The Great Synagogue – front The Great Synagogue – Eastern Wall, and the Old Jewish Cemetery site History of the editors of the Bulletins of the American Piotrków Survivors: Bulletin: Roman Mogilanski (1966-1981) New Bulletin: Ben Giladi (1982-1996) Henry Schafer (1998-2001) The Voice: Ben Giladi (1996-2004) Voices: Ben Giladi (2004-2012) Hedim/Voice: Netanel Yechieli (2013-2014) Dr. Dina Feldman (2015) Contact: [email protected] Committee of the Piotrków Trybunalski Association Irving Gomolin, President Alex Rosenblum, Treasurer Robert Dessau Richard Gomolinski Stephen Jacobs Harry Krakowski David Rapaport Joseph Rosenblum Alan Silberstein Contact: info@Piotrkówassociation.org Tri lingual Web: Piotrków-jc.com Web's management: Igal Shapira and Dr. Dina Feldman Contact: Dina: [email protected] Facebook Group – Jewish Piotrków: https://www.facebook.com/groups/739605566143637/ Cover Design & Layout: Dalit Rahamim Porduction: Orion Publishing House Translation of the Hebrew articles: Dr. Miriam Shahak Content 4 Irving Gomolin | President Article In Memory 6 Naphtali Lau – Lavie | of Blessed Memory First Generation 8 Moshe Brem | "I Want to Be Free" – a Child in the Ghetto 14 Jakób Kurtz | The Ghetto's Gardner 16 Ken Waltzer | [The Return of Piotrkówers to] Schlieben: the Forgotten Concentration Camp 21 A Letter from David Cameron to Ben Helfgott 22 Moshe Dagan | An Holocaust Witness: "I have won!" Once Upon a Time 26 Hot Balloon in Piotrków Governorate 28 Daniel The Bandits' Leader 30 Daniel Warzocha | A Polish Historian from Piotrków 31 Zigmond Tenenbaum | Street Art in Piotrków Tombs' Tales 32 Dina Feldman and Justyna Scieglinska | A brothers' tomb in the Piotrków Jewish Cemetery Second and Third Generations 34 Adi Wolfson | "The Third One" 38 Avi and Dov Nutkewitz | Split Image - A roots' trip to Piotrków, July 2015 Book Review 42 Krysia Plochocki (Ejchner) | "I Was There", Book Review In the Honor of 45 Juda and Fela (nee: Katz) Rosenblum The Organization 46 Annual Hazkarah 47 Second Generation Membership Notice Polish 48 Dov i Avi Nutkiewicz | "Rozpołowione" zdjęcie Wrażenia z wyprawy do Piotrkówa, lipiec 2015 52 Jakób Kurtz | "Boże, zmiłuj się!.." 53 Shabaton 2016 is Underway 4 || The Voice President Article Dear Friends, The Piotrków Trybunalski Association (PTA), New York, USA and the lanzmanschaft in Israel are pleased to provide you with the third annual multilingual issue of Hedim/The Voice. This periodical represents our collaborative efforts: to provide a multilingual publication accessible to a worldwide and ;״Hedim״ readership of the original Israeli publication The״ to continue the legacy of Ben Giladi z’l who published .and whose life work centered on commemoration of Jewish life in Piotrków ״Voice In the last 8 years there has been renewed activity among survivors and descendants of Piotrków around the world and especially in Israel and the New York area. Details of many of our activities were summarized in the 5775 issue. In the last year the committee in Israel has become better organized and collaborates closely with the Diaspora group as we engage in ambitious projects including: 1. Maintenance and repair of the cemetery; 2. Cemetery signage to explain to visitors the significance of the various graves and cemetery sites; 3. Construction of a memorial on the site where our families gathered (Umshlagplatz) before transport to Treblinka; 4. Enhancing in the Great Shul the historical display of life until the war; 5. Raising funds to provide English and Hebrew translation to the book published in Polish in 2014 on the life of Piotrków Jews in the ghetto by Dr. Dina Feldman and Anna Rzedowska. All these efforts are meant to memorialize and commemorate our heritage. This way when any Jew travels to Poland our city will be an important place for them to visit and learn about our history. Our group in the greater New York region is small but fortunate to have close cooperation and common goals with the Israeli leadership. I am especially grateful for my friendship with Dr. Dina Feldman and many others for sharing in this common The Voice || 5 goal. I would also like to thank our friends in Piotrków for all the collaboration provided on an ongoing basis. We have been fortunate to have received a matching funds grant from the Claims Conference to allow publication of this issue of Hedim, and to support the development of the trilingual website: www.Piotrków-jc.com. However, in order to maintain our mission we also appeal to you to volunteer your time and to contribute to the Israeli Society or to our charitable tax exempt association in the USA. For further information on our activities please send us your contact information including your email address. Further inquiries may also be directed to our email address. B’vracha l’ Shana Tova Ervin Irving Gomolin (Gomolinski) Piotrków Trybunalski