"Uncle Chatzkel" by Rodney Freedman
Note: Rod Freedman has produced a documentary on Uncle Chatzkel, which contains much pictorial information on Zagare, the story of what happened there in 1941, and also features Isaac Mendelsohn. For information about the documentary contact Rod Freedman www.changefocus.com.au, or to order a copy, visit http://nfsa.gov.au/collection/film-australia-collection/program-sales/search-programs/program/?sn=8159.
I am an Australian descendant of a Jewish family from Žagarė (or Zhager in Yiddish). My great grandparents, Avram and Rocha Lemchen, lived there after the First World War. During the war, they'd fled to Russia and returned to find their home town of Papile destroyed, so they moved to nearby Žagarė, where they started a factory, dyeing wool and fabrics. The remains of the factory are still there today.
My grandmother, Gitta Lemchen migrated to South Africa in 1913. Her youngest brother, Chatzkel Lemchen, remained in Lithuania and at 93, became the subject of my documentary Uncle Chatzkel (DEDE CHATZKEL in Lithuanian).
Uncle Chatzkel's stories and his generosity in sharing them with me, deepened my sense of my own heritage and finally made me feel connected to my past, including Žagarė.
Chatzkel Lemchen was one of Lithuania's eminent intellectuals and scientists, a lexicographer of international reputation, a translator and a teacher whose students still recall the impact of his teaching decades later.
He was a philologist who continued the work of Jonas Jablonskis, the father of Lithuanian language, to whom he was once both assistant and secretary. He helped preserve the Lithuanian language and became a national treasure. He died in 2001, aged 97, having completed his final dictionary three years earlier.
Chatzkel Lemchen was a very special kind of person who touched the lives of people around the world because of his work and his manner.
To all Litvaks (Jewish Lithuanians), he was a treasured member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community who survived the most terrible ordeals of the Holocaust, yet was able to keep his dignity and his sense of himself intact.
Chatzkel's elderly parents were murdered in Žagarė in October 1941 when Lithuanian Nazi supporters gathered the town's Jews together and executed them in what is now Naryshkin Park.
He and his family were prisoners of the Nazis in the Kovno Ghetto from 1941 to 1944. His two sons, Viktor, aged 13, and Azarye, aged 8, were taken from the Ghetto in the Kinderaktion of 1944 and murdered, probably in Auschwitz concentration camp. His beloved wife, Lena, was sent to Stuthof and Chatzkel to Dachau concentration camp. Both survived the war and were reunited in Vilnius a year later, where they remained.
Uncle Chatzkel overcame these tragedies and lived an exemplary life without bitterness or hatred. He was an inspiration.
In one of the terrible ironies of history, he faced death
many times at the hands of his own countrymen during the
Second World War and yet was decorated for his services to his
country in the ensuing decades, receiving many honours,
including the Order of Gediminas from the Lithuanian
President.
Though he did not travel widely himself, he had friends from
all over the world. A renowned Yiddish scholar published in
Oxford, people would flock to his humble house to discuss
issues of language and culture, or simply to enjoy his
wonderful warmth and sense of humour.
But to me and to his scattered family, he was simply ‘Uncle Chatzkel'.
Born in Papile, or Popelan in Yiddish, Chatzkel Lemchen was the youngest of the seven children of Avraham and Rocha Lemchen. The other children were my grandmother, Gitta, Anna, Cyril, Mayer, Sholem and David.
Uncle Chatzkel was something of a legend in our family. He was the one who stayed in Lithuania, the one who was left behind when all his siblings migrated to South Africa, France, Russia and America.
We never knew much about him except that he edited dictionaries, that he lived on his own and that he was old. My Auntie Dora kept in touch with him over the years from Sydney when her mother, Chatzkel's sister died. Finally in 1996, two relatives visited him and I followed in June 1997, to record his story, which became the film, ‘Uncle Chatzkel' (Dede Chatzkel).
Meeting Uncle Chatzkel is one of the great experiences of my life. I can never forget the instant feeling of recognition that we both felt when he opened his door to me in Vilnius in 1997 and we embraced – across three generations and separation from Lithuania to South Africa and then to Australia.
