Life of Hersh Fainsilber

The Early Years

Sometime in the1980’s, in Toronto, my father, Hersh Fainsilber broke his ankle and could not work and had to rest.  He decided to use this period of time to talk about his life and for me to record it. My father was interested in everything.  He spoke of the socio-economic, political, religious and historical aspects to his life. Therefore, by the time his ankle healed we had only reached the period just before he left his home and went to Russia.  These are his early years.

This is what he remembers and what he was told about his family: 

My mother was one of 10 children. Her family name was Frock . She was born in a village named Konstantinova  ( which was called Alte Colonia, Old Colony, in Yiddish) in Russia. Konstantinova was a very poor farming village.

The Czar created this village for Jewish soldiers who retired from the Russian Army.  Earlier, young Jewish boys were kidnapped in the streets and forced to join the army.  After the army, they were given their own portion of land. This village consisted of only Jewish people. 

In 1934, I visited Konstantova and met my mother’s brother, Laibe Frock . He was a carpenter.  The village was close to Slonim (district town) and even closer to Rozenoy (south), which means a rose.  There was another Jewish village built nearby called Niye Colonia – new Colony. 

Before the war, I had four aunts and one uncle. One lived in Rojenoy and one in Bialistock (provincial capital) whom I never saw. Her name may have been Sarah and she went to the United States. Two aunts lived in my town, Volkovisk -  Chaya Istkovitch (my mother’s sister and her sons were Moshe and Berle) and Dvosha Kagan who lived with us and had a daughter Layah.  

I had many cousins and some worked at delivering goods from neighbouring cities to smaller towns with a horse and carriage.  My cousin, Laya was born in Rojenoy. It was on the Schara River.

My Uncle owned orchards, grew hay and had a meadow with streams.  In the middle of the village, there was a shul made of logs.  The village had 100-200 families, with only one street and no market.

My mother was born in 1888.  Her parents were Laya and Hershel. My grandmother was born in Buten, a small town east of Rozenoy. 

I don’t know where my grandfather was from but I think he or his father was a Cantonist which meant that he had been conscripted into the Russian Army.

My grandmother worked at a textile factory using a hand weaving loom. In the1930’s the family were still alive in Rojanoy

My cousin Laya’s mother was Miril Epstein.  Laya’s father was a blacksmith. In 1936 Laya moved to Israel.  A cousin from Israel married her so that she could leave Russia. This was during the Depression and there was a great deal of anti-Semitism in Rozanoy.  Two Jews were killed because they were accused of using Christian children’s blood for matza.  Laya married in 1945 in Israel, her husband died in 1958, and she remarried in 1967.

My father, Yosef was born in Volkovisk.  I don’t know the date. His father was also named Dovid.  I can’t remember my grandmother’s name.  They lived in the slaughter house.  My father had 6 siblings who died at a young age. He was the only one who survived.  His parents were fearful that he would also die so they spoiled him by carrying him to school. They also fed him when he was old enough to eat by himself and did not let him do any work.

My mother’s dowry was 400 rubles which was very high. When my father was asked why he took such a high dowry – he said that he must be worth it. My father’s parents got work in the Kosher section of the municipal slaughterhouse.  This was a very good job.

My father’s aunt  Drezl remarried to a very orthodox man and had a vegetable store in the market. Another aunt’s name was Kosofsky and another relative named Rosa Fainsilber was a dentist.

My mother’s name was Taibe (Yona).  She was the youngest of 10 children; 9 girls and one boy who was the oldest. She married my father because he had a good job and a big house in the centre of town which was rented out.  My father’s parents were still alive and did all the work

My family were the caretakers of the Municipal slaughterhouse.  We lived in the building attached to it. When you enter the building, to the right were the offices which had the manager, the veterinarian and female microscopistka”  who checked the meat for diseases.  Straight ahead was the waiting room for butchers, workmen (before slaughter)

Through the waiting room, were our living quarters which was one room.  The kitchen was in the waiting room.

To the left off the waiting room was the Shochet’s room where cow’s lungs were checked by pouring warm water over the lung after air was pumped in the lungs.  If bubbles appeared, it meant there were holes and the cow was sick. When the shochet was unsure if the cow was sick, a rabbi was called to make the decision.

Past the schochet’s room on the left was the entrance to the slaughterhouse. The length of the slaughter house was 100 metres by 50 meters wide. Another building next to it is was a slaughterhouse for pigs.  This was the reason for having a separate building.  50 % of the population were Jews.

Behind slaughterhouse was a big garden with trees and flower beds looked after by the care taker of the pig slaughterhouse who did not live there but 300 metre from it.

Beside the garden was an underground cooler kept cool by farmers bringing lots of blocks of ice from river in the winter which kept all summer.  The ice was covered by straw to keep the heat out.  My family’s job was to open the cooler and store left over meat for butcher’s who did not have a cooler.

The yard had a building for cow hide skins and a big building to store firewood.

