Binyamin Brawerman / Binyomin Rotberg

Bielsk Podlaski

Binyamin Bushka-Braverman / Binyomin Rotberg

Reading the brief biography of Binyamin Bushka-Braverman in the Bielsk Podlaski yizkor book reminded me of another Binyomin¹ from Bielsk. I read about him in An Unchosen People by Kenneth B. Moss (Harvard University Press, 2021). The book explores the cultural and political environment in the shtetls of Europe during the escalating antisemitism of the interwar period. Central to the book are two works written under the pseudonym of Binyomin Rotberg. One is an autobiography written in response to a 1934 contest organized by YIVO's Max Weinreich. The other is Rotberg's response to Weinreich's subsequent analysis of the submitted autobiographies. In his response, Rotberg concurred with Weinreich's assessment that “every Jewish young person feels himself to be without a future” in Poland because of their dire situation facing antisemitism and hard economic times.

Was Rotberg's real name Braverman? To look for more information, I visited the online archives of the Center for Jewish History (of which YIVO is a part) to examine scans of his works. While scrolling through one of the PDF files, I came across a handwritten card that says in Yiddish “Binyomin Rotberg's Collection.” Below that, it says “Biszko Brawerman, Bielsk-Podl.” with the street address “ul Mickiewieze No. 127.”

I emailed Kenneth Moss to inquire if he had identified Binyomin Rotberg as Binyomin Biszko-Brawerman. In his response, Moss copied Dr. Rona Yona and Dr. Kamil Kijek, scholars who had previously worked with him and researched this question. Kijek stated that prior research had determined with 99% probability that Binyomin Rotberg was indeed Binyomin Biszko-Brawerman, but finding this card served as conclusive proof. Both he and Yona explained that the information on the card would have been submitted by Rotberg/Brawerman himself because participants in the YIVO contest were required to provide their true identity in a sealed envelope so they could be contacted if they won a prize.

A subsequent search turned up a postcard in another file. It was sent to YIVO with the same return address as above and signed on the back in Yiddish as “Binyomin Rotberg (B. Brawerman).”

Binyamin Braverman Rotberg signature

Brightness and contrast of the images has been adjusted to improve legibility.
Click to see larger images.

In the postcard, Brawerman informs YIVO that he is happy to have his autobiography recognized and to be sent Max Weinreich’s Der veg tsu undzer yugnt. [The Road to Our Youth, 1935. Free copies were distributed to the 75 autobiographers who were cited in the book.]² He adds that much has happened since he wrote six months earlier. In particular, he has joined HeHalutz and familiarized himself with the full range of (left) Zionist organizations in Bielsk. [Records indicate that Brawerman was accepted into HeHalutz's hakhshara training program, a preparation for making aliyah and a prerequisite for receiving an immigration certificate. A chapter titled "In the Hakhshara - in Bielsk" is yet to be translated.] He sympathizes with YIVO’s work and offers to write more about the youth scene in Bielsk for them, but asks them to send him stamps, because his economic situation does not allow him to buy postage. [YIVO’s Division of Youth Research encouraged their young correspondents to stay in touch – they continued to send autobiographies after the competition ended, as well as collected correspondences, literary works, and essays.]³ Thanks to Kenneth Moss for the translation.

Brawerman kept his identity a secret by systematically changing the names of people and places in his autobiography and his letter to Weinreich. His secret held for nine decades and his fate remains unknown. No record of his death or survival have been found, and the biography makes no mention of a life after Bielsk. Yad Vashem has records

The last paragraph of his biography states that he was not able to leave a lasting legacy. However, the enduring significance of Brawerman's writing is evident in its continued use and relevance nine decades later. His work, and on a larger scale An Unchosen People, speaks not only of antisemitism but of dramatically conflicting Jewish responses to it. They included opposing ideas of Zionism vs. Diasporism as an answer to the question of the future of Jews in Poland, sometimes resulting in physical violence among Jews.

Understanding this period of time, and its similarities to the global wave of antisemitism facing us today, might help us make decisions and take actions necessary for a better future.

Included in the Binyomin Rotberg file on the Center for Jewish History’s website are three family photographs. Two have handwritten notes on the back. The photo without a note could be a photo of him with his mother. (Binyomin was born in 1915. His mother died in 1921.)⁴ One photo is identified as his mother and grandfather. Another photo is identified as his aunt from Grodno, who he mentioned many times in his autobiography and his letter to Max Weinreich.⁵

Unlabeled, this may be Binyomin and his mother.

"Auto 195. My grandfather's family from Chechanovitz [Ciechanowiec] with
his elder daughter (my mother)"⁶

“Autobiography No.195. (Pseudonym: Binyomin Rotberg). My aunt from Grodno.”⁷
[Referred to in his documents as Chava, this was his father Meir’s sister.]

Andrew Blumberg
December 12, 2024

Notes:

1: Spelling of names varies based on the original source.
2, 3: Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland, description of archival materials.
4, 5: “Płonęli gniewem,” Autobiografia młodego Żyda, ("They were burning with anger," Autobiography of a young Jew), Kamil Kijek, 2021, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN SA. This book is a translation from Yiddish to Polish of Binyamin Braverman's autobiography and letter to Max Weinreich.
6, 7: Translation provided by Shimon Sporn, Holocaust Legacy and Family Biographer.

Address card and photographs - YIVO archive at the Center for Jewish History website. Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland, Record Group 4, Series 1, Subseries 1, "Binyomin Rotberg", Bielsk Podlaski, Yugfor #195, Folder 3542, Part 2. https://digipres.cjh.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE6069042

Postcard (incl. signature) - YIVO archive at the Center for Jewish History website. Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland, Record Group 4, Series 2, Incoming Correspondence and Envelopes, pages 11 and 12. https://digipres.cjh.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE6264536

All materials presented are used in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Center for Jewish History.

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