The Ghettos - Warsaw, Częstochowa (1945)

Possibly one of the first Yizkor Books published after World War II.

This Yizkor Book, by Adam Zilbersztajn, was published in Israel in December 1945. Of all the Yizkor Books relating to Częstochowa, this must be the earliest or one of the earliest to be published after the War.

As such, the memories of the events, contained in this book, must have been very fresh in the author’s mind at the time of writing. This, according to Professor Dariusz Stola, former Director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, makes this book “an historical treasure”.

We do not know whether the author wrote the book’s chapters near the dates to which he refers in chapter headings (e.g. “Warsaw 1941), or at War’s end. Either way, his memories give us yet another vision of the tragic events in both Częstochowa and Warsaw.

We have known about the existence of this book for a long time and, for a long time, we have endeavoured to obtain a copy or scan of the book for us to be able to translate it into English. Thanks mainly to the efforts of World Society Vice-President Alon Goldman, we were able to receive a clear scan of the book, thus enabling us to have it professionally translated into English.

[Webmaster: As far as we know, this is the first PROFESSIONAL, English-language translation of this book.]

This Yizkor book has been PROFESSIONALLY translated into English
– for the FIRST TIME in its entirety!

To view or download a PDF scan of this original Yizkor Book in HEBREW,
click HERE

The professional English translation of this Częstochowa Yizkor book has been made possible by the financial support of the

Wolf Rajcher z”l and Dora Rajcher z”l were both Holocaust survivors from Częstochowa.

They were prisoners in both the “Big Ghetto” and the “Small Ghetto” and, until liberation, were slave labourers in HASAG-Pelcery. Following the War, they emigrated to Melbourne Australia.

Upon the passing of both his parents, their son, Andrew Rajcher, established this charitable fund in their memory.

English-translated chapters are listed below in the order in which they appear in the Yizkor Book.
(The numbers in brackets, after each article, correspond to the appropriate page numbers in the book.)

Introduction (1-2)

Table of Contents (compiled by translator)

Warsaw 1941 (3-12)

The [Ha’Shomer Ha’Tzair] Movement at the Beginning of the War (12-23)

The Agricultural Farm and Kibbutz in Częstochowa (23-31)

The Department of Statistics (31-34)

“Testing Facilities” – Informational Operations Amidst the Jewish Public (35-44)

“The Small Deportations” in the Reich – Mordche Meets Merin (44-49)

The Great Deportation from Warsaw – “Vernichtungskommandos” (Extermination Squads) (50-57)

The Deaths of Józef and Szmul – Józef’s Will (57-62)

The Fighting Organisation’s First Operations (62-67)

The Deportation from Częstochowa and the Vicinity (67-75)

The Battle of 18th January in Warsaw (75-81)

Relations with the Polish Underground (81-85)

The Weapons Problem (85-97)

The Ghetto on the Eve of the Liquidation – “The Battle of the Newspapers” (97-102)

The Revolt (102-111)

The Liquidation of the Ghetto in Częstochowa (111-115)

The Poles (115-122)

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Dave Horowitz-Larochette

IMPORTANT NOTICE

While this English translation is available for download, it may not, either in part or as a whole, be distributed or published without the prior written permission of Andrew Rajcher, this English-language version copyright-holder.