The Bialystoker Memorial Book  Der Bialystoker Yizkor Buch, the Bialystoker Center, New York 1982
(c) Copyright by the Bialystoker Center

 The Children's Fate

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SAVING THE CHILDREN

(Page 133)

 Bialystok was one of the few cities in Poland where a large number of Jewish children were saved miraculously from annihilation by the Nazis. Jakow Tobias, the wellknown teacher, saved more than eighty.

In September 1939, when Bialystok was under Rus­sian rule, these eighty Jewish children spent their summer vacation in the Polish resort, Druskeniki. When the Nazis attacked Bialystok on June 22, 1941, these children were quickly evacuated deep inside the Soviet Union. Tobias, their devoted teacher and escort, went with them into the heart of the Urals. There the children were placed in a home together with young­sters from other countries.

Tobias took care of his charges lovingly and with devotion, just as a father would protect his own children. Shortly after the war, in the summer of 1946, he succeeded, after much effort, in bringing them back to Poland. Later he took them to France and then to Palestine. Their entrance into Israel was "illegal," since the British forbade their admission, and for a time they were detained on Cyprus.

These children, most orphaned after their parents perished in Bialystok, grew up to be prominent and use­ful Israeli citizens. Jakow Tobias eventually became the director of a government high school in Safed and played a major role in Israeli education. He passed away a short time ago in Israel.

He frequently pointed out that his eighty children were the only ones saved en masse among all Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The Bialystoker Center in New York assisted them financially when Tobias brought them back from Russia to Poland, while they were in France and finally when they settled in Israel.

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CHANA LINKIZLSZTEJN

Kiryat Bialystok, Israel

A RESCUED CHILD SPEAKS

(Page 134)

On June 22, 1941, some Jewish children from Bialystok were at the Druskieniki resort, a camp for youngsters. The war which broke between Germany and Russia separated the children from their families for ever. At five o'clock in the morning, our vacation turned into a nightmare. The skies darkened with German attack airplanes out to destroy us. We were besieged by bombs  powerless, isolated, and panicstricken. Panic gripped us as we scattered in all directions following an air assault. Luck, however, was with us; not one child was killed. Our screams resonated throughout the camp, joining the cries of three hundred children between the ages of eight and thirteen. This tragedy continued for five years. At the end of our trial, we realized that we were orphans of war.

After twelve horrible days and nights of bombardment and hunger, we were able to wash ourselves and drink water. It was impossible for us to return home to our beloved families. The conditions in the railway station were horrible. Only very small part of the passengers had permission to leave the bombed site. Only thanks to the manager of the place, Samuil Markowitz Pewzner, a person with connections and influence, we were able to leave Druskieniki, escaping far away into the Soviet Union. Samuil Markowitz Pewzner saved our lives! He saved us from death as the bombs fell and he pushed us to the wagons of the last train. By evacuating us from Druskieniki, he rescued us.

Jakow Tobiasz was a member of the Socialist Zionists and longing to Zion was deeply rooted in his soul since youth time. He searched every opportunity to keep contact with Eretz Israel and preserve and nourish Judaism and Zionism in the children's souls.

Arriving in the Ural in Russia, we became inseparable. Some tried to divide us at a time when we did not have the necessities of life, but their efforts came to naught. We stayed together as a group and were prepared to share the same fate. We stayed in the town name Karakulino in the Ural.

At that time Mr. Tobiasz initiated contact with Jews in Israel, to whom he sent a list of our names, for publication in the "Davar" newspaper, searching relatives for us. We all developed a love for the land of Israel. Moreover, we missed our parents and families very much. The nights seemed like an eternity. Many of us cried and felt abandoned. The bombings and the terror left us with deep emotional scars. The younger children sought warmth from the older ones, who began fulfilling the function of surrogate parents.