The yard was surrounded by a high fence. The family had lots of wood for heating and cooking. At the front were cow and pig stalls. In front of the stalls, there was a large piece of land where potatoes were grown and were shared by the manager and workers There was a water pump nearby and 2 people were needed to pump water into tank in the slaughterhouse.  The walls and floors were washed regularly. Later a motor pump was used. Across the road there was a brick factory.

My Early Years

I was born on October 5th, 1923, in the house owned by a “bubie” (a midwife) in Volkovisk in the province of Bialystok which is also the name of the provincial capital.

My brother, David, was born in 1921.  He had a straight pointy nose.

My earliest memory was that I wore a night shirt when I was around 4 years old. I played with gentile children since we were the only Jewish family on the street.  I played in the waiting room and talked to people. They told me interesting stories from the First World War.

Before school age I copied the sign for the “slaughterhouse” and showed that to other people who praised me for being able to write. . Most workmen were illiterate and swore.

The slaughterhouse was on the outskirts of town. My brother was taken to school and picked up from school by my mother.  It seemed to be a 1/2hour walk. (child’s perspective).

I remember the first day Mame took me to school. She cried in the class and I was embarrassed. After that, my brother took me to school.  In first grade were the religious boys school, Talma Torah. In the past it was a Yeshiva. My teacher’s name was Biyer who was a short fat old man. We had 2 levels in one grade, divided into 2 rows and 4 children to a desk.

I remember a song sung by mother: “The Hen Looks In the Mirror”

De on kookt in the spiegel

Dos kind falt fun vigil

Der chalah vert febrent

Lofindick fachepetzick der facheale (By running the shawl gets caught)

De klaid vert tsetrent (torn)

When mother went visiting she rubbed the wall and put the white powder on her face instead of face powder.

Before Passover, straw was put on the floor, perhaps to keep floors clean. I used to roll in the straw. My mother put Passover dishes in the attic and I used to hand them to her and she would say “mir son derleben eeber a yor an vider aroupnemen” (May we live another year and again take out the dishes)

Some Passover dishes had a design of 2 fish. We had glasses with Passover written on them and I broke one by pouring hot water in it.

I played with my brother. Once we were invited by the gentile neighbours for a Christmas dinner. The mother became sick and blamed it on them giving her the evil eye.

On the second day of Rosh Hashanah in1930, my mother died while shopping for Rosh Hashana. She collapsed and was in hospital for 3 days before she died.  I visited her in the hospital and she seemed unconscious. She said incoherently “pick up something from the floor” when they moved her from one bed to the other. Just before she died she arranged for my brother and I to have custom-made blue corduroy suits which she never lived to see.

Many people came to funeral. My brother and I cried while going to bed. I remember that I cried because everyone else was crying.

Because my mother died, Moshe, my cousin, was called to come and look after us. My father was still there. Many people walked in the procession for the funeral. The casket was on a wagon. Moshe held my brother’s hand. Anja held my hand. She was a woman hired by my mother (because my father was not working) to help clean the slaughterhouse and offices. She was a spinster and her brother –in- law was the caretaker of the slaughter for pigs.

There was a house at the cemetery where the body was washed and the clothing for the dead were torn, not cut, and sewn - white linen was used so that the rich and poor would be equal. People would meanwhile wait outside. I was told later that while he was waiting he was playing with other children. I remember that people made room for me to look at the body as it was being lowered into the ground – a last look. There were boards around the side of the grave and cover on top, no bottom, just the earth. A pillow of sand was made - usually some sand from Israel.

Later I became a good friend of Berle Lise who was the son of the caretaker of the cemetery. One day we went to the cemetary and the friend helped me make a tombstone of wood with my mother’s name and put stones around the grave.

A distant relative took my brother and I to Shul and showed us how to say Kaddish. I went 2-3 times a day for the whole year. The chimney sweeper (to whom my mother gave food and helped him, had 10 children) said Tehilim all night while mother laid there.

Moshe was called from Rojonoy and he came right away. He used to live with us and had helped with the slaughterhouse when he was learning upholstering. When he came this time he was 18 years old and familiar with the work.  Aunt Dvosha and her daughter Laya, who was16 years old, from Luna were asked to come and to stay with us as well.

Once my mother died there was no room for my father and so he moved to the centre of town. He lived in a room of a shoemaker’s shop and Aunt Drezle would come to take care of him. She blamed the family for not caring enough about him.  She was called a yenta.

Now Dovid and I were orphans. At first the family tried to put us in an orphanage. The orphanage wanted to take the house (our inheritance) in the centre of town for payment. My father’s family resisted because they wanted the money to support my father. So nothing happened. I wanted to go to the orphanage to have a normal life.

A guardian was given to us through the court system because there was a family conflict (mother and father’s family) so a non -relative was made guardian. His name was Labe Aron and he was a very wise tzadik and he also watched over the house.  We didn’t have much contact with him. When I needed money for shoes, books, I went to get a note from him and then go to the family that rented the house and they gave me the money. They didn’t pay rent. I was 8 years old and shy to ask for money. I would say that Moshe or my aunt sent me.

