Fig. 4
In figure 4 - Zipora
Barchat, the founder of the Manufaktura and Ubrania
Gotowe. Also appears in the 1928 Bielsk's Business
Directory taken from p.55 Bielski Hostinec Journal 1 2010
(fig. 5).
Fig. 5
The Barchat's business did
well and all three brothers lived a comfortable life. They
had a huge garden at the back of the house, planted with
flowers and orange trees. Two German- Shepherd dogs tied
with metal chains patrolled their garden. New toilets were
built in the garden as well as storerooms for their
merchandise. The Barchat's could afford 24 hour help in
the house. The help took care of the daily domestic tasks
such as cleaning, carrying water to the house, preparing
the laundry and ironing.
The children often went to the theatre
especially in Bialystok. The family used to travel a few
times a year to Druzgiennik, a resort area, for a holiday.
They rented a house in the woods for a couple of weeks and
enjoyed the wooded surroundings.
In figures 6 and 7 - Izaak Barchat with friends in Bielsk.
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
In figure 8 - from right to
left: Feigel and her husband Natan Barchat with their son
Izaak, Nechama and her husband Israel Barchat with their
son Janek. Far left: Jacob Barchat, Izaak's older brother.
Fig. 8
The only family member
who was very religious was my great grandpa – Natan.
Natan used to go to the nearby Synagogue and was very
active, providing concealed donations. He used to buy
firewood and deliver it confidentially to needy
families. In his later life in Israel he founded a
voluntary association named "Yad Achim" (literally
giving a hand to all brothers) to help the needed
ones. The rest of the family was not as religious and
did not dress as typical religious Jews.
Fig.9
In figure 9 - Natan Barchat in Israel in the 1950's
with his granddaughter Irit Barchat.
All three brothers were ardent Zionists. The family
helped financially and actively with many Jewish Youth
groups in order to make "Aliya" to "Eretz Israel",
which was still Palestine at that time. They insisted
that their children speak and learn in Hebrew
institutes. Few of their children travelled to nearby
Bialystok to study in the Hebrew Gimnazuim. Izaak, my
grandfather and his sister Halina studied in Bielsk at
the Polish Gimnazium. Halina wanted to study Medicine
in Warsaw but was refused because she was a Jew. She
then decided to study Economics and graduated in 1939.
Chaim and Israel traveled back and forth to Palestine
in 1933 and even earlier. Their plan was to sell the
house and store and move to settle in Palestine. They
were both in Palestine when things turned for the
worst in Bielsk Podlaski. Chaim's wife and daughter
had the good fortune to join Chaim during a holiday
visit.
In figure 10 - Chaim Barchat
Fig. 10
Deportation
In 1939 The Germans signed a nonaggression treaty with
the Soviets which resulted in turning Bielsk to a
Soviet territory. Under Russian rule, Natan and his
family and Nechama with her children were forced out
of their big house. The Barchat's suspected this was
coming and so began packing their personal belongings.
They were taken to another part of Bielsk on a shaky
horse and wagon, losing bits and pieces from their
possessions on the way. The Barchats moved to live in
one room in a house which belonged to a kind Christian
Polish woman. They were there for a long while, more
than a year.
Between 1939 and June 1941 about half a million polish
citizens who were accused of being capitalists i.e.,
citizens with high social status, members of the
intelligentsia and good education were deported to
labour camps in various parts of Siberia and
Kazakhstan.
On the 20th of June 1941, two days before the Germans
entered Bielsk, the Barchat family was deported on the
last of three big deportations of Polish citizens to
the Altai, the high mountains, in Siberia, near the
border with Mongolia and China. They were forced to
leave on a long train which consisted up to a hundred
freight cars and three locomotives on a journey that
lasted 3 weeks with several stops on the way. The
destination was far, unknown and the future seemed
darker than ever. Feigel Barchat was looking for a way
to save her daughter Halina. She found a Polish family
that agreed to accommodate her daughter for money and
gold until Halina would find a way to travel to a
distant family relative who lived in Moscow. Halina
did not want to leave her family but her mother
insisted, thinking it was the only chance for her to
survive. The decision turned out to be a tragic
one. Halina was killed. No one in the family until
today knows the circumstances of this painful event.
Upon entering the train in Bielsk, the names of the
passengers were called out loud from lists. Sima,
Nechama's daughter, turned out to be missing from the
list. Her mother did not think twice. She told her
daughter to depart immediately from the train in order
to save herself. Sima was crying because she was
frightened to leave her family. Her mother pushed her
off the train. Sima fell and the train took off
leaving her behind. Sima was shot soon after. Similar
to her cousin, Halina, no one knew the circumstances
surrounded her death.