In the beginning of 1945, the ties with the AntiFascist organization in Moscow strengthened. Contacts were established with its senior members such as: Dr. Spharad, Iciek Peffer, Prof. Berl Mark, Abraham Dzinski who encouraged and praised our educator for his dedication to the children. Samuil Markowitz Pewzner let Tobiasz act in the forbidden Zionist underground, thus risking his life for our sake.

In 1946, when the time came to repatriate Polish war refugees from Russia, our teachers had to convince us to return to Poland, knowing full well that our parents had perished at the hands of the Nazis. Mr. Tobiasz' objective, however, was to prepare us for emigration to Israel, returning temporarily to Poland and there contact "Aunt Aliyah" as the coded underground word we used.

On June 2, 1946, a group consisting of fiftynine Jewish children and young adults, aged 1219, set out for Aliyah to Israel from several points of embarkation. Our devoted principal, Samuil Markowitz Pewzner from Leningrad, our savior, assisted us also in preparing for our journey. At great danger to himself, he escorted us to the RussianPolish border.

Once we arrived in Poland, Mr. Tobiasz assumed full responsibility. Previously he had been in contact with the underground Zionist organization Bricha, which was active inside Poland. He contacted the Aliyah activists Abraham Dzinski and Tzvi Netzer who helped him save us from the hands of the Communists just in time. At night, in hiding, they transferred us from the Red Cross station near Warsaw to Lodz  center of the Zionist activity at that time.

Our newly formed Kibbutz merged with the Kibbutz Dror of HaKibbutz HaMeuchad. Living conditions were difficult although we were treated with Israeli warmth and concern. We learned Hebrew and other subjects pertaining to Israel in further preparation for Aliyah. We moved to Wroclaw and later to Kudowa Zdroj near the PolishCzechoslovakian border, where Holocaust survivors were centered. Here joined us a young instructor of Dror movement, Shlomo Brod who brought new spirit to us and together with the educator Jakow Tobiasz we continued on our way to Israel as the children Kibbutz, bearing the name: "Mordechai Tenenbaum"

Many Jews from Bialystok organization in Poland, France and America financed our travel through Poland and all the way to Israel. We passed France and stayed in Chateau de la Guette, 30 kms from Paris. Here Tobiasz resisted stubbornly the French authorities and Leon Blum who wanted us to stay in France and he would take care of us. Due to the insistence of Tobiasz, the decision was made: Eretz Israel. Messengers from Eretz Israel visited us in France, among them: Itzhak Tabenkin, Hertzfeld, Cwia Lubetkin, Antek Tzukerman who returned from the twentysecond Zionist Congress in Bazel, Switzerland. The messenger Raphael stayed with us in our group and brought us the spirit of the Kibbutz.

We were divided into two groups, according to age and physical condition, and were about ready to go to Israel in "Aliyah B". A large part of our kibbutz departed on the ship Theodor Herzl. The rest of the kibbutz was taken to Cyprus. Those children who arrived in Israel by various routes and under different circumstances united to help build the Jewish State. It should be remarked that the Bialystok children survivors of the common fate, integrated in the creation and defense of the new State of Israel. The group paid highly price. We remember:

1.    Aharon Menczkowski z"l  died in the age of 16 near the border of Poland   Czechoslovakia 1946.

2.    Meir Friedman z"l, befell in the age of 16 in Kibbutz Gesher at the Beit Shaan valley in 1948

3.    Josef Pilecki z"l, member of Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov, befell in the Six Days War in 1967.

Let their memory lives with us forever.

On June 9, 1966, all the members of the kibbutz participated in a reunion marking twentyfive years since we faced danger together at Druskieniki. We reminisced about the hard times a quarter century earlier. Many proudly described their accomplishments in education, work and family life.

Jakow Tobiasz continued as an educator in Israel, heading a school in Safed until his death in September 1970. To the very end, he remained in close contact with those of us whom he shepherded to safety. We make every effort to remain in touch, getting together from time to time and assisting each other when necessary.

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Last updated July 19^th, 2005