
My gr-grand father Joseph Meltzer was from Kuranitz (Kurenets?). He was born circa 1850 and died circa 1906. The Americanized versions of his childrens' names are Rachel - Nee about 1876; Samuel - Nee 1877; Nathan - Nee Oct 1887; (Female) - Nee Unknown; Leah Pesha - Nee Unknown. Sam and Nathan emmigrated to the USA. Any of this sound familiar to anyone?
Matthew Meltzer <MDTCCDRS@aol.com>
Wappingers Falls, NY USA - Thursday, July 24, 2003 at 03:44:07 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Ron and Lillie:
Wait to you hear this. Until now, Willy (my husband) is a Friedman because his great grandmother was Fraida Freeman (please note that Elllie spelled the surname this way and you know how exact she was.)
Lillie says this: "I do know my Mother came here as a child. Her Mother was Rose Krivel."
Now follow this. Fraids'a daughter, Rebecca, married Max (Mayer) Cornez. Max' father was Ykuziel Kornetz. He was the first husband of Rose Moldevan. The family story is that she ran away from Max and married a man by the name of Krivil who lived around Edmonton, Canada so she then became Rose Krivil. Willy remembers visiting the Krivil family when he was young. There was an Uncle Jake Krivil who had just died but had been mayor of the same town of Estervan in Canada.
Eleanor Cornez Nordwind had notes indicating that her grandmother, Rose Moldevan Kornitz Krivel Gerson left her first husband, Ykuziel, in Russia, only to find that she was pregnant. She returned, had Max, left him with the father (her first husband, Ykuziel) and went to Canada where she married Mr. Krivel and had another family.
So..................it would appear that the Friedmans are related to each other two ways.
Wow. Thekla
Lillian Rivera
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 7:14 PM
To: rdeutsch@cohn-goldberg-deutsch.com
Subject: Re: Zusha Friedman/Dolhinov Dear Ron Thank you for your most interesting message. I'm afraid I
can't help you much with information. None of the names you mention
sound familiar. Being the eighth child of Isaac Michael and Tillie Friedman It never occured to me to ask questions Now all my
siblings are gone and I'm almost 84 there is no one left to ask. I do
know my Mother came here as a child Her Mother was Rose Krivel Although
I married a Puerto Rican he converted to Judiasm when we married in1940
I find your messages very interesting so keep it up. Thanks so much
Incidently my oldest daughter Irene is an associate professor at Hofstra
College in Long Island perhaps Ira Kaplan can get in touch with her
there. Talk to you soon Lillian My Birth certificate reads Lillie
Bye now
From: Lillian Rivera
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:36 AM
To: rdeutsch@cohn-goldberg-deutsch.com
Subject: RE: Zusha Friedman/Dolhinov This is all so fascinating I prefer Lillian Irene's e-mail
She is vacationing in Canada where they own a home I
don't remember my grandparents names but one of Geraldo's producers did
a family tree for him once. I'm trying to get a copy of it. It's really
nice to know there are still Frirdman cousins out there. Talk to you
soon Lillian ..
- Wednesday, July 16, 2003 at 07:35:16 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a message dated 6/25/03 1:49:20 PM Pacific Daylight Time, YUSSR writes:
<< think the story of this Torah may end up being more incredible than it already is >>

I Am working on a translation of a poem that was written about this torah book in The Yizkor book for Kurenets;
It is the very first draft and I have a long ways to go.....
Bakatz
By Ahoron Meirovich And I didn't know his deeds of kind
Nor the nobleness of his soul
Of my ravished home the remnants wailed
Of the testament they had to recall There was a goy, a solitary dweller of my homestead
Yesteryear no one was his confidant
No one conceived that this son of a stock we dread
To a righteous mankind belonged Until something started brewing in the center of the earth
Days of horror, boulder of genesis
These chronicles they called out in their hurt
My brothers, the sons of my hometown, the vestiges
And on their faces ruins imprinted
A raven shadow, while they told what they had to say
And only when Bakatz tribute they recited
Light passed through and I saw a ray And it was, they told, time when our blood was spilled,
Time when every son of evil eradicated our cherished
Only he, seeing them standing in line waiting to be killed
Supported them and cried for the perished And this man put his life in his hands
He threw his soul to the other side to consult a tormented Jew and to heal him
To be his staff and his support but the glory of the man and his special spirit was discovered later on
And they asked us to keep their testament and its candle as an eternal flame that will never be extinguished It happened that great tidings spread that the enemy (that wanted our destruction) came to the day of judgement
They told of the transfer from darkness to light the remnants of the violated Israel
Then we returned, leftovers from forests and corners, but there was no ray of light for the returned
They didn't walk in glory as heroes of battles -
Bodies as extinguished flames

Dark mood, humiliation, capture
Only dust, not a hint of salvation
Hills of extinction, rupture on top of rupture
The footprints of a community in desolation And when on the ashes of the dead community
The hobbled vestiges sat
Bakatz humbly approached the remnants
Mourning, he sat in the midst Quietly he sat, to a point of depression he was subdued
And he was like the community in her essence
Until this man expressed what he had to tell
- it was lower than the ashes I know that the depths wronged you, crimes to the deepest crippling wound
And my heart fills me with a desire to console you
However, first I have something holy of yours
Envision, you three Jews, only the elderly and those who lived through many days, since the thing is pure and very holy and holds many sorrows and blood Then we answered what we had to say to the man
Here, look at us the remnants - there is no more difference between us
the young and old after leaving the core of torment
Look at us. We returned from misery and from the forest as one destroyed
In these remnants a child and a teenager are very old, they are sons of gray
When you add the souls of the remnants
they were endowed with age when they pass through the trail of fire
And each child is holy and pure like an old man
So choose the ones you would ask for Three he then took in union
From the leftovers of the remnants as his heart wished
And they walked silently with him and joined him
With Bakatz, the three to his abode Confounded as to what he was going to do
They sat in his home, the three
And they watched as he took a cloth and covered the picture of the holy mother
And they watched as he went to one of his barrels and took from the well
In this water he washed his hands and they looked on without understanding



What is this unexplained work
What hint will this ceremony endow
And why is he taking a white tablecloth
And covering the table with it And two candles' fire he lit
And placed on his table across from them
And he kneeled on the floor and uncovered a trapdoor
Into the basement he descended on a ladder
While they sat wondering in silence
As to what was occurring
Then they saw that the trapdoor to the basement again was lifted
And palpitating were their hearts They saw the man, but not alone
He ascended from the darkened basement
A Torah book in his hand he held
And their eye filled with tears And then on the tablecloth splendor
He laid it down slowly
Their soul understood the grandeur
Bakatz with a shaky voice: Maybe it would be considered a sin for me
On this holy book to put my hands
But my witnesses above
In purity and fear I guarded your book with me
I knew that one of you would return
And I guarded it for you
For when your hearts will ask to heal
And there would be no one to answer to you
I knew that very anguished you would rejoin…
But Bakatz his assertion didn't resume
As tears and convulsions overcame him
And his voice in his tears was consume - - -
On the Torah book that was left as a shrine
The three lamented inconsolably throbbing
And Bakatz from a corner, joined in their pine
The righteous giant was sobbing My brothers, all of this they told with a tear
They told and requested while weeping
That the memory of this venerable dear
Would be printed on the table of our heart for keeping.
Eilat
.
- Saturday, July 05, 2003 at 20:47:57 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: YUSSR
Hello,
I was glad to hear from you, and would like to contribute some information about the tora: I was born in Kurenetz in 1948, and the story of the Jewish life in Kurenetz after the WW2, by me, you can find in www.eilatgordinlevitan.com, in the Kurinetz section. Since childhood I remember that there was a tora in the house, on the closet, which was half burned, and was hidden in a box from a "Singer" sewing machine. My father told that when he returned from evecuation after the war, an old citizen of Kurinetz named Bakatch came to him and told him: "Orchik, come I'll show you something", and when father came to his place he was given a half burned tora, which he rescued from the burned synagoge of Kurinetz. There were 3 synagoges in one street in Kurinetz. And so it it was kept this was untill 1974, while my father lived. In 1974 me and mother Zelda moved to Tallinn, Estonia where my older brother lived. In 1991, when we were about to move to Israel, I was studing Hebrew in the Talins' Jewish school and meet 3 Jewish guys from the US there. I invited them home to see how Jews live, and gave them the tora since it was hard to be to smuggle it out of the country. One of those guys, Reuben Taragin left me his phone number in the US. In 2002 I've called him, and he told me he gave the tora to a museum, and it made me very happy to know it found it's propper place. I've also informed that to mr. Shimon Zimerman, the chairman of the Kurenetz desendants community in Israel. Hope that helps,
don't hessitate to address me with any futher questions,
best regards
Shlomo Alperovich
----- Original Message -----
From: YUSSR
To: sashaal@t2.technion.ac.il
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 10:55 PM
Subject: your torah from Kurinetz

Dear Shlomo -
I am writing to you today with an interesting story. Our organization, YUSSR works with Jewish children in Belarus. About 13 years ago, ELi Krimsky was given a torah to smuggle out of Belarus. The person was making aliyah and had a sefer Torah, and your name. Eli Krimsky brought it back to the US.
We have the torah in our office and would like to get the history of the torah. We would eventually like to give the Torah to a musuem - with permission, of course. Here is the story which Eli wrote to me - please let me know if this is your family. One of my adult Hebrew students invited me to her home to show me a 'Torah.' I think both Josh and I went and just assumed we'd have some tea and look at her little simchas torah paper torah. She then pulled this out and we almost dropped. I distinctly remember seeing it open to the parsha at the end of Balak and the beginning of Pinchas - where it discusses the zeal of Pinchas. I shook when I realized that. the idea of revenge - here's a Torah that survived the Holocaust open and stuck on that specific parsha. I immediately started writing down information about the Torah and knew that I needed to get it out of the USSR, although it was made clear to me that any artifact smuggled out from before WWII was illegal.
Anyway, here's what we found out. The village of Kurinetz was an all Jewish village in White Russia near the city of Minsk. Between 1941 and 1942 the nazis occupied Kurinetz, gathered the villagers into the synagouge, and torched it with the sifrei Torah and villagers inside r'l. A non-Jew named Konstantine Bakatz, who lived in the nearby town of Melnicki, saved the Torah and hid it in his his basement all the years of the war. He gave it to the father of Shlomo Alperovich (and other Jews who returned to Kurenets after the war)who kept it hidden in his basement. Shlomo was born after WWII and his father died many years later.
Shlomo Alperovich, his mother, and two children (Shmuel and sister) emigrated to Israel on March 25, 1991. Shlomo knew that he would be thoroughly searched upon his departure from the USSR but he wanted the Torah removed, but knew it was illegal to remove it. He relayed the story to me, and gave me the Torah with the hope that I, an American citizen, would be able to remove the Torah from the country. On March 28, 1991 I packed the torah in my duffle bag and with the help of God, had it removed from the country. Best regards and I look forward to hearing from you.
-Ruth Rotenberg
.
- Saturday, July 05, 2003 at 20:39:35 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Story of Dina nee Spektor Dreilich I was born in Kurenets in the Vileyka-Vilna area. At the time I was born it was part of Poland. Kurenetes was a small town and most residents were pretty poor. The majority were Jews that supported themselves with stores. There were a few that worked in offices, in education, and social services. The town was surrounded by villages where most of the population was of Belarussian origin. The high officers and the authorities at the time when I was growing up were Polish people who were sent from the western part of Poland to run the place.
The Jews spoke amongst themselves Yiddish and seldom Polish. The youth studied Hebrew and very much wanted to live the Hebrew culture. The youth movements were very developed and there was a strong attachment to the Land of Israel. Most of the children studied in the Hebrew school, Tarbut, and were deeply ingrained in the language and the Zionist ideology. Since the town was small, almost everyone knew the entire population. A few words about the Cheres family who I’m writing about: I knew the parents very well as well as the three daughters and Yehudah, the youngest and only soon. The father, Shalom Cheres, who came from Dolhinov, was a simple Jew, very honest and hard-working, and very dedicated to his family. He was a glazier, and would use a horse and buggy to come to the different villages to fix the windows and also to sell certain glass products. The family, like most families in town, lived a modest life, but despite that, they always seemed to be very happy. The older girls, Dvoshka (Dorothy) and Itka, studied in the school Tarbut. My father (Nathan Spektor, Z”L) was a teacher of Torah in the school, as well as my older sister Esther Spektor, who later on joined the staff at the Tarbut school. Hundreds of children of the town were educated by here, but tragically, most of them perished in the Holocaust, and she was amongst them.
The sleepy, relaxed sort of life continued until the year 1939, when the war started, and even then, after the Russians came, things didn’t change much. But then, when the Germans attacked Russia, our world was turned upside down. Shortly after they entered the town, they announced new rules against Jews, and from then on, they started systematically killing the population, and many of the local, non-Jews became their collaborators. The main actzia (killing) took place in 9/9/1942, three days before Rosh Hashanah. On that day, about one thousand forty people were killed, which was most of the population of Jewish Kurenets. More than a hundred people succeeded in escaping and hiding in basements, attics, and some of them were later caught by local farmers who brought them to the Nazis, who killed them. Others escaped. Amongst them was the Cheres family, who survived greatly because of the familiarity of Shalom Cheres with the environs of the forest. They survived there for almost two years of deprivation, living in a state of starvation and through two very cold winters, hiding outdoors until the area was freed in the summer of 1944.
I, Deena, was amongst the few who survived. I was in the camp in Vileyka with my sister Sarah, my brother Koppel, and my brother Eliyau. Both of my brothers were strong like lions, and since we were all in very good condition and able to work any kind of job, the Germans used us for hard labor. From the ghetto, we escaped with a few other Jews, although my brother, Koppel, was amongst the leaders of the escape, and everything was prepared for an orderly escape, things didn’t turn out so, and we had to escape all of a sudden. The Nazis and the locals who helped them ran after us, using dogs, and they shot at as, killing many, including my brother and sister. I was wounded but survived as the only remnant of my entire family, the last of the Spektor family that does not exist anymore. With the little bit of might left in me, I was able to run to the forest with other survivors and together we survived the hard years in the forest until the war ended. After the war, many of us were able to go to Israel, and to build a new life there, and rehabilitate ourselves. I kept in touch with every survivor, amongst them the Cheres family. Since Shalom’s wife was caught in the forest and killed, the father Shalom, with his four children, went to Germany after the war and met another woman who he married and had a daughter with.
After I married, Shalom would visit our family often in Herzelea. He would often talk about his son, Yehudah, who later immigrated to Israel. He particularly loved his daughter-in-law Wanda. In Israel we are still in great contact with all the Kurenets natives and survivors. Here in Herzlea where I live, I have a good friend, Chaiat Tzirolnik Sheingood. She’s also a Kurenets native and a survivor who is left as the only remnant of her family. She’s also in touch with the Cheres family. We all greatly appreciate Yehudah Cheres for all his activities for the sake of our own Kurenets, and now his involvement, great involvement in the issue of making a street named after Kurenets in Israel.

Subj: pedro alperowicz
Date: 6/30/03 6:59:05 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: salonelcano@arnet.com.ar
To: eilatGordn@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)



Dear Eilat:
Today, José Alperovich is the new governator of the Tucuman´s province.
José is the son of León Alperovich.
regards.
Pedro Alperowicz
José Alperovich' family originated in Vileyka.
click for picture and old infotmation
- Monday, June 30, 2003 at 09:57:41 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jason Alpert writes; My mother Dorothy (OBM) had a best friend. Her name was Ada (nee Meltzer) Abromson. Ada and her husband John retired to Phoenix Arizona.
I believe that Mary (Mrs Samuel) Skolnik was a close relative of Ada or John.
Dear all;
I received a family tree from Jewel Fishkin that tells the connection;
Ada (nee Meltzer) Abromson was married John (born 1909 died 1992) the brother of Mary (Mrs Samuel) Skolnik (she was the youngest child of the family). Here is the Abromson family tree in a short version;
Chana nee Edelman [daughter of John Adelman and Anne nee Skloot was born on May 18, 1874 in Russia. She died on February 2, 1960 in Auborn, Main she was married to; Luis Abromson died on December 25, 1947. Children;
1.Hyman Abramson was born in Krasne in 1894 and died in Lewiston, Maine in 1972
Spouse; Lena nee Cohen.Daughter Charlotte married Ernest Bart (Susan, Nancy, Laurnce)
2.Celia abromson was born April 5, 1900 and died in Lewiston, Maine January 25, 1996. Spouse; Morris Supovitz.Children; Paul and Beverly Supovitz+ Paul Hurvitz (son James Hurvitz)
3. Fannie Abrmson born May 10, 1902 and died ? Spouse;Israel Abraham Miller
Married in Old Orchard Beach, Maine 9-19- 1926. Children; Stanley John Miller (Scott, David, William) Maynard Miller (Diana and Anita). Judith + Henry Jordan.Joseph Milton Miller (Matthew). Michelle Lynn+ Ryan Damare
4. Esther Abromson born 11- 21- 1903 in Auborn, Maine.Died 11- 27- 1995 in Chicago. Married Max Gordon in Portland, Maine ( children; Howard died as a baby in 1944, Ruth Adele married Herbert Halperin)
5. Benjamin Abramson Spouse; Natalie Supovitz (Son Michael died in 1993, grandsons; Richard and Daniel)
6. John Abramson born 1909 died 1992 in Portland, Maine married Ada Meltzer (sons; Irving Joel Abromson and Morton Colp Abromson)
7. Mary Abromson Spouse; Sam Skolnick (sons; Louise and Steve.)
.
- Friday, June 27, 2003 at 10:27:26 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Towns (Shtetlakh) within area of former Vilner Gubernia
where Jason's family once lived
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dieveniskes (Yiddish: Di-VEN-i-shok)
Dolhinov/Dolhinow/Dolginovo (Yiddish: Dal-HI-nev)
Dokshitzy (Yiddish: DOK-shitz) [Home of Yiddish journalist Nissan Gordon (OB"M)]
Horodok/Grudek/Gorodok (Yiddish: Ha-ro-DOK)
Ilja/Ilya (Yiddish: IL-ye)
Krasne/Krasnoje-Nad-Usza [Krasnoye on the Usha River] (Yiddish: KRAS-ne)
Kurenets/Kurenitz/Kurzeniec (Yiddish KU-re-nitz)
Molodechno (Yiddish: Ma-lo-DETCH-ne)
Oshmyany (Yiddish: Osh-mi-YE-ne)
Radoshkovichi (Yiddish: Ra-desh-KO-vitz) [At the former "Russian-Polish" border]
Rakov (Yiddish: RA-kev)
Smorgon (Yiddish: Smar-GON) [Birthplace of famed Cantors Koussevitzky (OB"M)]
Vileyka/Vileika/Vilejka/Wilejka (Yiddish: ViLEYke)
Vishnevo (Yiddish: VISH-ne-ve)
Volozhin (Yidish: Va-LO-zhin) [Home the the famed Volozhiner yeshiva]
Below are some scattered notes from my files and my memory on the Scolnik and Manpel Families (who are among the descendants of Eliyohu Zaludik)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Kalman and Mary Scolnik (both deceased)
210 Ash Street
Lewiston, Maine 04240
Tel. 207-782-5794 Kalman and Mary were married 9/23/1910.
They are the parents of Samuel, Bill, and Eddy Scolnik.
Mary's yortsait is 24 Nissan. I (Jason I Alpert) knew Kalman and Mary well. (I was born in Lewiston, Maine, March 8, 1940.) My mother worshipped her Aunt Mary, and repeatedly took me to visit her. Many years ago, I spent a few hours with Kalman Scolnik at 210 Ash Street. I picked his brain in compiling our family tree. Unfortunately, Kalman has passed on, and the piece of paper containing that family-tree has been lost. Some things survive in my memory, to wit: Kalman said that our ultimate ancestor was named Eliyahu Der Vilner (meaning Eliyahu from the City of Vilna). This is undoubtedly the Eliyahu Zaludik that is listed on Dave Fessler's excellent family-tree (see below). (And, no -- this is NOT the Vilner Gaon.) Kalman lived to the age of perhaps 110 or 120. In case you want to try to figure out his exact age, consider this: Kalman once told me that he (Kalman) was born in Kurenitz (Kurenets in Belorus) "the year of the big fire." Kalman also told me that he'd had a brother who'd changed his name to Alperowicz (a very popular family-name in Kurenitz), and that this brother had then moved (from Kurenitz) to Bobruisk (Belorus). Someone should try to locate any descendants of this displaced family-member ...
Kalman's wife (and first-cousin) was Mary. "Aunt Mary" was a sister of my grandfather (Eliyohu-Shlomo or "E-le-SHLEY-me") Gurewitz. My mother Dorothy Gurewitz Alpert (Eleshleyme's daughter) used to address her as " Mi-YA-she" (probably from the Russian name Mar-ya-sha)" My mother OB"M passed away Feb 1991.
Kalman and Mary's two unmarried sons, Bill and Eddy, still live at 210 Ash Street in Lewiston. Bill and Eddy probably possess a treasure-trove of information that could be used for family genealogical research. By this I mean correspondence from pre-war Europe. This is because the Scolniks have lived at 210 Ash Street in Lewiston "forever", and that address has for many years served as a rally point for separated and dispersed family members to seek each other. (According to Dave Fessler's family-tree, Bill was born in 1913, and Eddy in 1917 -- so I wouldn't procrastinate contacting them.)
For example, cousin Ida Manpel Rubin (see below) once told me the story of how she'd been reunited with her brother Elye after the Holocaust. She said that Elye had written to the Scolniks at 210 Ash Street saying that he was still alive. He'd survived the Nazis, and was living in Russia. (The only American address that he had was 210 Ash Street.) The Scolnik's contacted Ida in NYC upon receipt of this letter (more about this below). Nevertheless, Ida disliked her uncle Kalman. She called him "a miyeser shlang!". (Perhaps she was jealous of his great wealth???) Ida (Chaya-Hinda) MANPEL was born in Dalhinov (Dolginovo), which is now in Belarus. Ida emigrated to the USA, where she married Israel "Tulie" RUBIN. They lived in Brooklyn, NY.
I used to have a b/w photo of Ida Manpel and her parents and siblings, sent from Dalhinov to my grandfather Louis Sam Gurewitz in Auburn, Maine. It was sent before she emigrated to the USA. Does anyone have a copy of this priceless photo? I doubt that Ida is still alive. You could check with her son Lewis -- with whom I once played chess while the Rubin family lived on (367?) Miller Avenue in the East New York section of Brooklyn -- around 1954 or so. Here is his address: Rubin, Lewis MD (Urologist)
2320 Bath St # 309
Santa Barbara, CA 93105 Phone: 805-682-7661

After Ida Manpel emigrated to the USA, her brother Elye Manpel remained behind in Dalhinov (Dolginovo). Elye was there during the Holocaust. Fortunately, Elye caught the very last train that managed to leave Dalhinov before the Nazis arrived, and thus miraculously escaped the invading Nazis. MANY YEARS LATER, a letter from him was received by the Scolniks at 210 Ash Street in Lewiston. He was (is?) living in the Russian city of Orel (pronounced Aryol). I am attaching a file named Manpel.GIF. This is an image of Elye's address written in Cyrillic characters. Here is my transliteration of the Cyrillic version, and it may be WRONG.
Elye Manpel
Komsomolskaya Street 46, Apt. 3
Orël, Russia 302001 (ANSI character-set, used in Windows)
Or‰l, Russia 302001 (ASCII character-set, used in DOS)
I believe that Elye was Ida's YOUNGEST sibling. Therefore, he might still be alive. Someone should try to locate him, and any possible descendants (as well as Kalman's brother in Bobruisk, mentioned above) ...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Lewis Rubin's older brother is Seymour, and the oldest is Jackie.
I found these 2 addresses for Seymour on the Internet.
I don't know if either is correct. Rubin, Seymour
2085 Rkwy Pkwy
Brooklyn, NY 11236
(718) 763-5419 Rubin, Seymour
4218 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11229
(718) 769-2444 I also found Jackie's address on the Internet. I KNOW that this address is correct, because I used to visit Ida there.
Rubin, Jack
2896 W 8th St
Brooklyn, NY 11224
(718) 373-2049
(718) 373-0230 Since Jackie Rubin is occupying his parents' apartment, and since he is the oldest son -- I would think that he might be in possession of old family photos and correspondence from pre-war Eastern Europe. (Similar situation to Bill and Eddy Scolnik, above)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
***** More About the Family ***** During the years 1953-1956 (when I first came to NYC from Maine to study in a yeshiva), I used to regularly visit cousin Ida Manpel-Rubin and her husband Israel (Tulie), and their three sons.
They lived in the East New York section of Brooklyn, at 367 ? Miller Avenue.
(Later, they moved to 2896 West 8th Street in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn.) After visiting with Ida, I would walk over to (129?) Miller Avenue, and visit with cousin Sadie (Mrs Jake) Friedland, and her daughter Pauline. (I was just 13 or 14 years old. Ida and then Sadie would both feed me well.) I believe that Sadie had a sister (Becky Williams?) maybe in Far Rockway,NY. Besides their daughter Pauline, Sadie and Jake had a son named Al Friedland. Al married his second-cousin Estelle (nee Gurewitz), from Ithaca, New York (more below). -----------------------------------------------------------------------
My grandfather Louis Sam (Eleshleyme) Gurewitz (changed from Zaludik) had these siblings (as far as I recall): 1. Mary (Maryasha), who married her first-cousin Kalman Scolnik.
(They lived at 210 Ash Street in Lewiston, Maine, as mentioned above.)
2. David, of Lewiston, Maine. He never married.
3. Harry, of Ithaca, New York. [I recall now that Mary's husband Kalman couldn't stomach Mary's brother Dovid. Dovid would have to sneak over to 210 Ash St. for a meal when Kalman wasn't home. Maybe this is one of the reasons that cousin Ida Manpel-Rubin didn't like him. (As I mentioned above.)
I never met Harry Gurewitz. According to my records, Harry's daughter Estelle married her second-cousin Al Friedland. They had three children: Rickie, Phillip, Jay Lee, and Lisa Sue.
I don't remember if I ever met any of Estelle's children. I MAY have met Estelle and Al Friedland, possibly at Sadie's home on 129 Miller Avenue in Brooklyn. I don't remember.) I vaguely remember that family members would stay with Estelle, whenever they visited Florida. (Why pay for a hotel?)
My records show her address as: Estelle Friedland
17521 N. E. 1st Court
North Miami Beach, Florida 33162 But I couldn't find it on the Internet. I am fairly sure that her husband Al Friedland has passed away. I don't know about her. The children are probably alive.
------------------------------------------------------------------- A 3rd son of Kalman and Mary Scolnik is Sam Scolnik. Sam is married to the former Mary Abromson. He is a (retired?) lawyer.
Here is their address: Samuel and Mary Scolnik
3700 Calvert Pl
Kensington, Maryland 20895
301-949-0519
-------------------------------------------------------------------
******** Re the surname "GUREWITZ" ********
Ida Manpel once told me that the family-name Gurewitz wasn't genuine. The name was really Zheludek (Ida even wrote Zheludek for me on a paper.)
Also, As a child, I once questioned "Uncle Dovid" (as I used to fondly address him) as to why the family name had been changed from Zheludek to Gurewitz. His reply was something like: "Vos bin ich shul-dik vos der ta-te hot amol ge-ton?" -- which gave me the impression that he couldn't, or didn't want to, explain why his father Yosef (after whom I'm named), had changed the name. Well, this is confirmed by Dave Fessler's family-tree. Only there, the name is spelled Zaludik -- which is probably more correct.
There is a Yizkor-book commemorating a TOWN named ZHELUDOK. See
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/zaludok/zheludok.html
Many years ago I skimmed through this book. In it I found some cousins of
mine (from a different side of the family, not related to the Scolniks and Zaludiks) named ALPEROWICZ (ALPEROVITCH) and SZYFMANOWICZ (SHIFMANOVITCH). (Lyuba SZYFMANOWICZ died in the Holocaust according to page 314 in this book.)
It doesn't make sense for a family-name (surname) to be identical to a town name. Someone from Vilna might be named Vilner (not Vilna). Someone from ZHELUDOK might be named ZHELUDKER. That's why I think that Zaludik is correct. An alternate spelling might be Zaludok or Zaludek.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
According to Lester Solnin (changed from Sosensky) and Marian Anderson, Dave Fessler of Houston, Texas, has a large amount of information. They sent me a paper copy of Dave's family-tree, which is entitled "Descendants of Eliyohu Zaludik. It is a masterpiece ...
They also sent me a digitized image (Paperport .MAX file) of a 1-page Report, which is information extracted from Dave's family-tree (database).
Dave's email address is dfessler@houston.rr.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of "Sosensky", I vaguely recall seeing a photo of an old bearded man. I think he was a cousin named Sosensky. And I very vaguely recall being told that he was referred to as "Der Feter" ("The Uncle"). ====================================
I know nothing about the following person:
P Scolnik
Lewiston, Maine
207-784-5573 -------------------------------------------------------------------
I know nothing about the following person (Helen Manpel).
Perhaps she is Ida's sister-in-law or niece?
Manpel, Helen
1071 Eglinton West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tel. 416-782-6465
------------------------------------
Same is true for the following couple: Manpel, Jack & Frida
569 Sheppard Avenue, West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tel. 416-636-9640 ------------------------------------
This is Ida's brother (a wealthy merchant?). Manpel, Louis
989 Eglinton Avenue, Apt. #223
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M6C2C6
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
On 10/13/1985 I (Jason I Alpert) attended a meeting of the KURENITZER FAREYN (Kurenitz Landsmanschaft or "Society"), held in New York City. There I unexpected ly met a man named Julius Scolnik, of the Bronx, NY. (This is NOT the Julius Scolnik of Lewiston, Maine.)
Julius said that he is a cousin of Kalman Scolnik of Lewiston, Maine. Julius was born circa 1897. At that time, Julius's telephone was 933-1062 (now area-code 718).
On 5/15/1986 I spoke with Julius by phone. He said that a meeting of the KURENITZER FAREYN had just been held on Sunday, 5/4/1986.
============= RESOURCES ============= *** Jewish Home for the Aged in in Portland, Maine ("Cedars Campus") *** My mother Dorothy (OBM) had a best friend. Her name was Ada (nee Meltzer) Abromson. Ada and her husband John retired to Phoenix Arizona.
I believe that Mary (Mrs Samuel) Skolnik was a close relative of Ada or John.
An Internet search that I just made for "Abromson AZ US" yielded no matches.
But a search for Ada and John's son Joel yielded the following:
I J and Linda Abromson
25 Fall Ln, Portland, ME 04103
207-797-4438 I believe that Linda is on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Home for the Aged in in Portland, Maine -- which is now called "Cedars Campus"
http://www.thecedarscampus.com/ppf.html I mention this because the records of Cedars could possibly be a great source of info for people researching Jewish families in Maine.
For example, I believe that a cousin from Auburn, Nochum Widrowitz (who was called Kop-Af-Kop) and possibly his wife Reyze ("Reize-Nochum's"), retired to this Home for the Aged.
------------------------------------
******* Zalman Alpert *******
Zalman is librarian @ Yeshiva University's Mendel Gottesman Library. Zalman has published scholarly articles on Lubavitch history -- in the English section of the ALGEMEINER Journal. Zalman's father was born in Kurenitz, and Zalman is an expert on Kurenitz. He's from New Haven, Connecticut -- a city where many Jews from Vileyka, Kurenits, and Krasne area settled. Zalman's email address is alpert@ymail.yu.edu ------------------------------------
**** Websites **** Eilat Gordin-Levitan's Kurenitzer website is
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/kurenets.html JGFF (Jewish Genealogical Society Family Finder) website is:
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/ Miscellaneous other genealogical websites: http://www.ajhs.org/genealog.htm
http://www.avotaynu.com
http://www.jgsny.org
http://www.JewishGen.org
http://www.jewishgen.org/ajgs
http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/database.html
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsgw/links.html
http://www.lds.org/site_main_menu/frameset-global-bas_bel.html
http://www.nara.gov/nara/nail.html
http://members.aol.com/rechtman/yizkorbk.htm
http://www.remember.org/children/tracing.html
http://shamash.org/holocaust
http://home.att.net/~JGSNYCem/WPAForm.htm
http://www.yivoinstitute.org/archlib/genealog.htm#resources

------------------------------------
As cousin Steve Sosensky once wrote, I "have a lot of other things to take care of, and am putting genealogy on hold..."
I will try to assist others in such research, by providing information that I have, and/or by translating from the Yiddish or Hebrew. But I cannot actively engage in the research myself ... maybe, later.
So, please -- don't send me info -- just questions.
Also, I am quite knowledable in Yiddish. I've spent vast amounts of time reading old Yiddish correspondence. If you have such correspondence, please mail same to me. ------------------------------------
For more info, please telephone me on 212-414-8738, or email me.
-- Jason I Alpert (Yos'l ) ~~~~~~~~ END of Scolnik.txt FILE ~~~~~~~~



.
- Friday, June 27, 2003 at 07:47:38 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Ronald S. Deutsch"
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2003 20:26:02 -0400
To:
Eilat Gordin wrote me that you were in contact with Randy Daitch who
specializes in genealogy from the Vilna Gubernia area. Our family
originates from Dolhinov which is in that region. Wondering, if you
could put me in touch with him to see if him and I are related.
Thanks!
Ron Deutsch
Crownsville, MD 21032 ====================================================
To which I reply:
---------------------- I've been out of touch with Randy for many years.
If you find him, please apprise me of his whereabouts.
My records re Randy are below.
(I doubt if his Venice CA address below is still valid.)
------------------------------------------------------ Randy Daitch
206 Fifth Avenue
Venice, California 90291
213-399-7092 Randy's surname is pronounced as per its original Polish spelling
"Dejcz" ("ej" like "ey" in "they"). In other words, "Daitch" with the
"ai" as in wait. Randy is mentioned on page 18 of Avotaynu magazine, July 1985 issue. The
publisher of Avotayne magazine is Gary Mokotoff (see below).
Randy stayed at my former apartment, 100 Forsyth Street, NYC from
8-6-1985 thru 8-20-85. Randy and Gary co-authored the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex. See websites:
www.avotaynu.com and www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/database.html Or contact
Gary Mokotoff Randy's family was from Sharkovshchizna (Sharkovshchina or Sarkauscyna),
Belorus. Check out this link:
http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/Shtetls/ssharkovshchina.htm -- Jason I Alpert (Yosl), 212-414-8738



click for sharkovshchina
- Friday, June 27, 2003 at 03:43:48 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
<viagra>
viagra, MI USA - Friday, June 27, 2003 at 03:13:07 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Eilat, Just wanted to bring you up on my quest since you last sent the email
connecting my line to Danny Taitch. We have been emailing back and
forth for several months, and actually got a chance to speak with each
other early this week. Danny's voice sounds remarkably like my late
father's! I had sent Danny a photo I had found in my grandmother's things that
had written on the back of it, "Mel's brother's family". I guessed it
was Danny's grandfather, because I knew the other brother's had had
much smaller families. Sure 'nuf, Danny could identify all the people,
and was quite impressed as he had never seen a picture of his
grandparents that young. I have also found four more first cousins of my father's- three
children of Morris Daitch and a daughter of Rose Deutsch! It's quite
exciting to find a branch that I thought would be next to impossible to
trace (because I didn't know of any living descendants) has connected
me to these wonderful cousins from all across the US!
And then there's Ron Deutsch, who brought you and I together, and who
strongly feels that his branch is connected, too.
Thanks, Eilat! By the way, I will be at the DC conference. Will you? I'd love to
meet you and thank you personally. Warm Regards,
Marla Deutsch .
.
- Friday, June 27, 2003 at 02:48:35 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I received an email;
I am trying to track down a member of the Alperovitch family that moved from Kurinetz to Israel on March 25, 1991.
The names of the people are: Shlomo Alperovitch, his mother (no name available), 2 children (Shmuel and a sister).
It seems that they were hiding a Torah scroll [during the Communists days e l ] and realized they would not be able to get it out of the country, so they gave it to one our organizations volunteers. He smuggles it out. This Torah has been sitting in our offices for quite some time (it has been protected with a special container and stuffing) and I finally tracked down the story.

If you could help me find these people, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you,
Ruth Rotenberg Executive Director
YUSSR
2525 Amsterdam Ave., Suite 103
New York, NY 10033
USA
Tel: 212-923-7650 Dear Ruth,
Thank you so much for writing me.Is this your guy http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/scenes_new/11201_18_b.gif ?
Memories of Solomon (Shlomo) son of Orchik Alperovich - Jewish life in Kurenetz after the Holocaust:I was born in "shtetle" Kurenetz — (Belorus) in 1948, and I wish to share my own memories and stories that I heard and remember from the Jewish natives about the Jewish life in Kurenetz and it's surroundings.After the liberation of Belarus including Kurenetz, in 1944, the Jewish people started returning to the area. Kurenetz was almost completely destroyed and burned by the retreating German Army. Only a few houses were left standing. most of the surviving Jews migrated to Palestine and the United States in the next few years.My father, Alperovich Aaron Abramovich (Orchik son of Abram, grandson of Chaim- Isar born in kurenets 1896- died in Kurenets 1974) returned home, to Kurenetz, from Saransk (Mordva) were he was sent in 1939 (when the Soviets came to the area) by the decision of Stalin’s Court for 5 years of hard labor. When he returned he found no home nor family. His wife Mirel and 3 of his children (Chaim Isar, another son and a daughter) were murdered. From the local residents and the Jews who returned from the forest, he found out that his older son Yakov (Yankel) joined the partisans during the war and that he was recruited to "Belpolk" — a Red Army unit that was supposed to search and clean the Belarus forests from Nazis soldiers and local collaborators (politzais) that were now replacing the Jews and hiding there. Father finally found Yakov near Minsk. he was very skinny and very tired. He learned from him that his daughter Lisa and his son Samuil also survived and that during the war they also joined the partisan’s ranks. Yankel Orchik story is well known and told in many books. In Simchat Torah of 1941 his family was taken to be killed . his mother was able to escape with the younger kids while they walked to the forest. Yankel and his brother Chaim Isar where taken with the other Jewish men. the men were put in groups of ten and killed while many of the local population was looking. Just before it was Yankle turn to be killed he say that Yente nee dinerstein Rodanski was let go by the Germans and was told to never marry a communist again (They just killed her husband Velvel Rodansky.Yankel realized that not all are equal and demanded to speak before he is killed. The German officer let him talk. Yankle said in broken German "Before I am to be killed I would like to know if my sin is being a Jew or being a communist?" the officer answered "clearly for being a communist" Yankle said while turning to the local people " they could all tell you that my father Orchik was sent to Siberia for being an enemy to the soviet people, why would I then become a communist?" The officer liked what he said and maybe it was the broken German that made him laugh- he told him to stand to the side. Yankle said that his sick brother should be let go first and they let Chaim Isar go.Yankel did not trast the Germans and together with the sons of Pinia Alperovitz he escaped to the woods. They were killed. Yankel survived and later Joined the partisan and saved many many Jews from Kurenets and Myadel and also his brother Shmuil. In 1944 my mother, Botwinnik Evgeniya Samuilovna (Zelda daughter of Shmuil Botwinnik born in 1920 in rakov) came to Kurenetz. After her release from partisans she looked for her relatives. She found out that all her family was killed in Rakov. She moved to Kurenetz following some of her Jewish friends from the partisans. And that is how to lonely people met each other and established a family.At first they lived in the house of Aaron’s brother Hirsh who was killed with his entire family (wife and two children). Here in August of 1946 their first son Abram was born. At that time Arye Leibe (Lior's grandfather), the brother of Aaron returned from evacuation to Russia, also their two sisters Hava and Feiga returned after being partisans during the war. They all married and started their own families. My father moved to a new house of his own, that he build with his own hands, he left the old house for his brother Leibe And sister Hava. In July of 1948 in the new house, a new citizen of Kurenetz was born — that was I. About my birth I will tell you the following story:My mother felt that she is about to give birth so my father took her to the Vileyka’s hospital what was 8 k.m. Away, riding on a horse. However it was too early, and after one day in the hospital she asked to be taken home because she had a lot of work to do there. And so my father brought her back. A few days later he had to set the horse again to take mother to the hospital. This time she was left there for several days, while my father had to return home to take care of the housekeeping chores. A Few days passed and then a fellow Kurinitz resident by the name of Nikolay met my father and told him:" Vorchik, I’ve visited my wife in the hospital and saw your Zelda. You have a boy". Father took a horse and went to meet us. Mother asked to go home right away so father took of his jacket, put me inside and brought me home. That is how my life in Kurenetz begun.At that time almost every Jewish family in Kurenetz had a new born. In Kurenetz after the war remained about 15 Jewish families. On Saturdays and at Jewish holidays Jewish people were gathering at the old Leizer Shulman house. There they had their prayers and after the religious ceremony they were drinking "lehaim". We, kids, played outside the house, and never forgot that Leizer had an apple orchard. We, all the Jewish kids, were raised together among the other gentile kids — together we went to the river and to the forest. Sometimes we had our fights. During winter we would build snow forts and have snowball battles. Starting at the age of 7, every kid in kurenets would attend school,there we met with new duties and challenges and made new friends. In 1955-6 many of the Jews Kurenetsers started moving to Poland in order to continue their way to Israel. Since Kurenets was part of Poland before 1939 the Soviets let the old Polish citizens cross the border to Poland. The first family to take that step was my father’s sister Hava and her husband Boris, with their 5 children. The oldest child was 7 years old and the youngest — Sholom, less than a year. I still remember his Brit Milah ceremony — all Jews of Kurenetz gathered together in the small room and then came the rabbi. All Jews raised the money to pay for his services. That how the last Jewish child was born In Kurenetz, and that happened in 1955.Many families followed that path, moving directly to Poland or to the larger cities in order to fix the needed papers and then move to Poland. So in 1958 only two Jewish families were left in Kurenetz: Levin’s and ours. But the Jewish life didn’t stand still. At every holiday the older children of my father would visit us with their children. Also we kept in touch with the Jews in the nearby villages: Dolginovo (4 families), Lyuban’ (7 families) and Vileyka (about 15 families). The spiritual leader of the remaining Jews was Mironovich (Finkelshteyn — Tewel) the head of Lyuban sovhoz.In 1958 a new school director arrived to Kurenets — Catznelson. He lived in Kurenetz till 1963. The head doctor of the Kurenetz regional hospital was Dr. Nasis. He lived in Kurenetz from 1960 till 1966. They both had children younger then school age.At the Kurenetz public school between the years 1958 — 1966 only two Jewish kids studied: me, and my older brother, Abram. Despite this we never felt excluded and participated in all kinds of social activities along with the other students we went dancing and training. Abram even won regional championship in throwing the discus. We participated in all night parties in the nearby villages and hanged around with boys and girls of our age, but what we were missing was the Jewish friends.Abraham finished school in 1964 and went to Brest to study pedagogy. I finished school two years later in 1966 and went to Minsk to study engineering, but it didn’t mean that we left Kurenetz. Every holiday we returned to visit our parents. After finishing my studies in 1971 I returned to Vileisky region to work. I was the head engineer of kolhoz, and later a regional agriculture machinery engineer.At that time my brother Abraham was already math teacher in Vileiky’s school. Almost all Jewish kids of the Vileiky region got high education.Soon Abraham got married and moved to Tallinn (Estonia).In 1974 my father passed away. It happened in January, and it was very cold outside, but still many Jewish and also local (goy) populations came to give him their final respects. Among the locals he was a well-known authority. Every one who had to sell or to buy a cow went to Aharon ("Vorchik") to ask for help in advice or even in shortage of money. I still remember how some of our Russian neighbors cried at the funeral and kissed his legs.My mother and I, in 1975, sold our house and left Kurenetz and moved to Tallinn. I would still come to Kurenetz for visits; one time, it was in 1981, I went there after getting married, just after the wedding ceremony, together with my wife we flew to visit my father’s grave. At that time I learned from the local non-Jewish citizens who still remain there that they are all called "Vorchiks" by the near by villagers- that’s how deep and lasting was they memory of the last Jewish family that lived in Kurenetz.After us, there was only one Jewish family left in Kurenetz — Levin Issak and Jeniya. Issak passed away in 1990 at the age of 90, and his wife moved to Svetlogorsk to live with her sister. Before leaving The USSR and moving to Israel, in 1989 my brother Abram and I visited Kurenetz and our oldest brother Jacob (Yankel) who lived in Molodechno and worked not far from Kurenetz — in sovhoz Liuban with Mironovich. He organized a placement of a memorial at graves of those who died in the Holocaust.At this visit in Kurenetz we met our old neighbor Felsher Shuberty (born in 1918). While talking to him we found out that he was a Jew, something that we didn’t know before. We lived nearby since 1956 until 1975, went to school together with his children and didn’t know of him being a Jew. So since 1990, he is the last Jewish settler in Kurenetz, he is the one who welcomes the visitors who arrive to Kurenetz and he is the one taking care of the Jewish graveyard.My brother Abram and I live happily with our families in Israel for already 10 years. Our brother Yacob also immigrated to Israel but he passed away in 1996. My other brother Samuil is still living in Belarus. April, 2001Alperovich Shlomo Afula, Israel -