Association, New York, USA info@Piotrkówassociation.org From right to left: Irving Gomolin, Beata Dessau, Anna Rzedowska, Robert Dessau, NYC, July 2015 6 || The Voice In Memory of Naphtali Lau-Lavie – of blessed memory Naphtali Lau-Lavie – diplomat, reporter, an Israeli public figure and honorary citizen of Jerusalem for 2003 – passed away 6 December 2014. He was born in Kraków in 1926 to Haya and Rabbi Moshe Haim Lau, who was the last Chief Rabbi in Piotrków Trybunalski (1935 – 1942). He stayed at the Piotrków ghetto during World War II and was transported to Auschwitz with a group of non-Jews, but escaped and returned to Piotrków. His father and brother Shmuel – Isaac, along with most of the Jewish community of Piotrków, were transported at the end of October 1942 to Treblinka, where they perished. His motherHaya, Naphtali and his brother Yisrael-Meir – four years old, remained in the Hortenzia glass factory. Two years later, in November 1944, his mother was taken to Ravensbrück, where she perished. The Voice || 7 The brothers were taken to a forced labor camp in Częstochowa, and from there to Buchenwald. Saving his younger brother so courageously has been depicted in various documentary movies, articles and books. Lau made Aliya to Israel and lived many years in Ramat Gan. He was a reporter with the Ha'aretz newspaper (1956 – 1970). After Moshe Dayan was appointed Minister of Defense, Lau was chosen by him to become his spokesperson. Lau moved with Dayan to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and took part in the Camp David American-Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks. In 1981, Lavie was nominated Israeli Consul in New York, and in 1985 – as CEO of the United Jewish Agency in Israel. Lau lived his last years in Jerusalem, in which he served as deputy chair of ILAR – the World Jewish Organization that handles restitution of lost Jewish property during the Holocaust. He had lectured at conferences and different forums about the Holocaust. Lau co-edited, with Jakób Malz the memorial book of Piotrków Trybunalski and its vicinity, published in 1965. His personal biography, in Hebrew, entitled, "A People that Riseth up as a Lioness…" was published in 1993 and in English - entitled: "Balaam's Prophecy" - in 2015. In 2006, his eldest son, Dr. Rabbi Benni Lau published in Hebrew a Book of Honor at his father's 80th birthday - entitled: "A Nation Alone: Homeland and Diaspora." Lau, of blessed memory, was married to Joan (née Lunzer). They have four children: Benni, Shay, Haya and Amichai, grandchildren and great grandchildren in abundance. Lau – Lavie's book 8 || The Voice First Generation Moshe Brem: "I Want to Be Free"1 A Child in Ghetto Piotrków Marek with his father Jakób and with his mother Hella2 Before the War The first two years of my life passed in utter bliss and wealth in the harmonious, calm and most fulfilling life of the Brem3 and Gomolinski4 families. Both families owned businesses, houses and assets in the city and outside, that enabled many 1. The article is based on memoirs that Moshe Brem told his wife Aliza, in Haifa, during 2007. The article was prepared by Dr. Dina Feldman in 2015. It is dedicated to the off springs of the Brem and Gomolinski families - those that perished in the Holocaust and those that survived it. 2. The pictures are from the Moshe Brem's collection 3. The family lived on 14 Rawenska St., where we lived until our deportation in 1944. 4. The family lived on 21 Piłsudski Str. The Voice || 9 Polish and Jewish families to make a decent living. The Brems had haute couture sewing and tailoring workshops and shops. The Gomolinskis were in the meat business. Both families were highly respected in the Jewish community of Piotrków, where they had been living for many generations, for their decency, generosity and professionalismThe invasion. The invasion Towards the German invasion in September 1939, my father was re-enlisted to the Polish army. From then on, throughout the War years and until I made Aliya to Israel, with my mother, in 1947, I did not see my father. As the W ar progressed we were informed that my father had been taken as POW by the Russian Army that invaded Poland from the East. Immediately upon their military occupation, the Germans raided and looted everything, including my grandpas' businesses. But soon the Brem's business was recognized as "essential for the War effort" by the German officers (and their wives) for which the Brem business tailored elite suits and coats. We had 'Work permits' which assisted us in our daily survival and ensured immunity from deportations and liquidations. Those days, city residents and refugees were all transferred and packed in apartments within the Ghetto. This included my grandparents' house in which my mother and I, as a special privilege, were allowed to live together with the rest of the family.