Journal from 1946 Dinner

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SOUVENIR JOURNAL OF
THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE SKALAR BENEVOLENT SOCIETY
December 14, 1946

“We give you this thought on our beloved Skala -
We starved when we were there;
we would be dead if we stayed there;
God bless America!”
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Edelstein
SBS 50th-Anniversary Journal

On February 9, 2008, our Web Leader Helene Kenvin received this email: ”My name is Hope Friedman and both of my grandparents were from Skala. I have just spent the last hour, along with my 89 year old mother, on your amazing website. We are both so excited. The website includes pictures of my grandfather, Isadore (Izzy) Wiesenthal, his brother, Joe Wiesenthal, and his sister in law, Becky Farer. My mother recognized most of the people in the photos from the Skala Benevolent Society of 1938. My grandmother's family was also from Skala. If I followed the information correctly on the site, your grandparents were Jacob and Ida [Wiesenthal]. According to my mother, Jacob was my grandfather's (Izzy Wiesenthal) cousin.”

Our grandparents' generation always said, ”All Wiesenthals from Skala are related.” Parts of the large and many-branched Wiesenthal clan from Skala have been traced to the 18th century. However, although Izzy, Joe, and Jacob Wiesenthal were close friends who referred to each other as ”cousins,” they did not know their exact familial relationship, which has yet to be determined.

In a subsequent email, Hope Friedman revealed that she had in her possession two important relics for Skala researchers: a photograph taken at the Skala landsmanshaftn new year's eve party in 1941 and the souvenir journal published on the occasion of the 1946 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Skala Benevolent Society. The anniversary year actually was 1943, but its celebration apparently was delayed until after the war.

The impact of the war is evident throughout the journal. There are memorial pages to Skala residents who died in the Holocaust and mention of those (some of whom perished) who were in the armed services. Jacob Wiesenthal, chairman of the Society's Relief Committee (a standing committee of many years, which sent money back to Skala), notes that his ”sorrow arises from my sad reflection upon the plight of our fellow Jews in Skala and throughout the world today.” A succinct statement by Mr. And Mrs. Sam Edelstein eloquently summarizes the Skala landsleit's feelings about their ancestral town: ”We give you this thought on our beloved Skala: We starved when we were there; we would be dead if we stayed there; God bless America!”

The journal pages with photographs or with text that is more than just a greeting are reproduced here. The names in the remaining greetings and advertisements are listed after the reproductions. The journal may be viewed in its entirety at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Studies in New York, which has a copy of the journal in its collection of Skala materials.


Click on pages to display

 Journal Cover
 Membership List
1Officers of Society (1946)
2Message from Harry Lowenkron, President
3Message from Louis S. Finkelstein, Chairman
4Photo of Arrangements Committee
5Message from Jacob Greenberg
6Jonah Wasserman
7Jake Herzog, Jonah Wasserman
8Greetings: M/MHarry Lowenkron, M/M. Morris J. Rosen, M/M Robert Rosen
9Greetings: M/M Joe Sandberg (Vice-President); M/M. Harry Weingast (Financial Secretary)
10First Skalar Progressive Ladies Society: Ida Zucker, President
11M/M Jonah Wasserman
12M/M Jacob Weisenthal (Chairman of Relief) (translation on page 14)
13M/M Melvin C. Schwartz, Helene and Barry
14M/M Jacob Weisenthal (Chairman of Relief) (translation of page 12)
15In Memory of Martin Weisenthal, from M/M Jacob Weisenthal, M/M Melvin C. Schwartz
16M/M Joe Wiesenthal
17The Journal Committee
18An anonymous expression of thanksgiving and patriotism
19M/M Sam Weisenthal, Eddie, Joe, Morris, Bennie, and Frances
20M/M Izzy Wiesenthal
21M/M Jacob Fassbinder
22M/M Philip Stern, Rose Stern, Sophie Auerbach
23M/M Jacob Herzog, M/M Emanuel Herzog, M/M Abe Herzog: in memory of Joseph and Rachel Herzog, Moses and Malke Doliner
24M/M Isaac Weingast
25M/M Jacob Weisinger, M/M Harry Weisinger, M/M Harold Goldberg
26"Father of the Gottesfeld Clan" (Avraham Moshe Gottesfeld)
27M/M Jacob Soffer
28MM Louis Finkelstein, MM Ted Isaacs, M/M Sol Finkelstein, Dr/M Joshua Ross
29M/M Hyman Finkelstein, M/M Philip Bernfeld, M/M Emanuel Stein, Dr/M Julius Baer, Rosalind and Phyllis Finkelstein
30M/M Samuel Edelstein
31M/M Max Weidenfeld
32-33Phil Edelman
34M/M Louis Schwartz
35In honor of M/M Louis Weidberg, from Izzie and Jack Wiesenthal and Joe Wasserman
36Harry T. Meltzer
37M/M Isidore Lowenkron
38Beckie, Leah, Sidney, Mendel, Irving, and Bessie Edelstein, IMO Charles Edelstein
39Sol, Gussie, and Sophie Weingast, IMO Sigmund Weingast
40Ida and Anna Farer, IMO Hymie and Marty Farer and Leib Gertler
41Shimshon and Mendel Glaser
42Anna, Murray, Elaine Hornick, IMO Louis Hornick
43Dave Zimmerman
44IMO Reb Chaim Mordechai Field
45Maltzie Zimmerman, Leah Hausner Heimann, Eisig (Ernest) Hausner, IMO Zalman Hausner
46M/M Louis Menchel
47M/M Harry Lessman; his parents Morris and Annie (Schuster) Cohn and his aunt Annie Hornick: IMO Corporal Bernard Cohn
48M/M Charles Weingast; M/M Seide Finkelstein
49IMO Max Wiesenthal
50IMO Dora Weintraub
51M/M Kopel Weintraub; Rose Albert and Reba Solot; M/M Davis Cohen
52By Jonah Wasserman
 Other Ads in the SBS 50th Anniversary Journal

M/M - Mr. and Mrs.
IMO - In memory of

Photo and journal courtesy of Hope Friedman (granddaughter of Isidore Wiesenthal and Jenny Gertler)
Journal scanned and restored by and text copyright © 2008 by Helene Kenvin
This page created by Max Heffler
Updated May 10, 2008. © Copyright 2005 Skala Research Group. All Rights Reserved.