The Story of Arie Shevach of Krasne I, Arie Leibke Szewach, was born in Krasne in 11-22-1925 to Miryam Mriyasha nee Sklut and Binyamin Nyomzik Szewach
My mother; Miryam was born in 1895 to Shimon and Reyze Rachel Sklut. The Sklut family had many relatives in Volozhin and Vishnevo. Shimon and Reyze Rachel lived in Krasne. Shimon was a blacksmith who had a great talent for making gadgets and I as all his grandchildren enjoyed the great toys he made for us. Other then my mother Miryam they had;
1. A son; Yakov Sklut who was born in 1900. Yakov was a blacksmith like his father. His wife was Sarah- Rivka. They had three children; Chaika was born in Krasne in 1924, Asher in 1925 and Motel in 1927. The family perished in Krasne
2. A son Moshe Itza. He had seven children. He died in his sleep and six months later his wife passed away. At that point of time there were no organized institutions to take care of Jewish orphans. To be an orphan most time was a “verdict” of desuetude. My grandfather; Shimon told his children to divide the seven children amongst the three of them and raise them as their own.
3. A daughter; Sarah who married Baruch Kaganovitz from Krasne they had a son; Motl who was born c 1930 and a daughter who was much younger. The family perished in Krasne. 4. Two daughters who came to the U.S many years before; Esther (Cohen) and Gite (see note)
My mother; Miryam first married Shmuel Kelman. When my mother was still pregnant with her first child during the hard days of World War I rubbers came to the house at late night hour and murdered Shmuel Kelman and robbed the home. Shortly after my mother had her daughter , Dvora born in 1915. My father Binyamin Shevach was born in Pieski to Arie Leib and Alte Shevach in 1900. Later the family moved to Vilna.
Arie Leib and Alte Shevach had five children. Other then my father; Binyamin they had… Hanach Chanoch Shevach was in the business of selling alcohol, which at that time was something Jews were not allowed to do. When the authorities found out about his business and were about to arrest him, he was able to escape and immigrate to South Africa. His wife; Chana Gitel with the three daughters and the son joined him in South Africa shortly after.
3.Yosef Shevach lived in Vilna and was married before 1939. (perished in Vilna)
4.Shalom Shevach lived in Vilna and was a pharmacist and owned with partner a large pharmaceutical enterprise in Vilna . He was single (perished in Vilna with his mother)
5. Sarah nee Shevach Las was married in the town of Shtzotzin . She had a son; Arie Leib. They all perished in Shhtzozin.
My grandfather; Arie Leib died c 1920 and my grandmother Elte lived in Vilna with her son, Shalom. During the war Binyamin was taken to serve in the army. After a year of service his brother Chanoch helped him escape. Binyamin must have needed to move to a different town. Somehow he ended in Krasne and he married Miryam. In 1930 Binyamin and Miryam Shevach had another son?
Dvora was a devout Zionist. She was a member of “HaChalutz” in Krasne and in the 1930s went to “HaChshara” Preparation for becoming a Chalutz (pioneer) in Eretz Israel.
Young Jewish men and women would live together in communities in Eastern Europe and earn money by doing difficult manual labor in preparation for doing agricultural work in a Kibbutz in Israel. Dvora spent about eighteen months in the Hachshara and when she ended her training she went back to Krasne to await her certificate from the British to be able to immigrate to Israel, that was at the time under their control. The British gave very limited amounts of certificates, and after a long wait in which she did not receive a certificate, Dvora plotted a different course of action. A young Jewish man who was born in Petach Tikva arrived in Poland with the soccer team of Maccabe. He was a citizen of Palestine (Eretz Israel). Immediately there was a wedding so he could take her as his wife back home. But when the British consul in Warsaw received the application he said to the man, “You were born in Palestine. You arrived here a week ago and in such a short time you passed to the other side of Poland, fell in love and married. Now you return to me, but I cannot believe this story.” So the consul continued, saying, “Young man, go to Palestine, and from there use the usual procedures to bring your wife to you if she is really your wife.” And that was it. The young man went back with the sterling that he was paid already before coming to Poland and forgot all about the deal with Dvora. Years later, when Dvora arrived in Eretz Israel, she had to argue with him to annul the marriage.
So Dvora waited for another chance, and she then joined “Bitar”. “Bitar” was the most popular Zionist movement in Krasne in the 1930s. Unlike HaChalutz and Hashomer Hatzair, which had a Socialist Zionist core, Bitar had no Socialist ideology and had a more “militaristic” dogma. Eventually Dvora as other members of “Bitar” used Aliah B which was illegal Aliah.
The young Jewish people resorted to all sorts of plots (another word?) to get to Eretz Israel. A revisionist businessman by the name of Stavasky succeeded in organizing illegal immigration into Eretz Israel, and Dvora took such a ship in 1937. Near the shore of Greece, the ship sank but she was able to get on another ship and after many weeks of travel she arrived in Eretz Israel as an illegal immigrant.
Meanwhile, Arie studied in the Tarbut school in Krasne. All the subjects were taught purely in Hebrew except for the Polish language classes which was a compulsory subject, though even that was taught at a high level. The cousin, Motl Sklut, returned to the town as a certified teacher who had gotten his papers from the teachers’ seminary in Vilna. But now he was unemployed, so his relative Arie and the twins of Abba Kaplan, Dvora and Shlomo, who were still very young at that point, not yet school aged, became his students. The fathers made an agreement with him to pay. The result was that the three children skipped two grades when the appropriate time came for them to enter the Tarbut school. But when Abba Kaplan was no longer able to afford lessons for his children at the Tarbut school, they were sent to the Polish public school where their education was free. For Arie this skipping two years created many social problems since he was two years younger than all his friends, but the reward came when the war started and he was already two years ahead of his peers. That affected his advancement later on.
Dvora decided to join “Bitar”. “Bitar” was the most popular Zionist movement in Krasne in the 1930s. Unlike HaChalutz and Hashomer Hatzair, which had a Socialist Zionist core, Bitar had no Socialist ideology and had a more “militaristic” dogma. Eventually Dvora as other members of “Bitar” used Aliah B which was illegal Aliah. They embarked on a Greek ship that was after some days at sea to bring them at night to the shore of Israel and there they would enter in the dark the water on small boats and when they get to the shore Israelis with meet them and secretly snick them to the country. The original boat they went on was sunk by the British but the second was able to make it.
Arie spend six years in the Krasne “Tarbut” School. Most of the Tarbut schools flourished in shtetls in the Vileyka area in the late 1920 as Zionism and the Zionist Youth movements spread their roots. They replaced the old fashion Cheders that in their core were religious studies.
The students in the Tarbut School were typically tutored in Hebrew and the studies were secular in nature and with emphasis on the love for Zion. All subjects were instructed in Hebrew by a Moreh with credentials and not by a rabbi. The Hebrew language left the holy books to become a “living” language.
Every vacation Arie would visit his Shevach family in Vilna. He would go there accompanied by a family member about three times a year.
To go from Krasne to Vilna in the 1930s you would take a train. There was a train station in Krasne that was about 150 kilometers from Vilna. The trip took six hours. When Arie was about eleven years old his parents let him take the trip all by himself. When he arrived in the train station in Vilna he hired a horse and carriage to take him to his grandmother’s house.
When Arie graduated from the Tarbut School the family decided to send him to a Gimnasia in Vilna. In order to attend the Gimnasia he needed to attend seven school grades. Since the Tarbut school only contained six grades the only choice in Krasne was the Polish public school which he attended for one year.
Arie attended the Gimnasia in Vilna only for a short time. He was home in Krasne for the holiday in September of 1939 when the Second World War started.
The “Liberation” by the Soviets.
According to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Agreement of September 1939, Poland was divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Krasne was a distance of 16 km from the old Soviet-Polish border, so it took only a few minutes and all the Polish cavalry that was sent to fight the Soviet tanks was destroyed. Much of the local population, including the Jews, was not happy to be liberated as the Bolsheviks had described in their accounts of the conquest of Belarus. Immediately as the Soviets arrived they started deporting people. At first they sent away all the former Communist party officers who were active during the Polish times. Together with them they sent the Polish settlers with all the politicians and the Polish municipal authorities that they could find. The Polish settlers, or as they were known in the area, Osdoniki (Asdoniks, also), consisted of veterans who served in the army of Pilsudski and others, and were later brought by the Polish government so that they could populate the area with Polish people when it was conquered in the year 1921. The prior population didn’t consist of any Polish people, only Belarussians. Now almost everyone was classified as a non-trustworthy element. It seemed that at any minute, someone could classify you as an enemy of the people and someone who could not be trusted, and anyone who was a political activist, and it didn’t matter what it was he did or really believed in, had the potential to be deported. First and foremost were all the Zionist activists. Pressured by the US, England, and France, the Soviets retreated from the area of Lithuania for a short time and an independent rule was established there for a short time. So many succeeded in escaping to Lithuania. Vilna, which had been part of Poland from 1921 to 1939, was part of Lithuania again. But this lasted a short time and the whole area became part of the Soviet Empire. Despite the fact that the area was supposedly liberated from the Polish, the liberators kept the old borders between Belarus and the old Soviet Union. None of the recently liberated were able to go into the Soviet Union. This situation continued until the surprise attack by Germany. The Nazis were quickly in the outskirts of Minsk, and we fled, but the NKVD prevented us from escaping from the Nazis into the depths of the Soviet Union. Ironically, the Jews who were deported were amongst the few in the community who survived to the end of the war.
From Krasne, there were a few Jewish families that had been deported, among them the family of Avraham Flachtman. During the first World War, Avraham served in the Polish Army and received the highest decoration for bravery. Another family was the family of Nachum the Butcher. They were an older couple that had only one son, who was the head of Beitar in Krasne. At the time when the two families left, it seemed to us like a horrible tragedy, but all of them survived and later returned.
Another family that succeeded crossing the border was Noach Broadner’s family. On the first days of the war despite the fact of the closing of the border, they found a way to cross it and the entire family survived.
The Shevach family tried for three days, like other families, to cross the border. They attempted to board the train to escape the approaching Nazis, but until the moment that the Germans arrived, there were instructions from Moscow to disallow any attempt to cross the border. The family tried to cross at another area, but there they also found the NKVD. They were ordered to return, so in great despair they returned to their home.
The Ghetto
As soon as the Germans arrived, they announced the new rules with regards to the Jews. They established a local police force that used all the collaborators and immediately started robbing, confiscating property, and killing. The Jews were forced into all kinds of labor, and were treated with extreme cruelty. It seemed that the Nazis wanted to show to the local population that the blood of the Jews was worthless, and that the more you tortured a Jew, the more you would be appreciated by the Nazis. During one night, the Nazi soldiers broke down the doors to the Shevach house, as they did with all the other Jewish homes in town, and began beating everyone. They took them out of their beds, and made them run in the streets until they arrived in the place designated as the ghetto. The former homes of the Jews and all their belongings now were officially open for looting by the local population.
Living conditions in the ghetto were very difficult. A very small amount of food was given to the Jews and communication with non-Jews was disallowed. Soon they started bringing Jews from neighboring towns into the ghetto. They came from towns that were already annihilated. Every time before they annihilated a community, they chose a few Jews who could be useful and transferred them to Krasne. The place was chosen as a supply base for the Germans, where materiel was relayed to and from the front, including a large amount of weapons captured from the Soviets. Thousands of Jews worked in construction, in loading and unloading goods, and in other logistical support positions. Since the ghetto could not contain thousands of workers, the Germans established a labor camp, and they continuously brought Jews from neighboring towns after each action. As in other ghettoes and camps, there was a Jewish committee or Judenrat. At the head of the Krasne Judenrat was Shaptai Olyuk. During the First World War he had been a POW in Germany for a few years and learned to speak German fluently. He knew of their way of life and their habits, or at least he thought he did. There were more than a few members of the Judenrat, and amongst them were some who were pure and decent, and others who were power- and money-hungry. Shaptai Olyuk and the brothers of the Kaplan house, Yitzhak and Moshe, should be in my opinion classified as pure and decent, but others were not so. But still, amongst the others there were other levels of evilness and corruption. However, in general they seemed eager to fulfill the instructions of the Nazis with dedication, exactness and competence in the true spirit of the Nazi philosophy. At the end of the year 1941, a group of 30 Jewish youths was sent to cut firewood in the forest. Amongst those sent was Arie Shevach. They found flyers with a speech by Molotov that called on people to stand up with their weapons and to fight the Nazi evil. The forest was filled with such pamphlets, including a speech by Stalin. The 30 youths did not lose their sense of humor. They started laughing, thinking that the pilot threw his entire cargo in a forest when it was probably intended for a town, and later told the Soviets that he had carried out his mission. Still, what was written there greatly affected the Jews. When they returned to the ghetto they immediately started collecting weapons and organizing the young people to go to the forest. During the month that they worked in the forest, they realized that it was possible to survive there, far away from the control of the Nazis. They also found a great potential to acquire weapons from the huge warehouses in the base where they worked. The main problem they faced was how to transfer the weapons and hide them so they would not be caught by the Nazis.
They started organizing themselves into a group that contained local people who were natives to Krasne, and others who came from annihilated towns. The others were mainly young people whose families had been killed, which made it much easier for them to uproot. There was no one who would prevent them from leaving, and their objective living conditions were much more horrible than the local people since they had nothing to barter with and they did not know the local gentile population.
The place that was found as the most easy target to get weapons from was the old factory that used to make dried apples, but at that point it became a workshop for fixing weapons. It was located in the town of Krasne, and outside of the army base. The specialists there were older German soldiers and the way they treated the Jews was generally more humane, particularly since it was winter and they also suffered greatly from the cold. Someone suggested that they should ask them to let the Jews collect some wood and transfer it by horse and sleigh to the ghetto. They agreed but they still supplied soldiers to watch the operation. In spite of the soldiers the operation was successful, and with the wood the Jews were able to transfer some weapons, particularly rifles. Mostly it was semi-automatic Russian weapons that held ten bullets. The Jewish girls in the group also were able to sometimes transfer guns. Amongst the best operators was Dvora Kaplan, who studied with her brother Shlomo and Arie Shevach, with Motl Sklut. When the Judenrat found out about the weapons and the preparations for escape, they came to the parents of the youths who were involved and threatened them and started following the youths. SO one day I succeeded in transferring together with Yosef and Duba (brother and sister from Horodok) Rabinovitz, three rifles. The Judenrat, who secretly followed us, found the hiding place. They took the weapons and imprisoned the three of us. They started beating us up and threatened us as well as my parents. Many days later we found out that the Judenrat members gave our stolen weapons to their children and sent them to the forest to join the partisans. Since they were not informed about the difficulties they would encounter in the forest or how to communicate with the partisans and which areas were more dangerous, they went to a different area than the rest of the Jews that were preparing to escape, and they were robbed and killed. Once we had weapons, without which we knew we had no way of being accepted to the partisans, we started leaving the camp sporadically and trying to connect with the partisans. I left twice but returned. My parents and especially my father, were opposed to my plans to join the partisans. Friends that left with me and didn’t return joined different partisan units. There were some tragedies too; even among the Russian partisans there were some who hated the Jews.
The partisan brigade was established by Red Army soldiers who had succeeded in evading capture by the Germans. They had found jobs in the neighboring villages. Hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers fell as POWs and were put in camps where they were starved and many were murdered in a systematic something? By the Germans. At one point, the German army and the police started collecting all the soldiers who had escaped to the villages, but when the soldiers found out about it they ran deep into the forest. As the Red Army retreated, many units made sure to bury their weapons in the forest, and this was the seed for our weapons supply, since many of the soldiers in the villages were from units that had buried their weapons. At first they were very small units of armed men who basically used the weapons to physically support themselves and to rob the neighboring towns. As their numbers were enlarged they started a real army with discipline and rules. From that point, to go to the forest and have a chance to join the partisans meant that you must bring a weapon so you could join such a troop. Later on, from 1943, most of these troops were essentially a regular army.
Some information about the area;
The area of Krasne was since the 1790’s under Russian rule. Just about that time Catherine the Great traveled from Moscow to her parents’ mansion in Koenigsburg. Traveling by horse took a long time and carriage and different locations for changing horses and resting were designated for her ahead of time. The places were named for her mood when she arrived; Radoshkovichi (happinesss) and Krasne (to do with red blood). There were many other places named Krasne and this Krasne was also known as Krasne nu Uzsha (Krasne near Uzsha)
In 1915 the Germans took control of the area (invasion during World War I). During the war, the area experienced many battles between the Germans and the Russians. Shortly after that, during the Russian revolution, the Bolsheviks took control of the area, then Germans again and then there was a war between the Soviets and Poland. In 1921 Poland took control of the area. Poland also took control of Vilna, the former capital of Lithuania, while the rest of Lithuania became independent
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- Sunday, June 22, 2003 at 16:05:55 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ From Nachum Alperovich story....
...The Germans kept demanding money from the Judenrat. Some of the members of the Judenrat were dishonest and took some of the money for themselves. In our home there was a new couch and carpet that we bought before the war for my sister Henia who was about to be married. When the war started, Henia’s groom was taken to the Polsih Army and died during battle between the Polish and the Germans. One of the Judenrat people who was the very worst among them, knew about the sofa and the carpet, so now he demanded that we should give those things to the Germans who asked for furniture and carpets. My sister Henia was very much against it. These things were very dear to her as a reminder of her dead groom. And she asked that they should be left with her. The Judenrat man slapped her and took her things by force. When I found out about it, I came to the Judenrat and I said to the man, :You must know that we will never let you, a Jew, slap another Jew. It’s enough the way we are treated by the Germans.”
He answered, yelling, “What do you think? Do you think I am afraid of your gun? DO you think I don’t know you own a gun?”
“It is not a secret I have a gun,” I replied and pulled out my weapon. He must not have thought I’d react so fast and he went pale and never came to our home again.
The head of the Judenrat and some of its members were new arrivals from other towns. They were not always decent or honest, and it wasn’t the rescue of the community that was first on their minds. The people who were the public servants before, whose names were famous for dedication and good deeds, like Zalman Gvint and others like him, clearly knew that to be a member in the Judenrat meant that they would have to fulfill the wishes of the Germans, and could never accept such a job. Zalman Gvint, who was experienced with pharmaceuticals, this time established an enterprise, together with Nathan Gurevich, to make chemicals for soap, shoe polish, and ink. They also suffered much at the hands of the Judenrat, who demanded their products. Leib Motosov had a place in the deep forest before the war, that made turpentine and tar. He knew all the little paths in the forest. HE also clearly understood that the Nazis would soon annihilate us. So he came to Zalman Gvint, who agreed with him and suggested that tthey should escape to the forest, where he knew many of the villagers in the area and he thought that since they were friends they would help him. They started planning their escape. I also remember that my mother in those days talked a lot about leaviung the town and escape to the forest. While everyone was planning such an escape, a tragic event took place. Some families who escaped to the forest, among them Zishka Alperovich’s family, secretly from everyone, escaped to the forest, but someone told about them and the mutilated bodies where brought to town. It was a huge disappointment for all who dreamed of going to the forest, and momentarily shocked everyone and caused them to postpone their plans. Nyomka Shulman, who was very energetic and a go-getter, was still full of excitement and plans. He was the leader of our group, and he came with an idea to uplift the spirits of the people. We did something that was dishonest, that we should not have done. We made a pamphlet of encouragement, filled with imaginary events that had no basis in reality. In this pamphlet we wrote that the wonderful Red Army pushed the Germans out of the Polaczek area and soon would free our entire area. We ended it with writing, “Death to Hitler.”
There was a rumor that something might happen in Polaczek, but to say that the Germans lost there was a greatly exaggerated statement. Anyway, the Jews found great encouragement from this pamphlet and conversed about it, especially Motl Leib Kuperstock, who used to have a flour mill. He would stand in the synagogue amongst the Jews spreading the rumors that the pamphlet had come from the Soviets. They beat the Germans, he would tell everyone, and were going through Polaczek. And this had to have been done by planes, he added, and since we were only 120 km from there, it would not take long until they arrivedat our area. Motl Leib was very interested in polticis and strategies. There was a time when he lived in the US, and he knew how to add certain sentences in English that greatly impressed the people, the residents of the town. Amongst the people who converse ith him, there was someone who took his samples and said he really knew that the retreat of the Soviets was only a trick, and they would quickly show the Nazis their might. For some days they were conversing like thais, but there was a great disappointment when nothing happened. We felt bad for whatwe did and from then on we decided to write only real news.
Time passed and Noach Dinestein (put picture here) from Vileyka joined our group. [PICTURE OF NOACH DINESTEIN]. He was older than us but was once a soldier in the Polish Army. In 1939, when the Germans and the Polish fought, he was drafted. After a battle with the Germans, his unit suffered greatly. He was somehow able to escape and he came back to our area. When the Germans killed the man in Vileyka near the bridge on the Vilia during the first month of the war in our area, Noach somehow escaped from the place and arrived at Kurenets. Here he taught us how to use weapons and trained us in other military operations.
The Code Name is Volodia
[PICTURE OF VOLODIA] One day I was told that a Christian person had come to our house and asked for me. She later returned and met with me. It was a young village girl who looked much like a Christian but she was really a Jewish girl by the name of Bertha Dimmenstein from the village Khalafi, a little village near Vileyka. I Didn’t know her earlier and had no idea she was Jewish. She showed me our first pamphlet and said that she knew there was a secret printing press in Kurenets. I was very worried and I pretneded to know nothing about it. I ocntinued being worried when she told me she belonged to a group of young villagers who organized themselves to fight the nazis. She said that these young villagers wanted to meet us since they knew we were also an underground unit. She also told me that she had a text that was ready to be printed by our unit. She said to me that if I could print the text it would be proof that they could rely on us and they would get in touch for later missions.
She said she would come back the next day and take the pamphlets and they would distribute it on their own. The text she gave me was very similar to what we had written. It was asking the locals to organize against the Nazi invaders and unite with the resistance. I was very confused and didn’t know if I should trust her. I called my friends for a meeting. Amongst them were Eliyau Alperovich, Itzkaleh Einbender, Zalman Gurevich, Noach Dinestein, and Nyomka Shulman at whose house the meeting took place. We met in the dark room in their home. Once again, the question arose if there was someone tricking us. Some thought positively, some thought negatively. I thought that we should wait for a moment, but Nyomka Shulman finally won. He said that there was no reason to wait, we must print the pamphlet. So, already that night I sat in our hideout and joined letter to letter and after a short time, the pamphlet was ready. I only printed 20 copies. I thought that to prove our loyalty and reliability that this was sufficient. All the time I was very fearful that Bertha would arrive with someone from the authorities, and a big rock came off my heart when I realized she had come alone. I explained to her that I could only print 20 pamphlets. Bertha took it and promised to return shortly. Many years later, when I met Josef Norman in Israel, he told me how Bertha had found out about me. Bertha, who knew Josef from Vileyka and knew that he was working in the printing house, thought that Josef might know something about those secret pamphlets. So when she met him, he told her about me. He knew that she was very reliable and didn’t hesitate to give her all the information. And this was how she found me.
Shortly after, Bertha returned and told me that their unit was ready to join with us for missions. She also told me that eventually they were planning on going to the forest, and there start fighting the Nazis. She also asked me if we had any weapons. I told her that we had only two rifles. I didn’t tell her about the guns. She suggested one of our people should come to them. The meeting would take place in the village Volkoviczina. At the entrance to the village, she said, there was a small building, a Christian prayer house. She said that one of our people should there during a certain night, and there he would call a certain code word which would let him into the house. The code word was Volodia.
Once again, we met. The energetic Nyomka insisted that he should be the first messenger. Nyomka went during a late night hour and met with one of their people. The guy suggested at this point we should keep our group small and not add any members. Most of our energy should be put in collecting weapons and food to be ready to go to the forest. During that meeting the man told Nyomka he must never come to Volkoviczina without being first contacted by them. We would receive orders from them,. And Bertha would be the main contact. Most important, from now on the codeword would be Volodia. Nyomka slept there, and the next day, early in the morning, he returned to town and told us all the details. At about that time I waas told by Josef Norman saying he could not give me any more letters since they realized that something was not right at the printing press, and they thought something dangerous was going on.
At this point, the Germans only killed single Jews in Kurenets, here and there in small numbers, and life continued like that until Simha Torah in 1941 when they killed 54 Jews of Kurenets. The Fifty Four During the days in years of peace and quiet are called the Days of the Torment. The synagogues were filled with people praying. Most people seemed a bit frozen. They didn’t scream or cry. To the people on the outside it seemed as if people had put up some kind of barrier, but it seems that in the synagogue, this barrier was broken. The tears and the cries were heartbreaking, and the line of the people who said kaddish for the dead was very long. The people in our group who were secular in nature, also went to the synagogue. Koppel Spector was called by the management of the old carpentry mill of Zukovsky since there was something wrong with the main machine there. Maybe now it is time to talk about Koppel. [INSER PICTURE OF KOPPEL]
There was something kept very secretly. During the Soviet days, Koppel who was an engineer and an inventor, worked on a machine to automatically load coal to keep train engine fires going. It was almost ready to be patented when the war started. In the train station in Molodetszna, Koppel had a laboratory where he had all the papers that had to do with his invention. During the war between the Germans and the Soviets, he went to his laboratory and burned his papers and inventions so they would not fall into the hands of the Nazis.
Back to that Simha Torah… As usual we went that day to Vileyka. At first walked the women, and I along with the men walked at the back. We passed by the village Zimordra, and all of a sudden, two policemen from Kurenets and collaborators with the Nazis, Pietka Dovsky and Pietka Gintov, who studied with me at the Polish school, appeared and ordered me to return to Kurenets. I felt that there was some danger facing me, so I asked, “Pietka, why do you stop me? We used to be friends.”
“Satan is your friend,” Pietka answered, “Not me. Come with us.”
SO I was brought to town and put in the store of Itzka Leah’s, the place the police now used to keep prisoners. When I got there I met other Jews from the town, amongst them Kazdan, Chaim Zukovsky, Zaev Rabunski, and others, more than 20 people. Once in a whil e they would bring new prisoners. We looked outside the windows and saw they had colelcted the families of the prisoners. One person who was with us said he was arrested for the red flag found in his home. During Soviet dyas, everyone had a red flag, and he forgot about it. Now he was taken to the prison along with his flag. Some of the prisoners started screaminng that for this flag, everyone would be killed. They wanted to take the flag, rip it, throw it on the ground and cover it with their shoes.
While talking about it, the police came in and took out ten people. We watched through the shutters as these people were given the hose and marched away. Once again people wondered what was going on. Some said they were being taken out for a job. Chaim Zukovsky, who was badly beaten and depressed said they were not being taken to work, but were being taken to dig their own graves. All of a sudden the door opened and to the room and into it came a German Oberlieutenant who called me by name. He took me outside and told me that I should point to my relatives who were standing outside. “This is my mother and those are my sisters.” I pointed to my mother, Rohaleh, Rashkaleh, and Doba.
“Take them and go home,” the officer told me, and I was ready to do it but all of a sudden he hesitated as if he changed his mind. “Jew, you still need to receive some beatings.”
I lay on the ground in the presence of my mother and sisters, and he beat me many times. Finally he stopped and ordered me to leave. I could hardly get up, and lefft with my mother Rohaleh. I had no idea why I was taken out of the prison room and separated from the 54 Jews who were residents of our town who were murdered that day. After they got the hose, they were made to dig their own graves as Chaim Zukovsky foretold while we were in there. When we got home, my sister Doba said she saw me being taken out of the people who went to Vileyka and she recognized my life was in danger, so she left the group of girls and ran to Kurenets. As soon as she got home she told my mother what happened. They knew it was a very dangerous situation and they had to do something immediately.
Without hesitation they immediately went to the Polish teacher Mataroz to ask for his help. In town people already knew that the Germans were planning on doing something against the Communists. They decided that my father and my sister Henia, who were known as communistis, should escape and take the cows to the meadow. So when they came for them they couldn’t find them home. Rohaleh and Doba asked Mataroz, who liked me very much from when I was student, and who was now the mayor of the town appointed by the Germasns, and they told him about my imprisonment. As soon as they left Mataroz, they were taken by the police, as well as my mother and Rashkaleh, and it was Mataroz who decided to save us all from our deaths. Two days later I went to Mataroz to thank him for what he had done. At that point we were all heartbroken over what had happened in town. He asked me to sit down and I told him I could not sit down since my back had awful wounds from the beatings I had received. When I thanked him he said I shouldn’t thank him, and that I should pray to God and stay a human being as I had been in the past, and stay decent despite the tortures that occurred every day.
I was strong in my wish that for thanks we should give him some materials from the old store we used to own. Materials could be used for suits for him and his son. He was very much against it and got mad at me. I was very embarrassed and didn’t know what to do, so I suggested something else. I asked that he should receive our cow since our lives seemed to be pretty much over with or without a cow. He answered that he agreed to take the cow since we had such troubles even trying to take it to the meadow, but he had one condition. He would take it if we would receive half of the milk from the cow each time he milked it. I said to him that this could cause him great troubles as the mayor of a town sending milk to a Jewish family. At the end we reached a greement and gave him the cow. Secretly, in all sorts of ways, he was able to transfer milk to us. Now I know how he saved me from certain death: after doba and Rohaleh visited him, he went to the German offcer, who was conducting th emurder of the 54 people for being Commmunists. He told the officer of how I helped him during the Soviet days by giving sugar and food to the teacher Skarntani, who was anti-Communist, and that I had helped him when he was very sick and put myself in danger. This proved I was anti-Communist, so I could not be blamed for Communism. The officer accepted his opinion, and this was how I was rescued.
The Jews were shocked at the killing of the 54 who were supposedly Communists. Everyone was talking about how the 54 men, women, and children were taken to the forest of Lovitz, and there they were ordered to dig their graves before they were killed. The Christians, especially the villagers who were present told many stories about the killing, especially the brave stand of Yankeleh Orchik’s (son) Alperovich. When Yankeleh stood at his open grave, he asked the officer who was ordering the killings, “IF you kill me because I am a Jew, there is nothing I can do since I am a Jew and this is my faith. But if you kill me if I am a Communist, you should know the Soviets sent my father to Siberia since I am an anti-Communist. Can you really believe that my father who is being tortured in Siberia is a Communist?” The officer decided to release him as well as his younger brother. The Christians who were watching admitted that Orchik Alperovich was sent to Siberia.
They also told about Tevel Alperovich, the son of Pinhas the butcher. Tevel, who was a very strong and good looking man, was able to escape from the killers but he encountered Volodka, the son of Mishka from the alley. With a hoe in his hand, he hit him on the head and wounded him. Then he called the Germans to kill him. The reason why the Christians would gather in such places to watch the killings was so they could collect their belongings such as clothes, shoes, etc. Some of the Christians would. Some of the Christians would sing while the Jews were being taken to their deaths. They made a song singing, “Zhydi, zhydi, tzerti. Kali vas femerti”, which means “Jews the son of Satan, die already! When? When?” During their singing they would sometimes throw rocks at the Jews and curse them. Many of the Jews in town wanted to believe the Germans, that this murder was meant only for communists. They were hoping that now all the murders would be done with, but our group, as well as many others in Kurenets, knew that this would not be the end, that it was only the first in systematic killings, and our desire to fight increased tenfold. For My Benefactor, Mataroz Once again, I visited Mataroz. Mataroz, in his true nature, was liberal. As far as the Jews, he tried to help, and this was not unknown by the Belarussian population, and they greatly disliked him. One of his opponents was the son ot the felcher, Surikvas. There was a certain rumor that the son secretly put in Mtataroz’ office a picture of Pilsudski, and told the German police that Mataroz was secretly organizing Polish resistance. The Germans imprisoned him but he was somehow immediately returned to become mayor. [Reminder: he was killed with his family by the Germans]
I came to Mataroz after he asked me to come to him. He immediately told me that murder is facing me everywhere I go, and that he would try to help me. Further, he said, “You must know that between wishes and ability there is a big distance. I truly wish that all my students will survive, but what can I really do? As far as you are concerned, I suggest you come to the school as a laborer doing cleaning and cutting wood for the fire, as well as operating the furnaces.”
At that point he was no longer head ot the school, but since he was mayor he was able to do it. He was also in cahoots with one of the teachers. He still said to me that I must be very careful to be there only when the school was empty of students. I later found out that the person he was in touch with was the wife of Skrentani, who was a teacher in the school. Skretntani himself worked for Mataroz in the municipal building, as head of the food distribution department.
I was told to be in school in the afternoon hours until the time of curfew, when I was supposed to be home. Mataroz said that since danger faced me in every direction, it would be easier to escape from the school in times of extreme danger than from places where Jews were plentiful. Further, he said he would try to get me a special permit was worker of the municipality, so I could work outdoors even during curfew hours. Once again he emphasized that in case of an action where they would kill the Jews, I would have to hide in the school. There would be a greater chance of survival there since it was unlikely that they would look for Jews in the school, there was a huge basement with many secret corners that I could hide in. He also gave me a letter to take to the police which asked for permission to work at night since I needed to clean the school after the students left. When I entered the school I only found Baliznuk, who was known as the most evil torturer. :How do you think this will help you? With such a Jewish face, how to get a permission from the police?” He started laughing.
“Before I would ever get a look at the permission you might receive, I will shoot you with a bullet and the permission will not bring you back to life.” Still, he gave me the permission.
In the school worked a Polish woman that explained to me my duties. She was generally kind to me but she was very fearful that my presence in the school would hurt her. She begged me that I should be very careful and to make sure that no one would suspect that she hidesa Jew at the school. Every time she had a hint of danger she would quickly tell me to go hide in the basement.
The first day after finishing my work I didn’t stay at school. I went home with my permit. This was a alte night hour, I passed quietly the market, and saw not one living soul; no Germans, no policemen. When I told my friend about it, someone said that even the Germans were afraid to walk around at night and we felt some pleasure in knowing that. I don’t know if it was smart but I always held my gun with the three bullets, but I didn’t know if they were viable. I was thinking that if someone bothered me at night, I would draw the gun and this would hopefully be enough. One night I remembered that I hid a knife in the gardens near the school. I went there and found it, and took it to our cowshed, and there I covered it in a rag and hid it.
Nights passed and no one bothered me. The only person that seemed to follow me with her eyes was was my mother, who stood by the window and looked out from behind the shutters to see if I was coming. Only when I arrived could she sleep. She begged that I stay in the school and not come at night. One night, when I returned home, all of a sudden I heard a shout of, “Stoi, stoi!” which means “Stand! Stand!” I Was very scared that someone was shooting my direction. I went in the gardens behind the homes until I reached the middle synagogue. I went to the central floor where the women sat, and slept. In the morning I came home and found my motehr very fearful. As it turned out she didn’t sleep a wink that night. She also heard the shouts and thought that maybe I was killed....
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- Friday, June 20, 2003 at 17:16:13 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ So far, the following 85 people (or couples) have signed up
Name Towns Surnames
ATKINS, Harold Senno, Orsha, Upyna, Telsiai EITINGON, ATKINS, SEGAL
BELINKOFF, Adar Gomel BELINKOFF
BERG, Sandra Brest Litovski WANDER, ZILBERBERG, UNTERMAN
BISHOW, Marlene Wolpa, Ivye, Grodno GOLDSTEIN, PETT, SINGER
BOONIN, Harry Slutsk District ASSOFSKY, BERKOWITZ, TSIPALEYEV
BOXER, Judy Grodno WEINSTEIN
BRILL, David Usvyaty, Shklov BRIL\', LEVIN, ALEINIKOV
BROWN, Janet Slonim, Smorgon, Minsk, Pinsk TRILNI(C)K, MOLCHOTSKY,SMARGON,FRIEDLANDER
CARVER, Tina Soski, Minsk KAPLAN
CAUGHLAN, Jenny Suwalki, Ciechanowiec, Budapest, Nagy Oroszi, Becshke, Berlin KAUFER, STEINER, SOLL/SOLE, PHILLIPS/FILIPOWSKI, HEKSCH, LENGYEL, HAAS
COHEN, Jay Piaski, Volkovysk KAGAN, YEZERSKY, YERSZKI, JESIERSKI
COHODAS, Alvin Naroch CHODASH
DARDASHTI, Schelly Talalay Mogilev, All Belarus, All Russia, Worldwide TALALAY
DESHUR, Penny Minsk FONDILLER
D\'ALMEIDA, Franck Grodno, Vilnius ZOLTY
EASTON, Glenn Minsk EPSTEIN
EGAN, Shana Kobryn, Brest Litovsk, Kamenets, Divin, Bialystok RITZENBERG, DAITCH, KAPLAN, MESSYNG, SHAMES
EPSTEIN, Ruth+moshe Pinsk,korelitch,mir SAUBERMAN,SCHIFFMAN,OBRINSKY
FEARER, Mark Volozhin, Lyskava, Volkevysk, Ruzhany RAGOVIN, PINKAUSOVICH, CHERNICHOFF
FELDMAN, Rose Mscibow, Ruzhany, Kosovo EPSTEIN, BYARSKY, ILLIVITSKY (ELIVITSKY), KAPLAN
FIBEL, Harriet & Joseph Werenow, Radun OLKENITZKY
FINE, Ernie Minsk BAKSTANSKY, SLONIMSKY
FISHKIN, Jewel Bobruisk-Mintz-Volosyn-Olshony-Krasne FISHKIN-SKLUT-KAPLAN-WOLCHEK=MATLIN=BRUDNER
FOX, David Minsk, Mogilev TSIVIN, FEITELSON, SHENDEROV, RABINOWITZ
FOX, Judith KOENIG Korma, Bychov,Mogilev,Seletz GLICKLIN, KARASIK, BAEVSKY,WILENSKY,SCHNEERSON,PLOTKIN, YAMNITSKY
FRANKL, Rhea Borisov, Zembin, Lahoisk FEITELSON, BACHRACH, KATZMAN
GALLARD, Cindy Skrigalovo, Petrikov, Osovets,Romanovka LOBATCH
GLICKSBERG, Ruth Miedzyrzec,Wegrow,Warsaw,Pultusk GLICKSBERG,GLUCKSBERG
GOLDBERG, Nancy Minsk, Slutsk, Derbent ROSOVSKY, RUDEVITSKY, SCHAEFFER, GALENSON, LEVINE
GOLDSMITH, Judith Nesvizh, Taraspol, Chisinau STOLIAR, MIRMOVITCH, YATZKEVICH, LEIVOV
GOLDSMITH, Susan Novyy Sverzhen, Stolbtsy, Yasevich, Mir, Dolginovo TOBIAS, ROZANSKY, HOROWICZ, DROZNAN
GORDON, Judith Motol, Minsk, Pinsk SOKOLOV. KAHN, COHEN, NACHMAN, LURIA, SHAPIRO
GREENBERG, Roslyn Zirmuny, Lida, Voronovo, Divenishkes ROGATNICK, ZIRMUNSKY, KALMANOWITZ, MOLCHADSKY
GREENMAN, Linda Antopol GREENMAN, RESNICK
HANIT, Kevin Derechin, Baranovici, Ruzhany CHERVYATITSKY, ABELOVICH, KLETSKIN, LEVITT, GRACHUK
HENKIN, Hilary Mogilev, Orsha, Kopys GENKIN, BELIITSKI, BERLIN
HIRSCHHORN, Donald And Sandra Retchetsa, Berezeno PASSOV, RAFALCZECH
HIRSCHHORN, Donald Retchitsa Gomel PASSOFF,ITZKOOWITZ
HIRSCHHORN, Sandra Berezeno, Minsk, Igumen RAFALCHEK, KARPEI, PODOLNIK
HOLDEN, Nancy Myadel, Kobylnik, Mscibow, GORDON, KRIVITSKY, HORWITZ, KALER
HOLTZMAN, Alvin Pinsk, Galati, Dorohoi HOLTZMAN, PERLOW, GLOBERMAN, POLLACK, ZARITSKY, HOROVITZ, BRAUNSTEIN
KAPLAN, Rochelle Kopyl, Slutsk (belarus); Sambor, Vinnytsa, Brailov (ukraine); Riga, Bauska (latvia); Kraziai (lithuania); Piesk; KAPLAN, BREGMAN, RAPOPORT (BELARUS); SCHRECKINGER, KARP, APFELZUS, RICHTER (SAMBOR); GERSON (LATVIA); ZAKS (LITHUANIA); LIPSON, LERNER (VINNYTSA); LEBOWSKY, LUBOV (PIESK)
KARSEN, Mike Minsk Gubernia, Haradisht YNAKELOVICH, SHEPSOLOVICH
KROM, Harold Slutsk / Gomel BUNIN / TITINSKY
KRONGOLD, Judith Mir, Lubtch, Turets, Bielsk, Vladimir Volynsk WILENSKY, TREMBITSKY, BLOOM, KRONGOLD
LEVINE, Michael Logoysk, Smolivichi, Minsk LEVINE, RELYUSHCHIN, SEGALOWITZ, GOLDFARB
LEVY, Mike Slonim BUBLACKA, MINKOWICK
MARKEL, Beatrice Vileyka, Dalhinov, Vilna KAGAN,KAHAN,ZAPODNIK
MASLOV, Freya Blitstein Suchawolya, Grodno KRAMER, SOKOLSKY
MENDELOW, Aubrey Tsuraki, Starosselje AXELROD, HOROWITZ, KATZENELSON, KAZENELENBOGEN, EISENSTADT
MESHENBERG, Mike Nesvizh, Chomsk ZATURENSKY, TEVYANSKY, ELLMAN
MUSIKAR, Barbara Slonim, Kobrin, Brest SAMSONOWITZ, KLEMPNER,
NEMOY, Estelle Gomel GARELICK/GORELICK
NEUBAUER, Selma Oshmyany HOROWITZ AND BOSH
OKNER, Ben Borbruisk CHERTOV, RABKIN
OLKEN, Deb Werenow OLKENITZKY
PAULIN, Gladys Friedman Kalinkovichi, Bragin, Yurevichi, Tulgovichi, Mozyr MINEVICH, RAICHMAN, GUTMAN, RAZHEVSKY, LEVIK
PEARLMAN, SUSAN Bialystok, Minsk, Porozowa, Szereszewo, Wolpa SZEJNMAN, JASKOLKA, MALETSKY, KOSLOVSKY, WISHNIATSKY, PEARLMAN
POLLERO, Shelley Kobrin, Vitebsk TENENBAUM, KAGAN, LEKHERZAK
POSNICK, Mike Budslavy, Dolginovo, Drogiczn, Kobrin, Kopyl, Minsk, Mir, Novyy Sverzhen, Timkovichi EHRLICH, FRIEDMAN, GOLOVENCHITS, KOSOWSKY, POZNIAK, ROZIN, SHERMAN, SHULKIN, SZTEYNBERG, ZELEVYANSKY
REDLICH, Rita Svir SYKEN
RHODE, Harold Dolginovo, Vileika Uyezd AXELROD, RUBIN, SHUMAN
RILEY, Gayle Minsk, Timikovichi, Uslion LEVIN, GARFINKEL, COHEN,SAHAPIRO
ROCK, Jeffrey Bereza, Bluden, Brest ROG, ROCK
ROSENBAUM, Edward Lunna, Porozovo, Slonim, Sverzhen AGINSKI, BELLER, GRUNDFAST, GRUNDFEST, SILVERBLATT
ROSOW, Emma Haradok, Rudnya MINKOFF, GUSINSKY
RUBENSTEIN, Herbert Vitebsk LEVIT
SALTMAN, Joanne Slonim, Kozlovshchina, Lida SALT(Z)MAN, MISHKIN, EPSTEIN, ZLOTNIK
SANDLER, Michelle Borisov MEBEL, KLEBENOFF
SASLAFSKY, Jennifer Slutsk, Barbruisk KOMISAR
SCHNEIDER, Jerry Pinsk AIZENBERG, ELSTEIN
SCHWARTZBERG, Jenny Antopol, Motol, Seletz, Drogichin, Baranovici, Turetz KAPLAN, KAMENETZKY, TELECHANSKY, ADLER, PLOTNITZKY, SHEDROVITZKY, SHERESHEVSKY, WALDMAN, KANTOROWITZ, MOSKOWITZ
SHAPIRO, Sandra Garfinkel Divin, Kobryn, Kortylisy, Chernyany, Dobryanka, Podobryanka GARFINKEL, TENENBAUM,KLYN, LEVY, GOLDSMITH, KRASELSKY, LITVINSKI,
SIMON, Andrea Volchin, Brest MIDLER, LEW
SMITH, Lester Gudegai, Zhuprany, Oshmina, SHUMELISKY, DAVIDSON
SPECTOR, Joel Chashniki, Lepel, Shklov ZEITLIN, BLACK, BLECHMAN, SKIBINSKI
STEPAK, Ellen Pinsk BRENN, POSENITSKY, NIEMCOWIC
SUBER, Gordon Bobruysk, Omelyna, Tchedrin ZUBER, ZILBERMAN
TUERK, Janis Khomsk, Serniki Pervyye, Glussk SILBERKVEIT,TURKIENICH,KAGAN
WEIN, Joseph Bialystok FINKELSTEIN WEIN
WEINER, Stephanie Smorgon, Bobruisk CHODOSH, WEINER, LACOWITSKY
WILNAI, Ruth Rakow, Wolma, Iventes LIFSHITZ, ROTHSTEIN
WOLRAICH, Debra Motol, Ivanovo, Bobruisk, Pinsk RATNOWSKY, WARSHOVSKY, VALINSKY, ABRAMOWICZ, SLEPOY
ZERDIN, Keith Minsk, Vilani, Preili, Varaklani, Dvinsk ZHERDIN, PRESMA, KODIS, KODISH, KAIDAN, MEDNICOV, ZAVADSKI, TOBOVITCH
ZIESELMAN, Paula Kamenets, Verkholesye(?) WEISBERG, SPELKE



