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The Jewish residents of Ustilug lived in peace for many generations, raising their children to continue their forefathers'' traditions. Igor Stravinsky, the famed composer of "The Firebird" and "The Rite of Spring", maintained a country estate for many years in Ustilug where he worked on a number of his compositions. Stravinsky himself described Ustilug in his book, "Expositions and Developments" as a mistyechko, "a little place", out of Isaac Babel or Chagall, the coziest and most affectionate community imaginable".World War I however, and the aftereffects of the war, were terribly destructive to the Jewish community of Ustilug, whose fortunes plummeted. As a result, many were forced to move away. But over time the situation improved and the town thrived, until by 1935, Ustilug''s mostly Jewish population had reached approximately 4000. There were two libraries, one for Hebrew and one for Yiddish, a number of wood mills, several craftsman, cattle dealers, an orphanage, an expanded Jewish school, and 12 shuls, one for each of the Tribes of Israel.And then on the morning of June 22, 1941, everything changed. On that day, the Germans bombarded Ustilug heavily as war broke out between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. By October of that same year, 900 residents had been killed, and by September 1942, all of the Jews of Ustilug were gone.This book is a memorial to the people and the town of Ustilug written by former residents who either escaped or left before the war began. Originally compiled and published in Israel in 1961, in Yiddish and in Hebrew. Edited by Aryeh Avinadav. 

┼╗arki is a town located 30 kilometres south-east of Cz─Östochowa. At the outbreak of World War II, it is estimated that ┼╗arki''s population stood at around 5,000, 60% of whom Jews. The Germans created the ┼╗arki ghetto in February 1941, in which 3,200 Jews were confined. The liquidation of this ghetto began on 6th October 1942. Around 300 Jews were executed in the local cemetery, some were selected for work in the Radom ghetto and the remainder were transported to their deaths in the Treblinka extermination camp. The exact number of ┼╗arki Jews, who survived the War, is unknown. In 1959, the Organisation of ┼╗arki Jews in Israel published this Yizkor Book. The articles were written by Survivors, most of whom, at the time of the publication of this book, are no longer with us. It is for this reason that the World Society of Cz─Östochowa Jews & Their Descendants decided to include it in its "Cz─Östochowa Yizkor Book Project" - to have it translated into English, for the first time, accurately and in its entirety. Through this book, those Survivors can continue to speak to us and to future generations "from beyond the grave". The "Cz─Östochowa Yizkor Book Project" is funded by the Wolf & Dora Rajcher Memorial Fund.

How should we express the searing pain while preserving for eternity our holy dear ones and the community of our town, which had existed for centuries, and was completely destroyed by the foul Nazis, and their helpers, the cursed Poles?We planted one thousand trees to honor them in the Forest of the Martyrs; we put up a memorial plaque in the Chamber of the Holocaust; but we knew that it was not enough.[2] These are only metaphors and symbols, and cannot describe the horrors endured by the Jews of our town. Such a description can be found in the memorial book, which recounts the history of our town as well as the culture typical of Jewish communities in Poland, and the particular features of the Wysokie-Mazowieckie community.When we began realizing our plan for the Yizkor Book, we encountered serious difficulties - both in gathering the materials and in collecting the financial means for publishing the project.Our doubts and efforts concerning publication of the book lasted for almost ten years, until we finally succeeded in creating the book that we had aimed at. True, the book is modest, and it lacks many details of important events and interesting figures who lived and were active in Wysokie, and left their mark of their talent and good deeds on the town.Besides being limited by our small budget -which rendered the publication of the book difficult -we consciously limited ourselves by deciding to describe only important social and community events, and mention very few individuals, so as to avoid arguments and complaints by townspeople whose families and loved ones were not mentioned.

The history of the Jewish community of Kremenets ad its destruction in the holocaust

If history is made by ordinary people then this book is history at its core. There is a refreshing honesty in these writings, portraying town-folk, foibles and all, in their humility and worldly-wisdom. Everyday acts of kindness and humor abound. One town resident, Tsvi Krizovski, became fascinated with photography in the early 20th Century, assuming the role of unofficial town photographer. Krizovski's photographs capture the spirit of Divenishok in a way that mere words cannot. Over 100 photos accompany the articles, in many instances depicting the persons mentioned in the text, allowing us to witness the cultural, religious, sporting, economic, and social life of the town as it was in those days. The combined word-and-picture effect is a treasurable cinematic memorial to an extinguished Jewish-Lithuanian community. This is the Memorial or Yizkor Book of the Jewish Community of Divenishok, Lithuania -Adam Cherson (Translation Editor)

Jews of Kaiserstrasse vividly details the fate of the Jewish residents of single street in Mainz, Germany from 1939-45. This book is the culmination of Michael Phillips'' meticulous research into the lives of approximately 300 individuals that at one point during the period covered lived on the impressive boulevard. It catalogues the destruction of the wealthy Jewish community, which, before the rise of German National Socialism and the implementation of viciously anti-Semitic legislation from 1933 until the end of the Second World War and the defeat of Germany in September 1945, had been active in the Rhineland town''s commercial, social and municipal life.Jews of Kaiserstrasse draws from numerous academic, popular and genealogical sources.

