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Our hometown, Uhnov, was a very small town, near the railroad track Yuroslav - Skol, between Rava Ruska and Belz.

Except for the elegant synagogue (shul), Beit Midrash and three small shuls, there were no public institutions or cultural organizations, There was no industry whatsoever. Sources of earning a living were meager, and every extra inhabitant was a problem. There was no thought of learning a trade or planning for the future. In fact, there was no future for young people. And so we were raised with no feeling of security.

This didn't apply only to the poor and middle classes. It was the lot of all the young people of Uhnov of my time. When a Jew of Uhnow wanted to say where he came from, he said: "I'm from Uhnow near Belz:" or "I'm from Uhnow near Rava-Ruska", as if he wanted to lean on a brother both richer and stronger, than he was. Rava Ruska was even then a much more modern and progressive city. And Belz: was a place of prestige for our town and the whole area.

And so generation after generation the people of Uhnow accepted their sorry lot as if it was nature's decree. All their prayers were to get through their daily struggle for existence and in time to see their children married.
They were not rebels. And they did not complain about class differences. Everything was ordained.

Everything was peaceful. Nobody dreamed of change.

At that time we didn't know or understand the causes of the difficult condition of most of the town's inhabitants. One consolation filled their innocent hearts: - they would get their reward in the next world. Many good and righteous Jews devoted all their energies to helping those who were weak and needed help. But the peace and quiet of those days didn't last - they ended and vanished forever.

There is no doubt that the first in Uhnow to rebel was the late Isaac Bergen. There is a popular saying that goes: "It is no shame to be poor but it is no great honor either". We young people of the poorer classes said even then - although without any theoretical basis - that poverty does not have to be a necessity. And Isaac Berger, who was almost entirely self-educated, expressed this even then in his poems. The second person who gave expression to the hardships of Uhnow's poor people was Yakov Shudrich. These two were different from their contemporary Avigdor Spritzer and their predecessor Mordechai Gotfried, who had no particular social direction. There is a saying that in an atmosphere of plenty, literary talent doesn't grow. It is not by chance that Berger and Shudrich were sons of workers who had to struggle for a living. These two poets were a reflection of the youth of our town - youth without an economic foundation and without a planned future.

However, that period after the First World War which can be called a second Renaissance, gave hope to people all over the world. Jews were sure that racial hatred and murder were no longer possible after the horrors of the First World War and that the vision of the prophet Isiah Ben Amotz would come true - "He will Judge among the nations", and nations will not solve their problems by war and destruction but by peaceful means. And the simple people of Uhnow who thought only of Torah, the commandments and good deeds, never realized that they were being cheated. They didn't realize that the Versailles' Treaty was a piece of paper with no significance. They did not know that Germany, who caused the world's blood bath and was defeated by the Allies, would get concession after concession. And the great people who had taken to themselves the Bible as the basis of their moral code would be the first sacrifice.

The monument to the memory of Uhnow that we, its children, want to build, is not concerned with the history of two world - wars but with the private tragedy that befell us. We are not analyzing that tragic time although it is desirable and necessary to do so; otherwise it is impossible to understand how it all happened. All those who remained alive after the Holocaust, those from the small towns and those from the big cities, write their personal memories and mourn the fate of their families as if diving into a private sea of their own. We understand their reaction, for as Job said, "Skin for skin". A man feels his own hurt first. It is understandable but not right. The Holocaust that hit all of Europe and the Jewish people most of all is a social problem; we Jews, who contributed so much to the solution of social problems, must uncover the roots of what happened. Two world wars and all that they caused were not the result of natural causes; it was a result of people's opposing progress and advancement. This could have prevented certain European nations from controlling and conquered nations. Germany didn't accept this state of affairs and wanted a new division of the world. We all remember Great Britain's flirtation with Germany in order to divert her attention from Western Europe to Eastern Europe; to the Ukrainian fields and the petroleum of Baku.

And so it all came about on that sorry date - September 1, 1939. The tragedy of European Jewry began long before that date. We know well all the pogroms against Jews during that period. We thought it would pass – in wartime cruel things happen. No one dreamed that the satanic acts of fascism could happen. No one could envision that men of science did research on how to destroy people wholesale. No one could envision that the nation of Goethe, Schiller and Beethoven would sink so low. The world has seen many wars, each one presenting its individual tragedy; but such madness, such insanity has never before been experienced by mankind. Time and distance cannot erase these criminal acts. Nevertheless, some sources are trying to look for reasons to excuse the past and rehabilitate Germany. And so our shame, Jewish sources are helping them re-enter the family of nations.

But what happened in Europe during the reign of fascism will never be erased from the annals of history. People and nations can be corrupted, but not the truth. Grass can grow on graves but some things cannot be covered. Piles of children's shoes and women's hair - victims of the Nazis – cannot be covered and hidden. The smoke of the crematoriums remains forever and ever in our memories. And in our prayers and hopes we always say, "It will never happen again".

I do not remember a great deal about the life in our town. I was the second one in Uhnow to go to the Land of Israel. The first was Arjeh Reichler (Arnon). There are many Jews of Uhnow who remember it better than I do and I hope they wilt give us in writing a full picture of life in Uhnow. I hope they will recall our wonderful teachers who taught us to read and write. They must also mention those who led us in prayer and inspired us on the Sabbath and during holidays. And they must not forget their mothers who accepted their hardships stoically and raised us to face our destiny in strength.

Uhnow is in the Rava Ruska district in Eastern Galicia, 22 kilometers from Belz, 21 km. from Rava Ruska. The capital of the district is Lemberg (LVOV).
At the end of the 2nd century A.D. the Goths invaded Galicia. They conquered the Uhnow area and settled there. At the end of the 4th Century A.D. the Huns conquered and replaced the Goths. In the middle of the 5th century The Slovenes took control of the area. In 1019 the area was conquered by the Polish king; until 1462 the area was under ducal control. In that year Belz was established as a district (Wiebudstabo) under Polish rule - this district included the town that was later called Uhnow. The settlements in the Belz area belonged to various owners; some to the kingdom (these were called crown cities) and some to individuals called squires.

In that year (1462) King Kazimirz gave his permission to a man called Zigmond to give the name Uhnow (his crest) to the place as a reward forhis giving protection to the Belz area. And so the village became an independent town, free of wider supervision (according to the Magdaburg rule giving local control to districts, towns and villages). The inhabitants were not under the squires' control but under the king's rule.

In 1477 several villages were included in the general area of Uhnow. This area was extended in 1595.

In 1914 there were more than 20 villages surrounding the town of Uhnow.
In 1497 the Crusaders came to the district to help the Polish king against Turkish invaders. In 1548-9 the Tatars invaded; from 1648-1655 the area suffered from Chamilinitsky, a Pole who joined forces with the Tatars.

In the following years many wars took place there, until the division of Poland and the transfer of Galicia to Austrian rule. After the 2nd World War Russia took control of the area.

The Jewish community of Uhnow goes back very far. There is little historical evidence of this since. The place is too small to be mentioned in Jewish or other records. But thanks to famous rabbis who are mentioned in various sources because of their importance, it is clear that a Jewish community existed there for at least 350 years and even had a rabbinical court and Judge (See the list of rabbis that was found in the chapter "Rabbis of Uhnow").

In 1629 30 Jewish families.

In 1648-9 100 Jewish families.

In the "Tiet Hion" scrolls of Rabbi Shmuel Feivish, son of Rabbi Nathan Pytel:
From there the enemy went to Megirov where there were about 100 families who escaped to Nerol (mentioned before). From there the enemy went to Pat Lish - also about 100 families - who escaped to Nerol. The enemy then went to Rava which had 100 families and they also ran away to Nerol... In Nerol there were 600 householders, not counting refugees; altogether more than 5000 families. AS A RESULT OF OUR MANY SINS, a terrible decree was issued and more than 10,000 people were killed, including women and children.

From there, the enemy advanced to Belz which had about 200 families. In addition, Belz had more than 10.000 families who escaped from other towns because Belz was a very strong city. But some died of hunger. From there the enemy went to Uhnow which had 100 families - they all were killed each by the other so as not to fail victim to their enemies. From there the enemy went to Tishvitz which had 100 families and killed most of them. The enemy went on to Skol which had about 100 families who had behind a very thick wall which was built like a fortress and so were saved.

The Jewish community was rebuilt by Jews from the surrounding area. After calm was restored, they came out of hiding and built new homes.

From the above citation it is clear that long ago the number of Jewish residents in Uhnow was equal to that of Rava-Ruska This changed in timeand Rava-Ruska became much more populated than Uhnow.

No. of Jewish families 1629-1643
Uhnow                         30    30
Rava Ruska                 24    25
Belz                            34    40

In 1880 Rava Ruska had 3878 Jews and Uhnow 1843 Jews. In 1900 R.R. had 5098 Jews and Uhnow had 2140 Jews (47.7 % of its population)
The river Slukia flows through the center of from west to east. A stream flows north from the main river. In the area are forests, fields, mountains and hills.
Industry: water mill, oil and wood factories.

Every Thursday was market day. There was a fair twice a year.
The municipality included 28 villages in which Jews also lived. They were as follows:

1. Ostobozish
2. Brukental
3. Dumashov
4. Danisk m. Leshnizeysky
5. Varanov
6. Verbitz
7. Vilke Mezvietsky
8. Zelone
9. Zastavie
10. Haliptshin
11. Churunov
12. Tarnushin
13. Tehiloy
14. Yosefufka
15. Machnov
16. Machnivek
17. Michalubka
18. Navishilk Pshedni
19. Navishilk Kardinelsky
20. Selishiz
21. Stai
22. Pudenze (pidivitz)
23. Karib
24. Kortchov
25. Kortshmin
26. Kshevitze
27. Recziza Hubinec
28. Czepietin.

There were generally good trade and neighborly relations between Gentiles and Jews and there were even prosperous and good working understandings especially in the leather industry. Most of the Gentile inhabitants were occupied in the manufacture of shoes and leather goods and their merchandise satisfied the demands of the large bazaars.

The foundation of Jewish businesses and income were gathered inside the town, They were the shop-owners and the professionals. The income of the municipalities came from timber cutting in the huge forests close to the town. The large profits from this trade made it one of the richest towns in the Galicia - even the town footpaths were made from this timber. The Gentiles bought timber very cheaply for all their needs. Every year the Jews were given free timber for the Shavuot Hag, for the synagogue, for the Beit Hamidrash and for the Close.

A substantial proportion of the key positions in the town's municipalities and civil service was in Jewish hands e.g. financial institutions representative of insurance companies and Government lotteries and so Jews were members of municipalities and high ranking in the civil service and local Government. Towards the end of the 19th century, the head of the municipality was a Jew, Reb Israel Schrober and all the business of the town was decided by him. The Registrar's Office in the Uhnow district (the office in charge of birth, marriage and death certificates) was also in Jewish hands. The Government decided the tariff for the issuing of these certificates and whoever had this job could easily support a large family. The holder of this job was someone who was without blemish in the eyes of the Government, and who knew the country’s languages - Polish and Ukrainian. Marriages were recorded only after a certificate was obtained from the Rav who performed the Kiddush and the religious chuppa. The competition for this job was very keen and sometimes there were even fights, and the successful candidate was the one who succeeded in getting around the someone in a suitable high position.

He had to swear by the Torah, the district governor or a high government official. The handling of the records started in 1840 and I remember the first page - the Rabbinate Racheeli, daughter of Reb Moshe Elbaum and that she later became the wife of Reb Arje Lebish Horoschovsky AB"D Uhnow and my grandmother Haya Sara Arman. In the first period only daughter's names were registered so that the sons would not have to serve in the army. From the 1840 the head of the municipality was Rab Hayim Boyman from Uhnow and after his death, for a short time only, Reb Moshe Levy Margoliot took this position and then my father(G'R'H'B') Reb Meyer Ortner. On the 15th January 1906, I received a certificate from the district governor to say that I was my father's second and I took on these duties after having been sworn in on the 15th February 1906. When I left during the 1st World War my sister Mindel (G'R'H'B') managed the "matriarchy". After this Reb Fivel Kluger (G'R'H'B') was in this job until he was killed (in G-d's name) together with all the townspeople on the 5th candle of Hanukkah.

In the election to "Sam Blumberg" and the House of Lords in Vienna, the Jews voted with the Poles and so they always had a majority. If a fewvotes were missing, they were bought from the Ukrainians.

The Government license for the tobacco trade was in the hands of Reb Yoshi Kaner and there were also agencies in the towns and surrounding villages - all in Jewish hands. After him, came his son-in-jaw Reb Herz Rebhun and his wife Pashi until they met their bitter deaths. The license for the local agency for lotteries was headed by Reb Yoshi Kaner also, and he nominated his son-in-law Tzvi Katzenbach and his wife Hannah to this position. The license for slat selling was given to Reb Yechiel Klein and after him, Reb Aron Hayim Morgenstern and Hannah Katzenbach.