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- Friday, June 20, 2003 at 06:43:07 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ My Hometown Rabbi Yakov Landau, Av Beit Din[1] of B'nei B'rak Israel. Former Rabbi of Kurenets Translated by Danny Koor and Eilat Gordin Levitan
In her image and her essence, Kurenets stood apart from her neighboring shtetls. A holy spirit engulfed her in all her events and its spiritual essence was embedded with the stems of the giants of spirit who guided her through many generations. A splendor of holiness spread on her Sabbaths, her holy days, and her festivals. How pleasant it was to experience the sounds of the approaching Shabbat at dusk on Friday. When Rabbi Shmuel Der Viner, the father of Shlomo Asna's, would leave my father's house (the Rabbi) to go to the central market, he would pass through all the stores in the center of town and announce in a special singing tone, “Ein shul ariyan (Into the synagogue).” And the Shabbat would spread its wings around the town and fill it with sacredness.
How I was filled with joy when I as a young boy stood by the gate of our house to see the scene. My father would say, “Reb Shmuel, it is time to announce Ein shul.” And I would closely follow Reb Shmuel to see how that as soon as he would announce it, all the merchants would close their shops, as a small storm would start. The shutters would be closed and the locks would be turned. Immediately this would be followed by a holy tranquility and peacefulness, and the town would robe itself in its most majestic Shabbat clothes. And here we see coming from Myadel Street, Shimon from the brothers [Zimmerman]. He is going to the Beit Midrash, wearing a velvet hat and soon, from all corners of town, Jews dressed in Sabbath clothes rushed to the synagogue. Here comes Reb Yehuda Meir Freda's (Alperovich). He was a very learned Jew. And here comes Avraham the Tailor, who we called Avramtzik der Schneider, a very respectable looking person. And from another direction comes Reb Eli Muniz, with a Midrash Rabba under his arm. He would teach midrash before the assembled members of the central synagogue, De Nyer shtiebel. - The new Shtiebel. And here comes Moshe Nehemsik's, wearing a velvet yarmulke most of which can be seen from under his hat. And there makes an appearance, Cheikel Welwel, with him his youngest son Yakov Yoseleh, a devoted Lubavitch Hasid. His _expression gleams from the splendor of Sabbath. And here is Mordechai Gurevich, husband of Freda, with his curly peyas, and his face is radiant, illuminated from the delight of Sabbath. Could anyone tell that this is the same Reb Mordechai that just a short time earlier was busy with selling iron goods to the gentiles? And here comes Mendel Zalman Roshka's. His hair is neatly combed and his essence is brimming with the refinement of the Sabbath.
In our minyan, my father would walk slowly from one side to the other and with a tune that was laden with piety and holiness, he would say, “Hodu and Patach Eliahu” before the minha prayer. In the minyan synagogue[2] simple oil lamps spread their lights, but still every corner shone splendidly in the reflection of Shabbat. And while the congregation starts saying their prayer, “Lehu neranena Lahshem, nariya letzur yishano” Come let us sing to God let us call out to the rock of our salvation, the heart would beam with elevated sentiments that would come to an apex at the passage “Mizmor Le David havu lashem bnei eilim.” A psalm of David, render unto heaven you sons of the powerful“ Kol hashem bakoach kol hashem chotzev lehavot eish. The voice of God is in power the voice of God is in splendor.” This psalm is said one sentence at a time, with a pause in between each verse, and the hearts would get more and more ecstatic when they reached the tune of “Leha Dodi.” It would not be sung with as regular tune, rather with a Hasidic melody and the prayers would go on, and the people would be filled with a thirst for more as they neared the height of joyfulness. In my early youth I would leave the minyan synagogue and go to the central market between the prayer of the Inauguration of the Sabbath and the evening prayer. At that point Reb Shlomo Asna's would read before the congregation from the book Beir Mayim Hayyim or Siddoro Shel Shabbat, but I wanted to become part of the holy silence that spread in the streets. To tell the truth, we didn't have to wait for Shabbat to feel the holiness around us. Early on Friday morning you could already feel the new holy face of the town. Smoke would rise high above the chimneys of the town, you could hear the sound of the Hakmasa while the women prepared the fish, and the wonderful smells of the Sabbath food would foretell the advent of the impending Sabbath. On Fridays, as soon as the melamdim(teachers) would finish teaching the youth in the chadarim they would quickly go in town to collect from everyone the weekly tithes (donations) for the different charity organizations. One would be for the institution of Bikur Holim (which took care of the sick); here the Gabbai was Reb Abba Lubka's. Others would be collecting for the Gm'ch, which was a sort of savings and loan organization, it would be used for loans and in every big synagogue there would be a collection box for it. Once a year, after Shabbat Parashat Mishpatim, there would be a big celebration where all the pledges that were not paid would be sold
There were a few teachers that before Sabbath would collect money for different Hasidic dynasties. For example, for Lubavitch, for Lyadi… Each one would come with his own notebook and on each page there would be a table, and each square would represent one week for all the people who gave donations. They would write in detail the exact amount; usually it would be one or two kopecks. So the teachers of the town would be busily running around town, amongst them Reb Yitzhak Moshe, Reb Avraham Yitzhak, Reb Yosef Leib, and Reb Moshe Baruch the Shamash. This would also add to the special spirit of Friday.

The Festivals

A saying that was repeated many times by Reb Mendel, son of Reb Yosef Zaev, the baker who lived in the shtetl Lebedove, was, “If you wanted to feel the true essence of Rosh Hashanah during the shofar blowing, you must always compare it with the shofar blowing of the Rabbi's minyan in Kurenets.” I must agree with his assessment because what was experienced during the days before Yom Kippur in Kurenets is almost impossible to describe. I would like to point out that in Kurenets, people would not smoke on Rosh Hashanah although there was no clear rule against it. During Sabbath Shuva (The Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur), they would never carry outdoors despite the fact that there was eiruv in the shtetl. I also liked to write about a very splendid custom that took place during the ten days of Penitence. In all the synagogues they would light huge candles made of wax that we would prepare specially in our house. When the time of “Shuvalicht” repentance lights would arrive, a certain woman would go from house to house and would announce to all the women in town that now it was time to prepare for “Shuvalicht”. On a set day, all the women in town would get up early and come to our house and throughout the entire day they were busy preparing candles. They would come and go through the entire day, taking turns, and each one of them took part in this important mitzvah. Heading the women was Bilka, the wife of Benny the Baker. The wax was always bought by my mother from Sarah Rachel, the wife of Avraham Mendel the Melamed, who had a small wax factory in their home. Once in a while Bilka would repeat, “Have you prepared (banged) wax?” Then she would say, “Have you prepared a wick?” each woman would do these two things. During the time of adding the wick, each woman would recite prayers for the souls of their relatives, and naming all the ones who had died, and also” the souls of the holy people who have fallen in the field and the forest.” Each woman would then put a donation for the enterprise on a plate that was specially put on the table for this purpose. Before leaving each woman would go to a special room to pour out her heart in prayer, and plead with tears before God. At dusk only Bilka would be left there and she would start preparing the actual candles. The melted wax was put in a huge pail with hot water until it became even softer and then she would make it into candles that were one and a half meters tall, and five centimeters thick, five candles for each one of the synagogues in town.
Before Shabbat Shuva, each Shamash came to our house to get the candle for his synagogue. The candle would be burn halfway during Shabbat Shuva, and the rest during Yom Kippur. I would also like to relate about another beautiful, special custom that our town would experience during Shmini Atzeret and Simhat Torah. It would start with the special enterprise Lehem Evyonim. In our town we would give real loaves of bread to the needy. The Gabbai of this enterprise was Reb Yosi Velvul, the baker, he would distribute the bread. During the day of Simhat Torah, a few volunteers would go around all the homes, blessing everyone with a passage, “Mi Sheberach”, and each family would promise to take care of distributing a certain amount of bread for the next year. Each week someone would go and collect the loaves of bread from each home. Sometimes people would give money instead of bread and the baker would then bake the bread on their account. When the volunteers for Lehem Evyonimn finished their rounds in town, they would come to our house to take part in the celebration of the festival. They would sit by the table for a meal that would last until after dark. Birkat Hamazon (Grace after meals) would always be said in the evening[3]. Obviously there was also the enterprise of Kimcha d'Pischa[4] every year. My father, the Rabbi of blessed memory, would head this enterprise. He would go with one of the most prominent town members and together they would go to the houses of the well to do people and the generous people of the town, and then they would give to the needy, matzos, wine, and mead. The amount of matzos for each needy person was four kilograms. Prior to that on Purim, all around town there would be Purim spielers. They would ride horses dressed up as policemen and rode happily through town. Once they finished their parade, they would stop at our house for the Purim feast.

The spiritual leaders of the town, formulators of the spiritual character
In all the different aspects of life, you can see the distinct influence of the town's leaders. First and foremost, the pious brilliant, filled with knowledge and intelligence, Rav Avraham Meshulam; Zalman Landau from the lineage of the most prominent Rabbi of Israel, the Gaon Yehezkel Landau (author of the Noda Beyudah), and from the lineage of the“Hacham Zvi” who originally came from Brody. Long ago, there lived in Kurenets a wealthy man by the name of Itzha Raha's. Rav Zalman married his daughter when he was very young. Already at that point he was well known as a most amazing genius and even the most well-known, learned men would make testament that he was able to dispute and debate with the best scientists even in their own fields of expertise. When he heard of the well-known Hassidic Rebbe, author of the Tanya and Shulhan Arukh Harav[5] he was very drawn to him, so secretly he left together with his brother-in-law Leib, the father of Zalman Roshka's, to visit this Rebbe, and in spite of the fact that his mother-in-law chased after them to bring them back, they succeeded in reaching their destination.
On their return, Reb Zalman established the “minyan synagogue” that was named the Rabbi's Minyan, the same place that was destroyed by the Nazis, may their names be erased from memory. The first building that was put up in this location was destroyed by fire and my father rebuilt it. When that building caught fire again in 1925, my deceased brother Rabbi Shmuel Hillel of blessed memory rebuilt it. Zalman was amongst the main Hasidim of the “Admor Hazaken” and for that reason, his sons and grandsons had tremendous influence on the image of Jewish Kurenets which eventually became an overwhelmingly Chabad (Lubavitch) shtetl. Of the five synagogues in Kurenets, in four they prayed in the style of Ha'ari and only in the Beit Midrash did they continue in the Ashkenazi style. The pious Gaon, Reb Zalman Landau had two sons and one daughter. One was Reb Tzvi Hirsch, who was nicknamed Reb Hirscheleh Reb Zalman's. He was a merchant and had business connections with Konigsberg and would travel there often . He was splendid in piety and purity. In Kurenets they often repeated a passage first spoken by him, “A Jew can swap a calf for a young horse and live off the profit a whole week..” He once said to my father, of blessed memory, that in his opinion, one must donate ten percent to charity of money that one loses as well as from money that one earns. His sons were the pious Rabbi, Reb Avraham Landau, who was the father of Leah Sherl. When he lived in Kurenets he worked as a businessman, but later on he became Rabbi in the town of Zabin, and he was related to the Tzemach Tzedek[6]. His son in law, Reb Yakov, who was nicknamed Yakov Leah Sherl's, was a pious and learned Jew. The second son of Reb Hirsheleh was Rabbi Dan, who was the husband of the granddaughter of Tzemach Tzedek. The second son of Rabbi Zalman Landau was the adored Rabbi of our town, the genius, pious and renowned all over, Reb Mordechai Ziskind Zal, known by everyone as Reb Zishka. All the people of the town and surrounding area saw him as a most amazing man, and his name and his memory are held in deep respect. He was extremely pious towards God and very respectful to all people. Reb Zishka was a Hasid in the court of the Tzemach Tzedek, and was greatly loved by him, both on account of his father, the genius pious Zalman, but also for his own personality. As a Rabbi in our town, Reb Zishka was active until the year 1884. He didn't have any sons, only two daughters. One was Leah Margalit, the other was Cherna. He married his daughter Leah Margalit to my father, the Gaon Rabbi Moshe Leib Zal. He took his place as a Rabbi in Kurenets after he died. His daughter Cherna lived in Vilna. Rabbi Zishka passed away on Shabbat, the fourteenth of Sivan, 1884. They tell that before he passed away he got up and walked to the window and looked outside and said, “Ah sheina walt. Ah sheina walt A wonderful world.” Although he sat in his chair and didn't lie down, at certain points he felt that he was on the verge of death and a few times asked if the doctor Yehoshua Kremer was still present, since he was very worried that his soul would depart while there was still a Cohen in the house (Cohanim-Priests are not allowed to be in the presence of dead people). During the day when people asked him questions he said, “You must ask my son-in-law those questions because on the day of my death I cannot give answers anymore.” The manifest of the rabbinical transfer that was given to my father after he passed away started in those words…
The holy, who was light to our eyes, a crown to our head, went to Heaven[7]. We gathered here… This Rabbinical transfer was written by the famous Hasid, Reb Yehoshua Castrol[8] the uncle of the shohet in our town, Nahum Castrol.
Rabbi Zishka loved my father and was very close to him, and as my father would say, he withheld nothing from him. For fourteen years, my father lived with him and he would converse with him about passages of the Torah and Hasidic tales everyday from the evening meal until 3 in the morning. He would also tell him the most intimate details of his life. He opened his soul to him. His love for my father was unending, While he was still alive he ordered my father to sign all the papers replacing him as Rabbi of Kurenets. The transfer to my father as a Rabbi of Kurenets is from Tuesday the 17th of Sivan in the year 5684 (1884). It seems that during the first days of mourning the Rabbinate was already transferred. When all the townspeople returned from the cemetery, they gathered and the heads of the community took my father as the Rabbi of the town.
My father the genius and pious Rabbi was born in the town Haluvakah. From his father's side he was from the dynasty of Shlah[9] and from his mother's side from the dynasty of Mahar'sha[10]. My paternal grand father was the pious Rabbi, Reb Schneur Zalman. He was an exemplary genius, and he was one of the important Hasidim in the court of Tzemach Tzedek. He was the son in law of the genius, important Rabbi Reb Leib Ha-Cohen, Av Beit Din of Haluvkah, who was nicknamed Reb Leibeleh Tsertele's. In his youth, my father was famous as a genius prodigy and all the Rabbis of the time wanted to take him as a son-in-law, but he chose the daughter of the well-known Hasid when he was 23. He got a letter of endorsement from some of the great Rabbis of this generation, amongst them the genius from Dinabourg (or Dvinsk) who wrote, “Although I usually avoid giving these kinds of endorsements, I felt obligated to give this endorsement to such a worthy person.” When he reached the age of 25 the genius Yeruham Leib from Minsk who was known as the Minsker Hagadol (the great Rabbi from Minsk), said about him, “When a smart man asks something, he gives half an answer in his question. when he asks something he gives a full answer in his question.” He was fluent in all the Talmud and commentaries and he had a detailed knowledge of all the different parts of Shulhan Aruch and Shelot and Teshuvot. Already in the days when he lived with his father-in-law, he was well known as a wonderful teacher. His mouth was filled with pearls of wisdom and whoever heard him instructing in the Hasidic and the Chabad traditions would be drawn towards him by his tremendous charisma. He would travel to all the sons of Tzemach Tzedek and at the end of his days he traveled a few times to the Rashab[12], who deeply respected him and took note of his instructions. And if the way the community in Kurenets treated his father-in-law Reb Zishka Zal with respect and admiration, they treated my father as if he was father to all. The way he treated them back was as if all the townspeople were his children. Mordechai Gurevich (son of Zalman Uri and Sara nee Zimmerman Gurevich) told me that once he came to study with my father for his daily lessons and he was very depressed that day. My father, who was very close to him, could see from his face all that was bothering him, even down to the tiniest of details. During the fire of 1910, three synagogues were burnt down, these three synagogues were situated in the shulhaif circle and my father spared no trouble in trying to rebuild them. Finally he was able to rebuild them with more modern buildings and he also was able to collect money for people who could not afford to rebuild their homes after the fire. From his first wife, the daughter of Reb Zishka, my father had two sons: Reb Avraham Schneur Zalman and Reb Yosef Zvi. He also had five daughters. When he was still young, his wife passed away and he then married my mother, Gita Fega nee Loria, also from a Hasidic family. Her father was first a Strashali Hasid and later a Hasid of the Tzemach Tzedek. They had two sons, my brother who passed away, Rabbi Shmuel Hillel Zal, and myself[13] (may I be spared for life).

From the customs of my father's house

Every festival people would come to our home, the home of the Rabbi, they would come on the last day of Passover, on the second day of Shavuot, and on Simhat Torah. During the day of Simhat Torah, people would come to visit from morning until late at night. Everyone wanted to join in the rejoicing. People would sing, “The Gemara asks a difficult question ay ay ay ay, the answer is ay ay ay ay ay.” And then someone else would start singing, “A dudla”, holding the edges of his coat in his hand. Mushka Hashia Riva's was especially adept at that song. He would sit on the floor, surrounded by a crowd of people standing around him, and he would start, in a very quiet voice, “Doo doo doo doo…” Slowly his voice would become louder and louder until he would get up and start dancing with all the people who surrounded him, and he would continue dancing and singing like this throughout the night. My father would intersperse passages from the Torah and clever Hasidic tales between the dancing.. On other festivals the visits from the townspeople would only last until noon. Every festival my house would be busy with preparations for the visits. The women would bake all kinds of cookies and sweets to give to the visitors. For Passover, they would bake goods made from potato flour because we didn't use gebrochts[14]. The potato flour would be made from scratch in our house. Already during the winter months they would make certain rooms of the house Kosher for Passover, especially my father's room, where they would prepare the potato flour. Beetroots were also prepared for Passover, as well as the Passover wine. Mainly Reb Shmuel Der Viner and Hirshel der Vaser Trager (water carrier) handled the preparation of the wine. A few days before Passover the house would be sparkling clean and all ready for the holiness of the festival. And if Passover happened to fall on Tuesday, then on Shabbat hagadol[15] we wouldn't eat at home, but in the shed that we had in the yard, a place where we stored the Hametz. During regular weekdays we had visitors from the town everyday. There were certain designated hours to drink tea from the samovar, in the morning and in the afternoon. We would always have friends of the family coming to drink with us. Some of them would be invited specially; among them would be Daniel Yakov der Muler (the miller), a perfect example of a Lubavitch Hasid. Also Reb Yoel Nahum the Painter, who would sit studying in our minyan until someone would let him know it was time for tea. From my earliest days (2-3 years old) I can remember the image of Shmuel der Malach (the angel) coming to drink tea in the morning. I loved to sit on his lap. I would always ask him, “Why do they call you the Angel?” but he never answered my question. He was a very dear person. He was the court's envoy and he wrote all the contracts in those days. I saw many papers that my father had that he had signed. His sons were Efraim Der Malach, Israel Der Malach, who made an extremely impressive image when he would pray as chazzan for the congregation, and his third son Aaron who was nicknamed Arad Der Eiser. He first lived in a community called Eisa, but later his family moved to Kurenets to a house near that of Nehama Risha Alperovich. Another person who would come to our house was Avraham David the butcher who I will tell you about later. Also Aron Yosef, the Scribe who was a Koidanov Hasid. He was the brother-in-law of Avraham Itza Shohel's. Mezuzot and tefillin written by him were very desired by everyone, but he didn't write too many of them despite the fact that he was very poor. He used to say that he surely would not be punished for mezuzot he refused to write. He was also a shamash in our minyan and he would write the divorce contracts for the community members.
In the summer of the year 1912, my father became sick and this was his last illness. He traveled to see doctors in Konigsberg, but they lost hope. When he returned he said, “Just look at my diagnosis and you will understand my situation.” The word spread in the town and everyone panicked. Everyone came to the house and I welcomed them saying, “In my opinion, all that is left for us to do is to pray.” There was nothing the doctors could do anymore so I told them to go to the synagogue and say passages from tehillim and continuously recite psalms. I was very young but since the community was so respectful of my father, they accepted what I said and the next day all the stores and businesses were shut down, and everyone gathered in the synagogues and with deep sadness as they prayed for mercy for the beloved Rabbi. When they finished reciting psalms, they went to the cemetery to ask mercy from the deceased souls. Also, many in the neighboring town of Vilejka were upset and came to Kurenets to ask for God's pity. Letters were sent to the Admor of Lubavitch in the name of the communities of Kurenets and Vilejka, asking him to ask pity from the Kingdom of Heaven. My father was very tormented with his sickness. This was at the end of the month of Av, but by the time Elul came, all of a sudden he was much better and a day later he rose from his bed, and on Rosh Hashanah that year he prayed in the synagogue and he also fasted on Yom Kippur. During that winter his situation greatly improved and he was like a new, healthy man. But on Passover the next year the situation was grave. And in Elul of 1913 he passed away. When he was sick he kept expressing sorrow that he couldn't go to the Synagogue to arrive before the congregation, so they wouldn't have to stand up when he arrived. All his life he took care to reach the synagogue before the congregation. At 3 in the afternoon on his last day, he still instructed me in Torah. His passing away was almost like a Torah scroll being burned. Until his very last minute he remembered every passage of the Torah. He was laid to rest next to his father-in-law. I was pressed by friends of my father and theAdmor from Lubavitch to replace my father, in spite of my young age. The Admor of Lubavitch received members of the community like Shalom Yitzhak Baker, Mordechai Gurevich, and Leib Motosov in Lubavitch. I also went there and explained to the Admor how difficult it would be to accept the position but I couldn't change his mind, and with reluctance I took the job. During that winter, Nahum Castrol the shohet became blind, and when I again went to Lubavitch to ask the Rebbe to let me leave Kurenets, I again received a refusal. The Admor expressed to me that Reb Nahum Castrol must not continue his job as a shohet. Reb Nahum Castrol who was also a Lubavitch Hasid had already visited the Rebbe some time earlier. So as soon as I returned I let everyone know about the Admor's orders and now there was a question of who should be the new shohet. As is usual in such cases, there was a dispute on the subject of who should be the shohet.. I brought R.Schraga to see if he could handle the job. R. Schraga later became the shohet of our town. Mendel Dinestein who was nicknamed Mendel Shmuel Naha's, greatly helped me. According to the rules, the person who was the karaka[16] was supposed to decide about the shohet and somehow Mendel by some kind of trickery was able to become the karaka during the bidding process for the job. So now he was responsible for giving the old shohet the money owed to him for his pension. The community sent a letter to the Admor asking his opinion if Reb Schraga should be the shohet, and once he sent his approval, Reb Schraga became the shohet. http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/kurenets/kur020.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would like to share with you another report I received from Belarus:
In Vyazyn’(not far from Iliya) a burial place of Jews was found. In the garden of a local citizen there were found about 60 remains of local Jews executed in 1944
David Fox .
Though the most visible function of the United States Secret Service is guarding the President of the United States, the Service is also involved
in the investigation and prosecution of various banking and counterfeiting crimes. You can help the Secret Service by forwarding all "African scam" type spams, with full headers, to 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov
investigation and prosecution of various banking and counterfeiting crimes <419.fcd@usss.treas.gov>
USA - Sunday, June 15, 2003 at 08:57:28 (PDT)
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)
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Dear Richard,

sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I met with a person who knew your relatives in Horodok and later in Haifa; the Shaposhnik family who your parents received a letter from in 1977. Eliyahu and brother Zemach shaposhnik were from Horodok;
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/horodok/horodok.html Eliyahu was a teacher there. he had a sister and two brother who perished in Krasne in 1943. Eliyahu and Zemach escaped the camp and joined the Russian partisans to fight the Germans. Bronia nee Kur knew them and I gave her a copy of the letter you sent me SO long ago
I ALSO POSTED THE PICTURE OF YOUR COHEN ANCESTORS FROM KURENETS;
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/america/7b_big.jpg
Dear Eilat,

Thank you so much for sending me the information you learned about my Shaposhnik family. I will follow it up this weekend (I'm getting ready for work now). It is very thoughtful of you to remember me and my search.

Richard


- Friday, May 30, 2003 at 08:33:27 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Until I get it down properly, in short my grandfather Shlomo Hayim Koor
was one of 7 children of Moshe the shoemaker ;
, 2 boys and five girls. 4 of them came to England and three sisters remained in Russia. We lost contact with the Russian side of the family from before the second world war until the fall of the Soviet Union. Since then we have met the family and one of them lives here in Israel in Rishon Lezion. Danny
.
- Wednesday, May 28, 2003 at 23:04:58 (PDT)
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In a message dated 5/28/03 1:34:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time, oofer@netvision.net.il writes: Dear Eilat,

I read with great interest the pages of the Dolginovo site.
My grandfatehr, Efriam Sparber, was born in Dolginovo in 1895. He moved to Ufa, Russia around 1900-1905. Where could I find morer details - if it possible - about Sparber family who used to live in Dolginovo around 1900? Where should I look ?
Ofer Rabinovich

Shalom Ofer,.
Thank you so much for your email. There are lists in Vilna (revision lists) of Dolginovo/Dolhinov in the 1850s some time soon they should be available on Jewishgen, since some researchers for Dolginovo paid for them.
You could do your own research but it will costs you some money.
Some Sparber families did not leave Dolhinov in 1905.
in the Ellis Island site;
Spaeber,Sore from Dalginow in 1906 22 years old
Sparber,Jankel from Dolhinow, Wilna in 1909 21 years old married going to New York
Sparber, Aron male from Dolhinow, Russia in 1911 20 years old going to brother Jacob Sparber in New York 21 ? Cherry Street 5' 2 " tall with brown hair and eyes
had $25 on him.
Manifest for Campanello December 12, 1913
Sailing from Rotterdam ;. Chaim Sparber Dalvinew, Russia 1913 45 years old widower going to son Shlomo Sparber in New York 118 Manroe Street 5'6"
Manifest for Nieuw Amsterdam
Sailing from Rotterdam 1906
. Sparber, Nische F 25y Married Russia, Hebrew Ilia
0002. Sparber, Chaim M 4y S Russia, Hebrew Ilia
0003. Sparber, Nochem M 3y S Russia, Hebrew Ilia
0004. Sossman, Mone M 8y S Russia, Hebrew Ilia
. Ilia next to Dolhinov 1906
going to husband and father S. Sparber in New York 142 Madison St.
Manifest for Kursk
Sailing from Libau January 09, 1913;
Sparber, Sore-Rewe Female 43 years old Married Russia, Hebrew Dalginowo, Russia
0021. Sparber, Morduch M 11y S Russia, Hebrew Dalginowo, Russia going to husband and father H. Sparber c/o Markel B r? on 92 Canal Street, New York
Manifest for Campania December 31, 1910
Sparber, Sore Dweire F 22y S Russia Dolginowo, Russia
going to brother; H. S u ? 105 Monroe Street New York
November 03, 1906 Manifest for Kaiserin Augusta Victoria
Sailing from Hamburg
Sparber, Zelda F 20y S , Hebrew Dolginowo going to father Goth Leib? Sperber in New York
Manifest for Vanderland
Sailing from Antwerp June 03, 1907
Sperber, Anna F 17y S Russia, Hebrew Doldinof, Russia
going to uncle J.Kaplan in Akron, Ohio
.
- Wednesday, May 28, 2003 at 22:56:25 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've had your web site among my favorites for some time, but only today have I had the time to peruse it. I'm impressed. I'm also pleased that you found the material I put on Ancestry.com and included it.

I also found several of my known Alperovitz relatives from Dahlhinif listed among your arrivals. However, they shortened their surname to Alport after their arrival and settled in Chicago. I noted that you had not included that variation in your listing. Most are now deceased but I knew most of them personally and would like to have them included.

Do you know if the famous psychologist, Gordon Allport was an Alperovitz?

Sincerely,
William
Dear William, Thank you so much, I did not know of 'Alport' . I am pasting some that I found could you tell me if you are related to any?
Alport, Lovey Age: 28 Year: 1920
Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_174
Race: White Page: 25B
State: Connecticut ED: 11
County: Fairfield Image: 0917
Township: Bridgeport
Alport, Max Age: 36 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_331 Race: White Page: 10A State: Illinois ED:
1139 County: Cook Image: 0325 Township: Chicago
Alport, Samuel Age: 35 Year: 1920
Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_341
Race: White Page: 3B State: Illinois ED:
1416 County: Cook Image: 0581
Township: Chicago
Alport, Simon Age:33 Year: 1920 Birthplace:Russia Roll: T625_341
Race: White Page: 3B State: Illinois ED: 1416
County: Cook Image: 0581 Township: Chicago
Alport, Frances Age: 30 Year:1920 Birthplace: Maine Roll:
T625_342 Race: White Page: 12B State: Illinois ED:
1478 County: Cook Image: 1075 Township: Chicago
Alport, Obraham Age: 37 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_451 Race: White Page: 11A State: Indiana ED:
218 County: Marion Image: 1122 Township: Indianapolis
Alport, Louis R Age: 51 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_541 Race: White Page: 7A
State: Kansas ED: 177 County: Montgomery Image:
0986 Township: Coffeyville
Alport, Sarah Age: 50 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_702 Race: White Page: 17A
State: Massachusetts ED: 102 County: Hampden Image:
0517 Township: Springfield
Alport, Samual Age: 45 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_702 Race: White Page: 8A State: Massachusetts ED:
103 County: Hampden Image: 0535 Township: Springfield
Alport, Earnest Age: 30 Year: 1920 Birthplace: New York Roll:
T625_805 Race: White Page: 6B State: Michigan ED:
116 County: Wayne Image: 0238 Township: Detroit
Alport, Issac Age: 47 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_858 Race: White Page: 3B State: Minnesota ED:
220 County: Saint Louis Image: 0352 Township: Duluth
Alport, Bennett Age: 55 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_926 Race: White Page: 1A State: Missouri ED:
134 County: Jackson Image: 0674 Township: Kansas City
Alport, Joseph J Age: 40 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_929 Race: White Page: 10A State: Missouri ED: 209 County: Jackson Image: 0301
Township: Kansas City
Alport, Elia Age: 71 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_925 Race: White Page: 5A State: Missouri ED:
92 County: Jackson Image: 0539 Township: Kansas City
Alport, Hyman Age: 44 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_926 Race: White Page: 5B State: Missouri ED:
97 County: Jackson Image: 0116 Township: Kansas City
Alport, ?? Age: 35 Year: 1920 Birthplace: New Jersey Roll:
T625_1051 Race: White Page: 10A State: New Jersey ED:
14 County: Hunterdon Image: 0942 Township: High Bridge
Alport, Israel Age: 50 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1134 Race: White Page: 10B State: New York ED:
192 County: Bronx Image: 0486 Township: Bronx
Alport, Max Age: 57 Year: 1920 Birthplace: AUT Gahan Roll:
T625_1136 Race: White Page: 21A State: New York ED:
247 County: Bronx Image: 0366 Township: Bronx
Alport, Isaac Age: 34 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1138 Race: White Page: 17B State: New York ED:
300 County: Bronx Image: 0352 Township: Bronx
Alport, Jacob Age: 42 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1112 Race: White Page: 1B State: New York ED:
70 County: Franklin Image: 0197 Township: Tupper Lake
Alport, Nathans Age: 22 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1115 Race: White Page: 8B State: New York ED:
33 County: Herkimer Image: 1164 Township: Little Falls City
Alport, Sarah Age: 11 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Illinois Roll:
T625_1172 Race: White Page: 23B State: New York ED:
1102 County: Kings Image:
0988 Township: Brooklyn Alport, Max S. Age: 24 Year: 1920 Birthplace: New York Roll:
T625_1173 Race: White Page: 2B State: New York ED:
1126 County: Kings Image: 0393 Township: Brooklyn
Alport, Abraham Age: 36 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1180 Race: White Page: 18B State: New York ED:
1444 County: Kings Image: 0990 Township: Brooklyn
Alport, Isedore Age: 25 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1149 Race: White Page: 14B State: New York ED:
199 County: Kings Image: 0679
Township: Brooklyn Alport, Hyran Age: 48 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1158 Race: White Page: 16B State: New York ED:
528 County: Kings Image: 0827 Township: Brooklyn
Alport, Herman Age: 31 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1145 Race: White Page: 18B State: New York ED:
78 County: Kings Image: 0967 Township: Brooklyn
Alport, Rubin Age: 39 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_1146 Race: White Page: 10B State: New York ED:
92 County: Kings Image: 0629 Township: Brooklyn
Alport, A Age: 40 Year:1920 Birthplace: New York Roll:
T625_1124 Race: White Page: 11B State: New York ED:
198 County: Monroe Image: 0584 Township: Rochester
Alport, Samuel Age: 40 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia;Poland Roll:
T625_1365 Race: White Page: 5A State: Ohio ED:
217 County: Cuyahoga Image: 0621 Township: Cleveland
Alport, Ivan Age: 42 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia;Poland Roll:
T625_1939 Race: White Page: 11A State: Washington ED:
187 County: Snohomish Image: 0703 Township: Mukilteo
my great great grandfather was Yehuda son of Meir ALPEROVITZ from Kurenitz near Dalhinov/Dahlhinif born c 1850 died c 1915 in Kurenitz. had a brother; Shimon
Children of Yehuda son of Meir ALPEROVITZ;
WELWEL;killed in the The Russo-Japanese War 1904- 1905
FRADA born in KURENETS in 1870 died in Eretz Israel1940
RASHKA perished in the holocaust Escaped to the forest and was killed during a blocade.
TAIBE went with family to Brazil
MICHAEL perished in the holocaust IN KURENETS 9-9-1942
SOLOMON YTZHAK lived to an old age in the Soviet Union
YAKOV MOSHE perished in the holocaust in RADOSHKOVICHI
Eilat
.
- Tuesday, May 27, 2003 at 23:57:20 (PDT)
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My cousin Danny Koor has been in contact with you, and has sent me all the details he has received from you so far.
We share the same grandfather Shlomo Chayim, or Solomon Koor as he was known in England. My late mother Marie, and Danny's late father Henry were brother and sister, together with 2 surviving sisters Hannah and Lily.
The family lived initially in the East End of London, moving to Notting Hill in the 1920's, where my grandfather eventually became minister of Notting Hill Synagogue until he died in May 1946.
There is so much more to tell, but I am particularly interested in photo 4. Do you know who the 3 men are, because the one in the middle looks very much like me when I was younger? Are there any members of the Kur family, who settled elsewhere, other than Israel?
I look forward to hearing from you Regards
Stephen Dear Stephen and Danny, Breine nee Kur Rabinovitz (first cousin of your grandfather) as her one sister who survived the holocaust, settled in Israel. However 3 of the children of Breine live in the U. S (Los Angeles area) and one in Israel. The children of her sister are in Canada. Breine is visiting her children and grandchildren in Los Angeles presently.
she is 87 years old and amazing woman!!!!
She is an actress and a singer (Yiddish) and she entertains in Jewish centers.
She also writes poetry. I recorded her on Video last week. She is in picture #3 in "Kur." I told her about Danny and she ask me before I had a chance to tell her where he lives if he lives in Jerusalem. Are there other relatives in Jerusalem? She said to me before that her father had a brother Pinia who lived in Vileyka and his son is Nechemia Kur in picture 1. She received my email address from his daughter in Israel. In picture #4 I only know that Breine's brother (Eliezer Kur) is on the left.
Could you scan pictures of your family for the site?
Yehoshua of Vileyka had at list 3 sons;
1. Moshe the father of your grandfather (did he have brothers)?
2. Pinia, the father of Nechamia (I will ask Breine for more information on the family)
3. Mordechai kur, father of Breine, Avraham, Leika, Eliezer and Dishka.
I know that article by Rabbi Yakov Landau is difficult to edit. I avoided translating it hoping that a religious person would do the job-but no such person volunteered (I have asked Chabad Rabbis to do it ).
so I, a third generation "atheist socialist of Israeli style," had to do it!
I believe that it is better to do a poor job then nothing. I could always correct it at a later date.
Hope to hear from you soon, Eilat .
- Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 09:16:28 (PDT)
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Dear Eilat I have been looking at your most amazing website. I discovered only this week that my grandfather is mentioned in "Megillat Kurenitz" and I have since bought a copy of the book. His name was Shlomo Hayim Koor and was the son of Moshe the shoemaker and grandson of Yehoshua the "Sofer" from Vileika. His story appears in the article by Rav Landau under the paragraph of "Baalei Melacha"- craftsmen.
I have no real information on my family unfortunately I did not know my grandfather, but saw on the site pictorial family trees . Among the families is a family Kur and the head of the family on one of the pictures is the son of Yehoshua the "Sofer" . Can you please give me some information who posted the pictures and if there is any way I can contact them. I would of course appreciate any information that can shed some light on any of my family members.


Danny Koor Purchasing Manager Ophir Optronics, Jerusalem .
- Monday, May 19, 2003 at 11:22:54 (PDT)
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Today I called Moshe Baran.
Moshe was born in 1919 in Horodok to Ester nee Weisbord from Volozhin (born in 1902 and Yosef Baran who was so born in Horodok 1890 (His grandfather; Avraham Pinchas was born in Oshmina grandmother; Riva Risha). Moshe's parents met when his father attended the Volozhin Yeshiva and he had a "Keset" (room and board) at the house of of the Weisbord family in Volozhin.
Ester nee Weisbord had four sisters;
1. ? Married a Persky in Volozhin and had two daughters; Gitel born c 1912 and Zila born c 1916. Gitel was married before the war. The family perished in Volozhin.
2. Shoshke married Yisrael Mayzel and lived in Horodok. At one point they immigrated to the U. S and some of their children were born there. The family returned to Horodok were the mother died. some of their children went to Cuba and in 1950 went to Luisiana.the rest of the family perished in Horodok.
3. Bela, a twin sister to Ester went to Louisiana (Shreveport) she had a family there.
4. Chana married a lampart and perished in Volozhin.
Moshes' father; Yosef Baran had a brother; Hirshel Leib Baran who moved to Kurenets after his wife died. one of his sons also moved to Kurenets. Hirshel perished in Kurenets. His son escaped to the forest and was later killed. Moshe had twin sisters; Mina and Musha, they were born in 1928 his brother Yehoshua was born in 1922.
In 1928 the family moved to Rakov. The father had a leather factory there. Yakov Lifshitz was Moshes' teacher in Rakov. Pruma nee Shulman lifshitz (Yakov's wife) was his teacher in Horodok.
The family lived in Rakov until 1932 and then returned to Horodok.
Moshes' father and one of his sisters perished in the holocaust. Moshe, his mother, his brother Yehoshua and the other sister were sent to the work camp in Krasne.
One time when Moshe was working on the rail road for the Germans two Jews from Warsaw were working near by. They were ordred to put away some Russian weapon that the Germans found.Moshe and the guys were able to hide some of it and take it to the Ghetto. in January of 1943 a Jewish woman asked Moshe to help her to escape with her two children (7 and 9) she told him that she knew of a forest were other Jews from the area were hiding and she would take him there if he would help them.
Moshe took his weapon and escaped with the woman and her children. They arrived in the area of Kramnitz near Ilja and found the Jews. Since Moshe had weapon he became a member of the partisan unit Hanokem (Masitel) the leader was Lunin and the Komisar was Patashkevitz.
Moshe was able to help his mother, sister and brother escape from the Krasne camp on March 17,1943 two days before the camp was annihilated. Moshe served with the partisans until 1944. in the spring of 1944 when the Germans knew that they had lost the war in the East (Of Europe) they started a huge blockade against the partisans. Moshe and his unit were hiding in the marshes for many days.
Moshes' Mother; Ester was the only Jewish mother in Horodok who survived the Holocaust. after the war ended the family was on the way to Israel when the family of Ester's sisters in Shreveport, Louisiana found out that they survived. They pleaded with them to join them in the U. S. They were well of and helped them to settle in America.
Today Moshe lives in Pittsburgh next to his sister. Yehoshua lives in Los Angeles.
Moshe told me that some years ago he visited Yisrael Garber the son of the Shochet of Hordok who now lives in New York. Yisrael had a movie that was made in Horodok in 1933 by Dov Shapira who was born in Horodok.
Dov left Horodok when he was 13. He did well in America and in 1933 he and his wife came for a visit and Gave large sums of money to the Rabbi of Horodok for the community. They also gave five dollars to each person even to the little children. They also made a film of their visit. Moshe knew that the film must be for more then a personal use. He transferred it to a video and send copies to Horodok people in Israel and also gave copies to Jewish organizations. the video Horodok could be ordered for $30 at;
http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/titlepricestart.html
"Image Before My Eyes," is the name of a 90-minute film about Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement between the two World Wars. The video includes some, but not all, of the footage from the Horodok silent video, as well as some different footage of what was obviously the same visit. This excerpt also includes interviews, segments on other locations and on other topics, including the wooden synagogues, of which so very few remain. The modern parts are in color, and the entire 90-minutes is also available through The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis.
http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/titlepricestart.html
Moshe told me that there are other videos of
Resistance and Stories of Jewish Partisans that he (and some other partisans from the area of Horodok and other areas ) detail their battle first for survival and then for revenge in the towns and forests of Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus between 1941 and 1945.
.
..
. - Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 21:34:14 (PDT)
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The School Tarbout (pages 108- 116) By Israel Gvint (son of Sima nee Meltzer and Zalman Gwint)
Translated by Eilat Gordin Levitan Many wrote reminiscences of the Hebrew school in Kurenets because the town where many of its students hailed from was annihilated. Still there are many unrecorded memories that live in the hearts of those that located to a safe haven and now find themselves scattered across the world. Although the following lines aim to convey a shared testimonial by many, but to which I know can’t avoid bring my own knowledge and intimate connections. My father of blessed memory was a person for whom the school was the center of his universe. This fact would be clear in my story, because many of the difficulties that school encountered were melded in my person life. When was the school established? When I try to answer a question like this I have trouble pinpointing a specific date. Supposedly the school was established after WWI, around 1921. Guided by my old memories, which were validated by others, I seem to remember that during the years of the war there was an attempt to establish a school in town. And what I speak is not in reference to the Cheder metukan were they taught Hebrew in Hebrew which started before WWI, which I had heard of in tales. Those Cheders of those earlier generations had their own important place in history but they could not fulfill the needs of following generations. The town, which was situated on main roads and near a train track, saw the war face to face. Here settled at one time, battalions from the German army, Kosak brigades from the Tsar’s army, battalions of the Red Army, and battalions of the Polish army. The different battalions exchanged places according to the results of the battles. One would leave and the other would enter, and the town kept changing rulers. Many of the soldiers would live in our homes and that made life very unsettled. Also, many of the town’s natives were ordered to serve in the army and were far away from their families. In those days there were many cheders where the children of Israel would receive an education. But this system of education lost its zeal during those days and the war very much affected the spirit of the children. It was as if a sense of lawlessness controlled the streets. The children watched the adults and started busying themselves with their own wars. The battles that the children waged took place on two hills that were situated between Smorgon and Myadel streets. It was in Dysyanka that the children would stand and throw stones at each other. One of the most common games was to light bonfires and to put live bullets that we found in the area and watch as they exploded. Often these mischievous games ended in accidents.

