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District Krasnystaw, Province of Lublin |
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Żółkiewka Memories and Stories
Extracts from the book by Chaim Zylberklang translated by Tamar Amit
The Zylberklang Family
My father's name was
Josef Zylberklang. The names of my grandfathers on my father's side were: Juda and Leah; on my mother's side: Beirish
(Dov) HORIN and Sara.
My father's first wife was Necha (my
aunt) and from this union there were three boys: Aharon,
Shaja and Beirish.
After his first wife died, my father married her sister, Zysel,
and she bore six children: Judke, Leah, Szprinze (Bronia in Polish),
Moshe "Moszek", Chaim (me) and Isak "Yatzke".
In 1937 my sister Leah married Joseph HOCHMAN and traveled with him
to Argentina. Thus she and her three children Tova,
Shmuel and Tzitsa were
spared the extreme agony that our family suffered. Leah passed away in 1995.
Szprinze, Moshe and I survived the war in the Soviet
Union. Szprinze returned to Poland after the war and
from there travelled to Germany and in 1950 arrived in Argentina. She died in
Argentina in 2000leaving three children: Tova (Tersa in Polish), Leon and Joseph.
Our parents, their sons Judke and Yatzke
and the rest of the family were murdered in the Sobibor death camp in 1942.
In 1939 my father was 66 yeards old, my
mother was 54, Judke - 30, Szprinze
24, Moshe 21, Yatzke 13 and I was 17 years
old.
In a card I received from the Polish embassy in Moscow, my birthday
appears as 2nd January 1921 but I was actually born in 1923. Only
after I arrived in the West did UN officials correct my birthdate in my IDs.
Houses & Neighbors
Prior to 1939, most of the houses in Żółkiewka
were made of wood. The streets had no names and between them were narrow
alleys. We had a large wooden house with a tiled roof. The house was divided
into two areas: the living area 2 rooms and the kitchen; the workshop to
produce oil. Next to the house were the stables where we had a horse, then the
barn with a cow and a coop with several chickens.
The buildings and the garden bordered on the grounds of our Polish
neighbors Mrs. Szarszinjowa and her daughter, Ms. Segan. There was a close friendship between our neighbors
and us. They used to give us gardening advice and we would help them with
fieldwork.
On the other side of our house was the home of Mr. Michal Mirsky
a tall and thickset man, noble and admirable, open, honest and willing to
help anyone who needed in short: a good man and a god neighbor. He had no
land and made a living as a carter. Each morning he set out to trade meat
products for which he would buy cattle and pigs. He liked Jews and defended
them from Anti-Semitism and they loved him back and even called him
"Michael". He and his wife had a daughter, Henka
(her daughter still lives in Lublin) and we often visited each other. It's hard
to imagine a better neighborly relationship.
Childhood Summer Time
We would collect fresh hay for it every day and place it on the
roof of the stable. During the summers I used to lay on the hay and sleep and I
can still recall the intoxicating smell. Near our fields was a small river and
across it the village of Zaburze. In the meadow was a
fountain and we used to drink from its pure waters. We used to pick flowers,
play "Planta" - a baseball-like game, and
bathe in the river. I learned to swim there. We would pick reeds, tie them up
and make rafts to prevent us from drowning. We also made flutes that produced
lovely sounds.
When I grew up a little, I loved going to the woods with my brother
Moshik to gather berries, mushrooms and other forest
treasures. We passed Master Janislawski's pool one
time and the Polish workers called us "Jewboys, are you coming to
bathe"? "No" we answered. Then the workers laughed and said
"So we will wash you!" and threw Moshik
into the water. I was scared by this and ran home screaming. It was quite far
about 2 kms. The village was in a panic and the
neighbors spread out into the woods and even into the pool looking for Moshik. Moshik was finally found
hiding in the woods since he feared the woodsmen were looking for him. Finally,
when he heard our brother Aaron calling, he came out with a basket full of
berries.
"Cheder" (Chederschulen - Basic Jewish training for boys)
There were several "Cheder" schools in
Żółkiewka and the teaching took place at the teacher's house.