The two final institutions in town - 2 Jewish banks - were managed by Reb Aron Zuckerman & Reb Beryl Kanner & Reb Tzvi Moshe Kanner.One of the most flourishing businesses in the economy of Galicia in those times, was the sale of alcohol. In the previous century the monopoly was in the hands of the Polish "Pritzim" only, but in 1878 this was taken from them and put on the market on a tender basis. The winner was given the right of all sales for 3 years. Only those with a large amount of capital could apply, as large investments were needed - for a hotel, refinery, special shops and offices, guards and road guards whose duties were to make sure that no outside merchandise could enter the town and so create competition. Moravsky held the position and he handed the right to the Jewish community, which nominated two people to handle it, Reb Yacov Shalom Stross and Reb Yechel Arish Katz, at the expense of the community.

They were both clever pupils who prayed in the Close "Kottel HaMizrach" and they were called the loyal ones - which meant a chassid - honest, with clean hands, who knew writing, arithmetic and had a knowledge of the trade. In all these, these two were blessed, and all the workmen of this trade were under their control. The profits were large, because prices were set by the leases and many people were involved and made their living from this business. At one time it was leased by the Baron Whatman, who took other "loyal ones" from where he lived, the Reb Avraham Zandegarten and Reb Avraham Pomerantz and a few other people. Immediately, the town declared a ban - no one bought from them and each night, alcohol was smuggled into town from other sources. If a restaurant owner bought from them, he was pulled out of the shule and no one would pray with him because he broke the ban. This struggle lasted a year until the Baron re-instated all those who had been dismissed, and dismissed all the new workers, all except Messrs. Zandegarten and Pomerantz, and he paid large sums in compensation to the community.

As time passed, the Ukrainians developed their cultural activities, many attained higher education and became doctors, lawyers, teachers etc. and their penetration into these higher levels made them more ambitious. They concentrated their efforts into patronizing the town's economy, and their first steps were to narrow the Jews' activities and drive them away from the businesses. They opened the first Ukrainian shop in Calibar St., not far from the Russian church and a bar not far from the Polish church, and started to ban Jewish trade, and this created the first hostilities. The first rotten complaint was that they claimed that the forest surrounding the town belonged wholly to the Christian sect and not the municipality (made up of Christians and Jews). They wanted to deprive the Jews of their timber rights and brought the matter to court. The Jews dismissed this suit by exposing its rotten base and used all the necessary steps to ensure their rights, because they knew that it was only the beginning of a chain that would follow if the Ukrainians were successful. To prove that the forest belonged to the town the Jews used the facts that the footpaths were made from timber, and that they were given free timber every Succoth. The Jewish community was given added strength by its committee, from Reb Meir Ortner who hired a Jewish lawyer from Lemberg, Dr. Raphiel Bobber and his assistant Dr. Mildwarm and from Vienna, Dr. Fenater, because here, the standard was high and it held the main Government of Galicia that was under Austrian rule.

The proceedings of this court case dragged for many years and during this period was lost several times in Uhnow and even in a higher court in Lemberg, but each time it came to the highest court in Vienna everything turned upside down and the verdict was given to the Jews and this brought the case back to the Uhnow court. The heads of the Austrian Kingdom in Vienna interfered into the Government of Galicia, because they needed the Jewish votes at election time, and therefore the efforts of the Ukrainians failed.

Hatred bubbled in the town, because of the court case, because election time was drawing near and because of very strong propaganda from the Russian priest Rumanovsky. On one clear day in 1903 30 fires started in town. Whole streets inhabited by Jews burnt to ashes, Christian grain storages and even part of the Polish church went up in flames.

At the same time, another very sad event occurred which had dangerous results including pogroms against the Jews. The son of a very poor, religious Jew, who acted as go-between in the soft-drink trade between Jews and Christians, was seduced by a Ukrainian Petas Crychuk into becoming a Christian. He hid the son in his home, because if he went out into the street, the Jewish children threw stones and called him "kugelfresser". One night a fire started in the Christian grain storage and it spread so fast that the Russian church caught alight too.

I, Berish Ortner and my father Meier Ortner (G-d rest his soul) stood near the church and watched the fire. My father was the agent of a Russian insurance company in Prague called Salavia and almost all the townspeople, both Jews and Christians were insured with us. At that moment our neighbour Kolbochevsky, who was in charge of tax collecting, came towards us and grabbed my father's arm and would not let it go, saying "Mitchke, come home with me at once, because things will be terrible". We walked with him for about 10 minutes when suddenly the church bells began ringing - the sound which meant "givald". On the way we met a Ukrainian who said "You set the fire at Petas Crychuk's. You shall see your end".

We lived on the outskirts of town between the Beit Hahayim, the courthouse and the jail. We saw no one in the vicinity, but in spite of that, the church bells rang continuously. Kolbochevsky shouted to us "Go into your house quickly. There is a pogrom".

The Jews escaped - some into their homes and some to the other side of town to the river Solikia. All over town as if by an act of G-d all the windows of the Jewish homes were smashed except for one person's – Wolf Judenberg - he stood with an axe in his hand and threatened to chop off the head of any one who came near. Several Jews in the streets, were cruelly beaten, but they later told of a wonderful thing - that they did not feet that they were being beaten.

The Government clerks knew that there was to be a pogrom. The army command of Uhnow was in Rava Ruska. The son-in-law of the very wealthy man Hiller Kaminsky shouted at the mob "We are going to Mitchke Ortner". On the way they uprooted a telephone pole. There were only 4 officers (which stood back to back) near Dr. Kibbutz's house and after shooting into the air they began arresting some of the mob. Meanwhile, reinforcements arrived from Rava Ruska.

Mr. Bocansky, the representative of the county Governor stood near the entrance of the Polish church. The Ukrainians wanted to lynch him on the spot. He escaped to a Polish barber and telephoned to the Governor of the Liberman county in Rava Ruska and within 25 minutes, 4 officers with soldiers arrived and they were concentrated in the Ring Platz. They armed the secret police and apprehended some 300 Ukrainians. The soldiers were boarded in the homes of rich Christians and they beat them and emptied their houses.

My father and I walked to town and saw the terrible destruction. Emile Liberman's "Ringlatz" store was completely destroyed.
Within a short time the court judging body arrived from Lemberg and trials of the Ukrainians began. They took place in the "Fire-fighting" hall. Many lawyers volunteered their services to the Jews free of charge. The court gave the Ukrainian louts jail sentences and fines, so that compensation was paid to the Jews who had suffered damages. I, myself, testified against two people.

As a result of these events, the central Government dispersed the township. The county Governor's representative was sent as Mayor. His name was Holazlow Halelear and with him a committee of Jews, Christians and Ukrainians was appointed, with 2 representatives from each. The first action of the mayor was the uprooting of the forest and the paving of new footpaths. Commissar Halelear bought the red building of the Lord Moravsky and wanted to put there a large building to house all the Government and public institution in the centre of town e.g. court house, taxation department, police, jail etc. Next to this stood the house of Reb Nathan and Reb Schmulke Baar. This house had been badly burnt but Reb Elkina Horoshovsky's wooden house next to this was untouched, and he refused to sell at any price, for 2 reasons. He said that Zuderings would not live in the house in which his father had studied and that none of the Jews agreed that the building housing the courtroom and the officers' quarters should be in the middle of the market. The officers made trouble for the Jews at every opportunity. The brothers Reb Nathan and Reb Schmulke also refused to sell. These 3 men were wise Jewish scholars.

Commissar Halelear brought orders from Lemberg which stated the necessity of destroying the houses because of danger to the inhabitants and to allocate them to the above-mentioned building. Reb Elkina sent an appeal against this order to Lemberg but received no reply.

One Friday afternoon the mayor arrived accompanied by officers and police and they evicted Reb Elkina, his wife Mintshe, son-in-law Jacob Hirsch and daughter Bina and her child. At the same time he read an order that no man was allowed to receive them into his home and if anyone disobeyed this order, their home would also be declared unfit for habitation.

My father (G-d rest his soul) took them into his home. The mayor then notified my father that that same week his house would be declared as unfit, and that his position as head of the birth registrations would be taken from him. My father replied that before these things could happen, he would see that the mayor was removed.
On Sunday, my father went with Reb Elkina to Lemberg and brought back a court ruling that the warrant making Reb Elkina's house unfit had been cancelled and that he could return to his home. The merchandise from his store had been thrown into the street and had been guarded by Jews, was now returned to the store and the municipality paid him compensation for the damages incurred.

Jacob Zak relates:

In September of 1939, with the outbreak of the war and the invasion of Poland by Hitler's forces, the Germans quickly penetrated Uhnow and scattered the Polish army there. On the second night of Rosh Hashanah, 5700 (1939), while the two forces struggled over the control of Uhnow, the town was shelled by the Germans. Everyone gathered in the synagogue, which was a large, strongly built, brick structure, as opposed to the flimsily built private homes.

During the attack, one shell - two meters long - penetrated the synagogue and fell on the Aron Hakodesh (Holy Ark). Miraculously it failed to explode, but just landed on the Aron as though in were merely a piece of metal. Had it exploded, everyone would have been killed on the spot.

On Simchat Torah, (The Festival of the Rejoicing of the Law, three weeks later), the Germans turned to the Jewish community of the town with the accusation that they were hiding two Polish officers. They had with them an order to execute fifty Jews in the market square if the two officers were not surrendered to them. The Jewish populace was still at an utter loss how to deal with the crisis when two German citizens who resided in that area came forward and reported having seen the Polish officers in a nearby forest. Thus the horrid nightmare ended.

When the Germans first arrived in Uhnow and the market place was full of tanks, the Ukrainians came with empty sacks and wanted to start plundering the Jewish quarter, but the Germans stopped them. The Germans themselves even paid for the beer they drank, although with Czechoslovakian currency.

Later a German plane circled overhead and dropped a Polish flag together with a letter stating that the Polish were coming, because that was the arrangement they and the Russians had agreed to.

The Jews began to organize civil defense, but that lasted only two days. The Germans withdrew. On the day before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, September of that year), the Germans shelled the town and several gentiles' homes burnt down. But not one Jewish home was damaged, and the gentiles were amazed. On Yom Kippur itself the Germans returned, but after a short while they withdrew and the Russians came.

Serril (Sonia) Rzeczinski relates:

With the news of the arrival of the German army, the Jews hurriedly sought hiding places. But after a few weeks, they left the place and the Russian army, who came in their stead, took over the town. After a while the two armies established their locations, the Wusel River serving as a boundary between them. The area up to the river belonged to the Russians, (Rava-Ruska, Uhnov, etc), while the other side, including Belz, was held by the Germans. The border also cut through the region of Uhnov and some of its villages fell to the Germans.

Life under the Russians took the form of the typical communist society. Everyone had to work in order to be able to prove how he made a living. Anyone who didn't work was assumed to be a capitalist and therefore was subject to extremely high taxes.

Similarly anyone who was thought to be well off, or was reported to have means, was also highly taxed. Three months' taxes had to be paid in advance. Later, the amount of the tax was doubled, and yet later, it was tripled. The merchants were the hardest hit because their income was always over-estimated. In actual fact they did not earn well because the economic situation was very bad and they were forced to sell for very slight profit. Since most Jews were in one kind of business or another, the Jewish community was severely affected. Everyone started looking for an office job or the like, so he would have a known, fixed income. But not everyone found something. Those who could afford it fled to Lemberg. Those who remained and carried on in business, tried as much as possible to keep their merchandise out of sight so that the authorities wouldn't be able to claim that they were earning well. A bitter fate awaited anyone who dealt with contraband; if the Russians caught him, he was sent to Siberia. All these restrictions so depressed the economy that they made life unbearable.

Ironically, the Jewish community pinned their hopes on the Germans, because until 1941, no one knew that they - the Germans were even worse than the Russians. Until 1941, no one was aware that the Germans were executing Jews. On the other hand, the Ukrainians, the gentile neighbours of the Jewish community, were anti-Semitic and exploited the situation. They made the lot of the Jews even harder by boycotting their businesses, not buying in Jewish shops, and such measures.

When the Russians took over they summarily removed the mayor from office and appointed in his stead an avowed Communist, a Jew by the name of Simon Adler. When the Russian soldiers first came into Uhnov on horseback, this Adler kissed the feet of their horses. But six weeks later, when he saw the Russians looting and plundering the town, he asked: "Is this Communism?" In reply, he too was removed from office and sentenced to six years' imprisonment in Siberia. Anyone against whom there was testimony that he belonged to the bourgeoisie was exiled to Siberia; many died there.