We watched as beaten battalions would retreat. We also saw splendid battalions marching in pristine uniforms to the sounds of drums and army bands. And we the young ones would run after them all the way to the edge of the town. The days were tinted by shades of changes. In such an environment, something new easily captured the hearts of the children and controlled them. But it had to be something fresh and something exhilarating, and the cheder was an old tradition which could not extend this vigor over the children. Opposed to the old system, the new procedure where you had a recess between studies and a bell and youthful teachers appealed to the children and woke the town out of its sleepy educational routine. The days of the Russian revolution initiated a permanent imprint upon the town. The manual laborer of the town, who were the sons of the poor, together with many of the youth became welcoming candidates for the new ideology. In the central town’s market, many ecstatic speeches were made. Also, the Red Army spread their own propaganda through theatre troops that traveled to the area. The Bolsheviks confiscated the mansion of the paritsta, where subsequently the army would host plays which the whole town would come to see. To top it all off, there was tidings in the Jewish world about the Balfour Declaration and the return to Zion. All these factors deeply affected the population. At the same time, these factors affected various people in a different way. Even in the days when the battle was raging around us, there was a female teacher who gave lessons to both male and female students and it was sort of like a school..... I will post the rest in Kurenets stories
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- Tuesday, May 13, 2003 at 19:42:07 (PDT)
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ALPIROVICH, Iankel age in 1897; 36 son of Movsha Melamed, Vilna house guest of the RADIULSKI family
Born;District of Vileika
Registered;Vileika
Living;Vileika

ALPEROVICH, Gancel head of household Milkman from Vidziai
age in 1897; 70 .
- Tuesday, May 13, 2003 at 19:37:52 (PDT)
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LPIROVICH, Iankel age in 1987; 36 son of Movsha Melamed, Vilna house guest of the RADIULSKI family
Born;District of Vileika
Registered;Vileika
Living;Vileika

ALPEROVICH, Gancel head of household Milkman from Vidziai
age in 1987; 70 .
- Tuesday, May 13, 2003 at 19:36:58 (PDT)
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LPIROVICH, Iankel age in 1987; 36 son of Movsha Melamed, Vilna house guest of the RADIULSKI family
Born;District of Vileika
Registered;Vileika
Living;Vileika

ALPEROVICH, Gancel head of household Milkman from Vidziai
age in 1987; 70 .
- Tuesday, May 13, 2003 at 19:36:48 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ February 13, 1906
Manifest for Kroonland
Sailing from Antwerp ; ItziK Katzowitz painter from Krivichi 21 years old going to friend; Leib Gurewitz C/O Weis---? 654 4th Street New York city
Ester Dinerstein tailoress 16 years old from Ilje going to father; abraham Dinerstein C/O B.Sosensky 184 Henry Street, New York
Manifest for Zeeland
Sailing from Antwerp June 09, 1903
Jossel Katzowitz male 22 years old from Krivichi Russian Hebrew single
Manifest for Lapland
Sailing from Antwerp September 04, 1910
Katzowitz, Yankel m 50 years old married Russia, Hebrew Kurenitz,was in the U.S in 1904
0002. Katzowitz, Lesche F 48y M Russia, Hebrew Kurenitz, Russia
0003. Katzowitz, Itzchok M 14y S Russia, Hebrew Kurenitz, Russia
0004. Katzowitz, Leie F 5y S Russia, Hebrew Kurenitz, Russia
0005. Katzowitz, Boruch M 11m S Russia, Hebrew Kurenitz, Russia
going to son of Katzovitz Yankel and Lesche; Salomon Katzowitz Cherry Street, New York
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- Saturday, May 10, 2003 at 16:12:23 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Itzhak Arieli [nee Alperovich] From a notebook of a teenager. In the spring of 1925, during the afternoon hours of a certain Tuesday, a weekly market day when all the farmers from the surrounding villages came to Kurenets to buy and sell their products. The market was filled with people and livestock. Fire started at the house of Aharon, son of Zvi Shumlan, or as he was known in the town, Artzik der Biager [the Tanner]. A big flame came from his house, and it took but a few hours and most of the town was burned. Our home was immediately burned since it stood in the market right next to the house of the Shulman family where the fire started. The library with thousands of books was burned. The house of the Hasidim was burned with its clock on top, the clock that would fill us with awe and wonder, and obviously all of our studies from that point were suspended.
Our family, which had already experienced some tragedies at that point, now became homeless and had nothing to support ourselves with. We lay down in the field, on top of a few belongings we managed to get out: some pillows and blankets that we risked our lives to save from the burning house. Some officials from the Polish authorities came by, and the help they gave us was only a nod of their heads. And our heads didn’t even have a place to lie down! The family of Leib Yakov Torov was filled with pity for us so they let us all join them in their house, which was already filled with children. During the summertime we slept on hay in their barn, and in the winter we slept on the furnace.
The day of the fire became the last day of my official studies. At first I studied in the cheder, and later on in the yeshiva, and at the point when the fire started I was in the Tarbut school. But now I had to start a new chapter in my life, in the “school of the toil of living” I remember how I lay down on the steps of the stores that stood across from the yard where the house of my grandfather used to be. IT was the property that belonged to all the grandsons of my grandfather [Binya Alperovich]. I looked at the yard where we started building a new home. We cleaned the yard from the remnants of the bricks and the dust, and my brother and I helped the builders as much as we could. I was shocked that on that Saturday, when a few so-called experts came by, and looked at the frame that was being built for the house, and decided that the frame was crooked and was leaning towards one side. Those experts said,
“No wonder the frame was crooked, it is a widow who is the foreman for this enterprise.”
At the end of that summer in the year of 1925 I worked in the apple orchard picking apples, and later, my friend Shimon Zimmerman, took me for a month to guard with him a fruit garden near Kriviczi. The days would pass for us beautifully in nature, and the nights were filled with fear when we had to guard from Christians and their dogs and also from thieves. When winter came, our family moved to the house despite the fact that it was not yet finished. There was no floor and there was only one room that was used both for living and for business since we needed somehow to make a living, so we opened a hervatziarnia [a business that sells tea, salted fish, and other such things]. Many times the farmers would come and eat while I was asleep on my corner and they would sit right on the place where I was sleeping to eat their food. This was the most difficult winter for me. I was lonely and far from all my friends and had no warm clothes to wear. I couldn’t even walk to the synagogue since I did not have any winter shoes. The vista for my prospective looked very dark. I was an orphan from my father. I was small and weak and many times was on the verge of starvation. Even now, after many years have passed, I still am not able to free myself from the terror and anxiety that I experienced that winter.
As the winter was coming to an end, I heard rumors that Yehiel the son of Yekutiel Meir Kramer was going to open a fadrad, which was a place to bake matozos. He was going to open an enterprise operated in a modern fashion, and he would need young people to help. So with the help of Avraham Dimmenstein, I planned on how to get accepted for work so I could earne a little money for Passover. As a child I was always in awe of those guys, the radelu [?] who stood next to tables covered by some kind of thin metal sheets, and they would roll a special tool to make holes in the matzo.
In my eyes they seemed so capable and cool. Who would not want to do something like this? I was used to the old style of matzo making the way the parents of my friend Shimon Zimmermn did. I loved all the activity in the place where they baked matzos. One would put the flour, another would add the water, and others would mix the dough and on wooden boards they would knead it, roll it out, and then they would make holes in it and put in a big, tall oven that was taller than anyone, and this gave a special holy day atmosphere to life in town. So on that first day, when they started baking the matzos for Passover that year, I got up very early and put on my broken shoes and with excitement I came to the building. But inside I found many, many that needed the job and as the bosses arrived there was a big pandemonium. Each one tried to enter and at that point, my elbows were very weak, and I wasn’t able to push my way in. So after I walked around for about 15 minutes I realized there was no place for me here and I walked home disappointed. My mother understood my frustration and tried to console me, saying, “Nevermind, my son, we will survive even without this job.”
But I couldn’t console myself and the anguish of being orphaned became unbearable for me. It must be that my miserable situation became known to certain people in town, so Chaim Kramer tried very hard to find something for me to do, and he was able to get me a job as a messenger in the bank. This was a very appropriate job for me since I was very good at math and also because I was meticulous. So in a short time I did well in my job and my financial situation improved tremendously.
Small shopkeepers, merchants, craftsmen, and any other money earning Jew utilized the bank in Kurenets. The number of members in the bank was more than 300, and it was almost equal to the number of money earners in town. There was no limitation put on potential members as far as their sex, the amount of possessions or property you owned, to become a member of the bank. The “joint” financed the operation by giving something around 24,000 zloty. Together with the savings we were able to give loans of more than 100,000 zloty in a fair and democratic way.
The bank was not for profit, and the interest was the usual at that time, taking into account the conditions after the war and the inflation. I, as a sixteen-year-old, had some technical difficulties since I had such a responsible job, and sometimes when Yosef Shimon Kramnik [son of Hillel] who was the head of the bank would not be present and then I encountered a lot of difficulties. Also, many times I would see the injustice of the wealthier customers getting larger amounts of money, which was against my beliefs I would protest. Sometimes I would d get instructions that I must deliver notices to people who didn’t come to get their money on time that the loan was not authorized. When they would come and bitterly complain to the bank about what was done, other employees of the bank would use me and say I was inexperienced and it was I who had made the mistake. So this situation became more and more difficult. It seemed that as time passed more and more people couldn’t pay their loans and they sent me to warn the people who didn’t pay and force them to pay something. I was also supposed to go with the person who would repossess belongings, which was extremely unpleasant for me, and clearly my life was not one of milk honey. Many would complain to me as if I was guilty, although I did what I was ordered to do by people who were above me.
The typical business of the bank was giving loans and taking collateral. Amongst the people who used the bank there were some who were not Jews. The people who signed on the loans were the residents of Kurenets and they signed the loans for other people who bought merchandize on credit from enterprises in Vilna. Clearly the bank had a very important duty in giving them credit and it was particularly important since it was the only institution of such activities in town until they opened Gmilut Chesed .[an interest-free loan place] which was managed by Itzhak Moshe Meltzer, but I cannot tell you much about it because I
had very little dealing with them.
First the fire of 1925, and afterwards there were financial difficulties that limited the activities of the bank, and Chaim Kramer worked very hard to keep it afloat. Although it did improve in the years 1930 and 1931, some of the loaners couldn’t return their loans and they kept prolonging the length of the loan, so obviously the interest kept rising. So many of the loans had to be declared as lost. Since the people were bankrupt, and also the taxes became larger as the Polish government asked for much more from the Jews, and the population, which contained mainly small merchants from the middle class, became poor and unable to earn sufficient money. For the very poor, it seemed like the loans were the only means of survival. When they were not given anymore loans and they had no more means to survive, they stopped seeing the bank as a place for assistance and only saw it as a leech sucking their blood.
The twists of fate and the Nazi killers entered the lives of the Jews in town. But the youth who had a healthy outlook at the future, realized years before it the financial base of the community was falling, that life was very unstable in the shtetl. We who loved our hometown, but in some way we were feeling like foreigners there, and knew that to add another mercantile business to the market would not solve that sense of foreignness.
From my position in the bank I was a daily witness to the poverty and the difficulties that life in the shtetl presented. This made me wish even more for a very different life, despite the fact that my personal situation (at least from the financial point of view) was fine in this institution. So one evening, quietly, I left the town on the way to the land of Israel. And this came as a great surprise to many, and especially to the few who knew how I felt and kept trying to convince me that I Should stay here and describe to me my rosy future in town.
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- Thursday, May 08, 2003 at 23:14:17 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dov Benes Beloved and unforgettable.Kurenets
Dedicated to my dear parents,
my father Chaim Zeev son of Shmuel and Ada Benes
and my mother Feiga daughter of Reb Shlomo Itzhak and Henia Kopilovich from Ilia,
and my dear sister Chaia Aada (Only her daughter survived and lives in the U.S)
All of them perished in the Holocaust.
As if alive you come to my eyes, my hometown, beloved and never forgotten. Many, many years passed since the day I left you, but every day I will visit you in my heart. Sometimes I imagine that it was only a horrible night’s hallucination that I experienced, and that one morning I will awake and find you alive and well as when I was there.
Our home that was built with years of toil would be standing in the corner of Myadel Street and Market. I will enter the home and find my beautiful mother petting her youngest son [“the son of her old days”] Lazarkeh, singing to him songs of Elakim Tsonzer or a tune from a Goldfadden play. I would sit by her and also listen to her stories about the Ger Tzedek from the Potzotsky family, who hid from the fear of the government’s informants in the big synagogue in the shtetl Ilia. The stories of her great grandmother, who would bring him food in secret. My mother would tell stories of how he was finally caught and imprisoned after the informants found him and how he was burned alive by the authorities one hour before they received word of his pardon. And here I’ll see you, my father, kind and quiet. I do not remember you even once becoming angry. You blessed everyone with your generous and intelligent _expression, and humorous anecdotes. Memories, memories!
Melameds (teachers) and their cheders.
Some of them were fastidious, others were pleasant, and here comes to me one end of winter. It’s almost time for vacation, Passover is approaching… Those were days March days in 1917. It was a regular day, like any other day. I was sent by my aunt Yenta to deliver certain things. If my memory doesn’t betray me it was flour to bake matzos. I was sitting in their home with the flour and all of a sudden comes my uncle, Shimon Mikhail, smaller-than-average built Jew with a long and splendid beard. He was a very enlightened Jew who didn’t blabber away unnecessarily. But this time, he entered panicky and excited. Immediately he approached his wife, Aunt Yenta, and said,
“Miracle of miracles! Miracle of miracles! Did you hear what they are saying in the shtabel? Did you hear who was taken down from his throne? From his mighty perch? The Czar! Czar Nikolai was overthrown!”
My Aunt Yenta who was a true “Eschat- Chayl “ Vivacious and could do anything well, she was a born businesswoman and as soon as she heard it she warned my uncle,
“Look, Shimon. I beg you and warn you not to take any part in it. You must not take any part in it. The result could only be heavy taxation for us.”
Clearly at that moment I totally forgot the job that my aunt gave me, and as if my feet were on fire I started running to the synagogue to see with my own eyes what had happened. The synagogue was packed with people. Everyone seemed very excited and words like, “Czar”… “Nikolai”… “Freedom”… “Revolution”… and “Krensky” were thrown in the air, and here on the bima [podium] stood Pesach the Cantonist as he was known, and with a voice filled with tears he blessed the moment with the blessing of She Hecheyanou [meaning we were alive to see this time]. This blessing he made for this occasion. In his childhood Pesach was caught by the kidnappers and was given for 25 years of service in the Czar’s army, and there he was forced to convert to Christianity. Now with the fall of Nikolai he would have no obstacles and he would be free to return to Judaism openly. In the synagogue that day he told of how he was a soldier in the Russian-Turkish war and took part in the battle near Palvana, and there he vowed that if God will save him and keep him alive, he will return to being a Jew, in spite of all the danger that this action would bring him.
I do remember Pesach the Cantonist who always sat in the big synagogue, in the back as the rabbi permitted, saying passages from Psalms and praying without wearing the tallit and fellim…
I remember how Netta the Shamash who was also a Hazan in beit midrash, would every holiday or other special occasion. He approched Pesach with much excitement and with vibrating strain in his beautiful and clear voice said, “You were blessed, Pesach. You were able to accomplish your vow!”
The fierce waves of the revolution and its excitement engulfed the streets and the hearts in Kurenets. It awakened the civic movements with a sort of different emphasis. It was a Zionist movement. It started with the youths. They established a group named Tiffeeret Bachurim [“The Best of the Young Men”]. They would gather in the old shtabel. Their aim was to organize the youths in a sort of society that had some connections to old Jewish traditions and to the new socialist period. I remember that shortly after that day, on a Saturday night, Yosef Shimon [son of Hillel] Kremnik [perished in the Holocaust] came to me and gave me a note and said, “I ask you, Bere, you must give this note to your sisters Batia and Chaia Ada. But you must be careful not to open it and read it.”
Clearly after such a warning my curiosity rose twenty-fold, and I immediately opened the note and read it. I found out that this was an invitation asking my sisters to come to a gathering of the youths that would take part in the house of Chaim Avremel or in the house of Zalman Rashka. The aim was to organize a Zionist movement in town by the name of Tzeiret Zion [The Youth of Zion]. Amongst other things it was written in the note that at this meeting, Yudel Dardak from Ilia, and Benish Ginzburg from Dolhinov would make speeches. Since the two speakers were cousins of mine, I used this nepotism and entered the meeting. After I promised everyone that I would sit quietly and not disturb the meeting. [Make a note earlier showing that he was really young.] To tell you the truth it was a very difficult agreement to make for me, but I had no other choice so I made my promise. During this meeting for the first time I heard talk about Zionism, about the living Eretz Israel, and a return to Zion, and establishing a Hebrew nation for the Jewish people. The speeches were filled with excitement, and speakers were talking as if they were breathing fire in the air. The room was filled with echoing sentences. “IF the Jewish nation will wish and won’t retreat in front of the difficulty, the dream of 2000 years will be accomplished. If you wish it, it will not be a fairy tale.” I sat in one of the corners excited and flying on unseen wings. My head was caught in a dream, and only my eyes stayed fixed on the speakers. Could I really disturb such an exciting meeting? My heart widened and was filled with new urges that were awakened in me. When I returned home I couldn’t sleep. Early the next morning I left my home and I found the book Yossifon by Yosef Klavius. I Remember until today that the book was written in Rashi lettering. I read the book many, many times until I learned it by heart, and since that day there was not one Zionist meeting that I was not present at. Sometimes by permission, but many times in secret. At times when there was no way to enter the place I would stand behind a window, drinking with great thirst every word that came from the speakers’ mouths.
I was less than twelve at this point and it is clear that this new interest affected my studies in the cheder. It affected it so much that the rabbi came to my parents and said, “Ayar zon is kilya gavarn. Er ist Zionist.” Meaning, “Your son is spoiled, he became a Zionist.” My parents started talking about what they should do with me. They decided to send me away from all of the occurrences and a decision was made that I should go to the town of Ilia to my uncle Moshe Leib Kopilovich, and there should I study.
My uncle was a Talmid Hacham Jew, meaning educated in Jewish studies. He was a very easygoing person and I Studied with him for about a year. But in Ilia there were also my relatives the Dardak brothers, and using the reason that I was related to them I followed them in every unoccupied minute that I was blessed with, and from their noble spirit they spread it to me. I must thank them for the road I chose in the future.
Meanwhile, the Germans conquered Kurenets and I was separated from my parents until one night a villager from the village Kosita came to Ilia to take me back to Kurenets, and I returned home with him. The Zionist activity during the German occupation in the first World War continued in secret, underground. They disguised themselves as a drama club. Also there was a Hebrew school and night classes in Hebrew headed by Yudel Dardak and Yosef Shimon Kramnik. After some time, Natan Gordin, the son of Yasha Leib the Melamed and his wife Tsipa, joined the drama club. Tsipa Gordin, the wife of Yasha Leib, was known in Kurenets as a very able woman. She would do five or six things at the same time. In one hand she would roll the yarn, in the other hand she would churn butter, with one foot she would rock the baby’s cradle, with her other leg she would keep pedaling to keep the loom going, and her mouth would say passages from Psalms, and her eyes would watch the students so they would not become wild. Natan Gordin, or Nashkaleh as we called him, belonged to the Bund. He tried very hard to find new souls for his Bund party but had very little success. For us it was impossible to understand how a Jew could be against the idea of returning to Zion. We kept with the Zionist activities until the Germans retreated and the Bolsheviks entered. At that point all the Zionist activities ceased. During the days of the Bolsheviks, the town was living a sort of double life. On the one hand there was famine, depression, and fear about what tomorrow would bring, on the other hand there was a lot of civic activities by the authorities, and this was expressed in many theatre plays, concerts, and other activities in the community house that they established in the Ungerman Ranch. Many, many meetings, always with bands that played in the central market. They did everything to win over the hearts of the public. I remember one occasion that would sound like a joke, but in my opinion it symbolized those times. It was on a Saturday and a Soviet troop arrived in town. At the head of the troop there was a big band. They all rested in the market. The soldiers were very tired and hungry. They waited there for the arrival of the Kuchnaya, the field kitchen that usually would follow the troops. All of a sudden the soldiers yelled, “Kuchnaya yedit!”, meaning, “The kitchen is moving!” And soon after arrived a big container. It was on wheels and was pulled by a pair of horses that stopped in the center of the market. All the soldiers stood in line with their food containers. The cook stood on the podium and opened the cover of a container and started taking things out of it. As it turned out, it was filled with pamphlets and newspapers and other propaganda…
The town after that kept passing many times from hand to hand, between the Polish and the Bolsheviks. At the end the Polish took roots there, the war ended, and Zionist activities returned. Tzeirei Zion movement was founded. There was a Hebrew school that was estaablished. At first the Yiddish-speakers tried to control the education in town and brought for this purpose a teacher from Vilna, from the CBK. But mainly for the commitment and the blessed activities of Zalman Gvint Z”L [perished in the Holocaust], these attempts to control the education failed, and the school passed to the Tarbut movement. All the subjects were taught entirely in Hebrew. Zalman Gvint was a very special person. HE was blessed with all the special character that makes a public servant great. He did his job for the sake of doing it, and not to receive any awards. His commitment to the school had no boundaries, and only for his involvement the school survived in spite of all the difficulties and troubles it encountered. One day, after studies, the teacher Berl Dardak announced that a letter was received from Vilna and it said, “Charut Hetria will establish branches in the shtetls in the Vilna district.” They suggested that we establish a branch in town. This suggestion was received with great excitement. It was at that point long a dream of ours to belong to an organized Zionist movement, so immediately we established a Zionist committee which was the first in town. The first members were graduates of the Hebrew school. The first meeting took place in the house of Naftali Alperovich on Vileyka Street, and a few of the people who took part in it are now [1950] in Israel. I remember that Efraim Leib Kremer Z”L [died in Eretz Israel] who in Israel changed his name to Ben David, was the first secretary and was the first among us to go to Eretz Israel. The most important cultural activity Charut Vet’chia was the studies of Hebrew history and the history of the laboring in Eretz Israel. We were busy with collecting money for the different national funds. For these occasions we established certain days of celebrations. We also would go from house to house with a blue box and organize literature parties on different subjects. We prepared ourselves to go to be educated in living in agricultural communities.
Days passed and all the members of Charut Hedtria in the main headquarters went to Israel and the whole movement was almost cancelled. But we didn’t give up. We made contact with Gordonia and we established other youth movements like Ha’Chalutz and Ha’Chalutz Ha’Zair. The period of the establishment of Ha’Chalutz was a very splendid period. MY writing would be lacking if I didn’t say a few words also about Hashomer Ha’Zair in Kurenets, that came to town like a spring wind, bringing with an intoxicating blossoming. This was in the year 1928. IT was after I returned from my training in Kibbutz Rayuvka that was located somewhere between the towns of Ilia and Krasne. At that point, the Yeshuv [Jewish settlers] in Eretz Israel went through some hard times. After the Fourth Immigration it was very difficult to get certificates for a few reasons. First there were very few being given by the British. Second, it was very expensive to travel. Third, and most importantly, it seemed like the town lost the beautiful dreams. It was as if autumn came. Most of the active members left. Some went to Eretz Israel, others went into serious studies, and a few got busy with jobs. I remember one reading in the house of Shaptai Gordon. We spoke about the difficulties in Eretz Israel and about the difficulties of the pioneer movement. The main thing on everyone’s mind was how to renew the old days in town. As a first step a decision was made to commit to improve the situation of the Tarbut school that was having financial difficulties. Clearly, Zalman Gvint took this job, and I was his assistant from a technical point of view, since at this point I had no other job. At that point, Dvozhel Zokovski [perished in the Holocaust] arrived in Kurenets. She had just finished her studies in the Hebrew gymnasia in Vilna, and now she was accepted as a teacher in the school. She, together with others who were visionaries, among them Aharon Meirovich, who was filled with Hebrew culture and traditional culture by his father Ben Zion, who was the first person who established in town so many years ago the teaching of Hebrew in Hebrew. Anyway, Dvozhel Zokovski and Aharon Meirovich established a ken [a local movement] of Hashomer Ha’Zair. My writing ability is too dull to describe the character of Dvozhel and all the special gifts she was blessed with. It’s all to her credit that the movement caught the youths with a new excitement that was similar to the good old days.
Hashomer Ha’Zair spread to us a wonderful external light and also awoke in us some deep, internal commitment. The activities were filled with the liveliness of youth but it was also tempered by some internal yearning. We had fundraisers and educational meetings about Hebrew literature and geography. We would go on journeys into nature. We would sail on the river. We would put together exhibits of our handcrafts. Once in a while a new tune would reach town and everyone would sing together, and every activity would be done with excitement, as if there was some holiday approaching. It was as if we were in a circle of miracles, a circle that was dancing the hora and a circle that could not be broken. Still, there were moments of good-natured humor that never hurt anyone, but at the same time it sharpened your wits. I remember that at one time, one of the girls attempted to embroider a swan for one of the shows, but it turned out looking more like a foal [young horse?]. Aronchik Meirovich, who later became a poet, took the piece of art and started singing to a tune of “I hat affafya”:
Var hat das gazen
Und var hat das garet
Aza katchka zol oizen vi afrad?
The highlight of our activities was sailing on Lake Narutz, which was 40 km from our town. After this sailing I decided that it was time for me to go to Israel. I again went through preparations, leaving the town her youth came back. Not after a long time I returned from the preparations with my skin all tanned and my body peeling. And my friends from Hashomer Ha’Zair were very proud of me, as if I had gotten the suntan in Jerusalem. A short time later, at an evening hour, the entire unit of Hashomer Ha’Zair walked with me amongst the cedars on Dolhinov Street, and walked me to the train station on my way to Israel. From the departing train I heard their singing, and that was the last sense I received from the town.
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- Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 18:02:57 (PDT)
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Yehoshua Alperovich,
Lost Tunes (from the Kurenets Yizkor book)
To this day I have a great love for music. When I walk down the street and hear an instrument played proficiently, my heart widens. I don’t just enjoy hearing others play, I play a few instruments myself. It was in you, my little hometown, Kurenets, that I first heard songs and music played, and this was even before I got to know the professional players of Kurenets, the Kleizmers from Smorgon Street. I was about three years old, we lived on Myadel St. across the street from Hillel Kramnik, the father of Yosef Shimon who perished in the Holocaust [and his brother who moved to the US and changed his name to Kramer and lived in northern NY]. Not far from us, in the alley, lived Gotza, and from his house you would hear the sound of a violin being played. These tunes had a great allure on me, making me stop over at that house. And one time, when I walked over to the house with my mother, Z”L, I stopped her and I started crying and begged her that she should let me see what it is in that house that made that beautiful sounds. At first my mother refused, but finally she could not take my cries. She entered the house and apologized. She said to Gotza’s family,
“A child will stay a child. He doesn’t let me continue walking, he demands that we should enter to see what is it in this house that makes that music.”
We were received graciously. Gotza was a Jew who knew how to entertain children and the old. He sat me on a high chair and started playing music for me. At first I was very embarrassed since all of a sudden I Became the center of attention and all the eyes were upon me, but slowly I got more acquainted with the place and the people who lived there, and from that day, I would come every day to listen to the music. One day I sat in Gotza’s house for a long time and I fell asleep. During my sleep I somehow fell on the floor under the table and no one paid any attention, so I lay there in this sort of hideout and slept for a long time. Nighttime came and I didn’t return home so they started looking for me. They went to Gotza’s house but they couldn’t find me. Gotza’s family said that I was there much earlier but I left without them noticing. There was a great worry in town and they looked for me at all the neighbors’ houses, but finally I woke up from under the table and started crying, so they took me out with great excitement and brought me home.
When I was about seven or eight, my two much older brothers, Yakov Hirshl and Berl David, came from Harkov, deep in Russia, and brought with them a mandolin. Later on, Yakov Hirshl went back to Russia, but during the First World War was lost and we never heard from him again. Anyway, back to the days before WWI. This was the first mandolin in Kurenets. My brother would play the mandolin and I would listen. Slowly I became more courageous and started playing, and became somewhat proficient, so now other children would come to our windows to listen to my playing and they looked at me with envy.
Many children were envious of me, but I envied others. Who? I particularly envied the Kleizmers on Smorgon Street, who in my eyes were most splendid in their playing. How can someone move his fingers so fast without getting mixed up? I kept wondering that. The Kleizmers of Kurenets were all members of one family, and all musicians, an entire family that controlled the town with their music playing. They were blessed with all sorts of talents and specialties. The head of the band was old Itzha Noach Fidler. He was known in town also as a humorist or comedian, and it is true that it was like twin sisters for him, comedy and music. During wedding celebrations, he would make jokes while playing music, truly entertaining the audience.
They said about Itzha Noach that one of the butchers encountered him in the street and treated him with superiority, so Itzha Noach said, “Hear me, you have no right to disrespect me. My profession is nicer than yours.”
So the butcher said, “So let’s hear why you think your profession is more respectable than mine. Let’s hear it.”
“Ponder this,” said Itzha Noach, “when I go out to the street with my fiddle, who surrounds me? People. People who were born in the image of the holy. They all surround me. And you, when you get out to the street with a piece of meat in your hand? Who is surrounding you? Dogs. Beasts with wide open jaws accompany you.”
In the ninth of the month Av [a day of fast], it was a custom in Kurenets to go to the cemetery and cry and beg the people who had passed away to plead with God for the sake of the living that all would be fine in the coming year. Itzha Noach, his wife Nachama, and all their family members were all healthy, in good shape, but so that the Evil Eye would not take hold of them and so people would not say they were disrespectful of the day, they would also go, this old couple, to the cemetery. Many years before, soon after they were married, their first child died a few days after he was born. The wife of Itzha Noach looked for his grave and found it amongst the trees. She lay on the grave and begged and cried. She asked for his pity, pleading with him to go to the chair of the holy and speak to him on behalf of the nation of Israel, the house of Israel, and all the family members, and make him cancel any troubles and hard times.
When Itzha Noach realized what she was doing, he came behind her and said with a smile on his face, “Nachama, Nachama, everyone says you are smart, but did you lose your mind? Such a huge mission for the Nation of Israel you give to the hands of few days old baby? He will mix up the whole thing. You must stop crying. Let’s go home.”
When he was in good spirits his specialty was doing magic-like tricks while he was playing. Sometimes he would play Der Pastachal (The Little Shepherd), and he would play the whole story about how the shepherd came in the morning and would blow his horn to announce for the cows to come to the meadow, and all the little details that happened in that story found their _expression with his fiddle. You would hear the opening of the gate, the sounds of the cows mooing, and the sounds of the calves, the sheep, the goats, the rooster… And things he could not get out of the fiddle, he would use his throat and his lips. The audience would be roaring with happiness. I particularly remember the wedding of Chanka, the daughter of Nachama Shaina, whose family were neighbors of Itzha Noach. Since the families were close, he did a particularly good job at this wedding. I saw him play the fiddle on his back, Oifen Kleitza. He would put the fiddle on the back of his shoulders and play it on his back while making jokes.
But clearly not every wedding received such a wonderful performance. Here there was the long friendship and good neighboring that affected the party.
In each of the players there was something special, and during a festival or during a party, you would like them not only for what they played but how they played. The first you would observe would be the very short Avramel, whose fiddle was bigger than he was. He played the batnoon (bass?) and I noticed that many times as if out of habit, for certain tunes he would stand on the tip of his toes. Avramel was an unhappy Jew. He had bad luck and all the bitterness of his life he carried quietly with a lot of internal pain. But what did we, the little children, know of all his suffering? A child who arrived at the age of 10 and became a little taller would stand by Avrameleh and quietly measure himself, and their hearts would usually fill with happiness because they were taller than Avramel. So he was used by the young boys as a measure of the time of passing from children to adolescents.
Avramel had a family and some sons. The glory of the family was his son Chaim Biyenish who studied tailoring and was loved and respected by everyone. One of his youngest sons, Velveleh or Zeev Fiddler, joined the partisans during the war and became renowned for his bravery.
A true artist among the Kleizmers was Leibe, or the way he was known to us, Leibe Der Fiddler. He knew how to play classical concerts and serious music. He always got the role of Batzen Die Kalla (?), and the women in the audience, when they just saw Leibe starting to tune up his fiddle, minutes before he played, already would take their handkerchiefs out and started wiping their tears.
The son of Itzha Noach, Leibe the Tall, played the flute. There was a time when he was part of the Minsk Orchestra, and for that time he was known not as a Kleizmer but as a modern, cosmopolitan musician. How I loved listening to his soft tunes on the flute in different variations. We, the children, loved him. He knew how to entertain us. We would surround him in big groups and would stand with our mouths open, as if we were swallowing every tune, and we would be in deep, up to the point of losing ourselves in a world of softness and beautiful sounds that the flute magically created. Leibe would trick us, and all of a sudden, as if to surprise us and remind us that there was a world of down-on-earth reality, he would bend all of a sudden and make a circular motion with his flute on our faces, and the sounds would be sprayed on us as if we were sprayed by a hose. We would wake up as if from a dream, jumping back, first from fear and later we would start laughing, and he would immediately stand straight and serious with an _expression almost of severity, as if this was part of the play, and the music and everything was in the notes he had before him.
The fifth among the players was Isar. He was also the son of Itzha Noach. He played the baritone. He wasn’t a truly professional player. There was no depth in his playing. The way he played, it seemed like he wanted to attract you with external effects. He was always very cleanly dressed and his instrument was so clean and shiny that you could hardly look at it because of the shininess. As far as we, the children, he would look at us with an _expression that said, “Don’t be scared by the loud sounds. It’s only the instrument that makes those sounds. In my hear I feel a lot of love for you children.”
His main job was to accompany the other instruments and to fill the empty spaces between the other instruments’ playing. He was almost like an announcer for the entire band, as if to say, “People, be ready! A wedding is happening in town. We are coming to you and you should also come towards us.”
A big crowd would gather to see the people who had just gotten married, and the goy women who would carry water, would come running with their buckets filled with water to receive the young couple and their families, who would be dancing in the market square. At that time, in our eyes music was not something you could learn. We were sure that there was some mysterious way a person would be gifted with musical ability. We knew that someone could study shoemaking, tailoring, carpentry, and other professions, but we couldn’t understand that someone could learn how to play, although I had learned how to play the mandolin.
One day, a young man came to town. We called him, Bentze der Tantzer, meaning Bentze who will make you dance. He had a dual job in town: he taught the young people how to dance, and he taught them how to play instruments like the violin, mandolin, and guitar. All the mystery of the ability to play disappeared. All of a sudden the town became filled with dancers and players and the kids were divided as talented or untalented, with a good year and a bad year, as it was customary to divide them in other professions. I was already able to play the mandolin, and became a professional, advising and making decisions for others. I was the one who said, “This child has potential, and this one does not.” I was already in my teens when Bentze der Tantzer became famous in town. I would like to also tell you that he was very talented in drawing, especially in making posters.
We would gather in the house of Yekutiel Meir Kremer. They had a son who was blind ever since he was four or five. His name was David. Many of us remember David, who was very involved with people. He would sit in the barn and touch the different things like the wheat, the flour, etc. All he had to do was touch a little bit and he could tell what type of flour it was, what it had been made from, and even what color of flour it was. Sometimes it seems as if he knew people by the way they walked or the way they breathed. His younger brother Chaim Zalman Kremer, would sit by him and read the paper to him. David who had the most wonderful memory, would observe every bit of information. He was like a hole in the ground that would not lose one drop. Everything that was read to him, from important essays on the news to the daily unimportant information, all was kept in his head as if they were papers in boxes.
In the house of Yekutiel Meir, people would gather for Zionist meetings because the young sons were very involved. In all the rooms of the house there was the constant smell of fresh bread that was being baked. One day, when I came to the house, David told me, “Yehoshua I want to ask you something.”
His eyes were looking straight up. I answered, “For you I will do anything you wish.”
I must say that everyone loved David and everyone wanted the best for him. We would measure the advancement of medicine by the ability to be able to give David his sight back. Many times we would imagine the image of David going to a large city with famous doctors and here he sits at the doctor’s clinic, being taken care of, and when he comes out, all of a sudden he is able to see. We kept talking about the big cities in the world, but who would give him his sight back in Kurenets? Sherkvas the goy? Sherkvas the goy who is a doctor’s assistant who has a huge stomach and was always conversing with the devil and the spirits?
One day, David was taken to the big city to see some famous doctors, and we were very disappointed with science when they could not find any treatment for him. So obviously now I was ready to listen to his request. “I want you to teach me the mandolin,” he said.
When I heard him say that, I was surprised at myself, that this idea never came to me before. I knew that usually blind people had a good ear for music. “I will be happy,” I said to him, “I think you will be very good at it.”
At that point I found out that this idea had come to him a long time before. His brother Yehiel bought a mandolin for David in Vilna, and brought it back to Kurenets. So David went and brought a case and opened it, bringing out a shiny new instrument. He held it almost fearfully, and his fingers patted the silk of the instrument. I took it in my hand and played a few chords and passages, and David stood across from me with his eyes open and his face, which had a little golden beard, appeared as if he was a holy image. He was about 24 at that point. On his face he had a kind smile, as if he was smiling to the tunes, and I started worrying. What if I couldn’t fulfill his request? What if we find that he is not talented with music? It would be such a bitter disappointment I would take part in. For a minute I was quiet and as if he had read my thoughts, he encouraged me. “Don’t be worried, Yehoshua. You will see that I will work very hard on this task and you will have no troubles from me.”
I started teaching him and after a short time he was able to play perfectly. And now when you pass by their house you can hear wonderful sounds from there and you knew that these are the sounds that David lives in. You knew very well that this was not a matter of fashion, as it was for others. IT was the essence of his life. One of the most beloved tunes of David was The Tears of Israel. It’s as if he lived this music in every part of his being’s essence, and playing it was as if he was praying. At one time I brought a guitar and joined his mandolin playing, and his happiness could hardly be described. Always he would get a little crowd of children who came to see the miracle of how a blind person could play, and they became also very happy.
Everyone, it seems, was a part of his tragedy. Old and the youth. Even the most wild kids would stand there and listen to him in holy quietness. Music playing surrounded the town. Some talents were discovered. One had an excellent ear and one had excellent technique of the fingers, and the town was filled with music that helped the youth express their sentiments and romantic feelings.The sound of the mandolin lifted the urges from the core of your being. Sometimes they would be exciting and happy, and sometimes full of nostalgia, all according to the rhythm of the song and its musical essence. One evening while I was sitting at my home, Yudith Yuda’s, the wife of Abba Alperovich the Carpenter, came to me. She told me that her daughters Malke and Zisha, bothered her all the time. They wanted to learn how to play the guitar. She already bought them the instrument, and she was sure that they would be able to put it in their hands and the instrument would play. But there were no bears and no forests. The guitar is not a katrinka (a music box?). The daughters told her that you must learn how to play, and they would not leave her in peace, telling her that she must go to Yehoshua to arrange lessons.
She said to me that her daughters said, “Are we less than Ethel and Minya, the daughters of Itzha Haitza’s [Itzhak Zimmerman, father of Charles Gelman]? They play and the heart widens when you listen to them. And look, mother, Batia and Dinka, the daughters of the rabbi are playing. And who is not playing now? Everyone is playing. Dvoshka the lover of Ilia Chaim Alperovich is playing. Leah the daughter of Dvorka is playing, and Chaika the daughter of Marisha Rikla is playing. Why is it our fate not to play?”
“They cry to me every day,” she said, “and my heart breaks each day. One day I passed by Itzha Haitza’s house and I heard sounds of music and singing, and I was sure there was a wedding happening in town, so I Went by the window and saw a group of girls sitting in a circle, playing and singing, and Itzha, who was a very respected Jew in town, stood next to them, listening andsmiling. When they stopped playing he said to them, `Very beautiful, girls. Pleasant and pretty.’
“So at that point,” continued Yudith, “if a Jew like Reb Itzha finds it interesting, why should I get mad at my daughters? For this reason now, I come to you. You must test them and give them a lesson, and whatever others are paying, I will pay too.”
So on the appointed days I came to their house. Malke was already sitting with the guitar in her hand, playing. She had a narrow, beautiful face, with big black eyes and her curls fell like little bells on her face. The room was very nicely arranged, but despite the fact that the head of the household, Abba Alperovich as well as his son, were very professional carpenters, there was very little furniture in the house. In the corner stood a box covered with a table cloth, and on top of it there was a mirror. On the windowsills stood many little plants. After a short time, Zisha camefrom the other room. She was more full and sturdy looking than Malke. I started teaching them.
After a few months of teaching, both became members in the band that I organized, and Yudith, their mother, was very, very happy and proud. Not just mandolins and guitars the town knew.
New sounds started coming into town, the sounds of horns and bugles and trumpets. Shmuel Tsipilevich, Z”L, who was the head of the firemen, was a Jew who was busy with many different projects, and he decided that a brass band would be very beneficial for the fire department. During that time, the son of the head of the Polish public school in town, lived in Kurenets. His name was for Foremny. He graduated from the conservatory in Vilna. He was a very talented violin player, a composer, and a conductor, so he agreed to organize an orchestra or a band, and to instruct them. Formeny loved Jews. He did it voluntarily, with no compensation. He was very modest in his ways, and ran away from any publicity and honors. At first 40 people wanted to join the band, but slowly many left and there 12 men who became permanent members. We knew how to play a marching song, and we decided to have a parade of the firemen. Artzik, the son of David Lipa’s, who was very tall, walked in front as the conductor of the parade. All the firemen dresed in shiny clothes, and at their head walked the band. Behind them were the water tanks and carts carrying hoses, pulled by horses. The parade went marching through all the streets of the town, and all the little children followed us. But this band was not only for the fire department. We played in the synagogue in different holy days. But here we wouldn’t play marching songs, but Hasidic tunes. During Simha Beit Hashoeva, we played in the synagogue that was filled with lights of the holy days. People were eating apples and enjoying themselves, and old people would dance, and each generation expressed its own way of celebrating.....I will pst the entire story in "Kurenets Stories"
click for Kurenets stories
- Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 16:00:27 (PDT)
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.....Byelorussia's Jewish population numbered almost 1.1 million on the eve of the German invasion. In fact, many of Byelorussia's largest cities - Minsk, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Gomel, Bobruisk, Orsha - had Jewish majorities. The invading Germans began the murder of Byelorussian Jews soon after their arrival. Jews who were not killed during the initial operations were forced to move into ghettos. These ghettos were systematically liquidated from the fall of 1941 to the fall of 1943. German authorities a lso accused the Jews of being the driving force behind the Soviet partisan movement, whose members began to operate in growing numbers behind German lines in the spring of 1942. For example, Wilhelm Kube, the Commissar General for White Ruthenia, equated Jews with partisans in the same report in which he proudly told his superiors about the murder of 55,000 Byelorussian Jews during a ten-week period in the spring and summer of 1942. (3) Most Nazi crimes in Byelorussia, particularly the murder of Byelorussian Jewry, were committed by mobile forces. Units belonging to two of Heydrich's Einsatzgruppen - A and B - were operating in Byelorussia. They received assistance from regular German police battalions and Waffen-SS units. To be sure, some of the Einsatzgruppen headquarters became stationary at the end of 1941 for the purpose of establishing an SS/police structure in the occupied Soviet Union. Yet, the occupiers' killing opera tions never really lost their mobile character throughout the occupation owing to the expanse of the areas to which these forces were assigned. After the war, members of the Einsatzgruppen were the subjects of several trials, most notably that of Otto Oh lendorf and 20 other officers before a U.S. military tribunal from July 1947 to April 1948. (4) Beginning in 1950 West German courts also tried Einsatzgruppen men. (5) In addit ion to the courts, historians also began to investigate the Einsatzgruppen and publish their findings. (6) While the history of the Einsatzgruppen is by now well-documented, the same cannot be said for most of the indigenous units who assisted the Germans in the murder of Soviet Jews and gentiles. Some - like the Arjas Commando, the Kaminsky Brigade an d the SS unit "Druzhina" - have attained great notoriety. However, historians have paid little attention to the large numbers of lesser-known indigenous "security" forces without which the Germans would have encountered greater difficulty in liquidating entire ghettos and staging massive murder and pillage operations disguised as anti-partisan actions. The Germans established two types of local units: the Schutzmannschaft and the Ordnungsdienst. The forme r generally operated in areas under civilian administration and fell within the SS/police command structure; the latter was established in army and army group rear areas and placed under the authority of local and district military commanders. Historians have only recently begun to study the Schutzmannschaften and the Ordnungsdienst. (7) .....
From;
Investigating Nazi Crimes in Byelorussia:
Challenges and Lessons by
Frank Buscher
http://muweb.millersville.edu/~holo-con/buscher.html

- Monday, May 05, 2003 at 23:03:46 (PDT)
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Central events of Holocaust Remembrance Day
Monday, April 28
20:00 - Official opening ceremony, Warsaw Ghetto Square, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 20:00 - Lighting of torches and memorial ceremony, Massua amphitheater, Kibbutz Tel Yitzhak Tuesday, April 29 10:00 - Siren 10:02 - Wreath-laying ceremony, Warsaw Ghetto Square, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
10:30-12:30 - "Unto Every Person There is a Name" - recitation of names of Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem and at the Knesset; another ceremony of name recitation will begin at 9 A.M. and continue until nightfall at Beit Wohlin, Givatayim 13:00 - Main memorial ceremony, Hall of Remembrance, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
19:30 - Closing ceremony, amphitheater of the Ghetto Fighters' House, Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot.

