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AWAKENING LIVES Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland Before the Holocaust

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AWAKENING LIVES Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland Before the Holocaust ~ ~......;::---~~.......... _. --... ~~ !;'?')/~~ First page of"! Do Not Want to Die!: My Skeletal Autobiography for the YIVO Contest," 1934 . ... AWAKENING LIVES Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland before the Holocaust edited by Jeffrey Shandler with an introduction by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Marcus Moseley, and Michael Stanislawski Published in cooperation with The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Yale University Press New Haven and London ................................... EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Lucjan Dobroszycki, 7"T Jan Gross Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Marcus Moseley, chair Samuel Norich Jeffrey Shandler Michael Stanislawski Marek Web Rachel Wizner This project was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a11 independent federal agency. Major funding was also provided by the Smart Family Foundation and the Sol and Lillian Goldman Foundation. Additional contributions were received from Roger S. and Julie Baskes; Walter and Esther Hautzig, in honor of Ron and Nancy Kraus; the Jewish Theological Seminary ofAmerica, in honor of Fanya Heller; and Lawrence and Helaine Newman. YIVO is grateful to all donors whose generous support has made the publication of this volume possible. Copyright © 2002 The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by Adam Freudenheim Set by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Awakening lives: autobiographies of Jewish youth in Poland before the Holocaust I edited by Jeffrey Shandler; with an introduction by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Marcus Moseley, and Michael Stanislawski. p. cm. "Published in cooperation with The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research". ISBN 0-300-09277-6 1. Jews-Poland-Biography. 2. Jewish youth-Poland-Biography. 3. Poland-Biography. I. Title: Autobiographies of Jewish youth in Poland before the Holocaust. IL Shandler, Jeffrey. DS135.P63 A1238 2002 920'.0092995033288' 0835--dc21 2002002660 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 10987654321 CONTENTS Acknowledgments ............................................................................................... viii Introduction XI Editor's note xliii 1914-1939: A chronology xlv Map of Interwar Poland Iii ~he v411tobiogrnpltics I. S. Etonis. Invasions during the World War. Traditional kheyder vs. progressive shule. Mother's death. Smuggling goods at the Russian border. Yeshiva. Homesickness. Studying musar. A heretical friend. Reading forbidden literature. Self-education for gymnasium. Work as a teacher. .......................................................................................................... 3 2. Khane. Feuding parents. Divorce. Homeless wandering. Life in an abandoned fortress. Feuding sisters. A mother's beating. Work in a bindery. Learning to read. Illegal political activism. Stealing across the border. Working in Vilna. Mother's death. .............................................................. 20 3. A. Greyno. A poor family. Learning to read from Father. Move to a city. Failed business ventures. Sexual awakening. Learning to sew. An anti-Semitic landlord. A murdered child? A special friend. Trade unionism. A revolutionary meeting on Yorn Kippur. Esperanto. Political trials. Becoming a librarian. Arrest, torture and prison. Jean Christopl1e. ........................... 51 Vl Contents 4. Henekh. Father's death. Yeshivas in Grodno and Radun. Corruption in yeshiva. Discovering secular literature. An unsuccessful love affair. Arson. Trapped in marriage to a rabbi's daughter. Contemplating suicide ......... n3 5. Forget-me-not. Parental squabbles. A Jewish public school. Desecrating the Sabbath. Mother's early death. Joining an illegal political party. Life in a day orphanage. Chronic illness and a TOZ sanatorium. Working in a pharmacy. A dwindling family. Political disillusionment. Trade union activism. ........................................................................................................ 123 6. Ludwik Stockel. The Russians attack. Saved by a nursemaid. Life on a rural estate. The local Polish public school. Gymnasium in Czortk6w. Writing poetry. Summer romance. A school trip. A bicycle race. Unrequited love. A socialist and a Zionist. Law school in Lw6w. Anti-Semitic violence. ....... 141 7. Hanzi. A pious mother, an intellectual father. Living with Grandmother. A religious upbringing. A rare eye disease. Blessing from the Hafetz Hayyim. Tarbut gymnasium in Vilna. Stealing books. A member of Betar. A leg infection. A nurse from Siberia. A Zionist hero. ........................................ 197 8. The Stormer. Kheyder. Father's death. Moving to l.6dz. Public school. Yeshiva. Sex among yeshiva students. Political awakening. A revolutionary cell. Factory work. Gordonia. Illegal emigration to Palestine. Life on the road. Stealing across the border. Capture and imprisonment. Return home .............................................................................................................. 226 9. G. S. Life on a rural estate. Public school. Betar. Attending commercial school. Relations between Poles and Jews. Life on hakhsharah. Failed aspirations. Work as a governess. ................................................................ 263 10. EM.TEPA. An intellectual proletarian father. Mother's mental illness. Kheyder vs. public school. Studying the violin. Gymnasium. Work as a musician. Economic woes. ........................................................................... 275 11. G. W. A shoemaker's son. Life in a small town. Kheyder. The family moves. Illness and recovery. Public school. A tailor's apprentice. Bundist youth movements. Normal family life. .................................................................. 296 12. Esther. A hasidic family. Beys Yaakov school and Polish public school. Polish patriotism. Membership in Bnos Agudas Yisroel. A secret reader. Running a Con rents vii Beys Yaakov school. A forbidden friendship. Provincial anti-Semitism. Discovering socialism. .................................................................................. 321 J3 . J. Harefuler. Inferiority complexes. Klieyder and progressive Jewish elementary school. Mother's death. Stepmother. Work as a shoemaker. A frustrated actor's death. Communism. Camping trips. The Joint Distribution Committee. A Jewish citiun in Poland. ............................... 344 14. Eter. A rabbi's daughter. Polish elementary school. A community feud. The commercial gymnasium. Work as a tutor. Self-education. Zionist politics. A poem by Julian Tuwim ............................................................... 380 15. Yudl. A poor family. Delivering milk. Public school Street life. Shady dealings in a dye facto ry. A bootmaker's apprentice. A trip to t.6dt Betar, then the Bu.nd. Leading a successful strike. ................................................ 391 Epilogue .... .......................................................................... ... ... .. ... ... ..... .............. 404 Endnotes .............. ............. .................. ... .......................................... ... .... .. ... ... ... .. 406 Appendix I: Personalities ................................................................................... 423 Appendix II: Organizations ............................................................................... 430 Glossary ............................... ...... ......... ...... ......... ................................................... 434 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The history of YIVO's youth autobiographies project extends over much of the institute's history. The realization of this volume is indebted to the efforts of many individuals, united by their commitment to see that these unique documents of Polish Jewish life become available to a wide audience. YIVO's plans to publish selected texts from the youth autobiography con­ tests date back to the prewar years. As director of the Yugntforshung reseach project, Max Weinreich intended the publication of these autobiographies to supplement the scholarly material that the project generated, such as his own methodological study of 1935, Der veg tsu undzer yugnt. These plans came to an end with the destruction ofYIVO's headquarters in Vilna during World War IL After the war, some of the autobiographies and other Yugntforshung materials were recovered by YIVO, now headquartered in New York. There, work on the youth autobiographies project was undertaken by sociologist Moshe Kligsberg. Under a grant received from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Kligsberg compiled an index of the collec­ tion and drafted summaries of about half of the autobiographies in YIVO's possession. These provided a key to the collection for other scholars, and they also formed the basis of Kligsberg's own studies of the material. In 1990 YIVO initiated a plan to prepare an English-language anthology of these autobiographies. The project, designed by literary scholar Marcus Moseley, was awarded a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. An interdisciplinary group of scholars of Eastern European Jewry was convened to serve as the project's editoral committee. The initial
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