On the First of May the Jews had to wear their Yom Tov (holiday) clothes and the Rav (the Rabbi) his streimel (a luxurious fur hat traditionally reserved only for Sabbaths and Holy Days). Every evening there were special meetings which everyone was compelled to attend. There would be speeches praising Stalin and a lot of talk about how we must fight for Russia, and so on.

Amongst those who were in the villages under Russian control there were some people who thought that the Germans were preferable to the Russians, These people came from Uhnov. In Tammuz 5700 (summer of 1940) the Russian authorities announced one Shabbat (Saturday) that anyone who wished to return to German-held territory could sign up to do so. Those who in fact signed up were loaded onto freight cars and shipped to Siberia. The Russians taunted them: "You preferred the Germans; there you are? That's what you deserve?"

In August 1942 the Germans entered Uhnov and the Russian army started to retreat. They entered Uhnov in the morning. We heard firing from five o'clock in the morning until noon. When the shooting stopped the Germans were camped everywhere and had full control of the town,
Soon after the German takeover, we began to appreciate how well off we had been under the Russians. The situation of the Jews went from bad to worse - ten times worse than it had been under the Russians. There was an immediate order for all the Jews to gather in the synagogue, the Ukrainians in the Ukrainian Church, and the Poles, in their church. The reason they gave for this order was that there was still fighting going on and that some civilians might get hurt. The anti-Semitic Ukrainians adapted to the new situation at once. They changed the color of their skin like chameleons and now worshipped the Germans. Only when it came to hating the Jews did they remain unchanged. They quickly demonstrated their loyalty to their new rulers by denouncing to the Germans a number of Jews who were supposedly Russian sympathizers, That very night several Jews were summoned to the German authorities: Aaron Uhlricht, Jacob Stelhammer, Zecharia Beznosof, Elchanan Rothberger, Michal Klahr, Pinney Lampel, Langsam, Buchsbaum and others. They were lined up near the Rabbi's house which was next to the synagogue and shot. Only one of them, Lazar Buchsbaum survived; he pretended to be shot and fell down "dead." Later he ran away, went into a private home, and then hid in the attic of a warehouse.
When a few people were summoned later to bury them, they found a scene of horror and trembled at the sight that met their eyes. The victims lay where they had collapsed on the ground, covered in blood.

The Germans appointed a militia to administer the local affairs. It comprised two members of the Gestapo and some Ukrainians. They set the taxes for the local residents and also ordered them from time to time to supply various goods to the German army.

In the synagogue of Uhnov there was a pulpit of iron. One day the Germans came and ordered us to demolish it. It was extremely difficult and only after backbreaking efforts did we manage to smash it. After that they ordered us to remove the Torah Scrolls from the Holy Ark and to take them outside the town to a muddy field. There we had to chop down trees from the woods, build a fire, and burn the Torah scrolls. Then all the Jews were ordered to dance around the fire while the Torah Scrolls were burning.

They say that several Ukrainian women grabbed some of the Torah Scrolls and saved them, right under the noses of the Germans. They said that "if you start up with the G-d of the Jews, the end won't be good."

Even with this, the brutality that day was not yet over. After the dancing, the Germans ordered the Rabbi of the town to put on a Kittel (a white suplice worn on special occasions) and to place on his head one of the ornamental Torah crowns. Then we were all ordered to go to the river and get into the water with our clothes on. It was autumn then, and the level of the water was low. When we got there the Germans started firing into the air and everyone had to lie on the muddy river bottom to avoid the bullets. Afterwards we all got up and were made to stand there while the crowds of gentiles who had gathered there burst with glee and laughter at the sight of the Jews' distress.

My father, Wolf Yudenberg, was exemplary in his readiness to put up a fight against the murderous Germans and in his refusal at all costs to submit to the degradations and humiliation. He alone from the whole town refused to join this spectacle of terror and march of shame. He paid no heed to the pleas to go along with the others and not to risk his life. "I won't go, even if they kill me; but before they do, I'll knock their teeth out!" he said. He didn't even go up to the warehouse attic to hide.

During the days that followed, the Germans carried on with similar acts of brutality. They would pounce at random on some Jew passing by. Once they tore out half of someone’s payos (traditional side-curls); another time they pulled out half of someone's beard, with the skin. Sometime later, they ordered everyone with a beard to shave, claiming that beards couldn't be kept clean. After this order had been carried out, all the freshly-shaven men looked ugly to us because, due to and the troubles, they looked worn and haggard, and shaving off their beards made it much more evident.

When our first Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) under the Germans came, we didn't pray in the synagogue, but rather organized several small minyans (prayer quorums) at various homes. An atmosphere of terror pervaded that holy day. A feeling of devastation lodged in our hearts and despair overwhelmed us.

The hours of prayer on this holy day served both as an outlet for the anguish in our hearts as we all wept bitterly, and as a source of hope that our situation might change for the better, as we anticipated relief and redemption. Many of us felt sure in our hearts that America would certainly not remain silent in the face of the atrocities being heaped upon Polish Jewry, but would swiftly come to our aid and improve our lot.

Economically, the situation had been nearly impossible already under the Russians. With the takeover of the Germans, it became even worse. Everything they could find, the Germans confiscated for their army. All the storehouses that had been stocked throughout Poland had already been emptied in the war effort. As a result of the confiscations and looting the Jews were impoverished. The Ukrainians joined in the effort to make life even more difficult for the Jews (although there were some individuals who helped us). Even when the Jews still had merchandise let to sell so that they could have earned the money to buy food from the surrounding villages the Ukrainian militia in control of our area didn't allow us to bring in food. The Jews were compelled to go to work in the fields because rather than selling them food, the gentiles wanted the Jews to come work their farms in exchange for the food. Consequently the Juden Rat (Jewish Council) had to send individuals to work on the Ukrainian farms. The owners used to beat the Jews when they weren't satisfied with their work; sometimes they even whipped them in the face with leather straps.

But the produce was taken by the Germans. There were various methods and excuses given for the looting. One time several carloads of Gestapo officers arrived and ordered us to open all the doors and windows in the Jewish houses, because they wanted to inspect the cleanliness of our homes in order to prevent an epidemic of typhus. Two Ukrainians accompanied them on their tour of "inspection" and proceeded to empty every cupboard in the house. Even the burial shrouds that my mother Bluma had prepared were taken.

One time I witnessed a terrifying attempt: two Gestapo men and two Ukrainians ordered two women, the daughters of Faivel Kluger, to take a bucket and to give a bull a drink of water from it. They were overcome with fear at this terrible command. The look of horror on their faces shocked me and I took the pail from them, saying I would do it. "But," I turned to the men who had given the order, "show me how you do it and then I’ll do the same as you show me." A diabolical smile came to their lips, and they left me alone.

When we spend a minute or two thinking of years passed, of the Holocaust and many happy days thinking of what we did for the past thirty years, we remember our town. And we remember what this town did, how it fought, how she handled her affairs, how she existed (together with her religious and public services), no more and no less than the rich powerful country.

Poverty then was different than it is now. Today there is not a house that hungers for bread or fruit; they get special insurance, they don't work twice as hard to pay tuition for their children and they even get their textbooks.

This poverty before the Holocaust was in the more well – to do houses, people who earned their livelihood and who always had bread on their tables, that were not afraid of the difficult winter or that the landlord would throw them out of the house, people that were not afraid of the melamed sending their children home because of unpaid tuition, and that the melamed had no money outside of his tuition fees.

The poverty in many towns was unbearable people barely made a living (if you can call it that). They never knew what they would eat tomorrow. There were no jobs whatsoever available. Small-time storeowners, craftsmen, saddlemakers, tailors; but they barely made a living because only a few could afford to buy shoes. They wore shoes until they were so worn out that the shoemaker could only patch them up. The shoemaker, like the tailor, could not change high prices, Otherwise no one would come to them. Who could afford to buy - and who doesn't eat a cake or a biscuit today - on a weekday, even those getting welfare?

But still - - -

There is a big difference between life then and now, from the public and educational point of view; and especially religious services.

Today these services are given by the Religious Council (a municipal department), which gets most of its money from the City Hall and part of it from the government. The Religious Council people don't have to look for funds, they have them whenever they want them. They just perform the actions, pay the salaries, they worry about putting up mikvas, synagogues, etc.

The Religious Councils are rightfully angry, because the few cannot satisfy the majority, and because religious needs are so vast that the city councils are not paying enough attention to satisfying these needs. The fact is that the town councils worry more about movie theatres than about synagogues, clubs, etc.

In our town there were 120 families, most of them poor people who did not know what the next day would bring. They could not be policemen or customs' men, or even postmen, because they were Jews. Besides of the big yeshiva, which employed a few men, there were no jobs to be had. Most of them waited for market day, but if it rained the storekeepers could not prepare the Sabbath. There were families who had to be given fuel for heating, money for Sabbath, to prepare two pillows and two blankets for a young couple, or chicken soup for a woman after childbirth because she was not allowed anything but that for the first few days.

Not only did the government not give funds for Jewish needs, they also taxed the Jewish citizens more than the non-Jewish ones. The Jewish population never gave the town a single penny because we were not a state with immigrants; neither did we have a Joint Fund or a Histadrut that collected millions of dollars for herself and gave money to others; there were no committees, only individuals, sent abroad to collect some money for themselves and came back tired and ashamed, swearing never to go abroad collecting money for any purpose whatsoever.

Still we had, and paid for, a rabbi and a shochat and a Talmud Torah and a mikvah and a bath-house that were open every day; there were two synagogues; with Ezrat Holim, we had everything needed to take care of our sick; we paid more tuition than we could afford; we contributed to the synagogue, which was painted every three years; in winter we bought trees to warm up the synagogue and the people whose houses were cold would come there as well.

There were no social or welfare departments nor Kupat Holim; when a doctor was needed or the "feitcher" one had to pay quite a sum of money - even though his wages, compared to present day salaries, came to nothing.

How did our town exist? How did she manage for centuries? How were there never any robberies, no tables thrown, no tools thrown? There were no clerks or religious councils, only the rabbi and the shochat were paid; the rabbi’s only form of living was the candies and yeast sold from his wife; the shochat’s living was made from slaughtering chickens and a few more pennies for the meat.

How did the town exist? Honorably, without begging donations, without spreading herself before the government or every minor clerk, without writing letters, without the need for selling whole families to the ruling party in order to receive the money to run these public and religious institutions?

Even if they paid taxes they understood that as Jews they would never get anything from the government. So we existed on our own. We paid tuition from our own pockets, even though today we cannot support our schools without government assistance; today every synagogue gets some allowance for repairs.

Why did not our town need help from any outside institutions, only from one hundred and twenty households? Among them were those who needed help in buying bread or heating fuel. They held all the public and religious institutions together without taking taxes for any services rendered. There were no chairmen or clerks. Everything was handled by penniless collectors, and was handled accordingly.

(Hamodiya, 12. lyar 5738)

After the death of Rabbi Aryeh Leib Horshovsky, Z"L the head of the rabbinic court of Uhnov and its spiritual leader, the community was headed by his son-in-law, Rabbi Elazar Rokach, the son of the Tsaddik, Rabbi Meshulan Rokach, the head of the Borislav community. He was appointed at the direction of Rabbi Y'hoshua of Belz, the Belzer Rebbe.

With Rabbi Elazar's appointment, Uhnov again acquired a great Torah scholar and teacher as its head, in keeping with the precedent set by Rabbi Aryeh Leib. He had an excellent name as a teacher, together with a reputation for Yirat Shamayim and an unwavering meticulousness in applying the verse "Fear not any man.." (Deut. 1, 17), an essential guidepost for a rabbinical judge. Together with this, he was well-liked by people and his rulings were accepted as if handed down from on High; there was no questioning them. His years at the head of the community served as a true example of the Jewish Rav appropriately exercising full authority in his community.

He once tried a case concerning which one of the leading authorities of Galicia had already expressed an opinion. It was Rabbi Elazar who actually presided at the trial, because, as head of the Rabbinic Courts for that locality, it fell under his jurisdiction.

When Rabbi Elazar gave his verdict, it was in disagreement with the well-known and highly respected scholar who had already studied the case and announced his decision. At first, the other was slightly annoyed, but in the end he agreed that he had been mistaken in his judgement and that Rabbi Elazar's verdict was indeed correct and just.
After this episode, this same Torah leader asked Rabbi Elazar in admiration: "How did you find the courage to hand down such a verdict when every one already knew that I had given a different opinion?" Rabbi Elazar answered: "My strength lies in my practice before presiding over each case; I pray that Heaven help me not to err and not to lead others to error. And I rely on my holy ancestors that it will indeed be so. With this strength, I give my verdict."