Mourners march at Auschwitz, mark ghetto uprising
By Reuters OSWIECIM, Poland - High school students joined Holocaust survivors from around the world in Poland on Tuesday to mourn Jews killed at the Auschwitz death camp and mark the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazi rule 60 years ago.
President Moshe Katsav and his Polish counterpart, Aleksander Kwasniewski, led 3,000 people in the "March of the Living" through Auschwitz's gate, bearing the infamous German inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes You Free), to the nearby twin camp at Birkenau.
"With the sun, birds singing and blue sky you can't really imagine that these heinous crimes happened here," said Avishai Nalka, 16, a high school student from Ashdod. "I only saw this place in black-and-white history films, now I see it in color."
More than a million people, mostly Jews, died in the gas chambers or from disease and starvation at Auschwitz, the German name for Oswiecim, during World War Two. Six million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust. Poland's pre-war Jewish community of 3.5 million was reduced to 300,000.
Organizers of the march, which was part of Holocaust Remembrance Day, said there were fewer marchers than in recent years due to security concerns over the recent war in Iraq. The event also marked the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which has become a symbol of Jewish resistance against rule by Nazi Germany.
On April 19, 1943, Jewish fighters launched a desperate last stand against German occupying forces to resist looming deportations to death camps. They held off the Nazis for several weeks with homemade explosives.
Also marching was Norman Frejman, 72, who as a child survived the Warsaw Ghetto, deportation to the Majdanek death camp and slave labor in Germany.
"God wanted me to survive: All my family perished either in the Warsaw Ghetto or in the camps. I am getting old, so I had to come here to see it once again. This is hallowed ground, because the ashes of Jews are scattered here," he said. "I also wanted to attend the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. This is very near to me," said Frejman, who left for the United States after the war and lives in Florida.
Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked on a different day each year because it is linked to the 27th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, when the uprising began. In Israel, sirens brought the country to a standstill for a two-minute silence and flags were at half-mast for the memorial.
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- Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 08:53:04 (PDT)
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http://www.thejewishexchange.com/images/holidays/yomhashoah/sixmillion.html?source=tea Jewish Exchange Holocaust Presentation
(IsraelNN.com) The Jewish Exchange offers Internet viewers a Holocaust Day presentation, a time for reflection - Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 08:05:33 (PDT)
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Kurenets/ Kurzeniec was part of Poland between the years 1921 and 1939;
Poland emerged as a bourgeois republic under the influence of the great revolutionary movement which swept the whole of Eastern and Central Europe in the years 1917-19. Although the reborn state did not solve the basic economic and social questions, its legislation granted equal rights to all citizens irrespective of nationality and religious convictions. This was guaranteed by its constitution adopted by the Sejm in March 1921 . Thus were abolished the legal norms inherited from the partitioning powers, which gave different legal status to various groups of society. However some questions as laid down in the constitution lent themselves to various interpretations. In 1931 the Sejm passed a law which abrogated expressis verbis all regulations which were discriminatory on grounds of religion, nationality and race. In this respect independent Poland fulfilled the people's hopes. The matter was different in the field of economic relations. In the inter-war period Poland found herself in an extremely difficult situation. Leaving aside the fluctuations of economic development experienced by all capitalist countries (a particularly deep drop in production, employment and incomes was noted in the first half of the 1930's), the average increase in the number of places of work was far behind the population growth. Overpopulation of the countryside became more acute, which in turn brought about the shrinking of the internal market and the resultant impoverishment of petty tradesmen and craftsmen. Unemployment in towns took on catastrophic dimensions. In these circumstances, especially in the 1930's, the pauperization of those strata which earned their living from small shops increased. Economists spoke of the overcrowding of trade and crafts. According to the 1931 census of the nearly 32 million Polish citizens, 10 per cent (or some three million) were Jews. Of this figure 42 per cent worked in industry, mining and crafts and 36 per cent in trade and kindred branches. Other occupations played a lesser role in the Jews, occupational structure. In some branches of the economy Jews constituted a majority. This concerned above all the retail trade where 71 per cent of all tradesmen were Jewish. In the clothing and leather industry this percentage was almost 50. Typical Jewish occupations were tailoring and shoemaking. However in the conditions of massive unemployment, in spite of the over abundance of certain specialties in crafts, they had no chance of finding employment. At the same time there was a growth in the number of merchants and craftsmen of other nationalities. In the countryside, the expanding cooperative movement became a serious rival to the private merchants. It would be wrong to assume that the concentration of Jews in certain branches of the economy and their pauperization were the result of a deliberate policy on the part of the state. It is true that the administration was unfavorably disposed towards employing other than Polish nationals in state enterprises, especially those of military importance (for example railways and armaments factories) and therefore removed Jews from these establishments. However, the direct reason for anti-Jewish discrimination has to be sought in the past, in the relations which had been formed in the period of the partitions. The overcoming of the traditional occupational and social structure of the Jewish community could be accomplished only by the acceleration of the economic development of the country as a whole and also by the creation of conditions favoring the acquiring of new trades which had not been popular among the Jewish community. This problem was also perceived by some Jewish organizations which undertook actions aimed at training young people in various specialties. This was done most often by the Zionist organizations which in connection with their Palestinian plans attempted to prepare groups of settlers having definite trades. However the scope of this action was very modest indeed since it depended on winning financial means as well as those willing to go to Palestine. Similar undertakings could not be carried out on a mass scale without appropriate assistance from the state in a situation where the government found it difficult to acquire sufficient financial resources for the most urgent needs. What is more, even if money had been available, the specialists trained in this way would not have been able to find employment anyway.
The same objective reasons made it impossible to overcome the concentration of Jewish laborers in small enterprises and workshops, while it should be borne in mind that over 70 per cent of the Jewish urban proletariat were employed in such small establishments.
This adverse situation was also affected by some traditional customs and religion. Since Jews observed Sabbath, it was difficult to employ in one enterprise both Jewish and Christian workers without disorganizing the rhythm of production. Even Jewish entrepreneurs unwillingly employed a Jewish labor force. Of course not all of them were Orthodox Jews and not all of them refused to work on Saturdays. However those who wanted to work on Saturdays were treated with suspicion by their employers who feared lest they belonged to a socialist or communist organization and one day might organize the factory work force in struggle for their interests. In smaller establishments, in which the owner himself took part in both the production process and management, work on Saturdays was suspended. The Jewish question in inter-war Poland was above all a social problem. Without solving the problems which were common to all working people, there was no chance of changing the lot of the Polish Jews. And the capitalist system provided no prospect of a radical overcoming of backwardness and increasing the number of jobs, despite efforts on the part of the state undertaken in particular in the second half of the 1930's.
Thus emigration continued. There are no exhaustive data on this subject. However, it is known that between 1927 and 1938 nearly 200,000 Polish Jews left Poland, of which number 74,000 went to Palestine, 34,000 to Argentina and 28,000 to the United States. The largest waves of emigration were recorded in the 1920's. Following the great slump, after 1929, those countries which up till then accepted immigrants, introduced new, ever more severe restrictions on immigration. This concerned, among other countries, the United States. For this reason in the 1930's overseas emigration limited in scope while the number of those going to Palestine increased. According to the most reliable calculations, between 1919 and 1942 almost 140,000 Polish Jews went to Palestine, that is, some 42 per cent of the total number of immigrants accepted by that country; the largest intensification of Palestine-bound emigration took place in the years 1933-36 when the number of emigrants amounted to 75,000.
In the difficult economic situation and the changes in legal and political status of Jews after Poland had regained her independence, various programs of activity were formed. The traditional program of the Agudat Israel, which boiled down to the observance of religious prescriptions, loyalty towards the state and the expectation of the Kingdom of God, could not suffice. Although the position of this party among the petite bourgeoisie was maintained by the authority of the zaddikim (a particularly important role in the leadership of the Agudat Israel was played by the famous zaddik of Gora Kalwaria who was however criticized by many), its attempts at consolidating a specific kind of ideological ghetto (the isolation of the Jews from the goyim) resulted in a gradual decrease of its influence. Step by step the party moved towards the acceptance of the prospect of building a Jewish state in Palestine.
On the other hand, the influence of the workers' parties continued to be strong. The most important role was still played by the Bund, some concepts of which were close to those of the radical left wing, though its members represented a whole variety of views. The Bund differed from the program put forward by the communists in that it demanded cultural and national autonomy for national minorities, especially for the Jews, and perceived the necessity of organizing the whole of the Jewish proletariat in one, separate national party. Many Bund leaders saw the need for dictatorship by the proletariat (the Bund program adopted in 1930 mentioned the possibility of such dictatorship). The party was decidedly opposed to the conservatives and discarded religion. It accused the Agudat Israel of defending the interests of the propertied classes to the detriment of the needs of the masses. The most outstanding leaders of the Bund were Victor Alter (1890-1941), Henryk Erlich (1882- 1941) and Samuel Zygelbojm (1895-1943).
The Bund, like the illegal Communist Party of Poland to which many Jews also belonged and the Polish Socialist Party, saw the only chance of solving the Jewish question in Poland in building a socialist society without man's exploitation by man. It sought its allies among workers of all nationalities living in Poland. It opposed all concepts of emigration since it perceived the impracticability of the idea of organizing emigration of a several million strong nation. The socialist leaders considered the Palestinian campaign to be an element weakening the forces of the proletariat fighting for a change in social relations and as a solution which at best could constitute a chance for only few.
A radical social program was also voiced by the left wing of the Po'alei Zion which saw prospects for the Jews in a socialist revolution and in introducing cultural and national autonomy. For the future, it accepted the idea of building a socialist Jewish state in Palestine and therefore it supported the Palestinian campaigns. Its leading members were Antoni Budhsbaum, Szachna Sagan and Jozef Witkin-Zerubavel (1876-1912). A much smaller following was enjoyed by the right wing of the Po'alei Zion which concentrated above all on Palestinian works, that is all activity aimed at forming. a future Jewish state, including education of qualified farmers, workers and soldiers.
All the workers, organizations, irrespective of the differences that separated them, cooperated in many important issues. They undertook a common struggle against campaigns organized by the right wing of the National Democratic Party. In Warsaw they even formed an underground organization the task of which was to put up armed resistance to the nationalist militants. Both Jews and Poles connected with the workers, movement took part in its work. http://members.core.com/~mikerose/history2.htm


- Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 05:37:37 (PDT)
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he Story of Leah Dudman-Bar and Chana Podversky from a conversation with Leah Dudman
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/vishnevo/v_pages/vstories_leah.html

At first I was sent by the Judenrat to work in the army camp near Bogdonova. I worked there baking bread for the Germans and from there I was transferred to the army camp in Podberze. Together with me all the time there was another Vishnevan girl by the name of Chana Podversky, the daughter of Itza-Lebl Podversky. The usual procedure was that every Sunday we would go home and the German commandant treated us almost like a father. He had six daughters and he always emphasized that fact and loved to converse with us. Most of the times when we would go home he would drive us in his car so he could take some food supplies for my family. At more than one occasion he entered our home and saw with his own eyes the suffering of my parents. With tears in their eyes they begged him to save me and my sister Raisel. He promised he would do whatever he could. On that awful Sunday he also took us as usual to our house and as we neared the gate of the ghetto, we saw thousands of Christians gathering around one of the homes. We also saw a dark haze and smoke reaching up to the skies, and there were screams. At first we thought it was some Christian person who had died, and my friend and I whispered to each other, "They deserve it" or something like this. But when we came closer to the ghetto gate, a Christian woman stopped the car and screamed as loud as she could, "In the name of God, get out of here. In town they are slaughtering everyone." The commandant and the soldier said to us, "Immediately get out of the car and run to your work place. We will go inside the gate and see what is happening there." When they returned they told us that when they arrived there the SS people who were surrounding the town forced them to take part in the annihilation and the killing of all the Jews of the town. And that was not all; they ordered them to bring us there, and if they didn’t the commandant would be punished. The soldier who was with him the entire day witnessing the torture told us what he saw with tears in his eyes. From all the awful sights he saw he now was vomiting and had diarrhea the entire day. The commandant immediately told us he would not give us up no matter what. He suggested that for this night we sleep there but early in the morning we must run to one of the Christians that we knew and he would keep in touch with us. We did as he told us and we reached the Christian man and hid in his house for a few days but when things became more dangerous since the SS troops looked for us everywhere including where we worked, and in the sheds, and in the place we were hiding. It was a miracle they didn’t find us. So he transferred us to a Polish woman’s house where we hid for 6 weeks. At the end the Christian man made a communication between us and the Jews from Kerve who would go to work in Bogdonova. Since now the Jews of Vishnevo were annihilated and a few others went to the forest. So now they were replaced in Bogdonova



- Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 23:48:02 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ “From There to Now”
By David Motosov, son of Leib As I journey through memories of Kurenets, my beloved town, I will arrive at the year 1912. At that point we lived outside the town, at a distance of about 7 km, at the edge of the big forest. My father Leib of blessed memory owned a factory that processed turpentine, tar, and coal. The name of the place was Palita. I lived in a world filled with wonders and excitement. The deep forest with all its secrets was my playground. I was enveloped by the love of my parents since I was their only male child. And as a youth I had absolutely no responsibilities, I lived a care free life. Once in a while we would travel to Kurenets to pay a visit and occasionally we would have Jews from Kurenets visit us. But the rootstock of my life and its springing point was the Palita, in the forest.
One day I was called by my father and he announced, “It is time for you, my son, to enter the world of the Torah.” I was close to the age of 7 at that point, and already the next morning they handed a few belongings to me and we traveled to Kurenets. They hired for me a “kasset” at the house of Moshe der Shaffer, and my father entrusted my education to the best rabbi in town. It was Reb Ben-Zion Meirovich. In town they told with awe that he would receive newspapers in the Hebrew language, amongst them “Hatzfirah” and “Hamelitz” on a regular basis. His cheder was located at that point in Myadel Street in the house of Hinda Leah. My father said to Reb Ben-Zion, “I hand you this `jewel in the rough and hope that you will make him a respectable person, educate him to have good manners and do good deeds. He has a good head but he is very, very wild.”
The rabbi smiled at me and patted my shoulder and told my father, “Your son is already a decent person and I hope that you will take much pride in him.”
I remember some of my comrades in the cheder, amongst them Yakov Alperovich, Eliyau den Limanadniks [his family made lemonade he later settled in the US], Meir the son of Baruch Mordechai Gurevich [later settled in Israel in Mushav Bitzaron], Levik Alperovich [later settled in Israel], Leib Potropos-Z”l [died in Germany after the war], Zalman son of Itzhak Mikhail [Alperovich] the Butcher [who later became a well known Chabad Hasid], Shimon Kelman Shulman. It must be that the years in the forest made me very different then the Jewish kids of the shtetl and deeply affected my mannerism. The Yiddish I spoke was filled with Russian expressions, and the “R” was very pronounced. The other children in the cheder came from the town, and were very happy to see a strange character like me, and jumped on me as if they had found a treasure for jokes and pranks. They nicknamed me The Goy and The Yeshuvnik [the hick], but I did not sit quietly, and I knew how to fight back, sometimes physically and sometimes by returning their insults and antics.
During Shabbat, my father would take me back to the Palita, and every Sunday we would return to Kurenets. I remember that in one instance I returned to the cheder on Monday instead of Sunday. Obviously the rabbi asked me where I was the day before, so I answered him in immaculate Russian language, “Ibaz ednava zidok, kramesh ni budyat?”, meaning “Without one Jew there’s no market day?”
Everyone started chuckling. The rabbi and the other students all laughed together, and my response became a celebrated adage in town, and this saying would chase me where ever I went.
Slowly I became acclimated to life in the shtetl and rooted amongst my school friends. I started studying Hebrew ( only in Hebrew) and grammar, and had conversations about Jewish history, and I also took a great part in the social lives of my friends. We had many so-called “problems”to busy ourselves with. We collected decorative covers of candies. We collected lights made from special shiny paper that we used to light the way back from the cheder during nights. We also had fights, fights with children from other cheders and other groups. I remember that one of my most bitter enemies was Yosef Zimmerman-Z”l Yoshka Itzha’s as he was named in town, who lived near the bridge on Myadel Street. One very rainy day he hid, waiting to ambush me, and when I returned from the cheder he jumped on me and took one of my shoes and ran with his treasure. I was humiliated and had to return home wearing only one shoe. But luck was with me. On the way I met with Yankeleh Itzhak Pyeshka’s, who was the “champion” of the town, and all the children were scared of him. “What happened to you, David?” he asked me. I told him with a voice shaking from crying the awful deed, about how I was jumped on from the back, so he offered in exchange for a little knife that I had, to return my shoe that was taken. I Don’t know how he was able to accomplish it, however it didn’t take but a few minutes and he returned with my shoe and added to it the hat of Yosef.
I embark on reminiscences of these years and it seems like they were the most beautiful years of my life until the year 1914 arrived and World War I started. The Russians begun retreating from our area and the Germans kept advancing. By 1915, the shots could be clearly heard near the town and all the Jews left their homes and escaped to the village Borodina near Kurenets. Why choose Borodina of all places? To this day I don’t know. But the fact is, the next day we returned to town all healthy, and now we were under the eclipse of the wings of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and this surely proved that strategically we were right, even if there was no answer to why.
After about three weeks, the Germans left Kurenets and again the Russians returned. It became a battlefield, and there was even a German plane that arrived and dropped a bomb that killed a Russian soldier that was riding a horse on Smorgon Street. Everyone saw in it the excellent technology of the Germans. My family, joined by other families from Kurenets, left town to go deep into Russia where we lived for seven years, and we only returned to Kurenets in 1922. I left the town when I was still a child and returned as a man of 18. I experienced much during the years and I was very different from the child who left the town seven years prior, but Kurenets also didn’t stand still. There was a great change. I found youths filled with enlightenment and erudition. They were contemporary in their attitude. Most of them were members of Zionist organizations. There was a big library and a Tarbut school. There was a headquarters of a Keren Kayemet LeIsrael, which was a funding organization to collect money for Israel. At the head of this organization stood the loyal Gershon Eiyishiski Z”l. Sometimes I think that it was as if I had gone in a full circle and returned to my childhood in a little different sense. I was brought by my father from the Palita to the very different environment of cheder studies of Ben Zion as well as life in a shtetl., and now fate brought me from the depths of the very secular and “goyish” Soviet Russia to the Zionist Kurenets where Hebrew was spoken everywhere, and the dream of Zion whispered from every field, spreading to Vileyka St. to Dolhinov St. to the gardens of Kulik. Kurenets was dreaming and adorning (tr.? Decorating? Glorifying?) the dreams with beautiful tunes that had just arrived from Israel. To such a Kurenets I arrived, and I was as goy-like as I was in the days of my youth. I could hardly speak Yiddish nevermind any Hebrew! But it didn’t take long and I became deeply involved in this new environment. I became a pillar of the public service and Zionist spirit.
At the end of 1923 we funded a branch of Ha’Chalutz in Kurenets. We established it on Smolgon St., at the house of Moshe Leib Schkalia, Z”L. To be more exact, the house of Chaia Itka. The first committee, contained the following members: Yosef Alperovich son of Mendel son of Yehezkel [Yosef Alperovich perished in the Holocaust], Batia Gurevich [later Batia Bender died in Kibbutz Einat in Israel], Etel Alperovich [died in Israel], Avraham Aharon Alperovich [also died in Israel], and me. With much energy and dedication we opened evening classes for Hebrew instruction, geography of Eretz Israel, and the history of Zionism. Each evening all the members would meet. That year there were about 30 members and we would spend time discussing various topics. We read and sang to bring some more liveliness and to fund the operation, once a month we would sponsor a big dance. The party had certain traditions. We had a band of string instruments, at the head was Ben Zion the Hameraked [Person who makes people dance]. With him were the musicians Yehoshua Alperovich, Itzka son of Netta, and Eliezer son of Racha Rasha, The band would play and the members would dance and everyone would have a great time. One of the highlights of this party was an awards like ceremony at the end where each girl would receive secret letters, and the girl who received the most secret letters would win a prize. To send those secret letters, the guys had to pay. So, clearly if someone wanted to express his affection or to get attention from a certain girl would buy as many letters as he could for that specific girl, and then would send these letters by a certain committee to the girl he cared about. And everyone felt good about it because the guy who sent those secret letters had some hope that the girl would return his affection, and the girl felt very special as if she were the queen of the party. And we had some more funds to run our operation.
After a short time we opened a branch of Ha’Chalutz Ha’Zair in Kosita Street, in the house of three sisters whose last names, I’m very sorry to say, don’t remember. I was for a long time the head of Ha’Chalutz Ha’Zair, and I would especially like to point out the very dedicated activities of Aharon [perished in the Holocaust] son of Mendel son of Yehezkel son of Binya Alperovich. I would like to tell about the carpentry shop that we opened as a branch of the Ha’Chalutz in Kurenets. This took place sometime after the headquarters of the Ha’Chalutz in Poland announced that new places of preparing the Jewish youth to work as pioneers in Eretz Israel were being established throughout Poland. Places like agricultural settlements, carpentry shops, and blacksmith shops were being created. Our decision to open such a shop was very courageous in some ways since we needed to do something from nothing. We had no funds to open such a place, but with a very creative spirit that engulfed us and the energy and freshness that a few of our friends were blessed with, we were able to overcome the obstacles and a carpentry shop was established. Reb Mendel Z”L,( perished in the Holocaust) son of Reb Yehezkel son of Binya Alperovich had an empty apartment in the yard of his home in the alley. We ogled this apartment and decided that we should rent it. At first we were very hesitant. We were worried that our request would receive only laughter in response. Should we go to Reb Mendel Alperovich or shouldn’t we? At the end we became brave enough. I remember that I decided to use the good name of Gershon Eiyishiski [perished in the Holocaust] who was a very respected person. I asked him to join us in our request. So we went to Reb Mendel and asked him to let us rent the apartment to be used as a carpentry workshop. Mendel Alperovich was a Jew with strong character and keen intelligence, and loved to make everything simple and clear. At first he said that he was surprised and unclear about what we were offering. What was the purpose of such a carpentry shop? Who would be the carpenters? And what kind of insurance against any fires or other possible disasters would we give him? After a short discussion, however, he said, “Children, take the apartment and start working, and we will come to some agreement.”
The next day we took the place. The instructor became Ostrovsky, who I think later on immigrated to Argentina. Immediately we established a fund to pay for the upkeep and here it was the Jews of Kurenets and nearby towns like Ilia, Dolhinov, Kriviczi, and Vileyka that we were able to turn to for donations for all the tools and materials we needed. So we were able to open the carpentry shop. And these are the people who studied carpentry in our establishment: Chaim son of Mendel Levin [Perished in the Holocaust], Zaev Shulman [later immigrated to Israel], David Kopilovich from Kriviczi, Natan Shulmn from Vileyka, and a guy from Ilia whose name I Cannot remember. The girls who were responsible for other activities were Chana the daughter of Naftali Alperovich [perished in the Holocaust] and Tsertl [also perished in the Holocaust] nee Alperovich the daughter of Chaim Avraham. Our duties as heads of this enterprise were to get tools, raw materials, and food supplies. We also arranged for cultural and educational instructions here.
The first project was to construct a large bureau, which was sold to the Levin family. We had a big party that day. IT was a spontaneous party, filled with humor and a roast-like atmosphere, where Mendel Alperovich was so excited by our deed that we didn’t have to pay any rent. At one point I was sent to prepare for the emigration to Israel in the forest of Magenetza near town Vishnevo. When I returned home after the big fire of 1925, I found that there was a big kibbutz of trainees of the Chalutz in town. Most of them worked on rebuilding the town that had been destroyed in the fire. The first Chalutz (pioneer) who spent full-time in the preparation, which took almost two years, was trained in Solodny near Vilna, was Avraham Aharon Alperovich. He received a certificate to immigrate to Eretz Israel. After he left there was a long list of immigrants, first from Ha’Chalutz then from Hashomer Ha’Zair and so on and so on until our evil enemy, may his name be erased from memory, annihilated all that was most dear to us.
From days of my early childhood, standing in front of me is the lively image of your pure face, my father. Your blue eyes. But at the gates of death, where you stood for many months, I didn’t join you. When the killers came near our town, I beg you, that you will run away with me to the Soviet Union, but you said you couldn’t leave your daughters, you couldn’t leave Chaia, Henia, and Duba and their families, and you stayed in the valley of death. Even today I hear the exciting timbre of your deep voice, its musical quality. I can still feel your hand that held mine when you first took me to the cheder. You made me feel safe and you walked with me through paths of pain and happiness. From all that I heard of you on the days of horror, your image comes to me in a miraculous light that I haven’t experienced before. This splendid light must have been hidden in you, and only came out when life became darkened. The Germans were not able to trick you. You had no illusions, as many of the survivors told. Although you were an old man at that point, every day you tried to awaken the hearts. You told them, “You must not sit here aimlessly. You must go to the forest, to fight.” And in the day of the annihilation, before the killers were able to touch you with their bullets, you took charge and jumped into the fire and you gave glory to the name of God in every essence of your being. Many, many years passed since you whispered to me the blessing of a safe voyage when I escaped from Kureents. But every day your image will come to my eyes and I am humbled, filled with holy fear and spiritual joy. In my eyes I repeat the torturous occurrence and your last minutes in the day of the awful slaughter, and my lips will whisper, “Avi avi. Rechab Israel veparashav.” And my shut eyes will see you enveloped in a tallit, jumping into the fire and your soul rising up from the flames…



,
- Friday, April 25, 2003 at 18:29:53 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rabbi Yakov Landau, Av Beit Din of B’Nai B’rak Israel. Former Rabbi of Kurenets. MY HOMETOWN In her image and her essence, Kurenets stood apart from her neighboring shtetls. A holy spirit engulfed her in all her events and its spiritual essence was embedded with the stems of the giants of spirit who guided her through many generations. Splendor of holiness spread on her Saturdays, her holy days, and her celebrations. How pleasant it was to experience the tones of the approaching Shabbat at dusk of Friday. When Rabbi Shmuel Der Viner, the father of Shlomo Asna’s, would leave the house of my father (the rabbi) to go to the central market, he would pass all through the stores in the center of town and announce in a special singing tone, “Ein shohel ariyan.” And the shabat would spread its wings around the town and engaged it with sacredness.
How I was filled with joy when I was a young boy when I stood by the gate of our house to see the scene. My father would say, “Reb Shmuel, it is time to announce Ein shohel.” And I would closely follow Reb Shmuel to see how instantaneously as he would announce it, all the merchants would close their shops and there was a little storm that start. The shutters would be locked, the locks would be turned. Immediately this would be followed by a holy tranquility and peacefulness, and the town would robe itself in its most majestic Shabbat clothes.
And here we see coming from Myadel Street, Shimon from the brothers [Zimmerman]. He is going to the Beit Midrash, wearing a velvet hat and soon, from all corners of town, Jews dressed in Sabbath clothes rushed to the synagogue. Here comes Reb Yehuda Meir Freda’s (Alperovich). He was a very learned Jew. And here comes Avraham the Tailor, who we called Avramtzik der Schneider, a very respectable looking person. And from another direction comes Reb Eli Muniz, with a big midrash under his arm. He would make speeches before the assembled members of the central synagogue, De Nya shtabel. And here comes Moshe Nehemsik’s, wearing a velvet yarmulke that can almost be totally seen from under his hat. And there makes an appearance, Cheikel Welwel, with him his youngest son Yakov Yoseleh, devoted Hasid from one of the Lubavitch Hasids. His _expression is excited from the splendor of Sabbath. And here is Mordechai Gurevich, husband of Freda, with his curly peyas, and his face is radiant, illuminated from the delight of Sabbath. Could anyone tell that this is the same Reb Mordechai that just a short time earlier was busy with selling iron goods? And here comes Mendel Zalman Roshka’s. His hair is neatly combed and his essence is brimming with the refinement of the Sabbath.
In our minyan, my father would walk slowly from one side to the other and with a tune that was laden with piety and holiness, he would say, “Hodu uftach eli” before the prayer of minha. In the minyan synagogue a simple oil lamp spread their lights, but still every corner is splendidly shining in the reflection of Sabbath. And while the assembly starts saying their prayer, “Nehu neranena leh adonai, nariya letzur yashi aino”, the heart would beam with an elevated sentiments that would come to an apex at the passage “Mizmor Leh David Havu Leh Adonai Neh Elim.”
“Kol Adonai Bikhorach. Kol Adonai Chotzev Leh Havut Esh.” This tune is said one sentence at a time, with a pause in between each, and the hearts would get more and more ecstatic when they reached the tune of “Leha Dodi.” It would not be said as a song but as a Hasidic tune and the prayers would go on, and the people would be filled with a thirst for more as they neared the height of joyfulness. In my early youth I would leave the minyan synagogue and go to the central market between the reception of Sabbath and the Arvit prayer. At the point where Rev Shlomo Asna’s would read before the synagogue from the book Beir Mayim Hayyim or Siddoro Shel Shabbat, I wanted to become part of the holy silence that spread in the streets. But to tell the truth, we didn’t have to wait for Sabbath to feel the holiness around us. Already in the early morning on Fridays, you could feel the new holy face of the town. Smoke would rise high above the chimneys of the town, you could hear the sound of the Hakmasa when the women prepared the fish, and the wonderful smells of the Sabbath food would foretell the advent of the impending Sabbath.
On Fridays, as soon as the melameds (teachers) would finish instructing the youths in the cheders, they would quickly go in town to collect from everyone the weekly tithes (donations) to the different charity organizations. One would be for the institution of Bikur Holim (which took care of the sick), here the Gabbai was Rev Abba Lubka’s. Others would be collecting for Gm’ch, which was a sort of savings and loan organization, and it would be used for mortgages, and in every big synagogue there would be a collection box for it.
Once a year, when a certain passage would be read from Parashat Mishpatim, something about imkesef talveh (something about loaning money), there would be a big celebration where all the loans (mortgages) that were not paid would be sold (debt forgiven???).
There were a few melameds that before Sabbath came, they would collect money for different Hasidic dynasties. For example, for Lubavitch, for Lyadi… Each one would come with his own notebook and in each page there would be a table, and each square would represent one week for all the people who gave donations. And here they would write in detail the exact amount, usually it would be one or two kopecks). So the melameds of the town would be busily running around town, amongst them Rev Yitzhak Moshe, Rev Avraham Yitzhak, Rev Yosef Leib, and Rev Moshe Baruch the Shamash. This would also add to the special spirit of Friday.
The Holy Days A saying that was many times repeated by Rev Mendel, son of Rev Yosef Zaev, the baker who lived in the shtetl Lebedove, was,
“If you wanted to feel the true essence of Rosh Hashanah during the shofar blowing, you must always compare it with the shofar blowing that was done in the Rabbi minyan in Kurenets.”
I must agree with his assessment because what was experienced during the days before Yom Kippur in Kurenets is almost impossible to describe. I would like to point out that in Kurenets, people would not smoke during Rosh Hashanah although there was no clear rule about it. During Sabbath, they would never take anyone outdoors despite the fact that there was iruv in the shtetl. I also liked to write about a very splendid ceremony that was done during the ten days of Tshuva. In all the synagogues they would light huge candles made of wax that we would specially prepare in our house. When the time of Shuvalicht would arrive, a certain woman would go from house to house and would announce to all the women in town that now it was time to prepare for Shuvalicht. At a certain day, all the women in twon would get up early and come to our house and through the entire day they were busy with preparing candles. Some would come and go, come and go through the entire day, taking turns, and each one of them took part in this important mitzvah. Heading the women was Bilka, the wife of Benny the Baker. The wax my mother always would buy from Sarah Rachel, the wife of Avraham Mendel the Melamed, who had a small wax factory in their home. Once in a while Bilka would repeat, “Irhat svein ga acht wax?” Then she would say, “Irhat svein gilliack acht nyetl" Those two things, each woman would do. During the time of adding the wick, each woman would recite for the souls of their relatives, and naming all the ones who had died, and also the souls of the holy people. “Vas zeinen gafflen in allahla falda und in allahla valda.” Each woman would then put a certain amount of donations for the enterprise in a plate that was specially put on the table for this purpose. Before each woman would go, each one would go to a special room to open her heart and in a prayer, plead with tears before G-d . At dusk only Bilka would be left there and she would start preparing the real candles. The melted wax was put in a huge pail with hot water until it became even softer and then she would make it into candles that were one and a half meters tall, and five centimeters thick. Like this she would make five candles for each one of the synagoges in town.
.
- Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 22:26:33 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
USA - Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 16:30:44 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I called Bushke nee Katzovitz Bloom (in Israel), the granddaughter of Feiga nee Deutch and Shlomo/Shloime Gitlitz of Dolhinov.
She told me that Feiga and Shlomo Gitlitz children were;
1. Shimon Gitlitz who perished in Dolhinov and has one son; Yechezkel, in Israel.
2. Abba Gitlitz who perished in Dolhinov with his wife and three sons.
3. Yosef Gitlitz and family perished in another town
4. Batia nee Gitlitz Lipkin? came to Israel before the war and has family in Israel
5. Chana nee Gitlitz Katzovitz had two daughters; Bushke Bloom and Chaia Barzam with her first husband and one daughter; Sara nee Forman with the second husband; Yaakov Forman son of Leibe, Chana and the daughters survived the war and the daughters with their families live in Israel.
6. Chaia Sora nee Eidelman was a teacher and also the head of a school. They did not live in Dolhinov. Her husband was from another place (maybe Volozhin) He was also a teacher and they lived in other places until the war. They came to be with her mother in Dolhinov and perished with their son Gdalyau and Feiga nee Deutch in Dolhinov
7. Ytzhak Gitlitz was in Israel. died in an accident. He had a family in Israel.
Feiga nee Deutch and Shlomo Gitlitz were well to do family in Dolhinov.
For some years they owned two homes in the best location in Dolhinov.
Shlomo was a Blacksmith and in the big yard of his home farmers from the entire area come to fix their tools. He had some special machines for sharpening the tools.
Since Bushke and Chaia lost their father at a very young age they lived with their mother Chana at their grandparents home.
At age 13 Bushke was sent to a high school in Vilna. Very few families from the area were able to sent their kids to Vilna since it was so expensive. From that time on Bushke would only return to Dolhinov on vacations. as you know she later went to a college in Grodno.
Bushke told me that after they escaped to the forest in early 1942 and the winter was so cold she went to kurenetz were the Jews were not put in a ghetto. She was able to walk around since she had light hair and did not look Jewish. in the forest near Kurenets she ran in to my grandfather's first cousin; Nachum Alperovitz (who looked Jewish ) She asked him to help her and he took her to his parents home in Kurenets. (if you were caught helping a Jew that escaped for another town the Germans would kill you and your family members)
she lived there for a while and later moved with Bluma who was a tailor and moved to Kurenets from Dolhinov.
In Kurenets Bushke met with some youth who joined the partisans (amongst them she remembered my mothers' first cousin; Zalman Uri Gurevitz who would also visit Dolhinov during vacations to be with his relatives there and Yosef Norman from Vileyka and also Rivka nee Alperovitz Gilat and others from the Alperovitz family she could not remember their first names.)
Later on she went to the Knahinina camp and she received food there from Zalman Uri Gurevitz. Eilat http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/dolhinov/d_pages/d_stories_stayalive.html

- Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 11:16:46 (PDT)
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Dear Barbara, I found the following information through a Google search. If there is anything more you would like to know, please contact me. Thank you very much, Eilat
-------------
Vodonos (google search)
When Ikhel Vodonos' flight from Moscow landed at the Los Angeles International Airport, one of the first people he saw was his brother, Joseph. It was the first time Ikhel met his brother and his first visit to the US. He was two months shy of his 80th birthday and Joseph, nearly deaf, eyesight failing, was turning 102.
Joseph immigrated to the US in 1913, twenty years before Ikhel was born in Belogorodka, a small Russian town. Brother, Shimshon, died in World War II and another brother, Shuki, and sister, Feiga, lived in Israel. It seemed like the family would never reunite.
Joseph's wife, son and daughter-in-law, helped Joseph realize his fondest dream, one he'd dared not believe might come true. Devoutly religious, Joseph thought God had favored him with a miracle. Ikhel was filled with wonder and awe at the freedom he felt in America, not only could he worship as he pleased, food was plentiful.

from the Los Angeles Times

Electrical Engineering Department, Technion - Israel
Boris Vodonos
Studying towards: Ph.D.
Telephone: 04-8294662
Fax: 04-8323041
E-mail: barac@tx.technion.ac.il REAP DONOR LIST FOR
4th International Green Walk Cedar Rapids, IA; Irina Vodonos and Sergey
for pictures that Irina Vodonos sent from Russia
http://www.stupa.org.nz/stupa/russia.htm
Vodonos, Valery
Old Saybrook High School
Freshmen - Sophomore Invitational Boys' Results
29 Dimitry Vodonos School; Branford
Irina Vodonos (New York, NY, USA)
E-mail: iv34@barnard.edu (graduated in 2002)
VODONOS 1906 Minsk Uyezd Duma list
Surnames with the same Daitch-Mokotoff soundex: Bytenscy, Pietnicki, Podnos
VODONOS Movsha son of Zavelev Homeowner; from the year
1906 Minsk Uyezd Duma List
Portrait of Art Critic Jefim Vodonos. 1987
Oil on canvas, 82x87 cm (Lithuania) Portrait of Art Critic Jefim Vodonos. 1987
Oil on canvas, 82x87 cm
SON GOSPODINA EKONOMIDI (Le rêve de Monsieur Ekonomidi). 1993. Réal. Evguéniy Krylov. Prod. Cours Supérieurs de scénaristes et réalisateurs. Int. Alexandre Doronin, Youri Koudinov, Artiom Chkrabak, Efim Vodonos.
Marcia Ivone Vodonos Vista Alegre 31-maio
.
USA - Monday, April 21, 2003 at 12:30:51 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am starting to read most of your pages about Belarus. I caught this when someone asked you what is a schetle (sp).
A friend of mine in Russia left Lithuania when the Germans came. I know some people left there and went to Belarus. He has lost contact with everyone in his family. He heard there are some Vodonos people living in U.S. I have contacted some of them and some are quite anxious to see if he knows some of their family which are lost to them. I believe there is a direct relative of his in California but they do not seem to be able to speak or understand English. Their address is not listed. You have done such a wonderful job that I thought you might have some suggestions for me. My friend's name is Leiba Vodonos. Did I tell you more than you wanted to hear? Thanks for anything and your wonderful web pages.
Barbara Matic <matic@aol.com>
Ringgold, ga USA - Sunday, April 20, 2003 at 11:56:31 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Luban Operation .....A few days later we received an order to blow up an alcohol factory and to confiscate all the farm animals and pigs in Luban, near Vileika and Kurenets. At night we began shooting at the factory. The Germans dispersed without resistence. We then set fire to the hospital and the buildings near it. From there we turned to the sovchoz to get the livestock. Seeing the flames, the livestock refused to budge. In spite of this we succeeded in taking from the farm 300 cows and 300 pigs. In this operation we lost not one life. ...
from; A Partisan's Story
By Boris Kozinitz, Dokshitz-Tel-Aviv
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Dokshitsy/dok219.html - Monday, April 14, 2003 at 12:10:10 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alperowitz, Nathan Age:55 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:T626_2116
Race: White Page:11A State: Pennsylvania ED: 736
County: Philadelphia Image: 0783 Township: Philadelphia
Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, E Anna Age:52 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_2116 Race: Page: 11A State: Pennsylvania ED: 736 County: Philadelphia Image: 0783 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Wife
Alperowitz, Louie Age:25 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_2116
Race: Page: 11A State: Pennsylvania ED:736 County: Philadelphia Image: 0783 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Son
Alperowitz, Rose Age:21 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_2116 Race: Page: 11A State: Pennsylvania ED: 736 County:Philadelphia Image: 0783 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Sarah Age: 53 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T626_2117 Race: White Page: 22B State: Pennsylvania ED: 742 County: Philadelphia Image: 0046 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Kettie Age:26 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_2117 Race: Page: 22B State: Pennsylvania ED: 742 County: Philadelphia Image: 0046 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Samuel Age: 28 Year:1930 Birthplace: Pennsylvania Roll:
T626_2127 Race: White Page: 11B State: Pennsylvania ED:
173 County: Philadelphia Image: 1032 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Ida Age: 28 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_2127 Race: Page: 11B State: Pennsylvania ED: 173 County: Philadelphia Image: 1032
Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Wife
Alperowitz, Isreal Age:9 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_2127 Race: Page: 11B State: Pennsylvania ED: 173 County: Philadelphia Image: 1032 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Sonlperowitz, Helen Age:6 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_2127 Page:11B State: Pennsylvania ED: 173 County: Philadelphia Image: 1032 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Ada Age: 4 2/12 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_2127 Page: 11B State:Pennsylvania ED: 173 County: Philadelphia Image: 1032 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Nancy Age: 8/12 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll: 626_2127 Race: Page: 11B State:Pennsylvania ED:173
County:Philadelphia Image:1032 Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Daughter
......................................
Alperowitz, Carl Age:45 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:T626_274 Race: White Page: 10B State: Connecticut ED: 4 County: New Haven Image: 0866 Township: New Haven
Alperowitz, Rose Age:38 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_274
Race: Page: 10B State: Connecticut ED: 4 County: New Haven Image: 0866 Township: New Haven
Alperowitz, Sam Age:18 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_274
Race: Page: 10B State:Connecticut ED: 4 County: New Haven Image: 0866 Township: New Haven
Alperowitz, Harry Age:14 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_274
Race: Page: 10B State: Connecticut ED: 4 County: New Haven Image: 0866 Township: New Haven
Alperowitz, Ida Age: 10 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_274
Race: Page: 10B State: Connecticut ED: 4 County: New Haven Image: 0866 Township: New Haven
Alperowitz, Bella Age:10 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_274
Race: Page: 10B State:Connecticut ED: 4 County: New Haven Image: 0866 Township: New Haven