This is Part I (LIfe) of the translation of the Memorial book of the twenty - three destroyed Jewish communities of the Sventzian region of Lithuania. Jews had lived in Svencionys (now Lithuania) since the 14th century.Between the two world wars, as part of independent Poland, it was the head of a district of 23 towns with sizeable Jewish communities—including Nowo Svencionys, Ignalino, Davgielski, Dukszty, Oduciski, Lingmiany, Lyntupy, Mielegiany, Sojaciszki, Podbrodzie, Koltynany, Kiemieliszki, and Cekinie.These communities were very active. Svencionys alone had five synagogues, two “seven-year” schools with Yiddish and Hebrew lectures, a Jewish junior high school, a Jewish culture and education association, a library, a theater, a football team and several Zionist groups.In 1941 the area was occupied by the Germans, and squads of the SS began a systematic campaign of slaughter. On September 27,1941, some 8000 Jews from the entire region were taken to a deserted military camp in the woods of Polygon and murdered, among them 3726 from the Sventzian area. A ghetto was established in Svencionys in July 1941; at its peak, it housed some 1,500 Jewish prisoners. In 1943 the Nazis liquidated the ghettos and labor camps in the area. About 4000 Jews from ghettos in Svenciony, Michaliszki and Oszmiana were transported to Ponary near Vilna, where almost all were shot.There were 23 communities, and they are no more. These two books document in Part I, the lives and in Part II,  the deaths of the Jews who lived there, and finally, their heroic struggle to stay alive.

The editors of the Suwalki Memorial Book write: "In our memorial book we give expression to the last breath and cry of pain of our holy martyrs, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our dearest and most beloved, who were thrown into the gas chambers, into the deep pits, burned, shot, smothered, their last prayers and screams cut off and silenced by the Nazi executioners. We want this memorial book to perpetuate their unfinished prayers. Their lives were cut short by the murderers before they could complete their calls: Hear Oh Israel. All of us will say the kaddish by means of this memorial book. However, the Suwalk memorial book is not only a monument for our murdered parents, brothers and sisters, it is also a holy obligation to perpetuate all that distinguished Suwalk and all of the vanished Jewish towns: vibrant Jewishness, faith, creativity, lifestyle, and language. “

This book shows history in the making with the German and Soviet forces of World War II cooperating and then competing  in the invasion and occupation of  Sokoly Poland. The reader can understand the stages through which the Nazi rule turns the Jewish population into slaves who work in tasks designed to break their spirit and their bodies. Short of food, clothing, and shelter, the town's Jewish refugees seek refuge among their neighbors, but all doors are shut to them. Only a small number dare to help the Jews. Fear is everywhere. Thus many Jews, including Michael and Moshe Maik, flee into the forests and hide in bunkers underground. Much of the Diary tells the almost unbelievable stories of survival under such conditions which are very hard to believe today when so many of our needs are easily met and there are no shortages of food, light and air. But in the dark, damp and sometimes flooded bunkers, life is never easy . Every day is another crisis and every footstep nearby causes tremors in the hearts of those hiding. Robbers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, are as much a threat to Jewish lives as German soldiers who shoot to kill anyone found hiding in the forests. Life is anything but normal. The surprise in the book is how Jewish youth in this town manage to succeed in devising and carrying out daring acts of sabotage and revenge in order to fight the enemy and thwart their plans in any way they can with very little means of support and almost no weapons. There are times when Moshe, Michael's only son, has to choose between dividing his time to help his aging father or joining his friends in raids on the Germans and so, perhaps, to obstruct their cruel plans to expel the Jews, to send them to certain death. Even dead Jews lying in the cemetery are not free to rest in peace. When Moshe and his friends learn that the Germans are planning to uproot and destroy the Jewish cemetery, action has to be taken. Plans are made but it will take a miracle to stop the Germans. So Moshe and his friends have to do anything that might work and failure or success could be at a high price. Today, with the viral resurgence of anti-semitism, it is worth reading Michael's Diary to remind ourselves, where all this might lead to. We dare not ignore the lessons of history revealed in this eye-witness account of the lives of ordinary Jews and their Gentile neighbors and how racial and religious bigotry can destroy not just people and towns, but the very fabric of human society which must be based on trust, and faith in the goodness of man.