Once one of the litigants took as his legal representative an outstanding scholar of Uhnov, Rabbi Y'hoshua Lesser, later the Dean of the Yeshivain Cracow. When Rabbi Lesser applied his extensive learning and his keen mind to prove his client's innocence, Rabbi Elazar told him: "Don't think that since you are learned you may use your knowledge to acquit someone with reasoning that is not sound. In my court you may not serve as a lawyer." Rabbi Lesser was indeed obliged to give up his task in that particular case.

His stature, straight-forwardness, and sincerity captured the hearts of all his congregation. They knew that once the Rav had decided "permitted" or 'forbidden", there was no need for second thoughts. Even when he ordered one of the butcher shops to close down for some time because of an infringement of the laws of kashruth, the butcher in question didn't say a word, even though in other towns the butchers had the reputation of bowing to no one and nothing.

He was greatly loved by his fellow men. He himself was deeply concerned with the welfare of others and constantly on the lookout to guard the interests of those under his jurisdiction. During World War I, he was taken prisoner of war by Russia together with several of his congregants. When they were released, people related many episodes about the Rabbi. While in Russia they sometimes encountered very difficult situations and the only possibility open to them was to purchase non-kosher food. At such times, Rabbi Elazar would tell the members of his community who were with him that they must eat whatever food was available to them under the circumstances. When they hesitated to actually eat non-kosher food, he turned to them and said: "I am your Rabbi (and as such, you are obliged to heed me) and I command you to eat!" However, when they saw that he himself, although weak and suffering much pain, did not touch the food, they asked him: "Why, if we must eat it, does the Rabbi himself abstain?"

He answered them: "You are allowed to eat because you have an authority here with you - your rabbi - to render a legal decision for you. But my rabbi isn't here, and I have no authority to allow me to eat non-kosher food..."

Once Mr. Asher Hezkels Zeif caught pneumonia. When Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, a fast day) drew near, Rabbi Elazar told him he must eat on the Holy day, despite the fast. However, he suspected that Mr. Zeif would be hesitant to eat on this holiest of days, and therefore he him self went to visit the sick man on Yom Kippur and again told him he must eat. "But it is Yom Kippur today," the patient protested. The Rabbi turned to him and said, "With the authority invested in me as your Rabbi, I command you to eat today." When he saw that Mr. Zeif was still hesitant, he added: "If you won't eat something, and you want me to join you and eat together with you, then I will also eat. We will pour out two glasses of brandy and drink a L'Chavim.
When he heard this, Mr. Zeif quickly took a bite of something, for he knew that otherwise the Rabbi would do just as he had said.

On the day that Mr. Kleinspiez became Bar Mitzva (thirteen years of age) Rabbi Elazar tested him with several questions about tephilin (phylacteries) based on the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law). The exchange of questions and answers took place in the presence of the boy's parents and his grandfather, but, because both the Rabbi and the boy kept their voices low, the others could not hear them clearly, and strained to catch their words. At the end, the Rabbi asked the child an easy question, but, apparently confused by the excitement of the occasion, the boy was not able to answer straight away. Rabbi Elazar knew that the parents and grandfather would be very upset at the boy's failure to respond correctly, and would no doubt scold him. On the other hand, were the boy to reply successfully to all the Ray's questions, the parents would be very proud of him. Consequently, he made no mention of the fact that the boy had not answered his last question. Even more, he purposely raised his voice for all to hear, and said. "How well your boy knows the material!" while giving his cheek a friendly pinch. Thus he cleverly spared the feelings of both child and parents, and gave everyone much pleasure.

His unswerving devotion to the truth is evident from a comment he made when he was returned to Uhnov after having been held as a prisoner of war by the Russians during World War One. Since his health was frail, he sometimes had difficulty climbing up into the horse-drawn carts the Russians used to transport the prisoners from one part of the country to another. Several times it happened that Jewish students who were not at all observant bent over and let him mount on their backs, thus forming a kind of a bridge to help him onto the wagon.

Following these and other incidents of sacrifice by non-observant Jews on behalf of their religious brethren, he commented: "We are accustomed to speaking derogatorily about Jews who leave the path of Torah-observance. But there are some simple Jews who are still holy and sincere, and who willingly sacrifice themselves to help their fellow-Jews. We should be careful not to speak negatively about Jews."
He was so outspoken in this matter that it seemed to some that he had changed, even if only slightly, his consistently resolute stand on Torah observance.
The period spent in Russia as a prisoner of war affected his health, which in any case had never been good. Even though he was plagued by pain, he continued to spend day and night immersed in Torah study.

He was in touch with all the leaders of Galician Jewry, who appreciated and respected him fully.

Rabbi Elazar passed away the day after Sukkoth (the Feast of Tabernacles) 5686 (1935).

Once someone tried to intimidate R. Elazar by threatening to "report" him to government authorities; this person could have denounced him slanderously and caused him great difficulties. But Rabbi Elazar didn't give in an inch. Rather he answered him: "Each creature is proud of something that he has and the other creatures don't have. For instance, the ox is proud of its great strength, the buffalo of its horns- What about the pig, who wallows in mud - what is he proud of? He takes pride in his filth!"

Rabbi Joseph Bazerotchnick who was handicapped and had only one arm, once received a live turkey from the Community leader for whom he worked. A question arose as to the kashruth of the fowl, and Rabbi Joseph took it to Rabbi Elazar. The Rav sought to find a legal ruling that would render the bird kasher (permitted) because of the considerable loss involved to Rabbi Joseph. "Do you have another turkey for Pesach (Passover)?" he asked.

"That doesn't make any difference; if it's kasher, it's kasher", answered Rabbi Joseph.
"And if not, then it's traif (not kosher)."

"If so" replied Rabbi Elazar, "you haven't any turkey for Pesach."

The Jews of Uhnow had a lot of potential among them. From this potential, they could have produced great men in many fields had they the means to assist them.
For instance:

Levi Cartner - studied by himself, after which he traveled to Vienna where he enrolled in a technical school. Later on he worked in the Patents Department. After that be traveled to the United States.

Shmuel Rotberger: (his father Der Royter Volke) sent his son to Vienna to study at the university where he studied philosophy. At the same time he studied at Rabbi Professor Hyot's seminar. Back in Uhnow with his Doctor's degree he could not even find a job at the elementary school. He finally went to work as a Hebrew teacher at a Hebrew school in Fiask near Lublin.

Elazar Adler was a young man. Although a builder's assistant, he excelled in chess and could not be led astray. He was able to calculate his moves even blindfolded. Once a well-known chessplayer by the name of Grossman came to town. When he asked who could compete with him, Elazar Adler was brought forth and lost. Later on he maintained he could have won but refrained from doing so (he even showed onlookers where he could have won). His excuse was that Grossman was a well-known player and he was only his guide. He even remembered moves he had made a few days later.

Shaul Zucker (Jehoshua Shohat's son) settled in Lemberg after finding work. He was a public servant and a representative for Agudath Israel inVienna. He finished public school and graduated from high school after one and a half years of studies. Even before he did so, he put this forth as his goal. He was a smart student and a brilliant speaker.

Moshe Hirsch Abarbanel was a merchant in Velouta.

His son died tragically in an accident at an oil-producing factory in Petah-Tiqva. In Uhnow he was always seen going to the Beit Hamidrash at three o'clock in the morning with a flashlight in his pocket.

Shmuel David Handelsman was head of the community. He was a dedicated Jew and a pleasant person. Once the governor ordered the mikve closed. But he opened it up by saying that the Jews needed a mikve.

Charitable People:

Every Friday the women would go from house to house collecting bread and cakes and divided them amongst the needy. This was done all the time in all kinds of weather.
Before Pessach they collected all the wheat.

Wolf Yudenberg was a great entertainer. He was upset if he did not have a guest for the Sabbath. He used to say:

"Whoever comes to me will eat meat and other delicacies and sit by me".

Indeed, everyone who came to visit him left the house satisfied. If a guest left his chair by himself, he would tell his wife that the guest was still hungry and at the same time passed food from his plate to his guest's plate. When the guest finished eating, he took his hand and led him to Israel Yehuda Melamed, where the guests slept.

The Reis family, a big family and farm-owners in Danisk and Carib, were looked upon as rulers. Every Pessach they allotted many sacks of wheat and potatoes in order to be distributed amongst the towns' poor people. Throughout the year, when a large donation was needed, people found a generously opened hand. When travelers would pass by, there was always food ready for them. The head of the family said that it was a blessing for a country Jew to be able to provide for passers-by. After the Holocaust I saw one of the survivors of this family selling cigarettes.

Mr. Mattal, a farmer in Uhnow, was a righteous man. His brother, Dr. Mattal - a lawyer and an enlightened man - lived in the German side of Uhnow. (before the First World War). When he wanted to enter Uhnow itself, the Russians demanded passport and he refused to show it. This refusal brought him exile to Siberia. Rabbi A.I. Rokach hid him in his house, dressed him in Russian clothes and took a cart that rode him to Lemberg. On the way he caught pneumonia and died. His wife was forced to sell his belongings in order to buy food.

The town had a high standard of rabbinical knowledge.

Most Jews knew how to study Gmara with its supplements. Whoever knew it and knew how to study, sat and studied between minhah and maariv.

Many rose early in the morning and studied several hours before prayers. There were those who studied during the day as well as at night. So there were always people in the temple.

Leibish Hanner was called Leibisch Tamm. He was a bright pupil, had a knowledge of everything and was always studying.

Horoshowsky. the Fatalischer Melamed, taught the highest grade (l6-l7-year-old pupils). He was not an ordinary melamed, but taught everything. Everyone respected him. Whoever studied with him learned a lot. Israel Gartel, one of his pupils, who left Uhnow in 1920, remembers to this very day things that this melamed taught him.
The first place that the halutzim went to for agricultural training was Rabbi Shmelke Rokah's farm in the town of Ratshican. We were a group from Uhnow, from Belz, from Mosta Vilka and one halutz from Lashdov. I remember the fine conduct of the manager, Mr. Mattal. He would come to us every evening after work and talk to us about different problems. Generally, every member of the Mattal family was intelligent. We remember Nathan Mattal. Dr. Mattal, who had an agricultural farm in the village of Uhnow. All these good people were destroyed together with the people of Uhnow and the surrounding area.

Rabbi Yossef Lassar moved to Uhnow after marrying Miriam Liberman. He was a big and smart pupil. He Alter headed a yeshiva in Krakov.

Rabbi Hirschprung of Montreal says that never has been a wise pupil like him.
While in Uhnow he used to give Chumash lessons on Saturday to all who came to him.
Rabbi Baruch Zukerman, who was a son-in-law to Rabbi Meir Arick, lived his last days in Uhnow and was killed in the Holocaust He was an expert in everything.

The bad state of the Uhnow Jews was well put in Dr. Lekivitz’s saying; "The Uhnow Jew eats an orange when either one of them is rotting".

Because the Jews of Uhnow were particularly heavily taxed, they had difficulty making a living. For example, a small storeowner would be called a big merchant for tax evaluations. A small minority were part of the middle class, although most were less than that. There were also a few wealthy people living in the town.

Rabbi Aharon Genzer, who was poor and had a large family, made his living raising and selling geese. He also gave excellent explanations. After morning and evening services, while studying at the Beith Hamidrash, there was always a long line of students waiting to hear his explanations. At night he was something different. Whilst during the day he worried constantly about making a living, at night he looked like a king while studying. There were many more examples like him in town.

On Saturday there was the spiritual feeling of the Sabbath, when all worries and miseries were forgotten. On the Sabbath nobody knew who was a car-driver or anything else, because everyone walked wearing a "bakasha" and a "Shtreimel".
Rabbi Yaakov Adler was a baker. Sometimes he was seen, with a package; on his back, making his way through the town always in the middle of the night. Those who followed him saw him knocking on one of the apartment doors, and when this was opened, he brought in a bundle of heating wood and a sack with food.

The man knew that these tenants were poor and they did not have the means to warm the apartment in the bitter Galician winters.

On Thursday evenings he used to collect money from the local residents to divide amongst the needy for the Sabbath, despite the fact that he would work all night and all the next day in the bakery in order to bake the chales and prepare the chulent.
His wife, Breindel is worth noting. Despite her physical weakness, she would stay in the bakery by herself so that her husband could carry out his good deeds.
On Friday evenings the poor would go to the different homes to collect a bit of food for the Sabbath. Chava, Meir Yudenberg's wife didn't serve to her table unless she knew she had given to one of these families first. Then she would partake of her husband's chala.

The winter of 1935 was very difficult in Galicia. The economy was very severely hit and the Jews who lived there were very irritated. When it became clear that many Jews in Uhnow were unable to heat their homes or to buy food, some of the local Jews met in order to decide what to do. These were: Abraham Engelberg, Hirsch Cartner, Leibish Ziegel, and Feible Ortner. After a short session everybody decided to act as quickly as possible. Feible, who was taught a butcher's son - asked his pupil to bring from his father a horse and carriage. This way they went from house to house asking for donations - heating wood, in order to enable the needy to heat their houses. In a short while, they filled the carriage with wood and divided it amongst the needy.