Payment was set by a price agreed on by both parties. One of the
"Cheder" owners, Mr. Moshe Wienberg had two
sons and they were in a Russian Labor camp with me. When I was three years old,
my mother took me to Mr. Lewinstein
"Cheder" so I will learn reading and writing to enable me to read the
Bible in the Holy language. This language I knew was used by religious Jews and
in Israel. To convince me I wanted to go to the "Cheder", my mother
would buy a sweet pretzel in the bakery and maybe some candy on the way there.
The "Cheder" students aged three to six. It had two teachers: Mr. Lewinstein, the owner and Mr. Ben-Zion Greener. Ben-Zion
taught us oral prayers and translated them to Yiddish so we could understand.
When he would get angry, he would hit us with a "reptrok"
a rod with a leather strap at its end. As for me, he never hit me therefor I
cannot say whether it was a useful educational tool
I was a good student
therefore the teacher sent me on my 6th birthday to be tested by the
Rabbi. After the test was over, the Rabbi wrote down "very good" and
even praised me in front of my father saying I will grow up to be a famous
Rabbi. A certificate from the Rabbi was useful as a recommendation to study in
the Yeshiva where Rabbis got qualified. If my father were an Orthodox religious
Jew, he would have probably sent me to study in the Yeshiva.
My parents planned a celebration at home for my success in the
"Cheder". Mother used to praise me in front of the neighbors and say
that someday I might be a Rabbi. My mother's ambition never got carried out
because when I started studying in Elementary School I gradually drifted away
from the "Cheder" in which lessons now took place in the evenings. I
was also lost interest in religion and only before my Bar-Mitzva
I had to prove I know how to pray and wear phylacteries like all men.
School
When I was seven years old, I started to study in a Polish
elementary school. Every morning there was a prayer, all the kids would stand
up and the Christian ones would start with the words "In the name of the
father, the son and the holy spirit". We Jews would not say these words as
that was the Rabbi's instruction. When the prayer ended we would join the rest
of the class singing "When the sun rises in the morning" (a Polish
song). Together we studied all subjects except for religion. This was taught by
a priest and in these classes, the Jewish kids would play outside in the yard.
The Polish kids would go outside and play when a Jewish teacher taught the
Jewish kids lessons in Judaism (in Polish).
Scholl had seven classes. The first grade was located in the
building next to the post office. Our teacher was Miss Dragnovna
a short woman with a round and pleasant face smiley and good natured. She
was a good person and a good teacher and she didn't favor the Christian pupils
over the Jewish ones. If there were any fights between the students, her
hypnotizing stare and her wise sayings would bring about the inevitable
peacemaking.
Miss Dragnovna also taught me in second
grade. The parallel class was taught by Mr. Kogot,
the educator who taught us singing.
In the third grade my teacher was Miss Milnovna-Sovolovska
a tall woman with a pointy nose and a long face. She taught us German and was
a serious woman who demanded discipline. She liked me for I was a quiet
student, did not participate in any fights and above all studied hard.
In fourth grade I moved to study in Mr. Wolchik's
house. My teacher was Mr. Ostechi Tetik
a medium height man, clever, honest, nice and sympathetic. In case there was
a fight between students, he would always take the side of the weaker ones. He
was a good person and an excellent educator. There were some rumors about him
saying he was a socialist and he was therefore not liked by the principle but
to us, it didn't mean a thing.
In fifth grade I returned to study in the Polish school, this time
in Mr. Kowejlski's class. He was a tall, handsome man
who at one time also served as the principle. He was well experienced in the
profession and after an initial fear; we grew to respect and love him.
It saddens me that my schooling ended in the fifth grade of elementary
school. That is the reason I am not able to write without spelling or grammar
mistakes and cannot express my thoughts well in Polish. I talk about the Polish
teachers of Żółkiewka in nostalgia they were more than good
teachers and educators, they were first and foremost good honest people and
racial or religious discrimination was beyond them.
Apprenticeship
When I finished fifth grade, my parents decided that it was time to
teach me a trade and therefor handed me over to a tailor for a few years of
apprenticeship. At first I was happy because I did not have to go to school and
do homework but I quickly understood that tailoring would be extremely hard for
me as I was used to be outside in Nature.
