The Community of Żarki (1959)
A Town in Its Life and in Its Destruction
This Yizkor Book was published, in Israel in 1959, by the Organisation of Żarki Jews in Israel. Its Editor is Yitzchak Lador. The majority of its articles were written in Hebrew, while the articles in the last section, “Żarki in Life and in Death” were written in Yiddish.
According to this Yizkor Book’s Organising Committee:
This book, which we have before us and which is dedicated to our ‘shtetl’, contains testimonies and memoirs near to the heart of all the Żarki landsleit, wherever they may be.
The book raises before our eyes Żarki’s distant and recent past, as well as the days of the Great Holocaust which passed over our town, until its bitter end, when all the people of the ‘shtetl’ were annihilated – and now only a few individuals are scattered throughout the globe, the majority in Israel.
It is our hope that this memorial endeavour will stand as a living monument for the younger generation and those of the future.
[Webmaster: As far as we know, this is the first COMPLETE, PROFESSIONAL, English-language translation of this book. To the best of our knowledge, prior to this, only the Table of Contents and Necrology seem to have ever been translated into English.]
This Yizkor book has been PROFESSIONALLY translated into English
– for the FIRST TIME in its entirety!
The professional English translation of this Żarki Yizkor book has been made possible by the financial support of the
Wolf Rajcher z”l and Dora Rajcher z”l were both Holocaust survivors from Częstochowa.
They were prisoners in both the “Big Ghetto” and the “Small Ghetto” and, until liberation, were slave labourers in HASAG-Pelcery. Following the War, they emigrated to Melbourne Australia.
Upon the passing of both his parents, their son, Andrew Rajcher, established this charitable fund in their memory.
Click on SECTION HEADINGS to reveal chapters.
Chapters are listed in the order in which they appear in the Yizkor Book.
(The numbers in brackets, after each article, correspond to the appropriate page numbers in the book.)
Introduction & Table of Contents (1-4)
With the Appearance of This Book (5-6)
Yitzchak Lador: One of the Burning Candles … (7-12)
A. Ajzenberg: Yizkor! (13-13)
Mordche Gebirtig – Abram Lewenson: The Shtetl is Burning … (14-14)
THE TOWN IN THOSE DAYS
Pinchas Wajnberg: The Shtetl Żarki in its Traditional Ways (17-65)
Yakow Fajner: “Revolutionary” Winds are Blowing (69-78)
Pinchas Lauden: The Ha’Shomer Ha’Tzair Cell in Żarki (78-87)
Jechaskiel Majtlis: Ha’Chalutz and Maccabi in Żarki (87-97)
Lipa Hirsz: 2nd November 1917 in Żarki (97-98)
A. Ajzenberg: The Town in Its Years of Awakening (98-104)
Izrael Majtlis: Żarki My Town (104-106)
Izrael Majtlis: Żarki My Town (104-106)
Jakow Fiszer: The Matter of the Holocaust (109-143)
Uszer Lauden: The Last Days of Żarki (143-160)
Josef Siwek: Myszków (Fragments of a Diary) (160-164)
Aron Brandes: The End of the Jews in Żarki (164-180)
Chajka Klinger: A Visit in Żarki (181-181)
H.Tzemach: In Memory of the Martyrs I Knew in Żarki (182-182)
Abraham Shlonski: A Vow (Poem) (183-183)
Aron Brandes: The Last Chapter in the Life of Cwi Brandes (187-189)
Chajka Klinger: How Has Cwi Fallen? (189-191)
A.L.: Perec (Berisz) Frank (192-194)
Malka: Juda, Son of Cwi-Ze’ew Sztajnbrecher (Chatzav) (195-195)
Eliszewa: Mordche (Motek) Sztorchain (196-197)
Sz.Korcfeld: From the Dreary Past (198-198)
Abram-Josef Sztybel: With My Heart (201-204)
A.Ajzenberg: Figures from the Town (205-207)
Pinchas Wajnberg: Personalities & Ways of Life (207-213)
Abraszka Ajzenberg: Żarki-Myszków (213-215)
Abram Ajzenberg: About the Brandes Household (215-216)
Yehoshua Ben‐Tzvi: The Spring in Leśniów (217-218)
Introduction to Yiddish Section (220-221)
M.Gebirtig: The Shtetl is Burning – Dos Shtetl Brent (222-222)
Jakow (Jancze) Fiszer: The Destruction and Annihilation of Jewish Żarki (223-281)
Cypora Szporn‐Ajzenberg: Pages from the Sorrowful Past (281-288)
Zalman Grynszpan: Two Last Letters (288-289)
Abram Frank: Pages From an Old Diary (290-294)
Szajndla Preger-Tajtelbaum: My Memories (294-301)
Eliezer (Lejzer) Ryterband: About the Shtetl of My Birth (301-304)
Jakow Fiszer: A Look Back (304-310)
Abram Ajzenberg: My Shtetl (Episodes) (310-313)
Yakow Fiszer: Liquidation [a poem] (314-315)
A.A.: In Memory of Jechiel Rozyner z’’l (316-316)
A Kaddish for Our Loved Ones (317-318)
Necrology – Names of the Heads of Families in the Shtetl Who Perished During the Holocaust (319-324)
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Dave Horowitz-Larochette
IMPORTANT NOTICE
While this English translation is available for download, it may not, either in part or as a whole, be distributed or published without the prior written permission of Andrew Rajcher, this English-language version copyright-holder.
A hard copy of this English-language translation may be purchased from JewishGen by clicking HERE.