1 M. B. Kupershteyn TOWN OF BAR: Jewish Pages Through The Prism Of Time Vinnytsia-2019 2 The publication was carried out with the financial support of the Charity Fund " Christians for Israel-Ukraine” K 92 M. B. Kupershteyn Town of Bar: Jewish Pages Through The Prism Of Time. - Vinnytsia: LLC "Nilan-LTD", 2019 - 344 pages. This book tells about the town of Bar, namely the life of the Jewish population through the prism of historical events. When writing this book archival, historical, memoir, public materials, historical and ethnographic dictionaries, reference books, works of historians, local historians, as well as memories and stories of direct participants, living witnesses of history, photos from the album "Old Bar" and from other sources were used. The book is devoted to the Jewish people of Bar, the history of contacts between ethnic groups, which were imprinted in the people's memory and monuments of material culture, will be of interest to both professionals and a wide range of readers who are not indifferent to the history of the Jewish people and its cultural traditions. Layout and cover design: L. M. Kupershtein Book proofer: A. M. Krentsina ISBN 978-617-7742-19-6 ©Kupers M. B., 2019 ©Nilan-LTD, 2019 3 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 5 HISTORICAL BAR .......................................................................... 7 FROM THE DEPTHS OF HISTORY .................................................. 32 SHTETL ..................................................................................... 34 SYNAGOGUE ............................................................................. 39 CEMETERY ................................................................................ 56 MARKET .................................................................................... 73 VILLAGE COMMUNITY LIFE ......................................................... 76 JEWISH HOME ........................................................................... 82 JEWISH TRADITION .................................................................... 87 POGROMS ................................................................................. 95 OCCUPATION OF THE TOWN ..................................................... 133 THE MEMORIES OF WITNESSES ................................................ 163 RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS ........................................... 175 THE FRONTLINES OF WWII ....................................................... 184 YIDDISHLAND .......................................................................... 205 JEWISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, 1880-1950 ...................... 213 HOLODOMOR JEWISH PAGES ................................................... 266 POST-WWII COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ................................. 274 MODERN JEWISH COMMUNITY ................................................ 285 PROMINENT JEWS FROM BAR .................................................. 298 WHAT IS A JEW? ...................................................................... 306 AFTERWORD ........................................................................... 311 DICTIONARY ............................................................................ 313 REFERENCES............................................................................ 319 INDEX OF PEOPLE .................................................................... 327 TABLE OF FIGURE PHOTOS, MAPS ............................................. 338 4 - Let's sit on the porch and talk for a while. I don't know who you are or how you got to shtetl. Yes, do not be surprised, Jews live here! We've lived here for five hundred years. Although it seems to us that we have always been. We live in those shtetls, we pray to God, we will live. -You still haven't left? Are you interested? Do you want me to tell you about life, about the "shtetl"? - I see! All this is familiar to you! Surely you also have a hard time! - Listen, and stay with us, we will live in our shtetl! 5 INTRODUCTION In this work I describe the main events of the Jewish community in the town of Bar, Vinnytsia region. These historical events took place in Ukraine, in Podolia, and documents the life of the Jewish people from the moment when they first appeared in Bar. At the same time, I describe their life without any accents. One of the oldest and strongest Jewish communities in Ukraine was in the town of Bar. This Jewish community had a hard fate: to be constantly disadvantaged and bullied. The history of this Jewish community dates back about 500 years. It was a period of self-affirmation involving destruction and revival. On our land of Bar during its centuries-old history there were rivers of blood of all who lived here during the various battles, revolts, pogroms, revolutions, repressions and Holodomor. And the reason for this was hatred, bitterness, intolerance. To those who have eyes and mind, understand and see: a man's blood is not water; everyone’s blood is red color. Everybody's eye drop is salty, and the grief - all disappointing. The memory could not be selective. It must be one and eternal. The lights of the menorah and the lamp show all living people how to be. This light is a guide to the feelings in souls and hearts, to charity and love, to compassion and harmony. It is necessary to always remind ourselves, remember, pray. And everyone can do it in the way he can, as he wants, as he knows. And then all these words will reach those to whom they are intended, who are waiting for them. 6 The Jewish writer Sholem Aleichem wrote: I, of course, understand that the book, like any creation of human hands, is not without flaws. I put into it the most precious thing I have – my own heart. Read this book from time to time. Perhaps it will teach you or your children something – teach them how to love our people and appreciate the treasures of their spirit, which are scattered in all the remote corners of the vast world. I believe that this work must be both light and heavy for the reader at the same time, it should bring light, make you smile, and worry. I express my deep gratitude to my family – wife Svetlana, daughter Alla and son Leonid for their patience and help in preparing the book. I am also sincerely grateful to the charitable Foundation "Christians for Israel-Ukraine" and separately to its founder Karlir Kun for financial support in the publication of this book. 7 HISTORICAL BAR The land of Bar literally breathes history. It seems, if you just touch with a palm to the smallest mound of soil, your hand will be filled out with powerful bio-currents. And immediately in your imagination will appear, as living, visions of the past: here is, on the well familiar to all, the conquerors Kuchmansky path, rush on prey Crimean Tatars, and from Turkish torches ignited ancient Rov - ancestor of Bar. And there, on prepared trade route from Shargorod to Bar, slowly go carts of Moldavian merchants carrying the wine, honey and other products. This land is generously watered with Cossack and Jewish blood. Here, traditions are still alive in the people's memory about the Haidamaks and Koliyvschina. Peter I was here when he went to the Prut campaign. Here, the tireless Frenchman Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan designed and built numerous fortifications and fortresses. Who has not set foot on this ancient land. What else she didn't hide in herself! To get acquainted with the history of the city of Bar, you need to walk along the old walls on the banks of the river Rov, as well as the streets that are adjacent to them. Sometime ago the settlement that was on the steep bank of the river Riv bore the same name. Deep water, swamps, reeds, earth mounds, stone walls – all these defensive fortifications were used to protect the settlement from the enemy's hordes that came from the vast steppes. The first time the outpost Rov was mentioned in historical documents in 1401. Since 1434 Polish rule begins here. Podolia was captured by Poland. The town entered the Podolian Voivodeship. In 1443 Stogniew Reya became the owner of Rov. In 1452 the town was destroyed by the Tatar conquerors. Part of the population fled to Zinkov, on the Ushitsya river; the other part was destroyed or taken into slavery. Only in the first half of the 16th century Rov was rebuilt again, 8 but on the opposite, low and swampy bank of the river. Since then, the town has been called Bar. According to one version, the name of the town comes from the word "bar" in the old Ukrainian language, which means a wetland. In Slovenian, Serbian languages - "bar" is a swamp. This word also occurs in non-Slavic languages, where it means the same thing. From other sources, the town was so named by Bona Sforza, the wife of king Sigismund I of Poland. She bought the outpost Rov in 1537 at the Krakow Sejm, after the last member of the family of Stanislaus Odrovonja that owned Rov died in 1523. Then the equal wealth went to the Royal Treasury and by that time was devastated. Bona Sforza, an Italian by birth, was from the city of Bari in Italy. Perhaps these two versions together led to the fact that the city began to be called Bar. The purchase of the town was sealed by the decision of the Polish Sejm of March 14, 1538. In the first book of "Chronicles", A. Guagnini describes as follows: "80 thousand Tatars with Bakai and Seoz came under Bar in Podolia and burned dozens of towns and villages and returned with a great prey, but the Kamyanetz headman Buchatsky beat them part of