...............................................
Alperowitz, Boris N Age: 49 Year:1930 Birthplace: Poland Roll:T626_892
Race: White Page: 18B State: Massachusetts ED:129 County: Bristol Image: 0038 Township: New Bedford
Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Glike Age:49 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_892
Race: Page: 18B State: Massachusetts ED: 129 County: Bristol Image: 0038 Township: New Bedford Relationship: Wife
Alperowitz, Joseph Age:18 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_892 Page: 18B State: Massachusetts ED: 129 County: BristolImage: 0038 Township: New Bedford Relationship: Son\
Alperowitz, Mildred Age:23 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_892 Race: Page: 18B State: Massachusetts ED: 129 County: Bristol Image: 0038 Township: New Bedford Relationship:Daughter
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Alperowitz, Alex Age: 32 Year:1930 Birthplace: Poland Roll:
T626_1346 Race: White Page: 22B State: New Jersey ED:
197 County: Hudson Image: 0932 Township: Bayonne
Alperowitz, Ida Age: 29 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1346
Race: Page: 22B State: New Jersey ED: 197 County:Hudson Image: 0932 Township: Bayonne
Alperowitz, Ralph Age:4 1/12 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_1346 Race: Page:22B State: New Jersey ED: 197 ounty:Hudson Image:
0932 Township: Bayonne
Alperowitz, Sylvia Age: 1 3/12 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1346 Race: Page: B State: New Jersey ED:
197 County: Hudson Image: 0932 Township: Bayonne
--------------------------------------------------
Alperowitz, Sam Age: 59 Year:1930 Birthplace: Poland Roll: T626_275
Race: White Page: 8A State:Connecticut ED: 9 County: New Haven Image: 0015 Township: New Haven Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Alec Age: 30 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_275
Race: Page: 8A State: Connecticut ED: 9 County: New Haven Image: 0015 Township: New Haven Relationship: Son
Alperowitz, Leonard Age: 19 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_275 Race: Page: 8A State: Connecticut ED:
9 County: New Haven Image: 0015 Township: New Haven Relationship: Son
-------------------------------------------------------------
Alperowitz, Harry Age:38 Year:1930 Birthplace:Russia Roll: T626_1463
Race: White Page: 14B State: New York ED: 17 County: Bronx Image: 0615 Township: Bronx Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Fannie Age: 34 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1463 Race: Page: 14B State: New York ED: 17 County: Bronx Image: 0615 Township: Bronx Relationship: WifeAlperowitz, Milton Age:14 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1463
Race: Page: 14B State: New York ED: 17 County: Bronx Image: 0615 Township: Bronx Relationship: SonAlperowitz, Helen Age:11 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1463
Race: Page: 14B State: New York ED: 17 County: Bronx Image: 0615 Township: Bronx Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Evelyn Age:8 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1463
Race: Page: 14B State: New York ED: 17 County: Bronx Image: 0615 Township: Bronx Relationship:Daughter
Alperowitz, Sam Age: 65 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T626_1473 Race: White Page: 6B State: New York ED:
316 County: Bronx Image: 0300 Township: Bronx
Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Ida Age: 65 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1473 Race: Page: 6B State: New York ED: 316 County: Bronx Image: 0300 Township: Bronx Relationship:Wife
Alperowitz, Sadie Age:23 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1473
Race: Page: 6B State: New York ED: 316 County: Bronx Image: 0300 Township: Bronx Relationship: Daughter
lperowitz, Esther Age:21 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1473
Race: Page: 6B State: New York ED: 316 County: Bronx Image: 0300 Township: Bronx Relationship: Daughter
---------------------------------------
Alperowitz, Max Age: 55 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T626_454 Race: White Page: 9A State: Illinois ED:
867 County:Cook Image: 0294 township:Chicago Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Marion Age:11 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_454
Race: Page: 9B State: Illinois ED: 867 County: Cook Image: 0295 Township: Chicago Relationship: Grandchild
Alperowitz, Roselle Age:4 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_454
Race: Page: 9B State: Illinois ED: 867
County:Cook Image: 0295 Township: Chicago Relationship:Grandchild
Alperowitz, Irene Age:3 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_454
Race: Page: 9B State: Illinois ED: 867 County: Cook Image: 0295 Township: Chicago Relationship: Grandchild
Alperowitz, Celia Age:55 Year:1930 birthplace: Roll: T626_454 Race: Page: 9B State: Illinois ED: 867 County: Cook Image: 0295 Township: Chicago Relationship: Wife
Alperowitz, Hyman Age: 34 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_454
Race: Page: 9B State: Illinois ED: 867
County: Cook Image: 0295 Township: Chicago Relationship:Son

Alperowitz, Louis Age:60 Year:1930 Birthplace: Poland Roll:
T626_1492 White Page:17B State: New York ED: 1202 County:Kings Image: 0480 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Freda D Age: 50 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1492 Race: Page: 17B State:New York ED: 1202 County: Kings Image: 0480 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Wife-
Alperowitz, Freda D Age: 50 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1492 Race: Page: 17B State:New York ED: 1202 County: Kings Image: 0480 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Wife
Alperowitz, Alex Age: 41 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1492 Race:White Page: 4A State: New York ED: 1214 County:Kings Image: 0897 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Sarah Age: 40 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1492 Race: Page: 4A State: New York ED: 1214 County: Kings Image: 0897
Township: BrooklynRelationship: Wife
Alperowitz, Meriam Age:16 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_1492
Race: Page: 4A State: New York ED: 1214
County:Kings Image: 0897 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Anna Age:14 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_1492
Race: Page: 4A State: New York ED:1214 County: Kings Image: 0897 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Nora Age: 8 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1492 Race: Page: 4A State: New York ED:
1214 County: Kings Image: 0897 Township: Brooklyn
Relationship: Daughter Alperowitz, Pearl Age: 51 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T626_1511 Race: White Page: 4B State: New York ED:
1193 County: Kings Image: 0643
Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Hannah Age:26 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1511 Race: Page: 4B State: New York ED: 1193 County: Kings Image: 0643 Township:Brooklyn Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Dorothy Age: 19 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1511 Page: 4B State: New York ED: 1193 County:Kings Image: 0643 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Daughter
Alperowitz, Sylvia Age: 17 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1511 Race: Page: 4B State: New York ED: 1193
County:Kings Image: 0643 Township: Brooklyn Relationship:Daughter Alperowitz, Max Age: 40 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T626_1522 Race: White Page: 9A State: New York ED:
1362 County: Kings Image: 0521 Township: Brooklyn
Relationship: Head
Alperowitz, Sarah Age: 35 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:T626_1522 Race: Page: 9A State: New York ED: 1362 County: Kings Image: 0521 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Wife
Alperowitz, Rubin Age: 11 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1522 Race: Page: 9A State: New York ED:
1362 County: Kings Image: 0521 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Alperowitz, Joseph Age: 5 11/12 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_1522 Race: Page: 9A State: New York ED: 1362 County: Kings Image: 0521 Township:Brooklyn Relationship:Son
Alperowitz, Morris Age:57 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1526 Race: White Page: 9A State: New York ED:
1453 County: Kings Image: 0386 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head






.
- Sunday, April 13, 2003 at 00:53:51 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alperovitz, Max Age: 45 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T625_355 Race: White Page: 11A
State: Illinois ED: 2208 County: Cook Image: 0709
Township: Chicago came to the U.S in 1895 na 1902 a manufacturer
wife; Cilia? Birthplace: Russia also 45 in 1920 came to the U. S in 1895
They had a boarder; Dora smith Birthplace: Russia age 44 came to the U.S in 1895 na 1902 all are Yiddish speaking
Alperovitz, David Age: 65 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia;Minsk Roll: T625_1214 Race: White Page: 16B
State: New York ED: 1107 County:New York Image: 0376
Township: Manhattan came to the country in 1902 polish speaking
wife; Ida Age: 65 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia;Minsk polish speaking
................................
Alperovitz, Mendel Age: 52 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T626_959 Race: White Page: 1A State: Massachusetts ED: 527
County: Suffolk Image: 0816 Township: Chelsea
Relationship: Head married at age 30 came to the country in 1895 food marchant
Alperovitz, Ida Age: 48 Year:1930 Birthplace:Russia Roll:
T626_959 Race: Page: 1A State: Massachusetts ED:
527 County: Suffolk Image: 0816 Township: Chelsea
Relationship: Wife married at age 25 came to the country in 1897
Alperovitz, Gertrude Age: 21 Year:1930 Birthplace:Massachusetts Roll: T626_959 Race: Page: 1A State:Massachusetts ED: 527 County: Suffolk Image: 0816 Township: Chelsea
Relationship: Daughter book keeper
Alperovitz, Abraham Age: 18 Year:1930 Birthplace:Massachusetts Roll: T626_959 Race: Page: 1A State: Massachusetts ED: 527 County: Suffolk Image: 0816 Township: Chelsea
Relationship: Son salesman
Alperovitz, Esther Age:16 Year:1930 Birthplace:Massachusetts Roll:
T626_959 ge: 1A State: Massachusetts ED: 527 County: Suffolk Image: 0816 Township: Chelsea
Relationship: Daughter
The family owns a home $5500? \
.............................
Alperovitz, William Age: 40 Year:1930 Birthplace: Poland came to the country in 1904 Roll: T626_1971 Race: White Page: 13A State: Pennsylvania ED: 72 County: Allegheny Image: 0773 Township: Pittsburgh Relationship: Head married at 26 a minister in Beth?
Alperovitz, Pauline Age:36 Year:1930 Birthplace:Russia/Poland came to the country in 1904 Roll:T626_1971 Race: Page: 13A State: Pennsylvania ED: 72 County:Allegheny Image: 0773 Township: Pittsburgh Relationship: Wife married at 22 came to the country in 1902
Alperovitz, Perry Age:12 Year:1930 Birthplace: New York Roll:
T626_1971 Race: Page: 13A State: Pennsylvania ED:
72 County: Allegheny Image: 0773 Township: Pittsburgh
Relationship: Son
Alperovitz, Arthur Age: 9 Year: 1930 Birthplace:Massachusetts Roll: T626_1971 Race: Page: 13A State: Pennsylvania ED: 72 County: Allegheny Image: 0773 Township: Pittsburgh Relationship: Son
Alperovitz, Mortimer Age: 8 Year: 1930 Birthplace: New York Roll:
T626_1971 Race: Page: 13A State: Pennsylvania ED:
72 County: Allegheny Image: 0773 Township: Pittsburgh
Relationship: Son rent a home for $145 the family speaks Yiddish
....................................... Alperovitz, Judah Age:39 Year:1930 Birthplace: Connecticut Roll:
T626_2470 Race: White Page: 13B State: Virginia ED:
52 County: Norfolk (Independent City) Image: 0948
Township: Norfolk Relationship: Head
Alperovitz, Betty G Age: 39 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_2470 Race: Page: 13B State: Virginia ED: 52
County: Norfolk (Independent City) Image: 0948
Township: Norfolk Relationship: Wife
..................................
Alperovitz, Nathan Age: 47 Year:1930 Birthplace: Poland Roll:
T626_2587 Race: White Page: 11A State: Wisconsin ED:
86 County: Milwaukee Image: 0663 Township: Milwaukee
Relationship: Head
Alperovitz, Ida Age: 56 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_2587 Race: Page: 11A State: Wisconsin ED:
86 County: Milwaukee Image: 0663
Township: Milwaukee Relationship: Wife
Alperovitz, Rose Age: 21 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_2587 Race: Page: 11A State: Wisconsin ED:
86 County: Milwaukee Image: 0663 Township: Milwaukee
Relationship: Daughter
Alperovitz, Louis Age: 57 Year:1930 married at age;29 Birthplace: Russia Roll:T626_2613 Race: White Page: 1A State: Wisconsin ED: 41 County: Sheboygan Image: 0723 Township: Sheboygan Relationship: Head came to the country in 1890 a peddler
Alperovitz, Annie Age: 48 Year:1930 married at age 20 Birthplace: Roll:T626_2613 Race: Page: 1A State: Wisconsin ED:
41 County: Sheboygan Image: 0723 Township: Sheboygan
Relationship: Wife came to the country in 1890
Alperovitz, Meyer Age: 20 Year:1930 Birthplace: Wisconsin Roll:
T626_2613 Race: Page: 1A State: Wisconsin ED: 41
County: Sheboygan Image: 0723 Township: Sheboygan
Relationship: Son bookkeeper in a store
Alperovitz, Roy Age:18 Year:1930 Birthplace: Wisconsin Roll:
T626_2613 Race: Page: 1A service man in a station
State: Wisconsin ED: 41 County:Sheboygan Image: 0723 Township: Sheboygan Relationship: Son
Alperovitz, John Age: 13 Year:1930 Birthplace: Wisconsin Roll:
T626_2613 Race: Page: 1A State: Wisconsin ED:
41 County: Sheboygan Image: 0723 Township: Sheboygan
Relationship: Son
Alperovitz, Richard Age:13 Year:1930 Birthplace: Wisconsin Roll: T626_2613
Page: 1A State: Wisconsin ED: 41 County: Sheboygan Image: 0723 Township: Sheboygan Relationship:Son
Alperovitz, Abe age: 27 Year:1930 Birthplace: Wisconsin Roll: 626_2613 Page: 1A State: Wisconsin ED: 41 County: Sheboygan Image: 0723 Township: Sheboygan Relationship:Son salesman
own a home for $4000
.
- Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 21:33:35 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Glubokie Forest
Unit Battalion Rokosovski Icchak Ajnbinder Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 1/1/1924
Nickname Witka Before The Holocaust
Organization/ Movement Hashomer Hatzair

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Underground and Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Pleshnitze Forests
Unit Battalion Hamaavack (Borba) Details Of Death
Place of Death Dolhinov Date Of Death 1/8/1943



.
- Friday, April 11, 2003 at 04:09:36 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Organization/ Movement Hashomer Hatzair

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Underground and Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest
Unit Voliniets Gr. Details Of Death
Date Of Death 1/7/1942 Zalman Alperovitsh Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Miadl
Date Of Birth 1/1/1926
Nickname Ziama

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest
Zalman Alperovitsh Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 1/1/1926
Nickname Zalminke

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Ushatsk Forest Yevgenia Alperovitsch Country Of Birth Soviet Union
City Of Birth Minsk
Date Of Birth 1/2/1922

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Belorussian Forest Rank Private
Unit Not Indicated
Job Fighter(W) Jakow Alperowicz Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest Israel Alperowicz Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 1/1/1921

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Unit Battalion Suvorov Details Of Death
Date Of Death 1/4/1943
Leibl Alperowicz Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Miadl
Date Of Birth 1/1/1924

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Postav
Unit Diadia Misha Details Of Death
Date Of Death 1/10/1943
Mordechaj Alperowicz Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 1/1/1924
Nickname Motik Before The Holocaust
Organization/ Movement Hashomer Hatzair

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Underground and Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Vitebsk
Unit Battalion Nikolayev Details Of Death
Place of Death Lepel Date Of Death 1/5/1944 Noach Alperowicz Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Dolginovo
Date Of Birth 1/1/1920

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest
Unit Diadia Misha Details Of Death
Place of Death Glina Date Of Death 1/1/1944 Abraham Alpert Country Of Birth Russia
City Of Birth Lida
Date Of Birth 9/3/1909 Before The Holocaust
Organization/ Movement Poale Zion-C.S.

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Liptshan Forest
Unit Battalion Borba Details Of Death
Date Of Death 1/1/1989 Awram Alpert Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Dyatlovo
Nickname Awreml

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Underground and Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Liptshan Forest
Unit Battalion Lenin Khaya Alpert Country Of Birth Russia
City Of Birth Vasilishki
Date Of Birth 5/5/1912 Before The Holocaust
Organization/ Movement Hechalutz Hatzair

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Liptshan Forest
Unit Battalion Borba Ida Gilbersztejn Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 1/1/1922 Before The Holocaust
Organization/ Movement Hashomer Hatzair

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Naliboki Forests
Unit Battalion Narodny Mstiteli Moshe Kremer Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 5/9/1926

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest
Unit Battalion Slava Rivka Gilat (Alperowicz) Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 1/9/1923 Before The Holocaust
Organization/ Movement Hashomer Hatzair

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest
Unit Battalion Bie Shimon Zimerman Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 2/2/1923 Before The Holocaust
Organization/ Movement Hashomer Hatzair

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Unit Voroshylov Brigade
Zalman-Uri Gurewicz Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 10/8/1924 Before The Holocaust
Organization/ Movement Hashomer Hatzair

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Underground and Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest
Unit Za Sovietskuiyu Belorus Rivka Dodik (Gwint) Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest
Unit Family Camp Lea Shogol (Gurevitsh) Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets
Date Of Birth 1/1/1922

Holocaust Period
Framework Of Combat Partisans Country of Combat Belorussia
Area of Combat Narotsh Forest
Unit Private Initative Binyamin Shulman
Country Of Birth Poland
City Of Birth Kurenets



.
- Friday, April 11, 2003 at 03:48:05 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EINBINDER, NATHAN
Death Date: March 30 1960 Race: White
Death Place: New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut Sex: Male
Spouse: PEARL Age: 82 Years
Birth Place: , Residence: New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut

EINBINDER, PEARL
Death Date: December 12 1964 Race: White
Death Place: New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut Sex: Female
Spouse: NATHAN Age: 85 Years
Birth Place: KURENETS , Residence: New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut
,
Father:ZALMAN URI GUREVITZ


Einbinder, Nathan Age: 53 Year: 1930
Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_274 Race: White Page: 10B
State: Connecticut ED: 4
County: New Haven Image: 0866
Township: New Haven
Einbinder, Pearl Age: 50 Year:1930
Birthplace: Roll: T626_274
Race: Page: 10B State: Connecticut ED: 4
County: New Haven Image: 0866
Township: New Haven
Einbinder, Jacob Age: 17 Year: 1930
Birthplace: Roll: T626_274 Race: Page:
10B
State: Connecticut ED: 4
County: New Haven Image: 0866
Township: New Haven
Einbinder, Abraham Age: 16 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_274
Race: Page: 10B State: Connecticut ED: 4
County: New Haven Image: 0866 Township: New Haven
Einbinder, Jacob Age: 28 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:
T626_275 Race: White Page: 30A State: Connecticut ED:
19 County: New Haven Image: 0403 Township: New Haven
Relationship: Head
Einbinder, Dora Age: 26 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_275 Race: Page: 30A State: Connecticut ED:
19 County: New Haven Image: 0403 Township: New Haven Relationship: Wife
Einbinder, Harven Age: 3 9/12 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_275 Race: Page: 30A State: Connecticut ED: 19 County: New Haven Image: 0403
Township: New Haven Relationship: Son
Age: 2 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_275
Race: Page: 30A State: Connecticut ED: 19
County: New Haven Image: 0403
Township: New Haven Relationship: Son
Einbinder, Mendel Age: 63 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Roll:
T626_275 Race: Page: 30A State: Connecticut ED:
19 County: New Haven Image: 0403 Township: New Haven Relationship: Father




.
- Wednesday, April 09, 2003 at 00:03:29 (PDT)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Monday, March 31, 2003 at 10:35:30 (PST)
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Dear Eilat, Just two lines to thank you for your great work in the shtetl pages. I am
in contact several times a year with other Alperovich and variants in
Argentina. Pedro, whose family is from Kurenets, and who has kept in
contact with your page after I helped him reach it for the first time (and
where he suddenly found his family pictures!) and Ben Ami, a member of an
Alperovich family in our Tucuman province, whose father was from Vileyka.
I have still not reached Kurenets... My own genealogical research is almost
postponed because I am researching for other people and always several
eMails behind schedule! - butI hope to uncover some day the link of my
Alperoviches to Kurenetz - and to my fellow Alperovich.
Warm regards, Carlos
Buenos Aires


.
- Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 19:18:38 (PST)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
USA - Saturday, March 29, 2003 at 06:12:24 (PST)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mrs. Eilat Levitan,

I found your site on the Internet. You really do a great and outstanding work. Thanks to the information I found on your site I managed to contact a number of its visitors it is for sure that it will help these people to learn more information about small Belarusian towns where their roots are from. I am ready to offer my services for the realization of plans and wishes of people who are united by mutual interests presented on your site. First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Yuri Dorn. I’m the President of the Union of Religious Jewish Congregations of Belarus. This organization comprises more than 13 000 Jews from 19 Belarusian towns. About 12 years ago I started to research Jewish heritage which has preserved until today on the territory of Belarus. I have visited more than 70 towns and ‘stetls’ where Jews lived earlier. I have gathered the collection of pictures. I also managed to gather a number of memories of local citizens about Jewish life before the Holocaust. During my visits I noted every time that actually Jewish cemeteries, synagogues and places related to the Holocaust came to desolation. It is difficult to realize that Jewish Heritage of Belarus is fading away. However, lately people who are interested in the search of their roots and forefathers’ memory preservation have begun to visit our country in increasing frequency. Our organization does what one can to help these people in their work during their being in Belarus. We have a wide experience in the field of mutual work on the Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust places restoration.
In connection with this I would like to apply with your help to everybody who is interested in work in Belarus with the proposal of cooperation.
We hope that with mutual efforts we will be able to restore and to preserve our forefathers’ memory!


Sincerely,


(Mr) Yuri Dorn iro@open.by President of URJC of Belarus
.
- Monday, March 24, 2003 at 10:02:04 (PST)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Professor Yehuda Bauer's Presentation
to The Amsterdam Conference on Remembrance, May 2001

There is a tiny hamlet in what is now Western Belarus, about 100 kilometers east of Vilnius, called Kurzeniec. It was once a typical Jewish shtetl, with 1500 Jews and about 500 non-Jews. The Jews were craftsmen, farmers and peddlers, and there was a Polish school there, headed by a man called Matoros. Most of the non-Jews in Kurzeniec and around it were Belorussians. When the Soviets came, in 1939, a small number of young Jews set up what was an underground group of people who wanted Jewish education, in Hebrew, and yearned to leave the place and go to Palestine, which of course was seen as an anti-Soviet activity. Then the German occupation came, and Matoros was nominated by the Germans to be the new head of the township. A POW transit camp, a Durchgangslager, was set up in the market place, for huge numbers of Soviet soldiers, starved, torn, wounded, and sick, before they were transported to even worse camps further west. The young Jews in the place became slaves who had to carry whatever food and water was given to the starving multitudes of prisoners within the barbed wire fence on the square. Young Nachum Alperowicz was one of them. A Russian Captain, Pyotr Michailowich Daniloshkin, tattered and starving, was among the prisoners, and was looking for an escape. Alperowicz put on two sets of dirty rags that served the Jews as working clothes, and gave one to Daniloshkin, who became a Jewish slave worker in the chaos of the square. At the end of the day, in August of 1941, Daniloshkin escaped, as part of the Jewish labor squad. Under the nom de guerre Volodia, he became the commander of the first partisan group in the area, and accepted Jews into his detachment. Matoros aided the Jewish underground, and so did a number of Belorussian peasants in surrounding villages. When the Germans murdered Jewish Kurzeniec, many Jews resisted individually, and 300 escaped into the forest. For two years and more many of them fought the murderers, many others, the weak, old, and very young and their parents, were protected by Volodia and the partisans. Nevertheless, many died in the terrible conditions they had to face.Yet 120 survived, including Alperowicz. Volodia became Daniloshkin again after the war, a teacher, and Alperowicz became a worker in Israel. Both of them told their story after the war, and so did many of the survivors. A righteous Jew saved a righteous non-Jew, that is the point; they endangered their lives for each other and for the people around them. There were few individuals like that, I know, and most people did not behave like them, but some did, many thousands did, and they give us the right to teach, because they and those who acted like them provide the role models we need in order to say that yes, it is difficult, but yes, it is possible. Professor Bauer is the Academic Advisor to the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research. His presentation was made in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, during the Task Force's meeting in May 2001.
http://216.239.33.100/custom?q=cache:bPaKf6edM9sC:www.holocaust-trc.org/bauer_kynote.htm+kurzeniec&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
- Saturday, March 22, 2003 at 15:13:13 (PST)
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http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/dolhinov/d_pages/d_stories_eternal.html From; Eternal Testament: Memoirs of a Partisan
by Yakov Segalchick ......A few days later we visited the village Parodnik near Kriviczi. This was the first visit of partisans in the area. Until then, all partisans had avoided the area because Kriviczi, which was only 1 km away, had a big force of Germans and their helpers. After they killed all the Jews in the shtetl, they used the village as a road to get to the train station at Kanihanin. Despite the danger we decided we must take care of the killers, the brothers Mamek Skorot (or Mamek and Skorot?). Avraham Friedman, Bianish Kuzenitz. Zanka Muhammad, and Dinka Treykovski went with me. We came to the first house of the village, "Auf machen!" (?) I yelled. Immediately the door opened and they turned on the light. We ordered them to close the drapes. First we demanded that he return the gold teeth of Hana Katzowitz, which we knew he took out of her body with pliers. They tried to deny it, but we kept beating them. We only beat the two men; the women and children we left alone. The killers opened graves, amongst them Hana’s, the widow of Ishaiau Katzowitz and also the sister-in-law of Rabbi Malkiel Paretzi (the last rabbi of Kriviczi) who was annihilated with the rest of the community in 1942. The brothers opened the graves of her and her children. We received this information from Herzl Rodoshkovicz and Aron Shulman from Kriviczi who were also partisans with the brigade of Kirov.
Now we had to find the killers of the Jews of Dolhinov: Mikhail Proclowicz and the evil brothers Tarahovitz; men who showed no mercy, not even to children. We first had to do some investigating about how we could go to Dolhinov and when and where we could find the killers. Varovka, a villager who hated those killers, found out that Proclowicz had returned to his ranch in Dolhinov. Originally he was too scared to stay there, but after a year had passed and no one had come to repay his evil deeds, he assumed that even the Jewish partisans had forgotten him. Since neither his house nor his family members suffered any consequences, he returned to his home after a year of wandering.
One clear and cold night in December of 1943, Gershon Yafeh and Biyanish Kuzinitz and Dimka Traikovsky went with me on a sled. As we knocked on his window he opened his door dressed in a fur coat and boots. Immediately we ordered him to go inside with his hands up. We turned on lights, and when he recognized us he started shaking. He begged us not to shoot him, but he saw that his death was coming. I asked him how many Jews had he killed and where were all the possessions that he had stolen from his victims. I ordered him to return everything, saying, "If you will return all that we want, we won’t kill you. We’ll just beat you up."
He called his wife and told her to return all the possessions from the hideout, which he’d buried in a deep hole in the ground, which was covered with snow. We sent one of our men with her to check on it, and we found a large amount of robbed possessions about a hundred meters from the house. I became furious. I yelled, "Confess and tell us how many Jews you killed! How many mothers asked for mercy for their babies?" I started cursing at him violently and uncontrollably. I was crazed. "You must take responsibility and die the death due to an evil and wretched person." I shot him in his head and he dropped dead. Now it came to the most important mission, the hunt for the biggest murderers, the brothers Tarhovitz. I had a personal vendetta against them. The blood of my mother was on their hands. They took part in her killing and this is how it happened: the day after we raided Dolhinov in 1942, my mother with the two daughters of Katzowitz, Gashka and Nyakha, escaped from the Ghetto and walked in the direction Pogost to the forest where we had our base. The two brothers, together with the head of the police, found out and chased them on bicycles and were able to find them. They returned them to town while beating them and torturing them along the way. After hours of this torture, they were taken near the Jewish cemetery and were shot. That was not the only murder that they committed with their own hands. They killed many before and after this incident. I saw with my own eyes how they chased the family of Shimshel, the family of Shalom Dukshitzi, and Nehama Leviczi’s with her children and other relatives. They were tortured and beaten and I will never forget it. But how could we reach them? They lived at the very edge of Dolhinov and to reach them you had to go through the entire town, next to an old stone fortress that was garrisoned by German troops. Like an angry dragon it spit out fire at all who came near it, and we did our best to avoid it.
Finally I found an opportunity. In the middle of February of 1944 I was called to headquarters. Yoskov, an officer at headquarters asked me to get food and other supplies to the headquarters since they were waiting for very important people to arrive and they had nothing to feed them. It was a difficult time at that point to achieve such things, but after thinking for a minute I said to Yoskov, "There’s only one complicated way I can think of for achieving this mission. Since there is no food in such amounts near our base, we cannot do it in one night, but we what we can do is go to Dolhinov and we can surely find food there. But I must have a group of fourteen to sixteen fighters. I can take four from my hospital unit, so I’ll need ten to twelve fighters from headquarters. With such a force we can overwhelm them and bring back a large amount of supplies." The idea pleased him so he gave me permission. He assigned 12 well-armed men headed by Major Tzonkov to go along with me and four from my unit, and left for Dolhinov at six that evening with four sleds harnessed to fast horses. Around 10 in the evening we arrived in the outskirts of Dolhinov. After a short visit with Varovka to gather infomation about the town, we left. At 11 at night we arrived near the large home of the Taharovitz brothers. We put two snipers facing the center of the town to cover us, and immediately we went to work. We ordered them to open up the door, turn on the lights, and to pull down the drapes. Then we made them open up the cowshed and horse stables, which were tightly shut with heavy iron bars. I ordered six of the troops with me to take all the livestock out of the cowshed and stable and to herd them in the direction of the forest. Four men took on the sled all the possessions in the house. It took us half an hour to complete the job, which included four cows and six first-class horses. In the sled we gathered bread, lard, flour, salt, kidneys, beans, and also pillows, blankets, sheets, which had all been robbed from Jewish homes. Before we left, I ordered the Taharovicz brothers to go outside. They were dressed only in their underwear and barefoot, and just as they ordered their victims during the slaughter to run, I made them run in the freezing winter night.
After we left, about half a kilometer from town, a steady stream of fire from the fortress came upon us. They shot at us with automatic weapons, but it was harmless fire. It couldn’t reach us since they had no idea where we were headed. They only heard from the wives of the killers that we were most likely heading to Pogost. So without much thinking, I ordered everyone to go on a side road. Immediately we shot the two killers dead. We sat in our sleds and after shooting in the direction of the enemy, we ran away to headquarters. So like this I revenged the blood of my mother and many other Jews who were killed by those evil and cruel men......
....So like this we stood, a few Jews, lonely and mourning, but also full of anger at our people’s killers and the collaborators who would inform on the Jews and incite the killings. We remember and we will remember until our dying moment, every Dolhinov and local area youth that helped to fight the enemy and fell in the battle. Amongst them, Mulke Koritzky, Haya Shulkin, Hyena Shulman, Zalman Friedman, Mordechai Gitlitz, Mordechai and Mina Hadash, Shimon Gordon, Matityua Shimhovitz from Horodok, Shimon Kiednov from Kriviczi, Shimon Meirson, Gershon Meirson ,Mashka Dimmenstein, Avraham Itzhak Shuster, Yisrael Ruderman, Zelig Kuznitz, Mitzia Friedman from Postov, Hanoch Friedman, Faber Levin from Radishkovicz, Yisraelski from Radishkovicz, Itzhak Einbender from Kurenets, Binyamin Shulman from Kurenets, Shpreyergan from Plashensitz, Faber Rodnik from Radishkovicz, David Glasser from Dokshitz, Menashe Kopilovicz. Honor and glory to their memory. May their souls be melded in the bouquet of living (?). We must remember them in every memorial, and our revenge also will be the revenge of their blood. The revenge quieted for a moment the open anger that boiled in my blood, but late at night, all alone, my soul was restless. I knew nothing of my wife and my little girl was not yet with me. I wanted to leave the town, but I didn’t know when or where I would go. I still had a duty there, and I felt that my wife was alive and that she would one day find me. But only after half a year, at the beginning of March of 1945 was I able to leave town. Meanwhile I continued my work with the NKVD in the town. Slowly there were ten families that returned to town. Some were in Siberia, others in the center of Soviet Asia. Some of the families never returned. Others returned and lived in other areas in the area, but I’m sure others will tell their stories. As they came, everyone had a strong desire to leave the area to go to Poland, which was a gateway to other destinations. There was an agreement with Poland and the Soviet Union that anyone who was a former Polish citizen would be allowed to now leave the Soviet Union to go to Poland, so everyone went there, but no one thought of staying in Poland. It was just a station on the way to other places. I...
- Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 18:06:23 (PST)
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March 19, 2003 Shalom Eilat, War is coming tomorrow!
How did they debate "WAR" in Volozhin 89 years ago?
Please read : The strategy specialists' are debating the results of the oncoming war.
Volozhin during the First World War
By Reuven Rogovin
Translated from VYB p. 343, by M. Porat
It's a pleasure to read Reuven's stories. His memory was phenomenal. His humor was the quintessential Yiddish humor of the Litvak Shtetl's. One could sense in every sentence his great love for his neighbors. Reuven was born in Volozhin in 1905. He recognized the danger that the Jews would be facing under German invasion and was one of the very few Volozhiners who escaped to Russia before the Nazis entered the Shtetl. He survived the war, together with his wife and children in Russia. Part of the time he served as an officer in the Red Army. He left the USSR and made aliya through Poland in 1958. He contributed a great deal to the Volozhin Yizkor Book describing the Shtetl's every day life.
Reuven, God bless his soul, passed away in Israel in 1972.
The strategy specialists' are debating the results of the oncoming war.
Page 343
When the Austro Hungarian crown prince was killed in Sarajevo, a group of Volozhin Balebatim sat inside the Klayzl-Syngogue discussing the future events. Among them were Fayve der Shnayder (tailor), Oyzer der Raznostshik (mailman), Meyer Peshe Yentes, Naftoli der Eynbinder (book binder). They came to the conclusion that the war would not reach our shtetl and therefore the Volozhin inhabitants should be relaxed.
“ Russia is mighty and huge. She is entitled to behave as per the Tsar's desire. Russia might lead the war against the Germans in Siberia, against the Avstraks (Austrians) in Caucasus and if so would be her desire she could fight against all her enemies in the large steppes of the Ukraine or in the deserts of Mandjuria. All depends on decisions that would be made by the High Command of the Tsar's army”
Such was the conclusion of Oyzer der Raznostshik, Volozhin’s most competent "Strategist". Nahumke Telzer, the Yeshiva man, who during the debate was reading a book, lifted his head abruptly and said: “Rabeyssay (my masters), Please let me tell you a true story.”
The audience became attentive and Reb Nahumke initiate his tale:
“A Jew, a very poor tenant farmer had six very ugly and loathsome daughters. Due to their homeliness it was impossible to find bridegrooms for them. One day a shadkhn (Matchmaker) arrived in the lessee's home with exiting news. “I have an “excellent party” for your eldest (Who was the ugliest) daughter, but I cannot reveal the bridegroom's name fearing very much your anger.”
The Jew swore on his Peysses and beard that nothing evil would happen to the shadkhn after the name was told. The shadkhn became courageous and exposed the secret: “The suggested bridegroom is none other but the sole son of count Tishkevith, the Volozhin region's very rich land and forests owner.” The lessee became very angry hearing to whom his daughter was indicated to be a bride. “It could never be”. He said, “I would never let my daughter convert to Christianity.” The shadkhn left the lessee's house empty handed. But the proposed “Shiduch” began to settle in the lessee's head. His wife too was insisting, “maybe its worth accepting the proposition. We would become rich; it's not a joke to have a count as our daughter's father-in-law. It would greatly improve and probably totally alter our financial status.” The lessee called the shadkhn and told him:
“After experiencing difficult internal conflicts I decided to give my daughter as a wife to the son of the count.”
“Beautiful”, answered the shadkhn, “now we have to get to the next step, your agreement alone is not enough, now we should obtain the count's and his son's agreement.” “And the moral of this story is”, continued Reb Nokhemke, “You claim that as per her desire Russia would be able to lead the fights in Ukraine, in Mandjuria or wherever she would choose, but did you already obtain Germany's and Austria's approval? Are you sure that they would agree to lead the battles in those places, precisely?” .
- Wednesday, March 19, 2003 at 15:58:31 (PST)
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The following list is a translation of names and minimal personal data for 8,500 people included in Jewish Encyclopedia of Russia (Rossiyskaya Evreiskaya Entsiclopediya); first edition; 1995, Moscow.
Famous people who are listed in the book, which in fact is a biographical dictionary, were born in Russia, the USSR, the Russian Empire, or lived there. This is the first edition of this kind in Russia and a large group of specialist from Russia, Israel and other countries participated in the project. There are many more well known people in Russia to be included in the next edition of the book. We have to remember that the success of many of these people was achieved against all odds related to limited opportunities that Jews had in Russia. The translation is an attempt to inform people about this additional source available for researchers. Rabbi Yaakov LANDA son of Moshe born in 1893 in Kurenets, Vilna died in 1986 Bnei-Brak, Israel.
LAPINSKY Yevgeny Valentinovich 1942 Krasnoe Zagore, Voronezh Sport

'
- Saturday, March 15, 2003 at 20:03:59 (PST)
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The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) is
pleased to announce its first Genealogical Cruise, a unique opportunity to
combine a terrific Jewish genealogy learning experience with a memorable
cruise. The cruise will depart from the Port of Miami on Carnival's M/S
Fascination on Monday, December 1, 2003 and return on Friday, December 4,
2003, with port calls in Key West and Cozumel.
While at sea, participants will have the opportunity to attend lectures and
informal gatherings with experienced Jewish genealogists and network with
others pursuing similar research. Lectures will include an introduction to
Jewish genealogy and overviews of Jewish geography, interviewing techniques,
Federal, state and local U.S. records and Holocaust research.
The lectures will also provide information on the enormous on-line resources available from
one's home computer, the vast holdings of the LDS Family History Library and its network of
local centers around the world, and the resources
available through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Speakers include Peter Lande, expert on Holocaust research at the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Daniel Schlyter, an LDS Family History
Library Collections Specialist and expert on Eastern European resources.
Members of the IAJGS Board of Directors will bring their expertise on
computers, Jewish geography and Jewish history, Israeli genealogical
research, Lithuanian Jewish genealogical research, Russian documentation,
and in family research across the United States. Please refer to the
IAJGS website, www.iajgs.org for a description of the program and the
participating experts. The lectures and informal gatherings will be
enjoyable for anyone with an interest in Jewish genealogy. Beginners and
intermediate genealogists will find them especially valuable.
Other genealogical benefits to participants include assistance in using
shipboard computers to search on-line databases, informal "Ask the
Experts" sessions to address genealogical questions, and a collection of
"take home" genealogical reference materials.
The lectures and informal sessions will be scheduled around the port
calls,so that participants may take full advantage of both the learning
experience and the visits to Key West and Cozumel.
To properly accommodate participants, registration for the IAJGS
Genealogical Cruise is limited to 300. Those who register by April 1,
2003 will be eligible for complimentary cabin upgrades and other early
registration incentives. For additional information or a registration
form, visit the IAJGS website at www.iajgs.org or call toll-free
(888) 840-5240 (Mon.-Fri. 8:30AM-5:00PM Eastern Time).

Sincerely,
Hal Bookbinder, IAJGS president

.
- Saturday, March 15, 2003 at 19:31:40 (PST)
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)
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The speech of the Israeli born
Dr Gideon Radushkovitz at the mass grave at Dolhinov Jewish Cemetery
on the 1st of September 2002.

Without asking for your permission, I have taken it upon myself to say a few words in the name of the younger generation –the generation that did not go through the Holocaust or experience any of its horrors, but lived, breathed and were raised in the shadow of its memories from the day we were born.
We didn't have to come here to learn what had happened. We have read the books, seen the pictures, and more important, we have heard the stories at home from eye witnesses about the horrors that were perpetrated here to our families.
We have come here to our own personal valley of death, to Dolhinov, so that you could show us for the first time, and maybe the last, those same places that we grew up hearing about throughout our childhood and from which we imbibed the true value of Zionism that we have all acquired, that same value that motivated and drove us to achieve excellence in various units in the army whether as ordinary soldiers, fighters or as commanders.
Despite the fact that we are all past the age of army service, this journey is meant to add fuel to the flame that burns within each one of us in order to preserve it and pass on the torch to the next generation, so that they will be able to understand the meaning of our lives especially in Eretz Jisrael, with all the difficulties we face.
I want to thank my uncle Shlomke Shamgar for the hair-raising stories he told while we stood at the mass graves, of the direct and indirect responsibility of the local population as to what happened here. I fully identify with him.
In a few days time we will take off in a white plane with blue stripes painted on its body and the star of David on its tail, flown by an Israeli pilot, and, when its wheels are withdrawn from this cursed land, whose rivers are flowing with the blood of our dear ones, we will feel, at least some of us, a certain satisfaction at leaving behind us the murderers and their offspring, steeped in their own miserable lives. And we will return to the only place on earth which is our real home.
I cannot conclude these words without thanking Leon Rubin and whoever helped him for voluntarily taking upon himself the organization of this difficult and complicated project, the climax of which was our visit to Dolhinov. Thanks go to him for his willingness to help, his skilled organization and manner, and especially for his amiable, likeable personality which made this trip exceed all expectations.
Thank you.
Gideon Radushkovitz (Translated from Hebrew)
- Thursday, March 13, 2003 at 17:05:50 (PST)
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I received a letter from my mother's first cousin; Gershon Gorev (Gurevitz).
Gershon was born in Kurenitz in 1928. He was the youngest son of Natan Gurevitz (oldest brother of my grandfather Meir) and Batya nee Eyeshiski.Gershon wrote that his grandfather from his mother side was Pinchas Eyeshiski and his grandmother;Bluma nee Alperovitz.
Pinchas and Bluma Eyeshiski's Children;
Mordechai Eyeshiski
Gershon Eyeshiski
Chana Eyeshiski Kremer (mother of Moshe Kremer who lives in Israel)
Sara Eyeshiski Alperovitz (mother of Israel Alperovitz who lives in Israel)
Batya Eyeshiski Gurevitz (mother of Lea, Zalman Uri and Gershon all have homes in Israel)
All of the Pinchas and Bluma Eyeshiski's children perished in the holocaust.
Gershon was in kurenitz during the holocaust. He lost his mother during the first month of the war.
The rest of the family escaped to the forest on the day of the annihilation in 9-9-1942
you could read their story at "Zalman Uri Gurevitz story"
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/stories_gurevitz.html
After the war ended the family came to Israel.
During the early 1960s Gershon was sent by Israel to the Soviet Union as a diplomat.
Gershon lived in Moscow with his wife Chasia and their twins; Benny and Avner. Later they had a son; Eran.
A few years ago Gershon took two of his sons for a visit in Kurenitz
you could see pictures from their trip at;
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/scenes_new.html pictures #1 to #12 of "Kurenets scenes new" are of Gershon and his family

;
- Saturday, March 08, 2003 at 20:54:17 (PST)
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The Russian Imperial government prepared census reports for each Uyezd
(district) within the Gubernia (province). The reports called Revision
Lists for our district were stored prior to 1842 in the Minsk Archives and
between 1842 and 1917 in the Vilna (Vilnius) Archives.
Harold Rhode advised that other than the 1850 list and its amendments, none
of the other post 1842 Revision Lists for our district survived WW2.
We initially had a contact who could make copies of the documents and a
proposed cost of $2600 was discussed. I contacted our members and suggested
raising this money to acquire and later translate the entire 1850 Revision
List.
Before this could get off the ground, someone contacted the chief archivist
and raised a stink and we were informed that no further copying would be
allowed. Dave Fox then started asking the Family History Center in Salt Lake City to
change their policy concerning the types of records they film and to take
on this job. Three months ago we were finally given a negative response.
Just this week, I was informed that a reliable person had been found who
could translate the revision list and take down a manual translation. The
costs mentioned were very reasonable. I was then asked in what priority would we ask this person to do the
research. What towns or cities should be done first? With over 150 cities,
towns and shtetls, this question sounded very difficult to answer.
After some thought a logical answer came to mind. Very few of you have
actually contributed any money and the fund now contains only about
$700.00. I feel that it is only right that those persons who contributed
the most money should be granted the most benefit.
Accordingly we are breaking down the list of contributors by the
cities/towns/shtetls that each is interested in. The final list will not be
prepared until all of the arrangements have been made, so if you want your
location to be given priority, you should contribute or increase your
contribution to the fund. All contributions are tax deductible for instructions see:
http://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen-erosity/Belarus.html If you have read the Belarus SIG web page, you know that a section has been
reserved for our district. If you look at the tremendous work done by the
members of the Lida & Minsk districts, you know that we are falling way
behind in making our research available to the members of the SIG.
Several of our members have their own private web pages for their town or
their family. If you are willing to share your web page with the SIG, Ed Rosenbaum can
set up a link to your web page from the Vilieka Uyezd section of the SIG's
page. Those interested should contact me.
If you have done research of your town and have a report with or without
photos, but don't have a web site, please let me know.
If any of you have the knowledge to set up web pages and can contribute
time to help those of us who don't have that knowledge, please advise.
In other words lets get this group moving.
Best regards, Steve
Coordinator: Vilieka Uyezd (district) of Belarus

PS: I am researching the following families:
Germany: BAUM in Bosen; EISENKRAMER, MARX & LEFEVRE, LEFEBVRE, LEFEBRE in
Rhineland Palatine//Belarus: BASIST,
BASHIST in Lida Dist; COHEN formerly SHEINHOUS, SHINHAUS
SHEINHOUSE,SHEINHAUS,SCHEINHAUS,SHEINHUEZ,
SCHEINGAUZ,SHEINHAUZ in Radoshkovichi, Molodechno in the
Vilieka Dist//Galicia: BIRNBAUM,GOLDBERG, LEINKRAM in Krakow;
GELLER in Mielec; SCHNEPS,SHNEPS,SZNEPS in Dembitz, Tarnow; KREINDLER; ECKSTEIN
.
- Saturday, March 08, 2003 at 07:42:03 (PST)
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In a message dated 3/1/03 11:31:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, sue@md.huji.ac.il writes: 28/02/2003 EST, you wrote:
.
>So many Chaims and they all changed their first names for the official papers
>in the U. S. !!!!
>Do you know what his first name was for the official papers?
>
His first name on his tombstone is Hyman, so I'd assume that was his
official name. He was born in 1893 and passed away in 1964, but I don't have ANY hard data
on where he actually came from, only family lore that "maybe" Aunt Rosie
was married before she left the old country.
I don't see her entry as a Schulman, either, and to look for a rayla or
rosie shapiro when I don't know exactly what year she entered is really a
needle in a haystack! Also, my Schulmans and Shapiros all ended up on the lower east side, and,
as far as I know, all entered through either Castle Garden or Ellis Island.
Oh well, so we're probably not related through them either!