This public response encouraged them to widen their activities. They put up a public kitchen where all who wanted could eat, for a few pennies.Again they went from house to house and asked for food for this purpose. When the kitchen doors opened and the needy came pouring in, they realized that the number of needy families was far greater than they had realized. Which meant that what they had would not be enough and it would be necessary to cook for this needy people. On the first day, Feibel’s fiancé offered to cook. After that other women cooked by turn. The men gathered all the food and the women cooked it.

The way a man wants to go - he goes. The people who did this were very successful, especially from unexpected directions. Suddenly there was this Jew whose daughter went to Lvuv because she was having difficulty having children. He gave these people one hundred zloties and said that if his daughter had a baby he would give them another hundred. Even a rich Jew, an estate owner, who was apart from his brothers and did not support them, turned to these people and said: "What do you want - wood, potatoes, wheat? From me you will get everything".

This continued until Passover Eve, all the needy receiving one-quarter bread and sometimes even meat.

These were the Jews of Uhnow. Whenever they were asked to give, they gave, even though they themselves had barely enough to live on.

During World War One, many became sick with the plague. Some of the town's Jews (Rabbi Aahron Kleinshpiz, Rabbi Abish Kleinshpiz, Rabbi Yaakov Adler, Rabbi Wolf Perlmuter - who was nicknamed the clockmaker (and Rabbi Akiva Rittal) went to visit them often and took care of them loyally. Even though it was a contagious disease, they were not afraid for themselves or their families, and indeed they were not affected.

Rabbi Ahron Kleinshpiz would wait to be among the last to leave the Beit Hamidrash in order to invite a guest to his house. When his son once told him that he was tired from a whole week’s work, he would answer that he would maybe find a rich visitor like David Poylisher Katzbach, because he would have more food. I have not got cognac or any other things that I cannot afford to buy. But when I see a visitor that a rich man did not invite, I do so because I too, have food. He won't leave my house hungry.

Rabbi Asriel Optak managed "Bikur Holim"
(according to Dov Ramon's articles and other people's stories)

The sick people was one of the town's worst problems. Needless to say there was no government or local medical facilities in the town. There wasn't even "Kupat Holim" of our days. Families with low incomes who had even one member sick were in a especially difficult position. Medicine cost money which they did not have. The patient needed treatment and constant attention which relatives could not give people who worked hard for a living gave under in such situations. How could they stay awake at night near the patien’s bed and leave early in the morning for work in order to bring food and support the family?

But the Jews, who always worried about others and took from their bread and gave to others, came together to try and find a solution to these problems with the slim means they had at their disposal. They did everything they could to support the needy.

For this purpose they founded "Bikur Holim"', whose name testifies as to what it did. The manager, secretary, gabai and the main activist in this organization was Rabbi Azriel Optak. He did most of the worrying. He would teach small children, and like all teachers in those days, he was a poor man.

In spite of his worrying for his family's living he spent every free moment treating the sick and taking care of their needs.

Here, too, he was very modest.

When he heard of a sick person, he would send a doctor over to his house. If it was in a family that could not pay the doctor's bill or for the medicine, he would take care of the payments. He would also purchase any apparatus that the sick would need. The money for this cause came from the member fees that he himself collected from the local Jews. He would also ask young boys to stay over at the sick people's houses in order to make things easier for the healthy members, who came under with fatigue from the treatment and their work as well. Every such boy agreed to do so, so that no sick person was left unattended because he had no money. On more than one occasion was he to be seen going from house to house trying to get all sorts of things for the sick people. Rabbi Azriel would also supply goat's milk to sick people who needed it.

There were also families, who volunteered to prepare meals consisting of meat for the needy, which the boys from the Beit Hamidrash would bring to the sick that Rabbi Azriel had given their addresses. This action was done by one man, without any publicity or noise.

Rabbi Yehezkiel Zeif, a wise and learned Jew, who was a teacher knew a lot about medicine and would go to sick people and help take care of them.

Hinda, the Doctor’s daughter, who also had a wide knowledge of medicine would go and help the sick.

Rabbi Shmuel Katz (the late) had told that his mother – although married and with children -- would sleep from time to time at one of these houses.

The Town's Doctors:

Dr. Zorovsky, a non-Jew, was a human man and good-hearted. During two days of the week, he would treat poor people without payment. He would visit sick people without considering what he would get in return. From those who could not afford it, he would take no money at all. For years he was never seen with an angry face.
Dr. Kibutz was the town doctor. He was a good doctor and a good Jew. He did a loyal and dedicated job. He was an introverted man and never interfered with the daily life of the town.

Thus every man cared for each other in deeds and not in words. Instead of speeches calling for the need to worry, the Jews pitched in physically to help, often over and above their capabilities. The feeling of togetherness was shown in every way, as if all were one big family.

WRITERS AND POET:

The poet Yaakov Shudrich.

The poet Yaakov Shudrich was born in Uhnow in 1905. He was the fifth poet who originated in this town. The first was Moshe Prizamant: a humorist and a real national poet.

The second - Mordechai Gotfried - who composed Hebrew poems and had a special style.

The third - Avigdor Spritzer, poet and playwright.

And finally - two Spritzer pupils.

Yaakov Shudrich's father was a furrier, who worked 15 hours a day and still didn't earn enough for his wife and children. His mother nursed rich people's children. Such honest and flawless people were a rare sight even in those days.

Uhnow was only 20 kms from Belz. Even the craftsmen who did not go to the Belz Rabbi made an effort for their children to learn Torah.

Yaakov Shudrich learned chomesh with Rashi and a little g'mara. He wrote Yiddish in the Jewish school that Avigdor Spritzer founded in the town. He was close to his teacher until he left town. In 1930 Shudrich went to Lemberg where he stayed till the day he died.

In Lemberg he developed as a poet and printed songs in different languages.
In 1937 he published his first book "The Earth Talks", that came out in 1953 in Argentina by Avigdor Spritzer's inheritants.

Pearl Spritzer (foreword to the book "The Earth Talks 1953)
Amidst the young Galician writers there is not one that had the difficult time that Yaakov Shudrich had, in his struggle for existence as well as his experiences to find a framework to express himself in his special way.

Short and withered, almost always with dry lips and almost always coughing and feverish - he burned for his songs and his ideas.

He was born to be a good lyrican, to sing the lonely dreaming song but life gave him a difficult time. He was born to live among fields, forests, mountains and rivers, but sat all his life in narrow and dark places, near dried skins.

Fighting and dreaming, everyday reality and imagination, that fought between them inside him attacked his body and prevented him from accomplishing perfection.
When he published a wonderful poem in the "Zushtayer"; "Bartan Hulian", he drew attention at once. He described nature and man, like one of nature's forces. He finished one great poem: "Der Bal Shem un Dabash". This poem was the most beautiful perfection that he had accomplished in his life. In it he succeeded in describing national motivation in a deep lyrical way. In it he pointed out the natural light in the Carpathian Mountains among them two tall mountains: The Ba'al Shem and the Dabash.

In spite of his suffering in life and the disappointments that he went through - until the last moment he did not lose his faith in mankind. In a letter written in the ghetto in a trembling weak hand, after the massacre the German gangs carried out against the Jews" he still believes that there will still be another future, ten times better".
He was weak, really sick all his life, but still dreamed of a real physical battle against the German murderers. He writes in that letter "All the time I dreamt of fighting together with the partisans somewhere in the woods. Even though I never carried a gun I would like to learn and was willing to do anything but unfortunately I wasn't lucky".

He tried to make his dream come true. In February 1943, Jewish youngsters organized, among them Shudrich, who bribed a Polish driver to take them out of the ghetto, to the woods, where they could join the partisans. But instead of taking them to the woods, he took them to the Gestapo, where they were killed.

Shudrich wrote little. And even from that bit not all of it remained. From his poem "Bartan Holian" only the content remained. His poem "Der Bal Shem Tov un Dabash" was completely lost. I mentioned "Bertran Holian" because she was a beautiful opening to the second poem and this went back to the beginning, which unfortunately was the end.

Shudrich was a poet, but could have been a famous one with the poem on the Polish Jews: their needs, dreams, and their tragic annihilation.

During the Russian conquest, the Jewish writers in Lvuv were a special department in the General Writers Association in Lvuv. The secretary was Yaakov Shudrich.
Yaakov Shudrich wrote songs on the Ukrainian robber Dobosh (according to the legend the Bast and Dabash were friends). In one letter that was saved Shudrich mentioned his spirit and his literary work in 1942.

I'm leaving these poems unsmoothed, raw, with no improvement or polish whatsoever. I see that the wiping out of my people is a fact. There will be at least a few songs to show that I existed and created, even though the "Haliph" is on my neck".

POET AVIGDOR SPRITZER
Avigdor Spritzer was born in Uhnow in 1898, studied in the "cheder" and in the Beit Hamidrash in Uhnow. After that he moved to Nemirov, Rava Ruska and Trambavlya, where he came face to face with general literature, Yiddish as well as new Hebrew. During World War I, he taught for a short in a school for invalids in Vienna.
His literary work began with writing songs. Afterwards he wrote anecdotes and then the poem "Job". After that he returned to Uhnow and managed the Jewish-Hebrew school. He also organized a theatre and was active in Zionist circles.

In 1926 he came to Argentina. At first he was a teacher at the IKKA SCHOOL in Mazevilly and then at the Jewish school in Buenos Aires. He wrote stories, songs and poems for children He also participated in the Jewish newspapers in Argentina and also in "De Yiddische Zeitung" and "De Presse", where for years he edited the children's corner. He also published "Ruth" and "Yiddisch Fiddele" - children stories. And "Der Goldener Fadim" which includes an interesting story He also published a chumash in the form of "Masselach fur Kindar".

ITZHAK ARIEH BERGER
Born 13.2.1907 in Uhnow and was a teacher. His songs were published in "The Cochav" (TR D), "Hasolel", "Davar", etc. He won a literary prize on behalf of the magazine Be Derech (Gnazim, 364)
Brenner published a book of songs in the year TRZD, in Lvuv, under the name "A Dying World".

In the foreword to this book Yaakov Natanel, writes:

Young, productive Galicia, where Hebrew is the sole and painful expression of the generation forms a new chapter for itself in our generation. This chapter writes down with great amount of work and sweat, form the day that a group of Hebrew writers from "Ha solel" drew up a line of "precisely so".

In spite of the cold of the Lvuv district, its running noses and Zionism, in spite of the "apparently" and "maybe not" of the houseowners, people making a break through to creativeness and understanding his sole, the reality of our lives in the years 1933-34, full of poison and loss and lately having their full, it is a killer and a source of revival. We, the Hebrew creators of the State believe this, with our hearts, because in the artistic expression of suffering, is a sign of things to come. In publishing new creations, we believe wholeheartedly there is condolence and good hope in this fact.

"A-Dying World" is an expression of freedom from distress. A generations cry for help is heard from inside.

We determine, therefore: the year-1934…

The place: Galicia and in a wider extent, Poland.
The situation - poverty.

And here we publish a Hebrew songbook. With our last pennies, from uneaten meals, and from unrepaired shoes. For bringing our souls together, waiting for the days of the Messiah.

Lvuv, Chanukah Eve, 1934

Only Once in my Life Only once in my life did I have a good summer,
Before I woke up, before I became a man,
Love, like an angry sea, filled my heart,
And in the early-morning fog quickly disappeared.
The summer filled me with a strange new feeling,
I saw before me wide gates opening up,
Walking in paths unknown to a young soul -
And my dream was quickly broken in a thick rainbow...
Now I knew: those days were filled with plenty.
But I threw them away and trampled with my feet.
I left my quiet apartment and poor parents,
And went in search of childhood dreams.
Now - every step, every word - destroyed.
With doubt I roam from defeat to defeat –

On the night of the fifteenth of Ab, when we start to study together, it is difficult to find a place to sit in the Beit Hamidrash and in the Kloiz. After the "ma'ariv", every man and his book, every man and his candle (we studied by candlelight since there was no electricity). The attendant Rabbi Be'erish, gave everyone a candle. It is a wonderful sight to see a whole town fulfilling the commandment "Vagatah Bah Yomam Valilah". Naturally not everyone kept up with their studies every night. Because a lot of them had other worries. Most of them barely made a living. There were those who needed help with their basic needs. Mainly food and "Sabbath needs" it was called. On Thursday nights, a pair of boys from the Belt Hamidrash, and also older people would go around collecting donations for this purpose, from among those who go regularly to the synagogue. They would go to everyone and say: It is needed for a Jew for Sabbath. And everyone would give according to his heart. They would use the break between Minha and Ma'ariv and collect the money. After the prayers they would bring the money to the needy and virtually at the last moment these would go and buy the flour and other products for the Sabbath. It was custom that everyone bakes his own bread and Chalah and other baking products. The women were usually up Thursday nights and prepared the above products for the whole week.

