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


 

 

 

 The Children's Fate

 

 

Table of Contents

Page

  Saving the Children 133
Chana LinKizlsztejn A Rescued Child Speaks 134

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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.

 

NAME

PARENTS

BORN

AKSELROD Abrasha

 

 

BAKST Riszard

 

 

BALGLEJ Wolf (Zeew)

Mosze & Doba

1926

BERENSZTEJN Gerszon

Jakob & Sara

1934

BIALY  MALBIN Elimelech

Josef & Riwka

1930

BINSZTOK Jakob

 

 

BRZEZINSKI Frida

Aron & Rachel

1926

BUKI Alba

 

 

CHANIN Mosze

 

 

CHOROWSKI Jehoszua

Abraham & Menucha

1931

CHOROWSKI Szmuel

Gdalia & Liuba

1929

CZABAN Roza

 

 

DREBINSKA Emma

 

 

EDELSZTEJN Chaia

Abraham & Frida

1932

FISZMAN Chaia

 

 

FRIDMAN Meir

Szalom & Zelda

1931

FURMANSKA Vera

 

 

GARBER Mordechai

 

 

GARBOWICZ Sara

Szlomo & Riwka

1933

GECHT Abraham

 

1931

GOLDMAN Bluma

 

 

GORFINKIEL Wila

 

 

GRYNBAUM Lea

Mosze & Adela

1930

IZAKOWICZ Tania

 

 

JABLKO Cywje

Israel & Noami

1930

JASZINOWSKI Szmuel

Szlomo & Chaia

1932

JEDWAB Lea

Leib & FreideRive

1924

KAGANOWICZ Liusja Lea

Jakob & Riwka

1932

KANZYPER Ajzik

 

 

KAPINUS Sonia

Szmuel & Perl

1930

KAUFMAN Miriam

 

 

KRASNOBURSKI Icchak

Abraham & Sima

1932

KORDON Sima

Lajb & Chana

1930

KRYSZTAL Lejzer

Icchak & Fajga

1931

LENDER Pinie

 

 

LEON Abraham

Szlomo & Sara

1932

LEW Cyrel

Naftali & Riwka

1930

LEW Klara

Mosze & Rachel

1926

LEWIN Abraham

Zeew & Sara

1931

LEWIN Boris

 

 

LEWIN Dawid

Towel (Tuwia) & Sara

1931

LICHTENSZTEJN Jeszayahu

Szymon & Pasza

1930

LIN Chana

Jechiel & Mariasza

1927

LIN Mindel

Abraham & Chana

1932

LIPKES Genia

 

 

LOPIAN Zisl

 

1928

LUBASZICKI Szymon  Sioma

 

 

MAZO Galia

 

 

MENCZKOWSKI Aron

Icchak & Alta

1930

MERETIK Lonia

 

 

MILER Zecharia

Chajkel & Cwia

1934

MURKES Dawid

 

1931

NAHIR (BIALOSTOCKI) Emanuel

Yehuda & Sara

1930

NIEWIADOMSKI Isser (Icchak)

Szabtai & Riwka

1931

NOWIK Mina

 

 

NOWIK Mosze

Berl & Sara

1931

OLEJNIK  BESORAI Jochanan

 

 

OPENHAJM Chaim

Jakow & Jehudit

1936

OPENHAJM Efraim

Jakow & Jehudit

1931

PASZKO Boris

 

 

PEREJ Liuba

Kalman & Masza

1930

PILECKI Josef

 

 

PLONCZAK Ester

Mosze & Perel

1931

PLONCZAK Nachman

Mosze & Perel

1933

PONJEMONSKI Jona

Zalman & Gitl

1930

RABINOWICZ Zenia

 

 

RAJCHER Basia

 

1926

REFITKIES Jakow

Szaul & Fruma née Kaplan

1934

ROZANCZYK Chaja

Mosze & Pesia

1935

ROZENBLUM Tajba

 

 

RUBINOWICZ Zwulon

Chaim & Henia

1931

RUCKI Berl

Szmuel & Sara

1930

RYBAK Fanja

Zelig & Gitel

1930

SIBIRSKA Chana

Icchak & Fajga

1932

SKOWRONEK Hela

Mosze & Raya

1932

SOKOLSKI Julian

Herszel & Liba

1931

STOLOWICKI Sioma

 

 

SURASKA Fanja

Szmuel & Perel

1930

SZAPIRO Sima

 

 

SZEJTLIS Sonja

Pessach & Raya

1933

SZENGERC Lena

 

 

SZEPES Bela

Abraham & Gitl

1928

TRESZCZANSKI Elimelech

Szalom & Riwka

1930

UBERMAN Kijum

Herszl & Riwka

1929

UBERMAN Szymon

Herszl & Riwka

1928

URSZANSKA Mejta

 

 

WALANSKA Jehudit

Lajb & Roza

1933

WASERNYS Josef

Mosze & Chawa

1931

WEIN Frida

 

 

WILCZYK Frida

Lajzer & Bluma

1933

WOLFSON Chaim

Icchak & Riwka

1930

WOLFSON Kima

 

 

WRUBEL Pessach

 

 

ZAKUTA Liza

 

 

ZELIGZON Raya

Jona & Hinda

1930

ZELIGZON Zina

 

 

 

PERPETUATE THE HALLOWED

 TRADITIONS OF

JEWISH BIALYSTOK
 

 

Home

 

 

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.

 

Our teacher, Jakow Tobiasz, also found himself under the most difficult situation. He was a teacher and Zionist from Lomza, who was a graduate of the Teachers Seminar of Janusz Korczak in 1921. His deep suffering for losing his family and former pupils increased but he overcame it by helping us, the helpless orphans. He noticed us in the railway station and had never left us since then. His compassion for us was great and he did everything to assist and calm us. He saw in us, parentless boys and girls who still believed at that time we would be reunited with our families, a consolation for himself.

 

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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