By the way, on your site there's correspondence with a Fernando
Alperowitch in Brazil, who's related to Yehoash here in Israel. I'd assume
he's also related to me, since Yehoash is my first cousin once removed. I
tried to write to him using the mailto: address, and it bounced.
Do you have a current address for him?
Thanks so much. Sue Kahana
Computer Authority, Ein-Kerem Branch,
Hebrew University, Jerusalem,
ISRAEL.
"Your"; HYMAN SCHULMAN you could; Request Information (SS-5)
SSN 051-07-0191 Residence: New York Born 15 Jul 1893 Last
Died Oct 1964 Issued: NY (Before 1951)
I looked at United States Federal Census; he could be ;
Schulman, Hyman Age: 37 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: Race:White Page: 2B State: New York ED: 793 County:Kings Image: Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head
Schulman, Rose Age:34 Year:1930 Township: Brooklyn
Relationship: Wife
Schulman, Seymour Age:12 Year:1930 Relationship: Son
Schulman, Abraham Age:10 Year:1930 Relationship: Son
Schulman, Maurice Age:6 Year:1930 Relationship: Son
Schulman, Edward Age:5 Year:1930 Relationship: Son
In most cases you could see image on line and find much more information - here it does not have it.
while looking I pasted others for my records
United States Federal Census 1920;
Schulman, Hyman Age: 50 year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia;Moghileff Roll: T625_326
Race:White Page:3 B State:Illinois ED: 916 County:Cook Image:233 Township: Chicago
Schulman, Hyman H Age:25 Year:1920 Birthplace: RUS Roll:T625_658 Race:W Page:7B State:Maryland ED: 205 County:Baltimore City (Independent City) Image:1085 Township:Baltimore
Schulman,Hyman Age: 52 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_1063
Race:White Page:16B State:New Jersey ED: 56 County:Passaic Image:
1003 Township: Passaic
Schulman,yman Age:30 Year:1920 Birthplace:Russia Roll:t625_1133 Race: White Page:19A State:New York ED:150 County:Bronx Image:440 Township: Bronx
Schulman, Hyman Age:36 Year:1920 Birthplace: Austria Roll: 25_1147 Race: White Page:19B State:New York ED: 123 County:Kings Image: 548 Township:Brooklyn
Schulman, Hyman Age:34 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_1166
Race:White Page: 1A State:New York ED: 851 County:Kings Image: 651 Township: Brooklyn
Schulman, Hyman Age:50 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:T625_1186
Race:White Page:13B State:New York ED: 116 County:New York Image: 269 Township: Manhattan
Schulman, Hyman Age:35 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:T625_1221
Race:White Page: 12B State:New York ED: 1335 County:New York Image:512
Township: Manhattan
Schulman, Hyman Age:37 Year: 1920 Birthplace:Russia Roll: T625_1196
Race: White Page: 1A State: New York ED: 502 County:New York Image: 131 Township: Manhattan
Schulman, Hyman Age:24 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll:T625_1519
Race:White Page:2B State:Pennsylvania ED: 356 County:Allegheny Image: 456 Township: Pittsburgh
Schulman, Hyman Age:24 Year:1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_1519
Race: White Page:2B State:Pennsylvania ED: 356 County: Allegheny Image:456 Township: Pittsburgh
1930 United States Federal Census Schulman, Hyman Age: 33 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_454
Race: White Page:13B State: Illinois ED:867 County: Cook Image: 0303
Township: Chicago Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 58 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_454
Race: White Page: 14B State: Illinois ED: 881 County: Cook Image: 1098
Township: Chicago Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 58 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_477
Race: White Page: 9B State: Illinois ED: 419 County: Cook Image: 0074
Township: Chicago Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 16 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_2116 Race: Page: 29B State: Pennsylvania ED: 741 County: Philadelphia Image: 1036
Township: Philadelphia Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 34 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_2580
Race: White Page: 3B State: Wisconsin ED: 13 County: Lincoln Image: 0134
Township: Merrill Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 39 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_942
Race: White Page: 6A State: Massachusetts ED: 37 County: Suffolk Image:
0846 Township: Deer Island Relationship: Prisoner
Schulman, Hyman Age: 40 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1469
Race: White Page: 1B State: New York ED: 200 County: Bronx Image:
0615 Township: Bronx Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 42 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1470
Race: White Page: 4B State: New York ED: 218 County: Bronx Image: 0107
Township: Bronx Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 45 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1472
Race: White Page: 14A State: New York ED: 303 County: Bronx Image: 0861
Township: Bronx Relationship: Head Schulman, Hyman Age: 25 Year:1930
Birthplace: Roll: T626_1473 Race: Page: 8B State: New York ED: 311
County: Bronx Image: 0056 Township: Bronx Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 40 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1474
Race: White Page: 10A State: New York ED: 359 County: Bronx Image:
1023 Township: Bronx Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 32 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1477
Race: White Page: 37A State: New York ED: 410 County: Bronx Image: 0303
Township: Bronx Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 19 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1477 Race: Page: 19B State: New York ED: 428 County: Bronx Image: 0955 Township: Bronx Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 31 Year:1930 Birthplace: Poland Roll: T626_1479
Race: White Page: 12B State: New York ED: 452 County: Bronx Image:
0449 Township: Bronx Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 59 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1483
Race: White Page: 11B State: New York ED:525 County: Bronx Image:
0699 Township: Bronx Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 10 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1492 Race: Page: 5B State: New York ED: 1203 County: Kings Image: 0498 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 13 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1492 Race: Page: 15B State: New York ED: 1213 County: Kings Image: 0884
Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 12 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1493
Race: Page: 3B State: New York ED: 220 County: Kings Image: 0008
Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 46 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1503
Race: White Page: 1B State: New York ED: 326 County: Kings Image:
0957 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 21 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1518
Race: White Page: 4B State: New York ED: 178 County: Kings Image:
0201 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 14 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1519 Race: Page: 3A State: New York ED: 210 County: Kings Image:0440 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 24 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1519 Race: Page: 3B State: New York ED: 218 County: Kings Image:0707 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 50 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1524
Race: White Page:24A State: New York ED:1406 County: Kings Image:
0441 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 37 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: Race: White Page: 2B State: New York ED: 793 County: Kings Image: Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 14 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1534 Race: Page: 11B State: New York ED: 387 County: Kings Image: 0591 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 15 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1537
Race: Page: 9A State: New York ED: 1695 County: Kings Image:
0319 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 23 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1540
Race: Page: 1B State: New York ED: 1586 County: Kings Image:
0774 Township: Brooklyn Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 5 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1547
Race: Page: 16A State: New York ED: 92 County: New York Image:0363
Township: Manhattan Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 58 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll:T626_1554
Race: White Page: 24B State: New York ED:404 County: New York Image:
0050 Township: Manhattan Relationship: Head
Schulman, Hyman Age: 16 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1599 Race: Page: 13B State: New York ED: 371 County: Queens Image: 0028
Township: Queens Relationship: Son
Schulman, Hyman Age: 75 Year:1930 Birthplace: Latvia Roll: T626_1852
Race: White Page: 3B State: Ohio ED: 30 County: Montgomery Image:
0332 Township: Dayton Relationship: Head
to search ancestry.com click here
- Monday, March 03, 2003 at 08:59:42 (PST)
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In a message dated 3/2/03 1:26:28 PM Pacific Standard Time, zieg_exp@netvision.net.il writes: Dear Eilat, On the fabulous Kurenitz web site that you built, I see Kurenitz revision lists about which I have a few questions. My questions are:
For 1816, is this a list of all the Jews in K.?
For 1834, the list appears to be of only Alperovitches; do you have the rest of the K. Jews?
For the after-1850 list, there are also only Alperovitches; do you have the rest of K. Jews?
For each of the three lists, do you have the name of the FATHER of the people listed?
All the lists are only just small parts of the original Kurenets lists - They were given to me by Ronnie Greenberg (Alperovitz from Kurenets and Vileyka and Edward Anders
(Alperovitz from Kurenets who moved in the 1880s to Liepaja, Latvia )
They paid to do research on their family. They were translated by
Tikhon V. V. Bykov (#22522) bykov@super2a.unl.edu



.
- Sunday, March 02, 2003 at 14:26:04 (PST)
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In the book Stockholms Enskilda Bank and the Bosch Group, 1939-1950, the relations between the Bosch Group and the Stockholms Enskilda Bank (SEB) have been examined in connection with the economic role of neutral countries and Germany during World War II. The Swedish SEB purchased Bosch Group companies outside Germany during 1939-1940, creating an association with Nazi Germany which colored SEB's international reputation during the post-war years. The Boston Globe published Walter V. Robinson's article Sweden Probes a Dark Secret (July 6, 1997). But a darker chapter is being written now about the Wallenberg family and its extensive business empire, as Sweden confronts dismaying new evidence that the country's wartime collaboration was more extensive than is widely known, and that the Wallenberg family profited from secret dealings with the Nazis. For instance, documents from World War II contain evidence that Jacob and Marcus Wallenberg, Raoul's cousins, used their Enskilda Bank to help the Nazis dispose of assets seized from Dutch Jews who died in the Holocaust. The following book tells us about Sweden's crucial role in supplying Nazi Germany iron ore and military facilities. Especially notorious for their support to the Nazis were the Wallenberg family, SEB bank and SKF factory. The Swedish government was responsible for the most iron ore the Nazis received. Kiruna-Gällivare ore fields in Northern Sweden were all important to Nazi Germany.
These massive deliveries of iron ore and military facilities from Sweden to Nazi Germany lengthened World War II. Casualties of the war have been estimated at 20 million killed in Europe. How many of them died due to Sweden's material support to Nazi Germany, is not known.
Gerard Aalders and Cees Wiebes The Art of Cloaking Ownership: The Secret Collaboration and Protection of the German War Industry by the Neutrals: The Case of Sweden.
The University of Michigan Press. 208 pp. 1996
Fritz, Martin. Swedish iron ore and German steel, 1939-1940. Scandinavian Economic History Review 21, no.2: 133-144. 1985.
Firms located in 'neutral' Sweden supported the Nazis' financial and industrial leadership. The case of Enskilda, a bank owned by the still powerful Wallenberg family, proved to be particularly interesting. Among other things, Enskilda acted as a cloak for the Nazi regime and helped important German corporations like Bosch, IG Farben and Krupp to hide their foreign subsidiaries in order to avoid confiscation by the Allied governments. Mikko
Finland - Saturday, March 01, 2003 at 02:49:36 (PST)
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- Friday, February 28, 2003 at 07:38:05 (PST)
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sue@md.huji.ac.il wrote; I know we've been in touch before, but i've just been browsing your site,
and realized that there may be a connection that's not through the
alperovich line. my father's aunt rosie (rayla) alperovich/shapiro (we have a history of
selling/buying the name..) married a Chaim Schulman, probably before they
went to the US. Chaim was born in 1893, and passed away in NY in 1964.
Rosie, as far as we know, was named Alperovich while she was in Kurnetz,
but since everybody in my direct branch who went to NY changed the name to
Shapiro, I have her listed in my tree as a Shapiro.
Does any of this ring any family tree bells?
Regards,
Sue
Dear Sue, I checked ancestry.com and the only "Chaim Shulman" I found was from my notes for Schulmans who came to Ellis Island;
74.Chaim Schulman Russia 1905 42
75.. Chaim Schulman Wilna 1905 28
76. Chaim Schulman Dwinsk 1906 44
77. Chaim Schulman Grodno, Grodno 1907 36
78. Chaim Schulman Bober, Russia 1908 10
79. Chaim Schulman Nowo-Alexandrowsk, Russia 1910 5
80. Chaim Schulman N.Y., U.S.A. 1910 39
81. Chaim Schulman Russia, Mahitew 1911 24
82. Chaim Schulman Gsawetz, Russia 1913 26
83. Chaim Schulman Lubaratow, Russia 1913 3
84. Chain Schulman Russia 1912 22
Name Residence Arrived Age
Szulman,Chaim Berisew, Russia 1912 19
Shulman,Chaim Witz, Russia 1907 9
Shulmann,Chaim Kutno 1906 17
Schulman,Chaim Kowg 1905 21
12 Schulman,Chaime Ce... Warshaw, Russia 1907 4
1 Schulmann,Chaim Grajewo, Russia 1908 56
2 Schulmann,Chaim Groduv 1903 17
3 Schulmann,Chaim Kanadanow 1904 9
4 Schulmann,Chaim Kowno 1902 32
5 Schulmann,Chaim Minsk 1904 37
6 Schulmann,Chaim Rotszana, Poland 1921 9
7 Schulmann,Chaim Slomin, Russia 1893 24
8 Schulmann,Chaim Wilna 1900 17
So many Chaims and they all changed their first names for official papers in the U. S. !!!!
Do you know what his first name was for the official papers?
I found three Schulmans from Kurenets;
Schulman,Rachmiel Korinitz, Russia 1907 43y
53 Schulman,Reitze Kurnetz, Russia 1910 20y
54 Schulman,Rubin Kuronitz, Russia 1913 16y
My Schulman family came first to northern New York State and later moved to Pennsylvania and Ohio.They are in pictures 10- 24 in Kurenitzers and their families in America; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/america.html

click for the pictures
- Thursday, February 27, 2003 at 21:58:28 (PST)
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Polish Aliyah Passports;
From Kurenets;
Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living
ALPEROWICZ Nochem Kurzeniec 1912 niezonaty czapnik Kurzeniec
BOTWINIK Fryda ------- Kurzeniec 1912 zamezna krawcowa Kurzeniec
GWINT Izrael--------------- Kurzeniec 1912 zonaty robotnik Kurzeniec
LIMON Samuel ----------Kurzeniec 1910 zonaty handel Kurzeniec
From Dolhinov;
Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living
DIMENSZTEJN Rachmiel Dolhinów 1913 niezonaty rolnik Dolhinów
KUPERSZTOCH Szloma Dolhinów 1917 kawaler uczen Glebokie
LEWIN Ajzik-------------- Dolhinów 1908 zonaty rolnik Dolhinów
LIFSZYC Josel - Chaim Dolhinów 1911 niezonaty handlarz Dolhinów
REZNIK Sonia------------- Dolhinów 1917.26.05 zamezna krawcowa Dolhinów
SZRAJBMAN Lejzer Dolhinów 1916 niezonaty nauczyciel Dolhinów
ZULAR Fiszel---------- Klesów 1910.IV.2 zonaty nauczyciel Dolhinów
Volozhin;
Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living
SZYSZKO Dwosza Wolozyn 1906 zamezna przy mezu Wolozyn Rachel córka
BUNIMOWICZ Eljasz Wolozyn 1881 zonaty handlarz Wilejka
PERSKA Gala Wiszniew 1886 wdowa-------------- Wolozyn
SZYSZKO** Benjamin Wolozyn 1905 kawaler uczen Warszawa Wilejka;
BUNIMOWICZ Eljasz Wolozyn 1881 zonaty handlarz Wilejka
ENTIN Szloma------- Wilejka 1914 kawaler robotnik Wilno
ORLIK Mera----------- Wilejka 1909.XI.10 zamezna bez zajecia Wilejka
PlAWNIK Marjasia Wilejka 1870 wdowa gos. domowa Wilejka
Radoszkowicze;
REZNIK Rachmiel Radoszkowicze 1906 zonaty krawiec Radoszkowicze
ROZENHAUZ Daniel Radoszkowicze 1871 zonaty budowniczy Wilno
Rakow;
Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living
BOTWINIK Aba------ Raków 1908 zonaty uczen Raków 422
LEWIN Szolom------- Raków 1916 niezonaty bez zawodu Smorgonie
ROLNIK Dwejra---- Raków 1910 zamezna bez zajecia Raków
ROLNIK Szmerel Minsk 1910 zonaty krawiec------ Raków
SZAPIRO Szloma---- Raków 1894 zonaty urzednik---- Tel-Aviv Wiszniew;
Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living
PERSKA Gala Wiszniew 1886 wdowa Wolozyn
Krasne;
ZILBERGLEIT Eljasz Krasne 1914 niezonaty bez zajecia Krasne
Gródek;
Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living
BORER Dawid Gródek 1911 niezonaty Warszawa
EJDELMAN Noson Gródek 1913 niezonaty bez zajecia Gródek
FRYDMAN Rachil Gródek 1920 niezamezna bez zajecia Michalów
KRYWIECKA Chaja - Sara Gródek 1905 zamezna szwaczka Gródek
SAPIRSZTEJN Mejta Gródek 1913 niezamezna krawczyni Gródek
SHTEJNBERG Boruch-Lejb Baranowicze 1917 niezonaty urzednik prywatny Gródek
TAUB Abram Gródek 1909 zonaty Bialystok
ZAKHEJM Rebeka Gródek 1887 zamezna kupcowa Warszawa
Ilja;
Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living Comments
RUBINSZTEJN Chajka Ilja 1908 zamezna przy mezu Warszawa Chaim i Ita - Henia
The 'Passports' collection in the Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland (Warsaw) consists of 3,754 Polish passports issued primarily during the 1930s to Polish citizens going to what was then British Mandate Palestine. The data in this passport file has been added to the Jewish Records Indexing-Poland database and is searchable by surname. We want to thank the contributors to JRI-Poland's Aliyah Passport Project for helping the project become fully funded. We also especially want to thank Michael Tobias and Howard Fink of JRI-Poland, as well as Yale Reisner and Ania Przybyszewska of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, as well as the Jewish Genealogical Society Inc. (New York) for their important roles in this historic project. For further information, please contact Polish Passport Project Coordinator Judy Baston JRBaston@aol.com
.
- Thursday, February 27, 2003 at 09:23:40 (PST)
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From: Sosensky@aol.com
To: EilatGordn@aol.com thank you very much for following up on my inquiry. that was much appreciated. i will look into it.
as i have said on several occasions. the website is great and i check in daily for updates, etc. it has become a part of my life, and i take my father on tours of the site and he reminisces, though sadly, over families, places, and events.
my father is a survivor who emigrated to new haven in 1947 after 3 years in the woods.
thanks again, and best regards,
steven.
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- Wednesday, February 26, 2003 at 20:44:56 (PST)
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Dear steven, The 23rd IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Washington D.C. is on July 20-25, 2003
Belarus SIG members (researching the same general area as you) attending the 23rd IAJGS Conference as of last month;
FEARER, Mark Volozhin, Lyskava, Volkevysk, Ruzhany RAGOVIN, PINKAUSOVICH, CHERNICHOFF
MARKEL, Beatrice Vileyka, Dalhinov, Vilna KAGAN,KAHAN,ZAPODNIK
POSNICK, Mike Budslavy, Dolginovo, Drogiczn, Kobrin, Kopyl, Minsk, Mir, Novyy Sverzhen, Timkovichi EHRLICH, FRIEDMAN, GOLOVENCHITS, KOSOWSKY, POZNIAK, ROZIN, SHERMAN, SHULKIN, SZTEYNBERG, ZELEVYANSKY
RHODE, Harold Dolginovo, Vileika Uyezd AXELROD, RUBIN, SHUMAN
SMITH, Lester Oshmyany, Gudegai, Zhuprany, Vishnevo SHUMELISKY, DAVIDSON
you should email davefox@jewishgen.org for more information

.
- Monday, February 24, 2003 at 21:27:24 (PST)
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My husband's maternal grandmother and grandfather were Hirsch Zimmerman and Hannah Schulman. I have, by research in NYC records and relative's information established, with some certainty, the following information. Hirsch Zimmerman was born Feb 15, 1860, in Kurenets, I think. He arrived NY Aug 14, 1884 on Ss Gellert from Radoshdovichi. He was naturalized on May 12, 1904. His father was Hyman Zimmerman, and his mother Sara Kossak He died NYC Nov 14, 1910 in NYC.
Hannah Schulman was born in Radoshkovichi on Oct 30,1859. She arrived in NYC in August, 1888 on the SS Viola with her two oldest daughters, Nechame and Fegele. She died in NYC April 2, 1942 in NYC. Her father was Hirsch Schulman, her mother Perla Taub. By family report, Hannah had many brothers and sisters, but only one who is known to have come to NYC, Hode (Huddie, or Ida). She was born 1871 in Radoshkovichi, and married Isidor Klein of Vilna there. By family report, a brother, Samuel, emigrated to Canada, but I've been unable to trace him. There is a vague family report about attempts to rescue a niece from Vilna during the 1930, who ended up as a dentist in Israel, but I have no real facts about Samuel or the niece.
My next stop will be Ellis Island, to trace some of the useful names you provided. .
- Monday, February 24, 2003 at 15:10:05 (PST)
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i just read about an annual meeting in washington d.c.
can someone tell me about that.
thank you.
steven c. sosensky
steven c. sosensky <sosensky@aol.com>
hamden, ct USA - Sunday, February 23, 2003 at 17:55:27 (PST)
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Subj: Kurenets and Radoshkovichi
Date: 2/22/03 2:01:27 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: EilatGordn
To: loumau@mindspring.com
You could find much information about the families; Zimmerman Family and Shulman Family if you really read all the pages on the sites.
It will take me many emails to put it all for you but I am putting a sample here
from;
Ellis island data, natives of kurenets ;
52 Schulman,Rachmiel Korinitz, Russia 1907 43y
53 Schulman,Reitze Kurnetz, Russia 1910 20y
54 Schulman,Rubin Kuronitz, Russia 1913 16y
19 Zimerman,Freide Kurinetz, Russia 1912 19y
20 Zimmerman,Gersch Kurmitz, Russia 1911 21y
21 Zimmerman,Himke Kuranjets 1906 4y
22 Zimmerman,Libe Kuranjets 1906 28y 1
23 Zimmerman,Rochel Keranitz, Russia 1913 18y
24 Zimmermann,Peissach Kurenietz, Russia 1913 42y
1929 Business Directory for Kurenets
xSzulman Aron son of Zvi.-Tanning (My great grandfather born c1880- perished 9-9-1942 in Kurenets)
xSzulman M.-Grocery store
xSzulman Natan-
'x Szulman R Textile Cymerman E. -Grocery store
Cymerman F- Tea house
Cymerman - bakery
in Kurenets stories you could find three Zimmermans who are natives of Kurenets who wrote stories (There are others who's mothers were Zimermans who also wrote) ;
Three Years Story by Yitzhak, son of Nethka Zimerman
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/stories_3years.html "June 24, 1941. It was the third day of the German-Russian war. The Soviet authorities had begun retreating from our area, and to us it appeared that the Red Army troops were in total pandemonium. We too, the Jews of Kurenitz, were panicking. We watched the Red Army turning to the east. "Where would we go?" we asked desperately, running for advice from one neighbor to the next. Each one of us knew of the impending disaster. But still some Jews consoled themselves and others by saying, "It is impossible that the renowned Red Army would be defeated so easily". They said, "This must be part of their tactics to win the war. You will see, tomorrow or the next day theyÕll get reinforcements and the whole situation will change." Other Jews would console each other announcing "the Germans only hate the wealthy Jews. Since there weren't any rich Jews amongst us in Kurenitz after the period of Soviet rule, which had made everyone of us equally poor". So, they reasoned, "we had no reason to worry". Kurenitz buzzed with these kinds of conversations as the German army entered the town. The same day, on Tuesday afternoon, we saw the troops of the Red Army rapidly fleeing from the advancing German army. Wounded Russian soldiers, lost and confused ran around, trying to find shelter. German planes flew very low, almost touching the roofs of the houses. The Germans planted seeds of death in the midst of the running troops. They also killed peaceful shepherds and their herds. All of our reasoning and calculations ceased with the sounds of the slaughter. The Jews searched frantically for a place to hide themselves. Many went east with the retreating army, but only a few managed to cross the border. Most of them were stuck in the little shtetls east of Kurenitz, such as Dockshitz and Dolhinov. The ones who stayed in town prayed for pity from heaven. We started gathering a few families together like lost, lonely sheep. We felt the danger was all around us, so we clung to each other. We believed that if we all huddled together we would be safer. I remember a Saturday morning a week after the war had started. It was a beautiful, clear June day, beaming with natural splendor. All the cedar trees at the end of Mydell Street were covered in bright green aura, as if they were mocking our dark fears. Then the first Germans arrived in Kurenitz. They were known as the 'Spearheads' and it was their mission to scout out the area before the actual army was brought in. (In reality, there had been Germans in Kurenitz on the fourth day of the war, but they were paratroopers disguised as members of the Red Army.) The scouts came from the fields near the Savina Forest. They crossed Mydell Street and continued toward Poken. A few of them saw my father and asked him mockingly, "Nou, harasha tasiviatsa?" (Do you live comfortably?). My family and I lived on Dolhinov Street, near the center of Kurenitz. When we learned of the Germans' arrival, we left our apartment and moved to Sweshtchefola at the end of Mydell Street. We had always thought of Sweshtchefola as the end of the earth, the area was on the outskirts of the village and was largely Christian, but now we felt more hidden there, and safer. I remember that Saturday well indeed. Our family gathered in Uncle Yesha's yard that afternoon. The yard was big, and open to the surrounding roads and the fields, including the road to Balashi. Suddenly, as we stood there, discussing what to do, I saw an armed car coming from the direction of Myadell Street. At first we were hopeful, and thought it was a Soviet car, but as the car approached, we saw the white and yellow flag and the black swastika of the German army. "The Philistines," I said, and everyone froze. 'This is the end,' we thought, but a miracle occurred. The soldiers said 'hello' respectfully and greeted us politely. The unexpected attitude of the German troops improved our spirits and bolstered our hopes for the future. Uncle Yesha was very excited and a passage from Tehilim (Psalm) came to his mouth. "The ones that sow with tears, harvest with happiness, " he recited. The family began discussing the situation. Uncle Yesha was convinced that we were still safe and that the future would be bright. He believed that we would be awarded despite the fear that was haunting us. Our imagination, he claimed, allowed us to get carried away.
to read the rest; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/stories_3years.html
Last year I talked with the daughter of Yitzhak Zimmerman in Israel. you could read my notes in the Guest book for kurenets.
Shimon Zimmerman is the head of the Kurenets society in Israel- He lives in Kfar Harif, a place that he established and was settled by Jews who came from the area of Vileyka. There are shulmans who live there also. Shimon Zimmerman story; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/stories_zimmerman.html

I was 17, a student in the technicum for economic studies in Grodno, on the shores of the Nemun River. I did well in my studies and received a scholarship in Stalin's name. I was the head of the school's student bodyand was very involved with the communist party. Full of plans and dreams for the future, I was absolutely sure that the communist rule that two years prior had replaced the radical anti-Semitic Polish rule was heaven on earth for us, Jews. This idyllic fantasy didn't last long. On June 21, 1941, I finished my finals with high marks. In good spirits, my friends and I went to see the choir of Yordnah. The next morning, I was planning to go back to Kurenitz to spend my summer break in my hometown. What happiness I was anticipating, seeing my parents, girlfriend Riva, my good friends, and having a good time every minute of my summer vacation.Instead of leisurely getting up and going to the train station, exactly at 4am I was awakened by sirens from the dorm alert system, then the sounds of aircraft, German messerschmitts, and explosions everywhere. At that moment I had no idea of the tragedy that befell me, and I never imagined that my days of youth were over. That teenage celebration of life, schoolwork and having casual fun with friends would be replaced by a daily struggle to survive. I was sure that everything would be like the songs we sang-Stalin would give the orders, and our pilots would clean the skies of the messerschmitts. Marshal Voroshilov, the head of Russian army, would take the Red Army to swift triumph and knock down the German infantry like a samurai from Japan, and I would come home only a few days late. But as high as the expectations so were the depths of the disappointments. Already in that first day I knew it was not like the songs we sang. Grodno shared a border with Germany at that point in time, and now was heavily air attacked, the bombing growing in intensity. The Soviet planes that just managed to take off, as Skidal airfield was destroyed, were chased and hit by the German messerschmitts, and fell out of the sky like paper toys. The Germans had absolute control of the skies. The bridge that connected the city that was parted by the Nemun River was the only way to go east, but it had a huge traffic mess, and nothing could move because of the innumerable out of order vehicles. In the afternoon, we got an order to gather in small groups and leave Grodno. Carrying our packages on our backs, without instructions as to where to go, no food, and no information about what was going on, we chose partners. Our group included 8 guys and 2 girls. We took off from the largest synagogue in Grodno; prior to the war it was used by our school for lectures. We started walking toward Skidal-Lida. The whole town was girdled with traffic, broken army vehicles, and torn telephone wires; the communist authorities left the city hastily in great panic while German aircraft were continuously attacking and pushing inlandÉEncountering hardship and danger, we finally managed to leave Grodno. We were tired, hungry, and lost. The roads were filled with civilians and soldiers who ran in a frenzy. The German planes flew very low, almost touching the ground, shooting at everyone below with machine guns. We reached a forest and decided to rest. At dawn we saw horrible images. The road was filled with wounded and dead and no one took care of them. The Russian soldiers didn't know where their officers were. They took off their uniforms, got rid of their weapons and ran for their lives.Hundreds of prisoners of all nationalities - that were mostly imprisoned for being late for work - were supposed to go that day to Skidal to build an airfield. Instead they left the prison camp half-naked and mixed in with the crowds going east.Because of all this pandemonium, the second day, I was left only with one friend of the entire group; the rest were lost. On the third day, four prisoners from the Skidal camp joined us; we were on the road to Dolhinov, 30m km from Kurenitz. We ate fruit and vegetables we found in the fields, and drank from every dirty puddle. The heat was unbearable and the flies wouldn't leave us alone. On top of it all, I had new shoes and my feet were all swollen and when I took my shoes off the skin came with it.Hungry, in a daze, and bare-foot we continued east. The train did not work and every kind of public transportation was destroyed. There was no private transportation because gas was not available. We reached Lida and took a longer route; circling the burning town, we continued to the direction of Ilya. We came close to the road that would take us to Minsk, the capital of Belarus. We were sure the Red Army would stop the invaders from coming there, but that didn't happen. The Germans' strategy was to put units in the back of the Red Army; they put small units everywhere and that helped them to create demoralization and panic in the Russian army and local authority. Later on, we found out that the general of the Minsk front was a German collaborator and helped the Germans capture the city. Everything around us was destroyed and an enormous marching German army, extremely organized and prepared with every equipment and supply you could imagine, continued going ahead like it was a never-ending army parade. I understood that all was lost. I dug a hole in the ground and made a mental note of where it was and put my party membership and professional cards in the hole, hoping to retrieve them one day. In no time we were in the hands of German soldiers who took us to the German headquarters. A young German soldier with a baby face asked me where I was going, I explained I was a student and was going home, I showed him my student ID (I didn't even remember that it said I was a Jew). He left and came back with a higher authority officer and explained to him that I was a student and pointed to my long hair, then they both left. Later the baby-faced soldier came back and gave me a sandwich with jelly and egg. He gave me my ID card back and let me go. My friend and the other guys with buzz cuts were taken blindfolded. The Germans suspected that they were soldiers in the Red Army. So in the heat of the afternoon of June 24 1941, I stood shocked and confused after my first meeting with the Germans. I was 20-km from Radeshkovitz. The town where the poet Mordechai Tzvi Maneh, who I admired so, was born.Before I was let go by the Germans, I was sure this was my end; just thinking about it brought tears to my eyes. I was an only son and could imagine what my parents were going through. My girlfriend, Riva and my parents would have never known where I was buriedÉ The sound of what turned out to be two German planes chasing a huge Soviet plane brought me back to reality. I saw them hit the plane and tons of papers and maps dropped from the sky. The Russian pilot parachuted not far from me. I just lay there frozen with fear. A few minutes later pastoral quietness took over. I first stood, and then ran, not knowing where to go. Not far from there, I saw a little farmhouse. I knocked. The farmer was scared to let me in, but he gave me a piece of bread and cucumber and showed me the way to Ilya, a town where my uncle lived. When I arrived in Ilya, I learned the Germans had not entered yet. At the Soviet headquarters of war, I saw many armed soldiers. A policeman hung warnings on the street that two people had been executed for stealing something from a factory. At my uncle's home, there were a few Jews, merchants and businessmen during the time of the Polish control, and they were happy about the defeat of the Red Army! I was shocked and couldn't understand. Despite their knowledge of Hitler's views of the Jews, Jewish people were sitting so content, not even considering what was to come. The poor people truly believed nothing would happen to them, that they would manage!....
read the rest at
What I Remember By Eli Zimmerman (a Kurenitz native) As told to Morton Horwitz in New Haven What I Remember ;http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/stories_remember.html
Most of the original members of Sheveth Achim [Synagogue in New Haven] came from the Kurenitz area of Russia. Kurenitz in pre-revolutionary times was in Vilna Gubernia (state) so the were Litvaks as well as Lubavitcher Chasidim. In fact, when I was a little boy of six or seven in Kurenitz of the 1880s, I remember that the Lubavitcher Rebbe himself came to our synagogue for a Shabbos. What a crowd greeted him! But no one was impressed with the way he chanted the haftorah. Although we all were Lubavitcher Chassidim, we did not wear black kaftans or suits or hats the way the Lubavitcher do in Crown Heights, just regular clothes. Of my family, my father came to this country first and brought me over in 1906 when I was sixteen. The rest came over a few years later. Everyone wanted to come to American because there was absolutely nothing to keep anyone inside Russia in those days. Most people couldn't make a living and the Czarist government didn't let Jews budge from here to there if they wanted to improve themselves. THE KURENITZ CONNECTION The Statue of Liberty celebration in 1986 was a special celebration for me too. It was just eighty years since I first saw the Statue when I passed it on my way to Ellis Island on the ship which brought me to America from Russia. I could see it only from a distance then, but it meant so much to me that I made up my mind that I would pay it a visit as soon as possible. So it was only a couple of weeks after the train had brought me to New Haven that I took the excursion train back to New York. Relatives in New York showed me the way by subway and then the ferry. There I was, staring up at the Statue of Liberty. I climbed it all the way to the top. I would like to try to climb it again some day soon. The Statue meant, and still means, freedom for me; freedom from Russia, freedom from the Czar, freedom from poverty, and freedom from the old life of Kurenitz. If, in Fiddler on the Roof, you could erase the name Anitevkah and substitute Kurenitz, you would have a good picture of my home town when I left it in 1906. For a long time already the struggling Jews in our Kurenitz had been keeping their eyes on America. Life was hard and bitter in that part of Czarist Russia in those days as I suppose it always was. To us it was Russia although actually we were Litvaks from Vilna Gubernia living among Lithuanians, Poles, Russians and, of course, Jews. Not just Jews, but Lubavitcher Chassidic Jews! We were rich in religion, rich in Chassidism, rich in synagogues, rich in children, rich in Yiddishkeit, but oh, were we poor! But then almost everyone was poor. And it looked like things never would get better. Things weren't so bad in Kurenitz, come to think of it. We had a bedroom, a living room, and of course, a kitchen. The only trouble was that all of this was in only ONE room! At least the bathroom was outside. But there was nothing about which to complain. We did have a floor. And the rent was cheap. Our family had a well-rounded diet, too. Mostly it was potatoes made this way, that way, or another way. To back up the potatoes there was p'chah and herring and fried onions plus cholent and chicken and soup for Shabbos. Bread, however, was cheap and plentiful, good and fresh. The bagels were real bagels made of special white wheat, not like the goyishe bagels of America made with holes in them. Those who lived in the "suburbs" had it a little better than we did food-wise. Because they had more room, they were able to raise chickens in the back yard with even a goat or two running around. We envied Zavel Estra's family and others like it who lived in the suburbs (shtetlach) and who had chickens and goats. But they didn't have a real floor! There were little fishing towns like Zaneritz in the Kurenitz area. There was plenty of fish to eat in Zaneritz but not much else. And there was trouble even in selling fish. Ask the Horwitz or the Zanrotsky families. The residents of Anitevkah, I mean Kurenitz, constantly talked about "dos goldeneh lahnd - America" even in their sleep. Way back in the 1880s, some pioneers like the Krivitzkys, the Cohens, the Aldermans, and the Hoffmans had made the first move towards the New World. I can't figure out why or when these Kurenitzers first decided to settle in a city called New Haven. Maybe it was the "New" part of the name which made it sound almost like the famed New York. How they got to New Haven from the boats, I don't know; but soon these first settlers started bringing over their relatives and landsleit from that area. That was how New Haven came to be settled by the Kurentiz pilgrime. Kurenitz in 1903 had a lot of synagogues and Hebrew Schools, but when any students showed some promise they were sent out to yeshivahs in Shmagun (pronounced Smagun by Litvaks). The yeshivahs there were not exactly Ivy League like the yeshivah in Lublin, but they were a step up in the way of traditional learning. So at the age of 13 off I went to Shmagun by horse and cart. I didn't
for the rest go to http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/stories_remember.html

You wrote.....
Dear Mr. Fox, Ive enjoyed the Belarus site very much, and hope to meet you at the Annual
Meeting in Washington. However, of more immediate concern, I would like to ask you about Eilat Gordin Levitan. He seems to have constructed the sites
for Radoshkovichi and Kurenets, the places of origin of my husband's
grandmother and grandfather. He shows pictures of Shulman and Zimmerman
family members, but doesnt really give us any useful genealogical material on them. Is he still alive? Is Gordon Levitan a relative? How can I contact him? I would appreciate any general guidance.
Katherine Harris Sorry that you found sites with hundreds of pictures from the shtetls and many stories and lists "without any useful genealogical material for you"- and You are asking if I am still alive!
My picture with my children around me (I am the blond woman! not "HE" with the hat) http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/gurevitz/g8_big.jpg
I am related to both families; Shulman; my grandmother was Bela nee shulman, daughter of Aharon, son of Zvi shulman and Zimerman; My great great grandmother was Sara nee Zimerman, she was married to Zalman Uri Gurevitz (born c 1840 died in Kurenets c 1922)
As I wrote there is much information but you must give me your family information if you want me to help!!!!
I have asked all of you to help with the site and many of you did. The site will be "useful" for your families if you let me post your pictures, stories, family trees and information.
Eilat Gordin Levitan




.
- Saturday, February 22, 2003 at 23:58:03 (PST)
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I just want to say thank you for this site. I was helping my 10 year old son write an essay about his Jewish ancestors. I'm a convert to Judaism so we researched his father's family. My husband's great grandparents came from Vileyka - Avrom Kahan and Rikla Zavodnick. His grandfather David Kahan (eventually changed to Cohen and then Colburn)immigrated to Wisconsin, USA in 1907. He brought his parents over eventually, but I dont' know what year that was.
We were so moved by your site. We will light a Yarzheit candle this Shushan Purim.
Thank you for all the great information, and thank you for preserving the memory.
We are teaching it to our children!
Katie Colburn
.
USA - Tuesday, February 18, 2003 at 09:32:19 (PST)
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To whom;
Thankyou for your very informative piece on the Rosenbaum School. I thought you might like to know that the school closed it's doors for the last time just prior to New Years 2002. After many years of financial difficulties and changes in administration it finally sold the last of the land to the City of Milford and they vacated the premises at that time. Even the students helped load up the trailers in the effort to meet the deadline. Those of us who lived near the campus were aware of the problems and foresaw this would happen eventually but most would agree that having the city own it is far better than a condocrusher coming in and stripping the property bare. One of the reasons I am notifying you is that I have done some research into one building that I can presume fairly confidently was the original school building. Your site refers to 56 Gulf St. as the address yet the current address of the property is 150 Gulf St. suggesting that at one time there was nothing there at the time any further past New Haven Ave. This being said the building that now sits on a corner of the property has no listed street address and is significantly older by comparison to the other facilities. Although there is a distinct difference in outdoor esthetics the foundation suggests a building method co-parent with 1940s construction. Much later than the building. If the records for that particular lot are accurate there was no building there up until sometime after 1944 which would tie in with the foundation being different. The City of Milford has purchased the property and has plans to use it for an Alternative Education Site in the Future. It is a shame that this significant piece of history both to the Rosenbaum family and to the relationship between the school and Yale University will most likely be demolished to make way for newer facilities. I had made inquiries as to saving the exterior while renovating the interior for an alternative use. A residence but perhaps even that is not the most responsible use for the structure. It has been left dormant and is in serious decay from lack of use and mechanical systems being removed over time. Perhaps you might have some suggestions as for ways to save this peice of history both to my town the school and the community that received so much from it while it was in "it's day" Thankyou
Sincerely, Richard Buso
Milford, Conn. 06460
click for the THE ROSENBAUM TUTORING SCHOOL
- Saturday, February 15, 2003 at 21:03:08 (PST)
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Dolhinov Cemetery Project 28 of January 2003;