Friday afternoon both young and elderly men went to the bathhouse, to the sweathouse and the miqve (there were no bathtubs at home). In the early evening after the candles were lit, everyone went to "Kabalat Shabbat" in the synagogues, the men with their sons beside them. Everyone's faces shone with no worry in them. "When Shabbat comes, rest comes". I felt that a new breath was inside them.

THE IGNORANTS AMONG THEM

One phenomenon which was not like the Uhnow Jews is worth considering. A phenomenon that in our day is hard to understand. It is difficult not to see it as a negative trait, but to see a few sunrays corning from it. If we consider the life pattern of the East European Jews, before the Holocaust, without overdoing it, we cannot but touch on this phenomena. The Jews of Uhnow were religious and were close to the zealots. The synagogues were full every day. But there were those on whom Hazal said "They are empty when they should be full of deeds like a fruit." A few were. Even in communities like there were a few Jews who were not straight in their doing. And there were moral faults in them.

But when these faults are compared to the downfall we witness inside the people of Israel of our day, there is a difference in two directions. One - the quality of these faults. In murder, violence, etc., no Jew would turn to. Only a few Jews would steal. The second - those who steered a bit from the moral way, they had a certain set of values. They did not altogether shake off God's image. There were certain points that thanks of them were not completely cut off from Jewish society. Both sides knew the dividing line which even those who steared aside did not pass. Even he who steared from the road felt at some points - even though a little far out - that it hurt his deeds.

Even so society did not catch up these deviating Jews, A certain mutuality soared among them. Sometimes there was a certain paradox, that now seems ridiculous.
A story about a Jew who was known as a pickpocket who sometimes used to borrow from so and so certain products for the Sabbath promising that on Thursday when he would earn - on Market Day - he would repay his debt. He would add: you know that I don't steal from Jews. He kept his promise. He often went back on this deed.

Moreover. In the conclusion of his days, seeing he could not go on with his "work", he wanted to move to Lvuv where his son lived. But he did not have enough money to rent a room. Once between "minha" and "Maariv" he stood in the Beit Hamidrash door, he turned to its comers and said: "My fingers have grown thick and cannot do their days work. I want to go to Lemburg, but I have no money to rent a flat. I won't let you leave here until you collect sum I need".

Somehow, the money was collect, when all present gave as much as they could.
This kind of help to someone who, in our days, was a member of the "Underworld", will be better understood by another story, also connected with a Jew from Uhnow. The Rabbi from Uhnow was to marry off his daughter passed by Sarke the wife of the Rabbi of Canziga - the bride's sister - in Rava Ruska, while her hand was holding a leather suitcase and in it her dress and jewels for her sister's wedding. Suddenly a stranger passed by her, grabbed the suitcase, while the handle was left in her hand. She returned to Uhnow, hours before the wedding, with the bad news.

The rabbi's son was immediately consulted,. He knew a Hivniver Jew in Rava Ruska, who was close to the group of thieves their. This Jew traveled to him immediately and told him of a boy with a suitcase on his shoulder. The "agent" told the messenger from Hivniv that he will check if there is nothing missing because he has business with thieves... and of course nothing was missing... There are stories of how these Jewish fellows protected their brothers from violent thugs.

This doesn't teach about right, on some ugly deed, only describes reality.

Rabbi Abraham'le Shohat,

A great reader in every sense of the word who, with his soft and pleasant voice, would make his listeners' hearts tremble. Everyone could see that he was able to carry out his responsibilities as a public servant.

As the end drew near and he felt that he was weakening, he wanted to stop passing by the Reader's Desk. But a step like this he dared not ask without asking the Admor, the late Rabbi Isahar Dov from Belz. When he approached the Rabbi with his request, the latter answered that as long as his eyes were open and he even is forced to sit on a chair, he should continue praying before the pillar.

There were more synagogue readers of "Shaharit": for instance, Rabbi Yehoshua Shohat. And after he became a shohat in Lvov, Rabbi Yaakov Shohat (a shohat from Reisla) came in his stead. Jews whose free time was devoted to Torah and prayer every day of the year. As public servants on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur was in the sense of: "all my bones will talk". My friend Ziegel, whose father's residence was in Kloiz, near Rabbi Yehoshua Shohat, told me that even today when he is remembered in "Nishm Kol Chai" as Rabbi Yehoshua Shohat would say in his prayer alone, he would shake and feel cold to his bones.

All the prayer readers, without exception were righteous men, and were deemed fit for their holy mission. It should be mentioned that not one of them fulfilled this mission for any payment whatsoever. Not every one merited having this holy mission bestowed upon him. It was also a "Hezka" for the rest of one's life. And whoever was privileged to be a public servant

It is said that The above Abraham'le Shohat during his last days, on his sickbed, was saddened by the fact that he was prevented from being a public servant during "Kol Nidre" because of his weakness. As usual it was his work to pray: Kol Nidre, Mussaf and Ne'ila. In that year he only prayed mussaf and Ne'ila. Until the end he was sorry that he could not pray "Kol Nidre" as a public servant, as if he had been (Chas vahalila) unfaithful to his job. This goes to show the faithfulness that these people fulfilled their holy mission.

Yihe Zichram Baruch!

MY FAMILY HISITORY

Esther Reisner

My father the late Joseph Goldfarb or, as he was called by the townsfolk, Yossele "Leshnizivker" after the place we lived in, was born in Uhnow, which was near the Solikiah River. About 1 kilometer from the city was a railroad station. To get to it one had to cross two bridges. Near the bigger was a flourmill in a two-storey house. I would like to stress that in our town most of the houses were one-storey buildings, only the buildings which had the flourmill, courthouse and the post office were big and you could see them from a distance.

We lived not far from the railroad station in a place called "Lishnizivka" which was part of the Olikov farm and Magdalenka farm which belonged to a Polish gentleman named Skolimovski. My late father was foreman of these farms for a period of forty years.

This area was populated only by goyim. And we were the only Jewish family living in it. Our relationship with them and the Polish gentleman were good. They also honoured my parents. My late father had a very extensive knowledge: he knew Torah and Talmud and also mathematics. Very often people gathered at our house to learn or to ask advice. Also farmowners from the whole area would not buy or sell land or forests until my father would measure them. In spite of all his work he had time for everything. He did not neglect our education. He would check our homework every day and asked what we did during the day. He would also learn Gemara every day before going to bed.

My late mother, Leah, was born in Corneah near Rava Ruska. She was an intelligent woman who took part in everything whether happy or sad. There were also families who were provided with bread and other needs by my mother. Our house was always full of guests from every sector, including merchants, travelers and poor people. The house stood on a crossroad which led from several towns to the city and this was the reason why the house was always full of people.

My late parents were very religious people, followers of Belz. But they were also Zionists. Thanks to the education I received from them I came to Eretz Yisrael before World War II and did not change my viewpoints until today. It could be that the atmosphere at home affected me and as a result I love guests and friends.

In 1924 my late father finished working on the farm after forty years, having come of age to receive his pension. Then my parents decided that living among goyim was not worth it and we moved into town. My father joined the "Lina Zedek", which was an organization helping the sick there being no hospital in our city as well as no nurses. Only people would volunteer to go to a sick person and help him out.

My father was different from the other followers in that he was not anti-Zionist and permitted me to join the Zionist Movement, when the other youth were forced to do it secretly. This caused the unobservance of the precepts of the religion, when I managed to combine the two together (Religion and Zionism).

My father was one of the worshippers of the "Kloiz" where only the followers prayed. One of the towns people told me what happened. The followers wanted to oust from the "Kloiz" the boys who belonged to the Zionist movement and my father got up to protect them saying that this way will force them to become cut off from trying to implement the commandments. In order to strengthen them he would sit and give of his time to teach them Gemara. Because the Hassidim honoured and respected my father they stopped fighting those boys.

I would like to tell something of the happenings about the city and its people, although a lot can be told. But this I leave to other people who probably remember more than me and even the different events that took place. What I will tell you now I heard from my late mother. There were two events concerning miracles. The first: in our town there were fires very often, because most of the houses were made of wood. Most of the fires started when sparks flew up the chimneys. In one of the big fires, in which most of the townhouses were burned, a miracle took place: There lived a tailor, a religious and God-fearing man, who died a number of years before this fire. He was survived by a daughter. When the fire burned she was not at home, but when she noticed the fire she ran home and yelled that because of her holy father the house would be saved. While she was yelling, everyone thought she was mad. But a miracle happened and all the houses surrounding them were burned, while her house was left standing and was untouched by the fire.

A second miracle happened during World War I in 1914.

When the Russians conquered Galicia, they came to Lashnizoyka where we lived one and a half kilometers from Uhnow, where a great general from the Czarist family was killed (Nikolai Mickolouvitz). And why was it a miracle? Because it was a Caucasian company that if they captured the town they would have massacred the Jews as had happened in many other places, and in this manner we were saved from the murderers.

In the family we were one son and three daughters. The son died at the age of 24 leaving a daughter who is now in Israel and her name is ReiselTisehler. My eldest sister, the late Bluma, was married to the late Abraham Yaakov Neiman, who was a religious man and a zealot. They had four sons named Azriel, Pinchas-Zvi, Isaschar-Dov and Shmuel-Mordechai. My sister, the late Ella and her husband, the late Israel Zweig. had two children: a son named Moshe and a daughter named Rachel Sarah, after our dear grandmother from my mother's side. My brother-in-law was a farmer, and a good and kind man. They were all killed in the Holocaust that came on our people in World War I. They were killed by the damned Nazis without knowing when where and how it happened. There was no one left. May they rest in peace.
The daughter Esther Reisner nee Goldfarb.

IN MEMORY OF FRIENDS AND RELATIVES
Hava Shtahl (Tenne)

How difficult it is to write about you my dear Uhnow! How difficult it is to write down on paper all that is buried deep in the heart, to paint and to remember places and faces that don't exist and have departed from us.

It is necessary to go back 20-30 years in order to relive past memories, that will never, never come back.

I have felt the pain of your destruction our town and cried over the death of your pure Jews. My soul yearns when I remember you and the places where I was horn, and the same area where I grew up and the days of youth that I passed there. I will always remember you with pain and I will not forget you, because the pain of losing those dear ones that lived in you is too great.

When I start to write, I set all those Jews that lived in Uhnow, plain and pure Jews, folklore heroes (stories written by Peretz). Great Jewish scholars. And just simple Jews who went here and there all year round; that worried about making a livelihood. But there were all good Jews. I will remember all of them with pride and with pain.

How did the Jewish youth in Uhnow spend its time? There was no high school in our town, no trade school, no recreation places, there was even no electricity. Even so no one was ever bored, because we passed our time on the Book, There the youth found a meaning and a pleasure. It studied alone, by itself. It studied, read, picked, sought out solutions to painful questions and indefinite problems. But they lived rich internal and spiritual lives, which gave them a feeling of satisfaction and filled their world with happiness.

First I will sadly remember my dear parents: Aahron, Izhak and Pini whose deaths were so tragic.

My good father had a slightly crooked nose. When I was small my father told me - when I asked him about it - that once the goyim in Uhnow went out to hit the Jews. As usual the Jews were always run after, frightened and panicked and hid. My father was a strong man. He looked out through a crack and saw that a goy caught a Jew and was hitting him to death. My father could not resist, tore himself outside to help the Jew and was then hurt in his face. The next day, while in the hospital with the other wounded he found out that his nose was broken. Since then he had a scar. Years later I was very proud of this sign.

I will remember with grace my holy mother. She was a meek person and a loving woman. She suffered a lot because of her children. She wanted to give them everything, but could give them nothing. This did not prevent her from helping the needy.

Whoever needed a piece of meat whoever needed money and how she could just help as much as she could.

My brother-in-law was Leizer Hirsch. I will remember him lovingly and on the best side. He was an artisan by profession, and gentle in character. He always kept promises and was true to his word. If he promised to finish the furniture by a certain date, he would work all night in order to fulfil this promise. He was honest. He did not cheat in his work, nor forge. That is why his work was always the best.

I will remember my sister Molly, and their children who did not live and died so young: Their daughter Hanna, a fair woman, thin and delightful. Their son David and their daughters Monthshele, Leitshele and Sara.

With pain and sorrow I will cry over my brother Walwish Shtahl, with his young wife Mellah Cramer, who helped me a lot in arranging my life. And also kept "Kibud Av"
He helped our parents until the end. He started arranging his life and he finished it. May they rest in peace.

I will remember my Uncle Abraham Sofer, my mother's brother. poor, good-hearted, honest an excited zealot, a very profound believer, he was devoted to the Rabbi from Belz in every sense of the word.