I never imagined the depth of feeling that I would experience when I touched the soft skin of his hand and felt my face against his cheek. He had been a man without family for more than twenty five years and I had never thought that I would be able to speak to a man of my grandmother's generation again.
And what a man ! Surrounded by his beloved books and at the age of 93 working on yet another Lithuanian dictionary, he taught me much that I needed to know. We met at the right time because he was ready to talk and I was ready to listen. For a man of his age, his memory was astounding.
His stories ranged from tearful childhood memories of his older sister reciting poetry, to violent scenes from the Bolshevik revolution, to becoming a teacher of Yiddish, to the near annihilation of his fellow Lithuanian Jews, to the years of Communism and finally, independence for Lithuania.
Throughout it all, Chatzkel Lemchen worked, producing dictionaries of great subtlety and detail, unprecedented in Lithuanian philology. I believe his work was the way he kept his sanity after the brutal loss of his parents and children. He found refuge in the world of words and joy in their meanings. He could reach for any book on his shelves and tell you its story.
For example, one in particular had been part of a collection of a neighbour, a colonel during Stalin's time. Fearing a visit from the KGB, the colonel had burnt all his books in case they incriminated him. But one, a book on the origin of a particular dialect, was rescued. As he told me the story, Uncle Chatzkel tapped vigorously on thecover of the book and with a sparkle in his eyes, exclaimed in Yiddish, ‘This book is alive !'
For a Jew, he was unusually highly recognised for his work during the Soviet years, something that even we in Australia were aware of. I was curious about how he had become a translator under the Soviet regime and asked him if he'd been a communist. "Never!', was his reply.
He loved a funny story and had plenty of them. Working just after the war for the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Lithuania, he was barred from translating one day when the KGB Minister from Moscow arrived for a meeting, because Chatzkel was not a member of the Party. He was told to wait outside and have a cigarette while the other translators did the work of translating for the Minister. But after only ten minutes, they sent someone to find him and bring him into the meeting. Would he please translate after all ? With a chuckle, he explained the difficulty : "You see, the others were very good communists, but not very good translators !"
Such a true story, says much about a whole political system and also about how Uncle Chatzkel survived it, his ethics and his beliefs intact.
He has been described as the epitome of the Yiddish word, ‘edelkeit' – kindness, intellectuality and spirituality.
To illustrate that with another story : - in the days just after liberation, Uncle Chatzkel and a friend, Lazer, were walking in the Alps, still in their concentration camp uniforms from Dachau. The friend spotted a German on a bicycle and immediately suggested that, as they were free now, why not take the bicycle from the German. After all, the Germans owed them plenty! But Chatzkel refused to take the bicycle. After all, it didn't belong to them !
Such a man of principle is unusual, to say the least. I would say, very rare. To me he is what is called in Yiddish a ‘tsaddik' – a truly wise man whose strength is in his steadfast beliefs, tempered by tolerance and humour.
Though he would not agree, I believe he showed great courage and bravery in his life. People constantly remark that despite all he has been through, he showed no bitterness. The fact that his work and his reputation flourished despite the terrible things that happened to him is a triumph of the intellect over ignorance, brute force, fascism and prejudice. In his story there is hope.
Uncle Chatzkel was a joy to be with and I only wish I might
have known him earlier and spent more time with him. I
consider it a great gift to have been united with him as
family, in time for us to embrace each other and express our
love.
Rodney Freedman
Sydney, Australia
8 May 2006
DEDE CHATZKEL is available in Lithuanian language with a study guide for educators from the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum in Vilnius
Uncle Chatzkel Study Guide (English) - Download the PDF
Dovid Katz’s articles about Chatzkel Lemchen (one in English, one in Yiddish):
Introduction
History
Notable personalities
Memorial Plaque Dedication - July 2012
Righteous Among the Nations Award Ceremony
- March 2013
Žagarė Cemeteries
Former Jewish Buildings Today
Family Histories
General
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Copyright © 2009 Cliff Marks |