Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland. An Anthology Compiled, Edited and with an Introduction by HAVA BROMBERG BEN-ZVI VALLENTINE MITCHELL LONDON • PORTLAND, OR in association with ejps THE EUROPEAN JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY Contents List of Plates xi Acknowledgements xiii Praise for Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland xxi Introduction xxv The Jews of Poland in Legendary Tradition xxxvii PART I. OUR WORLD OF YESTERDAY 1. The Rebel by Sholem Asch. Excerpts from a Novel 3 2. The Mother's Reward by Sholem Asch. 11 Excerpts from a Novel 3. 'Olke' by Kadya Molodowsky. A Poem 22 4. 'The Tale of the Washtub' by Kadya Molodowsky. 27 A Poem 5. The Teacher Reb Mendele by Lili Berger. A Short Story 30 6. Time of Peace by Leon Weliczker Wells. A Memoir 37 7. The Bride by Israel Joshua Singer. Excerpt from a Novel 43 8. The Wedding Night by Israel Joshua Singer. 53 Excerpt from a Novel 9. A Jew in the Polish Army by Siegfried Halbreich. 59 A Memoir 10. The Circumcision That Wasn't. A Jewish Folk Tale 63 11. The Recipe of Rabbi Yenuka of Stolin. A Jewish Folk Tale 66 viii Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland 12. My First Day in the Orphanage by Israel Zyngman (Staszek). 69 A Memoir about Janusz Korczak 13. The Lamed Vovnik by Isaac Loeb Peretz. A Short Story 81 Polish Voices 14. Mendel Gdanski by Maria Konopnicka, a Polish writer. 87 A Short Story (Selections) 15. Links in a Chain by Eliza Orzeszkowa, a Polish writer. 95 A Short Story (Selections) 16. Ziselman of Honcharska Street by Nina Luszczyk- 101 Ilienkowa, a Polish-Belarus writer. A Memoir 17. Rivka by Nina Luszczyk-Ilienkowa. A Memoir 105 PART II. YEARS OF FLAME AND FURY The Ghettos 18. Yossel Rakover's Appeal to God by Zvi Kolitz. 109 A Short Story 19. And the Earth Rebelled' by Yuri Suhl. A Poem 119 20. A Shomer Pesach in the Ghetto by Ruszka Korczak. 123 A Memoir 21. Two Eyewitnesses: An Unknown Woman and 126 Adam Sokolski 22. Eyewitness Testimonies. Siedlce, Poland, 1942 129 23. From the Diary of a Young Shomeret by Aliza Melamed. 132 A Memoir 24. 'Cracow Autumn' by Natan Gross. A Poem 139 25. 'Kaddish'by Charles Reznikoff. A Poem 143 Children 16. 'The First Ones' by Itzhak Katzenelson. A Poem: Excerpt 147 27. How Granny Saved Helenka From the Germans 150 by Ella Mahler. A Memoir 28. We Will Not Hand Over the Children Alive 155 by Fredka Mazia. A Memoir Contents ix 29. Jewish Children on the Aryan Side 159 by Emanuel Ringelblum. An Essay 30. Janusz Korczak Marches to Death with His Children 169 by Azriel Eisenberg. A Biographical Vignette 31. Little Partisans by Lena Kuchler-Silberman. A Memoir 173 32. Books in the Ghetto by Rachel Auerbach. A Memoir 177 33. Poems by Children in the Warsaw Ghetto 181 by Motele, Natasha and Martha Resistance 34. Chief Physician Remba by Yuri Suhl. 185 A Biographical Vignette 35. Little Wanda with the Braids by Yuri Suhl. 188 A Biographical Vignette 36. Rosa Robota - The Heroine of the Auschwitz Underground by Yuri Suhl. A Biographical Vignette 192 37. Mordecai Anielewicz and His Movement 197 by Emanuel Ringelblum. An Essay 38. The Last Wish of My Life Has Been Granted 203 by Mordecai Anielewicz. A Letter 39. To Arms! The Proclamation of the Rebels in the 205 Ghetto of Vilna 40. 'Shlomo Jelichovski' by Itzhak Katzenelson. A Poem 207 41. The Letter of the Ninety-Three Maidens 213 42. Jewish Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto by Vladka Meed. 216 An Essay Other Voices: Testimonies of Those Who Helped 43. A Pole in the Ghetto by Ruth Baum. 227 A Biographical Vignette 44. The Hiding Place by Leon Weliczker Wells. A Memoir 233 45. Polish Friends by Vladka Meed. A Memoir 245 46. Their Brothers' Keepers by Philip Friedman. 249 An Essay and Biographical Vignettes x Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland 47. Survival on the Aryan Side by Mieczyslaw Rolnicki. 256 Vignettes PART III. TO LIVE AGAIN 48. Liberation by Leon Weliczker Wells. A Memoir 261 49. The First Letter from America by Leon Kobrin. 265 A Short Story 50. I Discover America by Abraham Cahan. 270 Excerpt from a Novel 51. 'The Sweatshop'by Morris Rosenfeld. A Poem 275 52. 'Bread and Tea' by Morris Rosenfeld. A Poem 279 53. 'Yiddish'by Morris Rosenfeld. A Poem 280 54. In the Catskills by Abraham Cahan. 282 Excerpt from a Novel 55. The Name (Yad Vashem) by Aharon Megged. 285 A Short Story 56. The Polish Wife by Anna Cwiakowska. A Short Story 299 Glossary 317 Bibliography 325.