It is difficult to write on my dear friend Brentshe Malca. Beautiful, clever, smart, talented, an open mind, a wonderful conversationist, a devoted friend and kind-hearted. How cozy and interesting it was to be in her presence, Her parents, Haim Udah and Mali, always welcomed us beautifully.

There was a street in Uhnow called Schul Gessel, because the synagogue stood there. I grew up on this street. A few steps from there lay the fields. And not far from there - the river. In this area I spent the most beautiful years of my life.

We had a neighhour "Der politischer Melamed". He was a wise scholar. He made his living being a melamed. I loved the melodies that came out of his house. I always went in because his daughters were my closest friends. All day he sat and studied with his pupils. In the evening he would go with them to the fields - in order to breathe some air. What an ideal atmosphere was in their house between him and his wife Eve.

I loved their daughter

Racthshele Horoshovsky, who was beautiful. She was full of life. More than once I went to her parents to recommend someone for her.

We had another neighbour across from us. The tailor "Walf Maneses". I was a household member by them, because his daughter was also my friend. Poor Surka was gentle and clever. who died in the peak of her life leaving two orphans to her husband Zisha, who so loved her and mourned her very much.

I cannot pass by BerI Kliegar, who because of his devotion to his mother, lost his life. Once he gave up his great love because he did not want to leave his old mother alone. And a second time gave up coming to Israel because he did not want to leave her. He was a well-mannered boy. He treated every one with the respect due to him. He was the one who pushed me into going to "hachshara". "Go and travel to Israel", he said. But he never got around to it.

Abraham Klughoipt grew up and lived together with me in the same house. He was like a brother, and I liked him. He was a poor orphan. He would pour out his heart to me. He was good-hearted but he was out of luck. He was not liked by his family, but he succeeded in being liked by his friends and close relations.

Haim Katz was a good friend of mine, a craftsman. His whole life he sat and worked. In the evening he sat with his books. In summer before going to work he would wake up, go to the field and read. Not once did we meet him there. Our discussions were very interesting.

Forgive me all those whom I did not mention. I will remember everyone in goodness and grace and will never forget anyone at all.
May they rest in peace!

I was amongst the rest of the Jews who were sent to work by the Juden Rat. My last working place had been a farm in the Uhnow district and I was there for 7 weeks. Within the framework of transferring Polish citizens from place to place and the confiscation of their property by the Germans there was a Pole from Pozan - together with his family from the Uhnow district, and this farm that had belonged in the past to a Jew, was given to this Pole.

In the beginning I worked in the fields, but after the Goya housemaid that had worked for this family, ran away, they put me in her place as a housemaid. In the frame of this work I was forced amongst the rest of the chores to feed and water the pigs. The boss was an easy-going man while his wife was a real anti-semite. When in November 1942 they were going to transfer all the Jews to a ghetto near Rava Ruska, it was plain that this order included me too, but then, one day while I was serving a meal, the housewife turned to me and said "It is a pity that you will be sent there too. You are so good". To this her husband questioned what could he done to help me and she answered that she would think about the matter and after a time she said "I have an idea that I think is possible" and then she asked me if I had money. "Money I haven't got" I replied "But I have a nice wardrobe". "If so, listen" she said "I had a sister and when she was still little, my father ran away with her and an their traces vanished. No one remembers her. I will go to the priest and get a birth certificate for her and for this I'll give him your wardrobe. This birth certificate I'll give to you and you can present yourself as my sister - as a Christian and so save your soul. It will be impossible to find out that you are not my sister because no one remembers her. Only in Uhnow could they catch on to this trick because you are known there, but there, no one will question this matter because my sister wasn't from Uhnow.

In the period that this family dwelt in the Uhnow district, a Polish woman stayed with them and she was arrested and jailed after she was caughtbuying food products out of her living district which was illegal in those days. She was released by a friend of my boss's wife when she asked him to help, and that is why she came to give thanks for the help she had received and before she left the farm she said to the house-wife "As thanks for your help, I'll always be ready in the future to re-pay you any favour when you need it and I'll always be ready to fulfil it".

Now, after getting the sister's birth certificate the house-wife turned to me and said "Go to this Polish woman and introduce yourself as my sister and my request is that she'll look after you." I immediately went to Poland to where she lived in Radosh (not far from Odbocheck - 6 kilometers before reaching Warsaw). Now it was obvious that from that minute onwards until the end of the war, I was to present myself as a gentile.

On the way, on the train I saw a man from our town and I am sure that he too was disguised as a gentile, and when I realized that he meant to speak to me, I signaled to him that I was not Jewish and that he didn't know me. The signal was understood and we traveled all the way as if we did not know each other.

When I arrived at this Polish woman's home in Radosh, she greeted me and gave me the job of housemaid. She lived with her old mother and the house was divided into two flats. One was rented to an engineer. She worked me very hard, but I did not complain for in exchange I had my life. I did any chore that there was to do and they had a goat that I tended. I used to feed her and walk her through the streets of town. By the amount of work I had, I did the work of several people and I felt it in my bones every night when I went to sleep. The daughter was quite a placid woman, but her mother was very hard-hearted. Once I was nearly turned over to the police because of her. It happened when her daughter was away buying food products. She had once given a piece of the collar of her fur coat to the gentile housemaid that had worked for her before me.

When she was asked for another piece she refused, so the housemaid stole a big piece, and the daughter did not say anything about it to her mother. Later the motherfound out that all the back of the coat was missing, so she pounced on me with shouting and yelling that I was responsible and all my denials were of no use. "What" she shouted "Angels took it" and wanted to go to the police. Nothing helped me to stop her from taking this step. I begged her to send a telegram to her daughter to come home so that she could hear the truth. When I saw her on her way to the police, I found all the courage within myself and I stopped her from leaving the house and to my luck she became hysterical. I gave her two ringing slaps on the face and ordered her to go straight to bed. Later I forced her to write a telegram to her daughter which I sent immediately, together with one from me. After a few days the daughter came home. I told her of the accusation her mother had made and although she knew I was in the right she still complained why I had hit her mother. In 1943 when Ghetto Warsaw was demolished I was still in Radosh. In one of my outings in the town I got hold of pieces of "Sidurim" and all sorts of books from synagogues and after making sure that no one was watching I hid them in a hole in a tree.

At that time the Germans insisted that everyone held a citizen-card. This was given when presenting a birth certificate. Mine, the daughter's and her mother's were sent to the right office, but to my bad luck, we received an answer after a while they were lost and that we should make new ones and because I didn't live in the place where I was born, I couldn't get one from the local priest - only my "Sister" from Uhnow could get one for me as she had done the first time. So we wrote to her and explained what we needed but a few weeks went by and no reply came, because she felt that she didn't have to help me anymore. This fact put me in grave danger and I cried at night about my bad luck. The daughter noticed my crying and she asked why. Having no choice, and after being there 5 months I had to tell her that I was Jewish. This meant that I endangered both her and her mother's lives and even though they were only doing me a favour, anyone who hid a Jew was executed. After that I told her that I would leave, but to my surprise she said that I could stay while she thought about some way to help me, because I had done her a big favour - during a thorough clean-up of her cellar I had found a ring that was the only momento she had from her dead fiancé, and she had lost it, but I think the real reason was that she realized that if I left she would need several people to do the work that I had been doing. When she asked if I had any money, I told her that I had 300 Zlottes, so she took the money and sent it with a letter to my "Sister" in Uhnow, saying that she thanked her for sending her "sister" who is a very good worker and that the money is for her to go to the priest and get a new birth certificate. In 8 days the reply and birth certificate came back. She was probably scared that if she didn't fix it the whole affair would blow-up and they would find out that she lied in the beginning.

Now, another problem was left. In that particular district it was forbidden to change address, only in Warsaw could you outfox this law, because in every building there was someone to register the inhabitants, and it was easy to put a new name in between the lines of the 1940 list. For this reason, the daughter took the last of my money and went to a girl friend in Warsaw and put me on the list of her building. And so, I was listed in Warsaw and lived in Radosh. In the meantime she taught me a few Christian prayers, in case of need, because when people suspected of being Jews were interrogated, they were asked if they knew any prayers. The fright that maybe someone would find out that I was Jewish ran after me like a shadow, and every movement or look from a stranger scared me. Once, while walking the goat I saw someone watching me with binoculars, and when I told the daughter about it and that I must leave, she laughed and said that they were only looking at me because I was pretty.

After a row and court case between the daughter and the engineer, as he was leaving he said "I haven't finished with you yet" and pointing at me added "I know that this one is registered in Warsaw". So for this reason I left and looked for a place in Warsaw, where because of its size, it was easier to keep out of the way of the law. Again she helped me and found me a place with a widowed acquaintance with a big flat, who needed a housemaid. I stayed there from 1943 to the Polish uprising. The conditions were good, I worked well and remembered my former employer and her kindness and used to send her packages of food. I was frightened nearly all the time and from this would get high temperatures, as much as 40 C, but I kept on working as if nothing happened, but eventually I began to spit blood. The widow's daughter helped me to go to a private Doctor friend.

They were frightened that they might catch it too, but after a while, with good care, I got better. To go to the Doctor, I traveled by bus for the first time previously everything I had needed was close by. Unknowingly I sat in a special seat reserved for high-ranking Germans, and everyone thought that I was a spy, so, after this I went only by foot - sometimes considerable distances.

After the failure of the Polish uprising, on the 5th day, the Germans came to the flat. We raised our hands and they evicted us, as with a lot of other people. When I wanted to get my coat, a German threatened to shoot me, but I didn't listen, took it, but he didn't shoot In this way they took 15,000 Poles to the market place and shot into the crowd and not till 12 o'clock did the order come to stop shooting. The widower and I were amongst the survivors. We were there for 5 days and nights and somehow managed to find enough food and water to stay alive. Once when I went to pull a carrot out of the ground, a Russian accosted me and only by telling him that I had a terrible disease could I get him to leave me. At night was the worst for the women. The Germans looked for them with torches. The widower told me to bundle myself up in my coat and then he sat on me, so that the Germans couldn't see me. This way I survived. Later he told me that I had shivered so much that he was frightened that I would give myself away.

After 5 days of this they finally marched us, in terrible heat, 5 kilometers. I was so exhausted that I couldn't carry even my overcoat and wanted to throw it away, but the engineer carried it for me, with his last bit of energy and said "Who knows, you may need it one day". They took us to a place where there were a lot of Polish bodies lying on the ground. The Germans had killed them in reprisal for the uprising. From there they loaded us on to trains (like the Jews that were sent to death) and transported us to Schlezia in Germany. At every station in Germany the train stopped and they unloaded 500 of us. I was put off at Mittelberg. Every day someone came from the employment bureau and took whom they needed, for all types of work. I was very lucky - I was with a group of 10 women who went to Olidsberg to work in a cloth factory. It was comparatively easy work and I stayed there until the liberation. There were 650 women in that camp. As a gentile, I went to church on Sundays. While the others were praying I could concentrate on my thoughts. Confessions were made collectively to the priest, but one-day I refused to go to the priest to take the holy bread. When the women asked me why not, I replied that I believed in G-d but didn't need a go-between. To one woman, I said that one day I should tell her more, and after the war I told her that I was Jewish, and that I hadn't wanted to laugh at what others took seriously. She was surprised, and complimented me on my stand.

In so many of the places that I moved as a gentile amongst the Poles I heard talks full of venom and hatred for the Jews. Even to the extent of partisans killing Jewish partisans, even though they were fighting the same enemy. Such were the feelings for the Jews.

The fact that my looks helped me to pose as a gentile and so escape the worst of the war were to cause me hurt afterwards. At the end of the war I worked for the Polish Red Cross and across the road was a Jewish refugee camp. I went there, and by the prayers knew it was Rosh Hashana. I entered and started crying, even though I thought that I had been well hardened by what I had been through. I said that I was Jewish and that I wanted to join in, but they told me to come back the next day. When I came back next day, there was a committee of 3 men waiting for me, because they hadn't believed me. It was only when I started to sing "Rachemna" did they believe me. Later on, they still didn't want me and said that every German knew a few prayers too, but finally when I remembered the prayers that my mother had taught my little brother for going to the Torah they finally believed me - that I was Jewish.

A few days after the war broke out (l2.9.39), I was called upon to join the Polish army. A lot of people were called up together with me, included two from Uhnow: Shlomo Fogel and Alter's son-in-law. The next day we arrived in Yaroslav with a train full of people who were recruited. When we got there, the Germans surrounded the train and imprisoned all the passengers who were still in civilian dress. These were grouped as Jews, Ukrainians, and Poles. This made me suspect that they intended killing the Jews, and I told my friend that we had better make a run for it. There was a river close by and I jumped into it. I swam over to the other side and entered the town, where I stayed the whole night. At the break of dawn, I continued to the next town. Because I was soaking wet, I changed clothes. I also ate.