Both girls had mothers who only wanted to save their
beloved daughters. Both mothers (who were also
sisters) blamed themselves for the tragic end of their
daughters for the rest of their lives.
On the train, together with the Barchat family was
another Jewish family named Frejdkies. The Frejdkies
were textile merchants who owned a store on the same
street as the Barchats. The rest of the families were
all Polish.
New life in Siberia
The train journey ended at the last stop in the middle
of nowhere. The family arrived in Siberia. Before
embarking on this journey, my great grandmother,
Feigel insisted on bringing her feather duvet from
home. This specially warm duvet was a life saver once
they reached the cold weather of Siberia. I am proud
to say that this particular duvet made it all the way
to Israel and is still being used today in my home.
The families were taken on horses and wagons. No
trains nor cars could reach the distant agricultural
labour camps called "Sovkhoz". The days were already
days of war and all the Russian men were drafted to
the army. The Sovkhoz were short on laborers so the
new labour shipments from Poland came in handy. The
labour camps had no fence. Despite the lack of fences
no one escaped. There was so much snow around that one
could not walk far. The family was separated. Nechama
and her children were placed in a room with a kitchen,
sharing it with a Polish family. They were placed in a
village named "Soloneshnoe" (according to Igor
Zakrzewski memoirs). Natan and his family were placed
elsewhere.
The new workers received short training and soon after
were all sent to work in outdoor farming. One of the
Barchats daughters remembers how she was told to cut
tangled bushes that grew in the high mountains. It was
a hard job for a 16 year old girl who never worked
physically in her life, so her mother bribed the
officer in charge by giving him women dresses and soon
her daughter got a better job. She was collecting the
branches that were cut by others. Grandfather Izaak
had a Polish driving license so he ended up driving a
tractor plowing and sowing the fields. Many people did
not survive working hard in the freezing weather
conditions.
The shortage of food was acute but there were many
cows and horses in the surrounding fields. The workers
found a way of getting food. They used to tie the
front legs of a horse and push him into the
fast-moving water stream. The horse would lose
his balance, be swept down the stream, and be
killed. Then they would have horse meat at their
meals. They also had another method. There were
fields in which a poisonous weed (for cows only) grew.
The workers would drive a cow into those specific
fields, have her eat and when it died they would have
meat. Natan Barchat was the only one who did not touch
this non-kosher food but he was clever enough to
overlook when the rest of the family sat down to eat.
When the Sikorski –Mayski agreement was signed between
the Soviet Union and Poland in 30 July 1941, all
Polish citizens were allowed to leave the "Sovkhoz"
and move to nearby Biysk. Biysk was a relatively small
city but grew quickly due to the amount of wealthy
educated immigrants. Theatres and cinemas were
established and the place became a lively place. The
Barchats were united again. They found a room to live
in and the first thing they did was to send a telegram
to Israel Barchat who was in Palestine at the time and
soon after that, they began receiving parcels from
him. They traded the goods they received from him in
order to survive financially. Rose and Ada joined the
public school and finished their studies. Rose even
went on to study higher education. Janek worked as a
driver. Natan, being the religious one, soon found
himself socializing with other Jews and praying in a
local synagogue. The family spent 5 long years in
Biysk.
In figure 11 - Janek Barchat
Fig. 11
Epilogue
In 1945, when the war was over, the family was finally
able to begin their journey to Palestine to join the
rest of the family. Israel Barchat was working hard on
getting certificates for them to arrive legally to
Palestine (back then our country was ruled by the
British). They finally managed. The journey took them
through Poland. Natan and his family made a long stop
in Szczecin for almost a year waiting to receive the
certificates to enter Palestine from the British
Embassy in Warsaw. Nechama and her children received
their certificates in 1946 and managed to travel to
Marseille in France and boarded the ship to reunite
with their husband and father – Israel. In 1947 Natan
and his family arrived in Tel- Aviv (Palestine).
The three brothers settled with their families in Tel
Aviv not far from each other keeping close family ties
with one another. Today, my family tree consists of 50
grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are direct
descendants of those three Barchat brothers.
I would like to conclude my article by emphasizing the
meaning of my family's surname.
The Barchat surname is believed to be adopted, as with
many other Jewish and non-Jewish families, in the
1840s following new government rules. The name Barchat
means velvet in Russian which characterizes the
family's trade and business at the time.
Nowadays, the descendants of the Barchat family have
only girls and as hard as it is for me to admit, soon
the Barchat surname will no longer exist. As a
descendant to this remarkable family I feel that it is
my mission to strive to preserve the memory and the
name of the Barchat family as part of the rich legacy
of Bielsk's Jewish community.
Michal Itzhaki
Kochav-Yair, ISRAEL
February 2011