Like every other craftsman, the tailor did not treat me like a
student but rather as a servant. After a year of apprenticeship I did not learn
anything besides prepping the iron with whispering coals and how to sew
loopholes for buttons
He was a good man but hot-tempered and he would hit me more than once. He had a
good and smart wife and two well-educated daughters.
It was unbearable and I did not know how to end it. God must have
heard my prayers because my father suddenly decided to bring me back home and
teach me how to be a fruit dealer like him: one day he came to the workshop,
pulled me out, spanked the horse and with a "vio-kashtan"
we hit the road. We did not stop until we reached the orchard my father rented
especially for my training.
Earning a Living
My father traded fruit to provide for the family. Although he
always provided for our large family, he was a minor merchant and he sometimes
sunk into debt. With all that, he never forgot to support the local community
and the Yeshiva in Lublin. Thus he was a role model for supporting the greater
good and not just the local public.
He would lease estate gardens and orchards. In the summers he would
build a shack with a chaff
roof and bring in an iron oven to cook on. That is how we lived out our
summers in "nomadic" conditions.
During the autumn and before Easter he would also produce oil in his private
roller and sell it.
In the summertime we would transport the early fruits in crates via
Krasnystaw to Lublin. I would sometimes go with my father to Lublin in his cart
to sell the fruit. We would leave near nightfall and after a long ride with one
stop for feeding the horse and for us, we would reach Lublin by dawn.
Winter apples were transported by dealers via Izbica to Warsaw by
train. It was mostly the same dealers, from "Hala
Mirowska" market in Warsaw the Mandelkorn brothers: Yichel &
Simon. Until this very day I remember that they would hand my father an advance
payment for the fruits of next season sometimes based on a written contract but
mostly on the basis of a handshake and mutual trust. That used to be the way of
doing business. A contract would be signed only if the deal was expensive or
risky. In this way, they would sign a contract for the leasing of properties
for the coming year when it was unknown how the harvest would turn out.
At one time, when the trees were in bloom there was a frost,
striking the apples and causing heavy losses to my father. The two dealers
agreed to postpone the refund for another year so that my father can stand by his
word. The estate owner, Mr. Cibiartnja from whom we
leased some orchards in the village Borów also
behaved in a similar way: In the year following the frost, he leased his
orchards free of charge. Mutual support and assistance was common. Shortly
after, the same landowner came to see us and told us that two of his horses had
died. He asked my father for a loan. My father replied "I did not forget
your kindness" and in the same week brought two horses to him. The final
settlement would come after the harvest was in.
Until the fruits matured, I would help the landlords in field work
or accompany their children to pick berries and mushrooms in the forest. Even
though the orchard had plenty of fruit, we loved to gather forest berries and
would play there. We loved looking for the quick squirrels with their long and
furry tails, woodpeckers pecking holes and other animals of the forest. Not far
from one of our leased orchards was a forest named "Odnoga"
where teens would have dancing parties. My father usually brought a table with
apples for refreshment to those dances. This would save the boys a climb over
the fences and my father the broken branches
In 1938 we leased a big orchard in Sobieska
Wola (about 10km/6 miles from
Żółkiewka). Several Jewish families lived in the village and
surroundings and my father would join them for a Minyan.
It was usually a chance for me to play with the Jewish kids. I made many
friends there and after the season ended I continued to walk over there to meet
them.
The Great Fire
In May 1938 one of our Polish neighbors went out to milk his cow at
night with an oil lamp in his hand. The lamp fell and a terrible fire spread
throughout the area. Most of the town was burned down but thankfully, our house
was spared being upwind of the fire. The entire town stood in a row passing
buckets from one to another till the last splashed water on the fire. It
finally died down but nothing much remained.
The last orchard we leased was in Dąbie, closer to
Żółkiewka than Sobieska Wola (about 6km/4 miles). This time we stayed in our house
and did not build a shack. It was there that the war found us.
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Compiled by Tamar Amit
Updated 2 March, 2018
Copyright © 2011-2018 Tamar Amit
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