I stayed there for two days, after which I hit the road going to Uhnow arriving the next day.

The same day the radio announced that the Russians crossed the border and started conquering Poland. This made the Jews very happy, because they saw the Russians as their saviours. During 18/9 - 20/9 the Russians advanced and came near the Uhnow area, the border which they and the Germans agreed upon after the Russian attack was Uhnow itself. In Styvia near the edge of town was Tartan (a treeless place) and near it a water station. This was powered by the river which passed near by. This river was used as a border. The edge of the town and the villages were left under German control, while the town and the villages south of it were under Russian control. There were those who succeeded in passing from the German side to the town itself under Russian control. Soon enough most of these were sent to Siberia, because the Russians suspected them of being spies. Among them were Dreisa and her husband Shlomo, his brother-in- law Copel and their families.

We were well cared for. Each one of us had two doctors to see what could be done to save our lives, and to determine the type of treatment. Because after a long fast the body is tired. Food could be dangerous.

The first day we were given a teaspoon of warm water three times a day. The second day - 50 grams a day. Only on the third day were we allowed a bit of food - 10 g' of crumbs boiled in 50 grams of water. This continues for 10 days. Only then were we allowed 10 grams of butter. This continued for a month. Then we were again sent to the front.

In September, 1942, against the wall of death. During the war I always knew the dates of the holidays. During this period there were no longer Uhnow Jews with me. These days 10 people were selected (I among them) to the front line behind Stalingrad. On September 13, I knew it was Yom Kippur. In the middle of the day I was out of the position walked away about 50 steps. There I saw a canal, entered it and started praying what I remembered. In the middle I forgot myself and started praying fervently crying. Suddenly I saw myself surrounded by 4 Russian soldiers with their weapons ready. They ordered me to raise my hands and the commander said I was a spy and signaling to a hater. They brought me to a house, which was a tribunal. The commander-judge said I came out of my position walked about 100 meters and there I made weird noises because I am suspected of being a spy. When the high commander looked at me and asked if I was a spy. I answered "If we fought against the Americans or the English it would be in place to say I am a spy but now we are fighting against a common enemy - the Germans - who murdered my family, I will be a spy?"

"What did you do", he asked. I answered that today is Yom Kippur. In our town religion is important to all of us. That is why I went to pray. I cried because I remembered what happened to my children. I abandoned my position. For this I need a death sentence but don't sentence me as a spy.

The commander said: "I am in the army for 25 years. I always had trouble with Jews on this day".

Afterwards he asked: "Did you-eat today" And I answered "No."

He turned to the others present and said "Look at the stubborn Jew. He stands at the front line facing death and still holds his nonsense and continued". Because he is a Polish citizen and still doesn't know our laws we won't punish him with death, but he will stand on his feet for 12 days with a glass of water and 100 grams of bread a day (it was considered severe punishment difficult to stand by it).

My unit commander was Ukrainian and an anti-semite. He always waited for the moment that he could get rid of me. But now he befell me and kissed me and said. "Only one in a million could be saved from this trial, because no one gets out alive, whereas you stood bravely up for yourself. You will never be hurt and will always be saved. You are a good fighter". He told these things to the soldiers around him. These heard his words, came very often and brought me food those 12 days. The punishment became a vital act.

In November 1942, a bridge was needed. A few people were needed to travel 40 kms to a certain railroad station, and take trees from there for this purpose. For this purpose 12 people (including me) were chosen. After loading the trees on the car and we were on the way back, the car landed on a mine. The results were terrible: all the other 11 people were shattered to apply to Poland to get a citizen certificate, but because in those days Uhnow was under Russian rule, I had to write to Lublin and Tomashov, and get a confirmation from one of these cities. So I did, I got an answer from Lublin that I lost my citizenship because I did not return till 1941, which was against the law. From Tomashov they answered that because Uhnow was in the Russian zone, I had to go there for confirmation. But since Uhnow was near the border I needed a license. When I arrived at the Interior Ministry to get it, I was sent to the police, who said that I was wanted as a suspect. Finally I received the license and arrived in Uhnow. When I came to the officer who gave the confirmation, I was told that there were no papers and I had to bring witnesses to confirm my citizenship. I brought three goyim who knew me and confirmed that I lived in Uhnow before 1.9.39 but the secretary, a Ukrainian anti-semite refused to sign. She said it was no proof as to my Polish citizenship. "The Jews did not have any Polish citizenship" she said. I asked "the Ukrainians had and we Jews did not? You attended the elections because you had Polish citizenship. The same thing goes for the Jews." Still she refused and suggested I go to Belz, where there was a man who could sign the permission. I traveled to him, but he said I had to turn to the whip. It was clear that this was a long procedure, but my matter was most important, and there was a short time left until the deadline. I returned to Uhnow and asked the other clerk who wanted to give me the certificate - to advise me. He advised me to take three witnesses who lived in Uhnow until 1.9.39, to travel with them to Rava Ruska to a lawyer, who will confirm that I had Polish citizenship. I did as he told me. It was the eve of Yom Kippur. I took three goyim who knew me and promised to pay the losses they would endure from their work and we were on our way early next morning, in a pouring rain. Upon our arrival in Rava Ruska, we found a notice that the notary was on a two-week holiday.

They agreed to travel with me to Zolkva, but there we found a similar notice.
Therefore, we traveled to Lemberg. The notary's wife was Jewish. The clerk who received the public also looked Jewish. Seeing I was a cripple, he filled in all the necessary documents by himself, took down the testimony of the three witnesses. They testified that they worked with me (I was their foreman), they knew my whole family and they knew that we lived in Uhnow until 1.9.39. He brought me a confirmation that I am a Polish citizen. After paying the witnesses I sent them back to Uhnow and I stayed in Lvuv for Yom Kippur, a place where there were Jews. After Yom Kippur I went back to Uhnow with the notary's confirmation. But the same secretary persisted in not giving me the confirmation, saying "Even if they take me off the job I will not give you the confirmation", saying that my purpose was to go to Israel. She very cunningly tried to take back the confirmation that I lived in Uhnow, but without success.

Having no choice, I returned to Russia. I came to the Captain of the local militia and asked for permission to leave basing myself on the notary'sconfirmation. I was asked how he gave me such a confirmation. "What does it matter. I received it and here it is", I answered. But they refused to give me permission. I went to the Polish Consul and after I told him all that happened, he gave me a screen and on it the agreement stating that all who lived in Poland on 1.9.39, even though he did not have Polish citizenship was entitled to return to Poland. With this document I turned to the Minister of the Interior, who gives the exit permit (the police gives the passport) where they tried making difficulties: "where is the citizenship paper? Why did you wait until today?" In the end they phoned the militia and told me to come three days later. When I came they denied calling the militia and making the date. In the end he agreed but ordered me to bring all sorts of certificates in fifteen days time. Even though I was prevented from arranging all of them in one day, I managed to get them all, except one. The clerk promised me that they would arrange it by themselves. It was a short time before the final date. But the receipt of the certificate was delayed, whereas the last date for leaving was in three months, the beginning of March. When I came to them and asked why I had not yet received the certificate the Captain answered: "won't travel anyway". I answered: "If so, give me a negative answer. But I want an answer.

After he managed to make more difficulties, I got my answer on March 15, that on March 24 we have to leave Kiev to cross the border on the 31st. In the few days we had left I had to buy and sell all I could to have the necessary money according to law, to arrange all the necessary formalities. Fortunately I managed to arrange everything in a few days, even though these arrangements usually took a few months. In the meantime the militiaman tried to convince me not to leave such a good country. At last we managed to leave Russia at the last minute.

In Poland we stayed five years until we managed to leave illegally, because my wife and children had Russian citizenship and you certainly could not approach the Russian Consul in those days in order to get a permit to come to Israel.

My name is Leibisch after my grand father, who, because he was blind in one eye, was known as "The Blind Leibisch". Elders who knew him said, that he was a G-d fearing Jew. He was rich and left a house for every son when he died.

His son Meir, who was richer still and rented many fields, died at the end of World War I, before he was 60. His son - my father - was: Shalom.

In 1939, shortly after the Russians entered Uhnow they recruited boys - including myself - aged 7-17. I was recruited into the Russian army. In 1941 war broke out in Russia. I was wounded while in a field near Salinsky, in White Russia (in my hand). I fell and lay in the mud while blood was running from me. When I told my commander, an Odessa Jew by the name of Lieberman that I was wounded, I received no answer. I lay until an orderly came, cut a branch and bandaged me up. After that I was taken to a field hospital, where I was operated on. But the cast he put on was too tight. From there I went by train to Kassen deep in Russia. Suddenly I saw ants coming out of the arm and I panicked. When the doctor came, they opened the cast and operated on again. I was in great pain. Then I was taken even deeper into Siberia, because the German planes flew into Russia very deeply. There I was hospitalized and received good treatment. Because I spoke Russian with a Polish accent, I didn't look Jewish. 90% of the staff, including the doctors, were Jewish. There were also two Jewish women among the doctors. It was quite plain although they never admitted that fact. They took an interest in me and tried to keep me in the hospital as long as possible, because from there it was back to the front. Because of the growing number of wounded, I had to leave.

Suddenly I was told to come to the office. I was frightened because this meant bad news. When I entered I found a Politruk and a number of clerks. They said: Friend Be'er, we know you are a Polish Jew and you are not familiar here. Because of this we give you several hundred rubles so that you can make a start here. I was given two pairs of underwear and enough food for two days. After that they called in a Russian Jew and told him: On the train take care that this man is not robbed, and he did. After travelling a few thousand kilometers we arrived in Tashkent. When I looked for work, I was asked about my trade. When I said I had none, they asked what I wanted. I answered I wanted to work in a library and they agreed. I had to look over the newspapers, cut out every article on what Stalin said, and put it into the archives. My salary was small.

Once a Jew from Lublin came in and asked me why I was here. I wondered how to back out and wrote a request, which was accepted. I was called and asked what I wanted to do. I answered that I wanted another job because I could not sit all day. I was released. I went to the market where I bought and sold rags, for quite a while. When roaming the market I saw a crippled Jew with no legs (on crutches). He called me and I came to him and asked me if I was a Jew. When I answered yes, he said he could give me a job-selling matches. I took a bag of rags, so that people would not sense otherwise. When I had a lot of rubles in my hands, I opened my eyes. Once I saw an old Moslem on a donkey. Because we did not understand the other's language, we spoke with our fingers. Meanwhile a policeman sensed the matches, arrested me and took me to the prison office. there they checked even my shoelaces. Then they put me in a very small cell which was very hot. When my superior wanted a very good pair of shoes I had, I asked what I will have. The answer was a blow which knocked me out. When I came to, I had no shoes. When I complained I was told, "What do you want. You are in prison. An honest man does not sit in prison". Which meant I had it coming. One day I was told there was a parcel for me at the house where I was living. One neighbour was a Jewish woman. Sometimes she would give me some tea, which helped a lot. When she saw I was not home she looked for me until she found me in prison. She saved and sent me a parcel, half of which the guard ate, but what was left of it helped me very much.

One morning one of the big officers came and asked me why I was arrested. He was Ukrainian and I spoke to him in Ukrainian. Upon leaving, he ordered me released without trial, which also took two weeks.

When I was released, I couldn't walk, and I was carried to this woman. She gave me food, water to take a bath, and a stick to walk with. I had a friend who worked in a hospital. I asked him to help get me to a hospital to recuperate and he promised to do something. I called a doctor who checked me and told me to enter a hospital where I started eating. When I could stand on my feet I left and started dealing in business. One day I did not feel good, I went to the kiosk, drank hot water and fainted. I was taken to a clinic and told I had typhus. When I arrived at the hospital there was no place. There I saw a woman from Galicia whom I knew.

When I told her what the problem was, she took me to another hospital but there too it was full. When the nurse came, I took a chance and pushed my way in. When a doctor passed me and asked in Yiddish what was wrong and I answered, he said he would see what can be done, Then a door opened and a body was taken out. The doctor told me to lie where the dead person lay. I went to wash myself and my money with me. After a day the danger passed, because I was ill even before I got to the hospital. I had to eat a lot but there was hardly any food to be had. Beside me lay a Jew whose wife always brought him food, which he could not eat. When he fell asleep I would eat it. I was there until released, and I went back into business without being caught.

When the truce was signed, I went to the police and asked to be allowed to go home. Because I was an invalid, I was given permission and went to Lemberg - where I met Jews who came out of the bunkers. At night they were afraid to come because there were Ukrainians who attacked Communists and the Jews were suspected of it. There were a lot of Jewish victims. I asked to go to Poland, being a Polish citizen. After a great many difficulties, I arrived in Krakow.

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