Here is an updated list of donors for the Dolhinov Cemetery Project:
1. Alperovich Tova Ramat Gan, Israel $250
2. Blum Bushke Givataim, Israel $250
3. Berzam Chaya Ramat Gan, Israel $250
4. Baranovski Chava Ramat Gan, Israel $250
5. Gitlitz Yecheskel Tel Aviv, Israel $250
6. Gitlin Avi Ramat Hasharon , Israel $375
7. Grosbein Chaim Petach Tikva, Israel $250
8. Golan (Goltz) Yechezkel Rehovot, Israel $185
9. Dr. Goltz- Doytch Miryam Haifa Israel $250
10.Chafetz Asya Tel Aviv, Israel $250
11.Chafetz Gutman Tel Aviv, Israel $250
12.Cheres Yehuda Herzelia, Israel $500
13.Finesilber Beny Haifa, Israel $250
14. Lenkin Nachum Holon, Israel $250
15. Norman Shimon Petach Tiqva, Israel $250
16. Norman Yitzhak Givataim, Israel $250
17. Fridman Moshe Kfar Saba, Israel $250
18. Koton Levi Yitzhak Holon, Israel $250
19.Kravchinski Rachel Petach Tiqva, Israel $250
20. Kremer-Sosenski Batya Ashdod, Israel $250
21.Dimshtein Lev Alfey Menashe, Israel $250
22.Perevoskin Aharon Ganey Yochanan, Israel $250
23.Shlechtman (Sosensky) Sima Ashdod, Israel $250
24.Shinuk David Rishon Lezion, Israel $250
25.Shulman Hinda Ramat Gan, Israel $250
26.Shamgar (Smorgonski) Shlomo, Givataim, Israel $250
27.Sosenski Yehuda Ganey Yochanan, Israel $250
28.Rubin Leon Ramat Efal, Israel $250
29.Rubin Arye Givataim, Israel $250
30.Rubin Victor Chedera, Israel $250
31.Rubin Israel Neveh Mivtach, Israel $250
32.Rapson/ Ekman Michael Avichail, Israel $250
33.Radashkovich Gideon Givataim, Israel $250
34.Radashkovich Mordechay Givataim, Israel $250
35.Radashkovich Roni Givataim, Israel $200
36.Podshivalov (Shpreregen) Fanya, Nesher; Israel $ 200
37.Fridman Eli Argentina $250.
38.Griner Chasya Brazil $375
39.Drewiacki Max Berlin, Germany $375
40.Mr. & Mrs. Jack Diamond Omaha, U.S.A $250
41.Eilat Gordin Levitan, Studio City, Ca U.S.A $250
42.Shmilovich Avraham Kvar Saba Israel $125
43.Tych Raja (nee Bronshtein) Ramat Gan Israel $275
44.Zolotov Zipora Lahavim Israel $250
45.Markman Sonya New Haven U.S.A. $100
46.Yofe Sima Ramat Gan Israel $125
47.Labunski Fanny(nee Ruderman) Haifa Israel $125
48. Radashkovich Eliyahu Ramat Gan Israel $100
49. Radashkovich Arie Tel Aviv Israel $125
50. Gayer Rita Petach Tiqva Israel $250
51. Rapson Dov (Melamed) Avichail Israel $250
52. Rapson Avigdor (Ekman) Herzelia Israel $250
53. Paz Yosef & Dvora Haifa Israel $250
54. Sosenski Yaakov Ashdod Israel $125
55. Sosenski Sima Ganey yochanan Israel $125
56. Ben Barak Gallia Rechovot Israel $125
57. Shor Maya (nee Sosenski) Bizaron Israel $125
58. Sosenski Eli Ashdod Israel $125
59. Kaplan Klila Tel Aviv Israel $125
60. Kanter Laura (nee Libe Rubin)Boca Raton Fl. U.S.A $500
61. Schuster Riva Kvar Saba Israel $125
62. Brant Sara Navei Mivtach Israel $100
63. Aminetsach Yehuda Herzelia Israel $125
64. Aminetsach Avraham Jerusalem Israel $125
65. Dr Shmilovich Zelig Omer Israel $125
66. Ruderman Florence New York U.S.A. $150
67. Chalifa Raya(nee Rubin)Navei Mivtach Israel $125
68. Shap Gerald & family (Grosbein)Cape-Town,South Africa $650
69. Harcavi (Furman) Meier Ramat Hasharon Israel $250
70. Harcavi (Furman) Chanan Ramat Efal Israel $250
71. Rosen Lester & Debby Glencoe , Chicago U.S.A. $250 + $50
72. Susan M. Goldsmith of Piedmont, CA ,U.S.A. $500
73. Jacob Chevlin, Florida, U.S.A $250
74. Simon Chevlin, New Haven, U.S.A $250
75. Shifra( nee Chevlin) Zamkov, New Haven, U.S.A. $500
76. Ester Telis (Dockshitzki) Cheshire, Con. U.S.A. $500
77. Prof. M. Shapiro Hod Hashron, Israel $100
78. Zipi Asafi (Grosbein) Kfar Saba, Israel $125
79. Dr. Orania Yanay Tel Aviv, Israel $250
80. Dr. Dimenshtein Victor Tel Aviv, Israel $250
81. Liberman Batya & Esar Fridman Kvar Saba, Israel $125
82. Rabani Ziva Jerusalem, Israel $125
83. Evalyn Krown New York,U.S.A.$100
84. Shamgar Giora ,Ramat Gan,Israel $125
85. Lechterman Chaim Tzahala,Israel $125
86. Malerevitch Batya (nee Lechterman) Tel Aviv,Israel $125
87. Gitlitz Orah & Tzipi, Givataim, Israel $125
88. Bronshtein Chana Ramat Gan , Israel $250
89. Doytch Israel, Petach Tiqva, Israel $125
90. Dr. Bronshtein Michael Tel Aviv ,Israel $250
91. Gutman Palant, Moshav Magshimim,Israel $250
92. Radashkovich Viera, Ramat Gan,Israel $125
93. Holland Nate, Winnetka, IL,U.S.A. $125
94. Holland Bill, Chicago, U.S.A. $125
95. Garson Charlotte, Atlanta,Georgia,U.S.A. $250
96. Ben-tov Chaya, Ramat Gan, Israel $75
97. Gitlin Mordechy, Haifa, Israel $50
98. Kagan (Gendel) Malka, Haifa Israel $50
99. Adin (Eidelman) Dov, Beit Avot Efal, Israel $75
100. Rubin Elyakim, Givataim, Israel $50
101. Dr Pryss Leon, Natanya, Israel $60
102. Even Bila,Ramat Yitzchak,Israel $50
103. Prof Samuel Kassov, Hartford,USA $100
104. Goldsmith Susan, Piedmont, Ca, USA $500
105. Krown Evalyn, Westbury, NY, USA $100
106. Rosen Lester & Debby, Glencoe,IL, USA $50 (in memory of Dorothy Holland)
107. Deutch Ronald,Towson, Meriland, USA $400
108. Rein Barbara, Chevy Chase, MD, USA $500
109. Kramer Isaac, Brooklyn, NY, USA $100
110. Eilat Levitan,Studio City, CA, USA $250 (second donation)
111. Prof M. Shapiro, Hod Hsharon, Israel $100 (second donation)
112. Dr Pryss Leon, Natanya, Israel $125 (second donation)
113. Pery Mordechy, Beit Dagan, Israel $125
114. Rosenblatt Malka, Ganey Tiqva, Israel $100
115. Noiman Nechama, Tel Aviv, Israel $100
116. Cohen Lea, Thornhil OTR, Canada $400
117. Holland Elizabeth, Chicago,IL, USA $500 (in memory of grand grand
mother Bashe Holland (nee Rosen) 118. Myerson Mark, Kvar Saba, Israel, $250
119. Lester & Debby Rosen, Glencoe,IL, $100 (in memory of
Rachel Kravchinski) 120. Garson Charlotte, Atlanta, Georgia, USA $100 (In memory of
Rachel Kravchinski) 121. Busin Chaya (nee Kravchinski), Petach Tiqva, Israel $250

This is a list of donors who participated financially so far in the
restoration of the Jewish Cemetery in Dolhinov.
The project is estimated to cost 30000 US dollars.
26000 of the sum required have been already collected.
The planned, very solid high fence of 450 m long has been already built.
In the coming spring we plan to put up two big Memorial Headstones
on the two huge mass graves of the massacred Jews of Dolhinov.
For address of people on the list: E-mail:
rubinlj@netvision.net.il (RUBIN LEON)
For letters:
Leon Rubin, 2 Hartsit str.,Ramat Efal, 52960, Israel
Tel. 03-6356469
.
- Friday, February 14, 2003 at 10:18:07 (PST)
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My great grandparents on my mother's side were born outside Vilnius in present day Lithuania. Their original names were Mowscha Swirski and Zipa Byalou– changed to Morris Swyer and Celia White respectively when they immigrated in 1913 and 1908. Morris's parents were Peretz Swirski and Bailya Koganovich. Celia's were Shaina Pesha Alperovitsh (changed to Sadie Alpert upon immigration) and Aryeh Leib Byalou. Both had connections to the towns of Swir, Vileyka, and Vilna. Morris and Celia were married in 1915 and settled in upstate New York. If anybody's genealogy matches, or closely resembles what I have mentioned, I would be happy to hear from you
Susan Earle slr360@hotmail.com .
- Tuesday, February 11, 2003 at 20:02:50 (PST)
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Email to Stew Gottlieb of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island,
from Jason I
Alpert.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently, I've been reviewing -- and digitizing -- my vast collection of
Jewish
genealogical data, acquired MOSTLY between 1947 and 1986.
(This is mainly because cousins have recently been besieging me with
requests for
information and help. This has forced me to try to get organized -- and
digitized.) My data is for the area of present-day Belarus that is between Minsk and
Vilna
(Vilius, ugh!) -- the same area that is of interest to Eilat
Gordin-Levitan
(www.eilatgordinlevitan.com), Randy Daitch, and Stephen Cohen.
In the course of doing this, I visited your "LINEAGE INDEX BY TOPIC"
Webpage
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsli/Lineage.htm. I was astounded to see your entry:
The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jews by Ephraim Oshry in English
VIII:2-3:9
(the entry appeared twice). I presume that this is a translation of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry's classic
book in
Yiddish, "Khurban Li-te". When I lived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (1969-1997), I was very
close with
Rabbi Oshry. He even gave me a copy of this book (which I've lost). And
he'd
encouraged me to translate it into English (which I never got around to
do). Now I am
overjoyed to discover that this book -- a veritable treasure-trove of
genealogical
information -- seems to have been translated.
Please email me the details -- is it REALLY TRUE that this book has been
translated?
(Must be "Moshiach's tsayt'n"!) How can I get it or see it?
I must confess, I don't even know what "LINEAGE" is. Is it your
publication? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Actually, I came across your webpage through a Google Search for "Naomi
Bard Feller".
I made this Google Search upon my finding the following note on an old
3x5
index-card: "04-29-1984: I met Michael Castroll of West Haven, Ct. He had been
referred to me by
genealogist Naomi Bard Feller." I vaguely recollect communicating with Naomi Bard Feller. But, in my
records, I can't
find any info re her address. Re her, your webpage has the entry:
Naomi Bard Feller Our Rumanian Roots V:1: 6
If you know her email address, please forward a copy of this to her.
And if you know Randy Daitch's email address, please forward copy to
him.
Thank you, Jason I Alpert (Yos'l Alperowicz)

.,
- Tuesday, February 11, 2003 at 17:04:28 (PST)
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phoned Mina nee Matzlitza Katzovitz (88582743) in Kfar Harif, Israel.She is the widow of Mendel Katzovitz Z"L, a native of Dolhinov.
Noshe Katzovitz was married twice, One of the wifes name was Ela the other Sheina?. He had ten children;
1. Chaim (Fima) Katzovitz. was killed near Dolhinov in 1925. he was married to Chana nee Gitlitz and the father of Bushke Bloom and Chaia Barzam. read BUSHKA AND CHAYA KATZOVITZ- WE SO DESIRED TO SURVIVE
2. Shimon Katzovitz. Shimon survived the war with his two daughters; Mindl
Daimont (402- 556- 6524) and Shula Z"L. after the war they settled in the U.S
3. Reyzel married a Dimenstein. She perished with her family in Dolhinov.
4. Yosef Katzovitz. two of his children survived the war; Sima married Yudel Sosensky also from Dolhinov, they now live in Israel (6411355?). Izik Katzovitz also lived in Israel. read; ISIK KAZOVITZ- MY STORY DURING THE TIME OF THE SHOAH 5.Shprinza ?shpizaKatzovitz. perished in Dolhinov.
6.Reuven Katzovitz was killed in Dolhinov 1942 at age 18..
7. Mendel Katzovitz survived the war as a partisan. he met Mina in 1945.They were married in 1946.Mendel wanted to live near Dolhinov but not in the town (Dolhinov) were he lost his family.They moved to Kurenitz and lived there for ten years. They had three children in Kurenets; Moshe, Ela (named for Mendel's parents)and Mordechai (named for Mina's father). the family came to Israel in 1960.
8. Henia nee Katzovitz Zukernik was from another mother. She came to Eretz Israel in 1935. I called her daughter; Bila in Israel. her mother wrote a chapter in the book for Dolhinov; HENIA ZUKERNIK KAZOVITZ- REMINISCENCE
We do not know the names of the 2 others.
From the yizkor book list of perished; KATZOVITCH - Moshe, Sheina, Zalman, Shprinza & children, Yosha & family,
Elka, Pesia, Reuven, Leah Lipse, Beila, Mordecai, Yosef, Hirschel, Beilka, Nehama,
Mordecai, Zalman, Fruma, Raisel, Israel, Israel & famly, Raisel, Mordecai & family,
Ahuva, Recha Bashe


.
- Thursday, February 06, 2003 at 11:47:36 (PST)
Kurenets Partisans found from your query:
Lea Shogol (Gurevitsh
Icchak Ajnbinder
Hamaavack (Borba) Belorussia
Zalman Alperovitsh Belorussia
Moshe Alperowicz
Suvorov Belorussia
Mordechaj Alperowicz
Nikolayev Belorussia Elija Alperowicz
Voliniets Gr. Belorussia


Israel Alperowicz
Suvorov Belorussia


Jakow Alperowicz
Belorussia


Nahum Alperowitz
Za Sovietskuyu Beloruss Belorussia


Rivka Dodik (Gwint)
Family Camp Belorussia


Rivka Gilat (Alperowicz)
Bielski Belorussia


Ida Gilbersztejn
Narodny Mstiteli Belorussia


Gershon Gorev (Gurevitsh)
Markov Belorussia


Zalman-Uri Gurewicz
Za Sovietskuiyu Belorus Belorussia


Moshe Kremer
Slava Belorussia


Jakow Orczyks
Local Underground Belorussia


Shimon Zimerman
Voroshilov Belorussia


.
- Saturday, February 01, 2003 at 18:32:03 (PST)
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)
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Kramnik family from Kurenets;
Kremer, Philip Age:39 Year:1930 Birthplace:Russia Roll: T626_1451Race:White Page: 2A State: New York ED: 93
County: Monroe Image: 0827 Township: Rochester Relationship:Head owns home $9,500 Yiddish speaking wholesale; dry food came to the U.S in 1905
married at age; 33
Kremer, Pearl J Age:28 Year:1930 Birthplace:Canada Roll: T626_1451 Race: Page: 2A State: New York ED: 93 County: Monroe Image: 0827 Township: Rochester Relationship: Wife owns home $9,500 Yiddish speaking married at age; 22
Kremer, Adlyn Age: 4 1.12 Year: 1930 Birthplace: New York Roll: T626_1451 Race: Page: 2A State: New York ED: 93 County: Monroe Township:Rochester Relationship:Daughter

Kremer, Isreal L Age: 43 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Russia Came to the U.S in 1905 Roll: T626_1451 Race:Jewish White Page: 2A State: New York ED: 93 County: Monroe Image: 0827 Township:Rochester Relationship: Head owns home $9,500 wholesale; dry food married at 31
Kremer, Dora C Age: 42 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Lithuania Roll: T626_1451 Race:Jewish Page: 2A State: New York ED: 93 County: Monroe Image: 0827 Township: Rochester Relationship: Wife married at ;30 came to the U.S in 1899
Kremer, Irving B Age: 10 Year: 1930 Birthplace: PennsylvaniaRoll: T626_1451 Race:Page: 2A State: New York ED: 93 County: Monroe Image: 0827 Township: Rochester Relationship: Son Kremer, L Lorence A Age: 5. 10.12 Year: 1930 Birthplace: New York Roll: T626_1451 Race: Page: 2A State: New York ED: 93 County:Monroe Image: 0827 Township: Rochester Relationship:Daughter



.
- Friday, January 24, 2003 at 18:05:21 (PST)
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Kramnik, Max Age: 42 Year:1930 Birthplace:Poland/ Lithuania Roll:T626_902
Race:White Page: 9A State: Massachusetts ED: 244 County: Essex Image: 0790 Township: Salem Relationship:Head Married at age; 35 sprayer; leather mothers' Birthplace:Poland fathers' Birthplace:Poland year of immigration to the U.S; 1926
Kramnik, Sarah Age: 37 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Massachusetts Roll: 626_902 fathers' Birthplace:Poland mothers' Birthplace:Massachusetts
Race: Page: 9A State: Massachusetts ED: 244 County:Essex Image: 0790 Township:Salem Relationship:Wife Married at age; 30
Kramnik, Leon Age:6 Year:1930 Birthplace: Poland/ Lithuania Roll: T626_902 Race: Page: 9A State: Massachusetts ED: 244 fathers' Birthplace:Poland mothers' Birthplace:Massachusetts County:Essex Image: 0790 Township: Salem Relationship: Son. year of immigration to the U.S; 1926


.
USA - Friday, January 24, 2003 at 17:10:33 (PST)
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My grandfather, Samuel Solnin, may have entered St. Johns port and was probably registered at St. Albans around 1904. I went to the www.inGeneas.com site, however, no records were kept in Canada prior to April 1908. He was born in Kurenitz (then Russia) and family moved to Bialystock(sic), Poland. My question is where is the best place to research without traveling out of NYC?
Thanks
Les
P.S. I am relearning Hebrew at the temple of my distant cousin Jason Alpert.
Eilat! Thanks a lot!!
Florence is my father's older sister who died. Samuel is my grandfather. Gil is my brother who is married to Janet and their son Eric. I have no idea who Amt O. Solnin is. I have a younger sister Amy C. Solnin. Maybe I'll check it out. Again, thanks.
Les
SAMUEL SOLNIN ( grandfather)
SSN 149-18-7350 Residence: New Jersey
Born 7 Oct 1883
Died Aug 1962 Issued: NJ (Before 1951)
FLORENCE G SOLNIN (father's older sister)
SSN 153-30-8072 Residence:
08837 Edison, Middlesex, NJ
Born 17 Apr 1910
Died 3 Jan 1999 Issued:
NJ (1956 And 1957 Name: Gil Solnin (brother)
E-Mail: gilsolnin@hotmail.com


Dino Konstantatos, an 18-year-old resident of Hicksville and a waiter at the Plainview Diner located on Old Country Road in Plainview, decided to work on his day off as a favor to a co-worker. Had he decided to stay home that Monday night and not work, Janet Solnin (sister in law) would not be here today. Janet, a lifelong Plainview resident and a frequent customer of the diner, was having dinner with her husband Gil on Nov. 20. She tried to swallow a piece of meat as she was talking and began to choke

SOLNIN, Amy C. (sister); BAUMGARTEN, Gerald. William L. Pierce: novelist of hate. (Prepared by Amy C. Solnin with assistance from Gerald Baumgarten; edited by Alan M. Schwartz and Gail L. Gans). New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Anti-Defamation League, (Research Report), 1995. 11 p., ill., 28 cm.


Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 230b: Naming Puppies
Instructor: Eric Solnin
Visiting Professor Solnin, author of The Darling Doggie Name Book has come to teach his own brand of comparative biology
The Yale Record: Weeklies: April 20, 2002
COHEN LAWRENCE DAVID MALE (first cousin?) Could this be "Larry" Cohen? I am sending for a SS-5 form in the meantime.Les
Birth Date
28 Nov 1942 NEW JERSEY
Death Date
30 Oct 1989 ALAMEDA
Mother's Maiden Name ;SOLNIN

Social Security #
153307093 Solnin, Arnt O.
County: Becker Reel: 1
Code: 1 Volume: 1
Page: 507 Operator: CONRA
Date: 27 October 1994 Time: 11:42
Document Type: Declaration Years: 1822 -1884
Numbers: 12 Minnesota Naturalization Records Index, 1854-1957

Eilat!
One of my father's sister's Lily, who died in 1948, was married to a Cohen. However, I forgot her children's names. It is possible that his name is LAWRENCE David. I sent e-mails to my cousin Paula, who's mother was Syde, another sister of my father, and my brother, Gil, to see if they know who this person is. In regards to Amt O. Solnin, I sent an e-mail to the county you stated, in Minnesota, and should receive a response by mail for only $5.

What I'll try to do, in the meantime, is first go through Ancestry.com for any other additional research and as another step, write to Alameda county for Death Certificate.

Do me a favor, though (like you haven't done enough already), please e-mail a copy of your genealogical research of Canada to Marian Anderson. If you can't, I have the document on my PC , somewhere. Les L.Solnin@worldnet.att.net
.
- Friday, January 24, 2003 at 16:17:17 (PST)
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On 4/28/01 Gilad Japhet wrote;
found your Web site today and was very impressed by your project, and
happy to find such a treasure trove of information and pictures.
I am researching the Kramer and Alperovich families from Kurenets, as well
as the Isaacson family from Radoshkovichi, to whom I am related.
My great-grandmother was Doba Isaacson nee Kramer, who is shown in the
center of the Passover 1922 photo (#r-6) on the Radoshkovichi portion of
your Web site. Through her, I am also related to Nechemia Alperovich, who
appears in the top-left photo in your Kurenets page. In fact, I met with
Nechemia several months ago in Kibbutz Ein Shemer. At the age of 88-89, he
is my oldest living relative and he showed me this very photo in his album.
I am trying to establish some links between the Kramer, Alperovich and
Isaacson families and am running into difficulties the further back in time
I reach. I have already extracted whatever info I could from the Kurenets
memorial book, but have not been able to proceed further.
Gilad
I found out that Gilad's great-grandmother; Doba Isaacson nee Kremer was the daughter of Yehoshua leib Hacohen Kremer and a woman from the Alperovitz family.
Doba Isaacson's brother, Mendel Kremer pictured; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/kurenets_portraits/31701_14_b.gif
His son; Moshe Kremer as well as his children Ashke, Bushka and chaim survived the war.
Ashke, Bushka and chaim died in the U.S.
Chaim Kremer had a son that now lives in California. Ashke has family in the Chicago area (I met her very charming grandson, 20 years old Loren)
Moshe Kremer was a partisan during the war picture; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/partisans/123101_2_b.gif
and later joined the Red Army. The survivors of Kurenets did not hear from him and assumed that he was killed. They were very pleasantly surprised when he came to Israel in the 1950s.
Michael son of Baruch Kramnik of Kurenets picture; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/kramnik/22501_3_b.gif
had a similar story- only he died in the USSR- only in the 1990s is first cousin Bela nee Kramnik found out that he survived and reunited in Israel with his widow and children
for pictures of the Kremer family;
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/kremer.html

click for pictures of Kremer
- Wednesday, January 22, 2003 at 08:41:34 (PST)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Great site! Just to let you know that the entries from mugus or mugu guymen from Nigeria in this guest book indicate that all the e-mail addresses are now in the hands of 419 scammers from countries in West Africa. They're putting these warnings so that other 419 scammers would not harvest the e-mails here. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE PUTTING IN YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IN GUEST BOOKS. If you need to contact the owner(s) of this website, e-mail him/her/them directly. 419 scams are those advanced fee e-mails that you will receive promising you of untold fortunes from wives/sons/accountants/lawyers of dead dictators from Nigeria/Ivory Coast/South Africa/Angola/Namibia and other countries. Beware of these scams. These mugus are the scum of the Internet. Please go to fraudaid.com or scamorama.com for more information. I arrived here through a Google search of guyman nigeria. Try it and you will find out that they are all over guestbooks to stake their claim.

DEAR SIR, REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
The writer claims to be in a position to skim public accounts. Hint: There is no money to be laundered - except yours. They tell you palms must be greased. They ask for money with which to do the greasing. A few K here, a few K there... eventually you get wise, and retire to lick your wounds. Variations include son of dead military officer, son of dead farmer, dead bank customer, reformed murderer, the imaginary request for bid, different countries (Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Togo...). Same scam. Setting aside the writer's attempt to rob you and (going through the mental contortions necessary to take the letter at face value) to steal from his own country, the letters are funny. Read them out loud at parties and see. The 100+ letters below introduce the literary genre of the Lads from Lagos chronologically. Updates (above) focus on variety. Most readers say "what an obvious scam!". A significant number say "I was almost fooled till I saw this site, thank you." A handful say "couldn't mine be "real"? The names aren't exactly the same..." Stay safe out there!
http://scamorama.com/



click here for more information
- Saturday, January 18, 2003 at 20:20:12 (PST)
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daughter of SOLOMAN ZALMAN (18747) married MOSES (14361) OF COPENHAGEN, son of JOSEPH OF PINCHOW ("Rosh Josef") and DEBORAH KREMER daughter of Moses of Vilna. Moses of Copenhagen was the grandson of Moses Kremer of Vilna who died 1688 and if Moses was named for him, this would mean that Moses was born after 1688. Joseph of Pinchov his father, author of "Rosh Josef" was in Kosowi, Russia in 1687 whose Jewish congregation was founded in 1684 by Askenazi Jews from Hamburg. Their first rabbi served in the year 1687. One might assume that this was "Rosh Josef" and that he married Deborah Kremer before leaving Vilna, that he was serving there at the time of the birth of their first son..

.
- Thursday, January 16, 2003 at 20:04:01 (PST)
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Today I called the grandson of Pinchas Aishiskin/ Aishiski and here is what he said;
Pinchas Aishiskin/ Aishiski born c 1860. Lived in Kosta (a very small village near Kurenitz) died c 1935
His children were born c 1890- 1900;
1, Velvel Aishiskin moved to Kharkov, Russia and had family there (three children?last time in touch with the family in 1939)
2. Chana married Mendel Kremer. they both perished on 9-9-1942 in Kurenets, there picture; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/kurenets_portraits/31701_14_b.gif they had four children. two survived the war; Moshe Kremer (who I talked with in Israel) born in Kurenets 1928 was a partisan and in the Red Army. picture; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/partisans/123101_2_b.gif
Ashke survived the war and came to U.S picture with half sister Bushke;
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/kremer/120801_2_b.gif
3. Batia married Natan Gurevitz and had three children picture of family with the sister law
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/scenes_old/g_big.jpg
Batia perished in 1941 the rest of the family survived pictures;
Gurevitz http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/gurevitz.html
4.Sara was the mother of Yisrael Alperovitz of Natania, Israel was born in 1923 in Kurenets . He was a partisan during the war. His son lives in Boston.
5. brother married the grandaughter of Yehoshua Leib Kremer. the entire family prished.
6. Gershon perished with his family in Vileyka during the last month of the war.
he sits on the far right in the picture from 1922;
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/zionist_movement/1213_15kur_b.gif 1858 Lida/ Vilnus revision list
EISHISKI Gershon Khaikel Head of Household 32
EISHISKI Yudel Berko Head of Household
EISHISKI Shlioma Yudel Son
EISHISKI Khaikel Girsh Head of Household
EISHISKI Zarukh Gershon Khaikel Son Newborn
EISHISKI Sprintsa Wife
EISHISHKI Shlioma Yudel Nephew 32
EISHISHKI Tsyrka Itsko Niece-in-law 44
EISHISHKI Raikhe Shlioma Grandniece 14
EISHISHKI Tile Shlioma Grandniece 10
EISHISHKI Shoshe Rivka Shlioma Grandniece19

Voronovo
Lida
Vilnius
EISHISKI Itsko Shabso Head of Household EISHISKI Idel Itsko Head of Household
EISHISKI Shepshel Itsko Brother 21
EISHISKI Radka Leiba Sister-in-law22 Shepshel's wife
EISHISKI Ester Girsh Niece of Shepshel GAFANOWITSCH / EISISCHKY Chaja Found in Sweden Vilkaviskis survivor list 1946 In 1878 there were two cantors in town. One of them, R. Avraham-Eliahu Eishiskin , was for many years a ritual slaughterer and cantor here. Earlier in Srednik. From 1907 in America. Keidan (Kedainiai)http://216.239.53.100/custom?q=cache:s90DRaVdIWwC:mywebpages.comcast.net/acassel/keidan/history/kagan3.html+EISHISKIn&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Solomon Joseph EISHISHKI
Esther LICHTMAN, the wife of the president of the Lida Judenrat, was a boarder in my home. She was the sister of my brother-in-law Reuben and the daughter of Solomon Joseph EISHISHKI. Her husband, Alexander LICHTMAN and the entire Judenrat of Lida were brutally murdered toward the end of March, 1942, for allowing the so-called "aliens" from Wilno and Lithuanian provinces to take refuge in the ghetto. The members of the Lida Judenrat were: Attorney TSIDEROWISC; Attorney KERSHNER, Dr. PUPKO, and others. The honorable Alexander LICHTMAN had welcomed the "wandering martyrs", the Jews from Lithuania, to the Lida ghetto, had given them food, living quarters and clothing. He and his comrades paid dearly for rescuing these people, at least temporarily, from death, although death hovered over us all every moment. Mrs. LICHTMAN had two children, a daughter Shulamith and a son Hanina. On Sunday, the day before the massacre, the seven-year-old Hanina kept running to the clock on the wall, calculating how many hours we had left to live. When in the evening he found out that only the sick, old and crippled would be shot, he said: "Why should the sick be killed? I was sick, too, and then I got well. The Nazis have some nerve"
EISHISHKI, Gutl ben Chatskl Shloyme Josef survivor
EISISHKI, Berl ben Shloyme Josef survivor




Jewish Surnames from the Minsk Gubernia
EISHISHKI Gershon, Sheena and chilren
perished in Voronovo
EISHISHKI Yechezkiel, Faiga and children
Voronovo
EISHISHKI Yitzhak, Mirel, Aaron
Voronovo
Bieniakonie
5415 2522 Lida EJSYSKI, I and Poczter forestry operation Mironpol
Szczuczyn
5336 2445 Lida EJSYSZKA, S variety store Woronow
5409 2519 Lida EJSZUCKI, Ch. tailor
Woronow
5409 2519 Lida EJSZUSKA, F drygood/notions Woronow
5409 2519 Lida EJSZUSKA, M comestibles Woronow
5409 2519 Lida EJSZYCKI, Ch. ready made clothes Wasiliszki
5347 2451 Lida EJSZYSKI, Ch blacksmith Nowogrodek
Nowogrodek EJSZYSZKO, Sz
Racemia 19 baker The Nowogrodek Province 1929 Polish Business directory Database
Surname Born Index Father Comments
ISSITSKI 1886 180 Isroil-Leivik USHITSKI 1878 ??? Levi-Itska USHITSKI 1885 ??? Elia Ishitski Adam Yosif Bialystok in 1912


Berl EISHISHKI, son of Shloyme JOSEPH She was the sister of my brother-in-law Reuben and the
daughter of Solomon Joseph EISHISHKI. Her husband, Alexander
Ejszucki Ch. tailor
Ejszuska M comestibles
Ejszuska F drygood/notions
Ejszycki Ch. ready made clothes


.
- Thursday, January 09, 2003 at 19:33:54 (PST)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ In regards to the guestbook entry prior to this about Chialye and her parents; Chancha/Anna and Donya/Doni SOSENSKY
Nathan Alperovich wrote about the family;
The Luben Farm By Nathan Alperovich
http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/stories_luben.html ...... A short time later, I was reassigned to work on the Luben Farm. I was among approximately one hundred and fifty Jews. Luben was a vast agricultural farm that was famous in the area for the apple and pear orchards that the Jews used to lease prior to the war. One day, we were taken there in long lines by the local police. I walked in the same line as; Yankel, the son of Orchik Alperovich, Asher, the son of Yehoshua Alperovich, Pesach, the son of Finka Alperovich, Chanan, the son of Risha. During the walk, many of the villagers, who stood on the side of the road, holler insults at us. They would call, "It's time that you Jews stop being merchants, finally you got what you deserve! Its about time!"
It took us about an hour and a half to trudge to the farm. The main building in the farm was called "the castle" and was encompassed by enormous trees. There was a portal made of massive wrought iron and there was a school there. The homes around were sparkling in the sun and the trees were bright green, in contrast, we were in a very dark mood, in spite of the fact that we were still very young. Once we reached the gate we sat on the grass, we were told by the Germans what to do. The head of the farms was Kalashnikov and his assistant was Shilak. We were divided into small groups and sent to do miscellaneous jobs. There were German troops in the area, however at this time we had no contact with them. One Jew from Kurenets, by the name of Dania Sosensky, was an acquaintance of the managers of the farm. He used to lease land from them prior to the war, therefore at this time they chose him to be our leader. ....months past..... ..... in September 1942 we were sent to work in the fields. We worked there the entire Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday morning I was sent with a horse and buggy full of hay to deliver it to the barn that set on the main road. It was extremely fogy morning I could not see a thing in front of the horse. I worked together with a guy from Smorgon. We were done taking of one load of hay and I was just about to depart for the fields to get a second load when a child approached us. The child was a son of a farmer from Luban, he asked me if I want to buy some tobacco, I answered that I have no money, he appeared perplexed, as if he was considering telling me something. After a short while he asked in a hesitant voice; "Are you from Kurenets?" the way he was asking, his voice and even the way he stood made me very anxious, it was as if he was keeping a horrible secret. "What happened in Kurenitz?" I yelled in anguish. "Nothing happened " he replied in a frightened tone. I held him by his collar he seemed scared, he quickly said; " My brother walked to Kurenitz this morning and he was not allowed to enter, all around the town there were policemen and Germans. From afar he could see something was burning" I immediately knew that this was the day of our town slaughter, the day that we all so feared would come. I did not know what to do, I wanted to scream, I wanted to run there. All I could do was to cry. For one minute, I considered taking the horse and escaping to the forest, however I realized that I must tell the other Jews from Kurenets about the tragic event. I returned to the farm and saw Donia standing outside our living quarters, he was cooking lunch on a fire pit, for the entire crew. I told him of what I have heard, however he refused to believe my story. By lunchtime, we found out that it was true, none could eat, we just sat there and cried, we all decided to escape that night. We returned to work to not arise any suspicion that we are planing something. The Christian workers looked at us while whispering to each other, their eyes were full of pity. At nighttime we returned from work and planed to escape but soon realized it was impossible since the Germans brought extra people to watch us. Early in the morning two Jews came running from Kurenitz, one was Chava, the daughter of Sara- Elka, she told us that she hid in the storage building that kanterovitz used for his enterprise of "shmates". She hid there for twenty-four hours. The other person was Nachum Raginholtz he was originally from Rakov but moved to Kurenitz during the war. Nachum hid with other Jews in the attics of the synagogue. They told us of what they knew about the calamity. We were all moved from our living quarters at the school to the attic at the factory. That evening the policemen came from Kurenitz, they set with us and told us detail of what had occurred in Kurenitz during the slaughter. Some times, they were somber and serious, other times they were mocking and making fun of us. They told us about Chaiale Sosensky, Donia's daughter. The policemen knew her well, she used to work at the restaurant that they ate at. They claimed that they gave her a choice to save herself, however she answered that the town's fate is her fate. They told us of the speech she made. She cursed the German murderers and she prophesized that judgment day will come soon and then they will have to pay for their evil did........
.........The rainy autumn turned to winter, the ground had frost in the morning I had no shoes and I was walking around barefoot, a Christian man felt sorry for me and gave me a pair of shoes with wooden soles. One freezing Sunday morning, Donia Sosensky stood outside our living quarters, cooking lunch for the crew on a fire pit. Kalashnikov, Shilak and the gardener passed by, they were drank and in a generous mood typical to people who just started drinking and the vine had soften their hearts. They asked Donia why he was cooking outdoors. Donia realized that this was a great opportunity to help the cause of escape. He said that in our quarters there are no facilities for cooking. He immediately asked if we could be moved to the "inn" since it had a few empty rooms and cooking facilities. They were first hesitant, but after a short time gave him permission. Donia immediately notified us. We took our meager belonging and moved. There was no watch during the day on Sunday since the policemen were sleeping after their nightly watch. We knew that we must escape tonight for two reasons; The inn was ideally located outside the farm near the main road, in addition, the Christian people seemed drank, and a bit confused on that day. We arranged the rooms in the inn as if we were planing to live there for a long time, so no one would suspect that we are planing to escape tonight. Donia's wife, Chana baked bread the entire day to be later taken on the road. Motka from Molodechno worked every night in the factory until almost midnight. When he found out that we were planing to escape that night, he refused to go, fearing that we will leave without him. He said that he was sick and he could not go to work. Donia approached me, he explained the situation, and asked me if I would replace him. I knew that I would have to work until eleven at night, then a policeman will take me to the Christian mechanic sleeping place in the farm. If I were to walk alone in the farm after it turned dark, I would be most likely shot. I agreed to go with one condition, that anther no circumstance they are to leave without me. Donia agreed. I went to work, I cut wood and put it in the furnace, I brought water from the well and put them in the boiler. A few moments before 11 I fell to the ground holding my stomach curling up, shaking and screaming as if I was in great pain. The two policeman who were watching me, asked; "What is the matter with you?" As if with the last of might, I whispered that, I have horrible stomach pains. One of the drunken policemen said mockingly "I will shot you with a bullet and then the pain will subside". I begged them to let me walk to my room to get medication, and to not force me to sleep at the designated place were I would be in pain for the entire night, unable to get medication. They said; "Go to your room if you want to, anyway you would be shot on your way there" It was a very dark night, a rainy and snowy night. I crawled all the way to the fence. I jumped the fence by the road to Vileyka and ran a cross the road and hid in a ditch, waiting a few minutes, to make sure that none was following me. When I realized that none was pursuing me, I decided to check the place to make sure there is no German patrol in the vicinity. I got out of the ditch and walked in the fields in a distant of a few dozen meters, then I returned to the main road and walked towards the inn. I carefully checked that there was no watch, patrol or blockade around the inn. When I found out that there wasn't, I entered the inn. It was close to midnight, our room was pitch dark. I felt in the dark, I soon realized that everyone was asleep, they all woke up when I touched them. The windows were covered with blankets so we would be able to light a match without being seen from the outside. Everything was already packed. We had saws, axes and other tools that we used in our jobs. We took everything with us. I carried an ax and a package that belonged to Donia and we started walking. It took us three hour to reach the house of Ivan the Christian man from Studyonka who was helping the Jews, when we got there, we felt much freer. He took us to the forest. Months past, and one evening we came to the village Tallatz. When we entered one of the homes, we met the Christian mechanic from Luban. He immediately recognized me, he joyfully kissed and hugged me saying, "You tricked the police. You truly tricked the police". He told me that immediately following our escape, early in the morning, many SS policemen arrived from the Vileyka headquarters to capture us to be killed. - Sunday, January 05, 2003 at 20:46:49 (PST)
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Sosensky family pictures; http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/sosensky.html

- Sunday, January 05, 2003 at 20:41:29 (PST)
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The September 9, 1942 massacre referred to in the guestbook entry just prior to this took the life of my father's older sister Chialye SOSENSKY, who is a Kurenets martyr for her acts of bravery and defiance prior to her murder by the Germans that day. The story of that day and the death of Chialye, and history of the Kurenets, appear in numerous books of survivors, including Charles Gelman's "Do not go gently".
My father Stanley Sosensky and my aunt Sonia are surviors, and their parents Chancha/Anna and Donya/Doni (my grandparents), also survivors, but now deceased, emigrated to New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
A bit of the experience of the Sosenskys in the woods for 3 years is preserved in the video archives of Yale University's Fortunoff Archives. My grandparents as witnesses to the holocaust gave video testimony of their experience during the war years. The Fortunoff Archives's video testimonies were recently celebrated at Yale with the visit and public lecture of Elie Weisel at the end of 2002.
If anyone knows anything further about my family Sosensky from Kurenets please tell me. Thank you. Steven C. Sosensky
Hamden, CT 06518
sosensky@aol.com


Steven C. Sosensky <sosensky@aol.com>
Hamden, CT USA - Sunday, January 05, 2003 at 09:52:02 (PST)
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Name Riva Stikan [1]
Birth 1865, Kurenets
Death abt 1941, Liepaja [100]
AddressOld bef 18 7 1940, Kurshu 3
Address1941 18 7 1940, Kurmajas pr/Toma 11/2-2
Occupation Housewife
MaidenName Alperowitz
Flags Kill in the holocaust
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Documents illustrating different aspects of the relationship between Partisans and the local population; Record of the Dovator Partisan brigade (Kurenets district, Vileika region), 1944 Fond 3500, Inv. 4, File 59?
http://www.president.gov.by/gosarchives/evov/epartiz.htm



.
- Saturday, January 04, 2003 at 22:57:11 (PST)
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Ghetto of Byelorussia - examples of genocide
http://www.souz.co.il/clubs/read.html?article=2237&Club_ID=1
The original is in Russian- I used Babel Fish Translation
http://world.altavista.com/ from Russian to English;
Kurenets (Kuranets, Kurenets, Kurzeniyech):the systematic Jewish pogroms began during the autumn of 1941, on 14 October The Germans indicted a group of Jews. They were blamed for “sympathy to the Soviet regime”. Of 54 men there were 20 children at the age from 4 to 12 years of age. According to the evidence the seeds Of Raykhelya ( born 1892 .), these people "occurred from the impoverished class and was obtained grant from the councils".Jews gave out local residents the novel Of saviyevich, Ivan Sorokvosh, Grigoriy Bolvak, Vladykha and some others, which entered the service into the police.Prisoners they shot on ul.Kasutskoy.Witness was Joseph Bekach (born 1917).He supplemented, that the arrived command SS and policemen selected the qualified specialist- Jews together with the families, which "closely stood to the communists".During February 1942 in Kurenets arrived the command under the guidance of the chief of prison Yasinsky.Together with its assistant By sharangovichem, etc. (surname in the document they are not named - HP.)they shot 33 Jews.In the same month after a certain time from Vileyki of profit Casimir Sokolovsky, Peter Drozdovskiy, Peter Glitoft, Nikolai Bliznyuk, Nikolai is yaroshevskiy, which commanded the chief/sponsor SD Of vileyki of egof.From the Jews they were necessary to return valuable things, gold, hours, etc. having received anything, chastisers were straightened with 120 Jews, including children at the age from 1 to 10 years.At the end of March of 1942 of egof ; He unexpectedly appeared in Kurentse again and "without any reasons" he shot the 6 additional Jews, who did not have time to be covered.Speaking in a deep voice Salzmann (1889 ) added, that at the end of February or beginning of March of 1942 the Germans together with the police from the Belorussian nationalists shot down 17 Jews, from whom there were five children.They burned 11 houses together with the economic buildings and drove away 408 head of cattle.Final action conducted on 9 September, 1942, the large forces of chastisers (to 400 man.)arrived at three A.M. under the command of officer of the SD from Vileyki (Vilejka); the ofober- Lieutenant Grave.They gathered all the Jews from the area under the pretext of sending them to the work.Among them more than half comprised the old men and children.The covered motor vehicles transported people to The myadel'skuyu street.There they drove them all into the shed and set fire to the place all persons that attempted to run they shot with machine guns. Together with the chief SD Grave, the chief of district gendarmerie Shiller and the chief of military police ober- Lieutenant Vol'tmanom the policemen assumed active participation. the members of firefighting team Of kurents, headed by Vladimir Biryuk, ignited The shed.In this case the firemen followed so that the fire would not be spread on to other houses .In the fire 1052 man perished. In all in the time of occupation in Kurentse and the region 1201 peaceful inhabitants perished all nationalities and Soviet prisoners of war (original of source is stored in GARF, f. 7021, op.89, d. 8, ll.3-76;copies are located in the archive poison your, M-33/1141).Note of the author:Kurenets - village in The vileyskeye region of Minsk region, on the river it sang 7 km Vileyki;for the first time it is mentioned 1519 as the place of the great principality of Lithuanian, in 1665.- city, in the beginning KHKH of century the center of the rural district Of the vilenskeye province;in 1947.there were- 844 Jews, in 1897.- 1613 Jews (of 1.774 all inhabitants);in 1921-1939 the area became part of Poland, since 1939 in USSR, in the pre-war years; lived 1131 Jews;Was occupied by German troops from 25 June, 1941, through 2 July, 1944,;there are a grave of victims of fascism, the fraternal grave of Soviet soldiers and partisans, monument to participants in the patriotic underground. The information about the Jews, as the victims of Nazi genocide they are absent.
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- Saturday, January 04, 2003 at 20:35:48 (PST)
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I am overwhelmed by your site. I cannot believe I have not found this sooner; happy I have now! I am frustrated with a name and just did a google search and this is where it brought me. Both my husband's grandparent's family came from Kurenets. What puzzles me is, although, the whole family came from Kurenets at various times, only a few show up at Ellis Island. I will be searching this site thoroughly looking for more people and ideas. Thank you very much!!
Linda
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- Saturday, January 04, 2003 at 19:42:54 (PST)
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Thought I would sign! "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written." Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)
Dani
USA - Friday, January 03, 2003 at 15:06:31 (PST)
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thank you for your e-mail and the information. I did find acouple of people I
know and you listed on the Ellis Island file. I know Sore Karlitzky was
married to my mother's brother and chasie & Rose are my cousins. I expect
Mosche was also a cousin and must have died young. My mother, Bessie, I
thought was on the same ship but I cannot find her. Thank you for the
information, Sincerely, Judith Nizberg, San Francisco, Ca.
> Most likely it will not help but you never know;
> From Grodno;
> Manifest for Kronprinz Wilhelm
> Sailing from Bremen
> September 05, 1911
> . Karlitzky, Sore F 32y M Russia, Hebrew Grodno, Russia going to husband
> Yudale?Karlitzky
> Karlitzky, Mosche M 6y S Russia, Hebrew Grodno, Russia
> Karlitzky, Chaie F 3y 6m S Russia, Hebrew Grodno, Russia
> Karlitzky, Rose F 11m S Russia, Hebrew Grodno
> Manifest for Kaiserin Augusta Victoria
> Sailing from Hamburg July 23, 1910
> . Karelitski, Gedalje M 28y M Russia, Hebrew Grodno, Russia
> from Dretchen/Dereczin;
> Manifest for Noordam
> Sailing from Rotterdam November 05, 1912
> . Karlitzhi, Ghascle F 17 y S Russia, Hebrew Russia, Dereczin going to
> brother; Berl Karlitzki
> Chicago.
> the enire list;
> 1 Oscher Leib Karlitski Polonka, Russia 1914 17
> 2 Aron Karlitzky Odessa 1906 17