After the guardian died, my uncle, Drezl’s husband, became the guardian. He was also a very religious and trustworthy person.

My mother left money in 3 places. One was a bank that went bankrupt during the depression. She lent money to people who owned the brick factory but couldn’t repay the money. The husband died and the mother promised that the children will eventually return the money. Once in awhile they gave me some money but they were very poor.

My mother lent money to a grocery store. She would not keep money at home because it wasn’t safe. This loan was returned with food from time to time.

Sometimes for lunch break from school, I would buy 2 flat onion buns for myself and my brother. My brother would send me to the store because he was extremely shy.

Slaughter house

Work in the slaughterhouse was almost a 24 hour job. Butchers came to pick up meat, at 2 or 3 am. Everything had to be washed – floors, walls, e.g. pumping water, offices, corridors, and the yard had to be cleaned.

Dovid and I cleaned the yard which was divided in two parts. I worked in the smaller part every morning before school started from the age of 8. I cleaned the straw manure and big outhouse.

At 6:00 pm the slaughtering began again, from 10-11:00 pm once it was finished then again cleaning for 2 hours.  There was little time for cooking so we usually ate chulent. Sunday was the only day for ourselves.

The supervisor was an old man. He was there during the time of my grandfather. The old people knew everything about my family. They had a very close relationship.

Things ran smoothly but gradually these old people died and a new vet came. He did not know the family and asked many questions. Children were prohibited from entering or living in the slaughter house.

 So afterwards, Dovid and I stayed in the house during office hours, only.  For 4-5 years we had to sneak into the slaughterhouse. I would sneak in after school and during the summer I would go in and out through the back window.

Before going, someone had to check if the corridor was clear.

The new supervisor was the flag holder for the party for national unity (ozon) an anti Semitic party. He was easier than the vet because he had been there longer.  We feared the vet more than him. The supervisor gave more work to Moshe, to do (accounting) but was nice and appreciative although he was anti Semitic.

The old microscopist woman was a widow and lived close to the slaughterhouse. When she was alone in the office I would come in and talk to her. I felt very close to her. She showed me how to make paper cut outs and folding paper to make animals and objects.

The new vet was strict.  Because we are Jewish he always tried to get rid of us so that a Polish family would get this work.

Later on, a big Polish family lived right behind the slaughter house.

The father was a sergeant in the army and he visited often and spoke openly that Jews should not be employees of the city and that we should leave. He was unemployed.  We could tell that we would not last long there.

After the war Moshe met the supervisor in Poland and he apologized for the way he had behaved towards my family.

In all of Volkovisk only 3 people had municipal jobs. We had this job   because of the need for kosher slaughter.  Then there was the  bookkeeper in the city hall.  He was a volunteer in the Polish army and had a good record.  And the third was an engineer of the electric power station.

The family, the Rezicks, who lived in our house in the centre of town were government agents who sold lottery tickets. Their living room was very nice.  The house had 2 big bedrooms and one big kitchen and was built by my grandfather. It had nice garden and an old cherry tree. 

I had the idea that when I grow up I will divide the house between myself and my brother and take my father to live with us. Whenever I was asked if I would want to work in the slaughter house when I grew up, I always replied no because I didn’t like that life style.

School

I started school in 1929. It was the only religious Jewish school; there were 3 Hebrew Jewish schools but they were not religious (taught Hebrew). My school taught in Yiddish but wrote in Hebrew and Polish.

In Grade 1, I learned the alphabet and Siddur. In Grade 2 I learned Polish and in Grade 5 I enjoyed the lectures about government and politics.

As grades went up, the number of students went down.  In Grades 1to 6, the number of students decreased from 30 students to 8 students.  In Grade 3, my brother failed so we were in the same class. 

Most parents were illiterate and poor.  In public school everything was in Polish and there was one hour of Jewish classes.  The principal of my school was from Lodz. He taught Polish and dressed well.  The teachers wore smocks, had wax drops on their clothes from studying all night. The principal was very strict but I respected him.

There was a bully in my class.  He rode a coach after school to make money. He was very tough and told the children who they can be friends with.  His family was involved in criminal activities.

I had a good friend, Beryl, the son of the cemetery caretaker.

One day when he was 9 years old, before Sukkot, I went with him and his younger brother to find branches that one used during prayers. We wanted to sell them to make money.  We walked too far, all the way to Zelver (30 km from Volkovisk). 

I had a cousin, Laibe, the son of Dvoshe.  On the road we met him riding a horse and carriage going to Volkovisk but he would not take us back. We were hungry and tired and my brother cried and a farmer gave us a ride to our cousins. At the cousins we ate lots of potatoes and pickles.  We slept on the floor and in the night Beryl’s father came and took him home. I stayed all week for Sukkot.

When I came back home, my cousin Layah punished me, she hit and yelled at me. Beryl’s father forbid me to visit their home. I loved going there to play; lots of room to play in a big yard with trees and other children. After awhile, I was allowed to visit again, but I had to promise never to do that again.

A year or more later, Beryl took 5 zlotes from the charity box but didn’t tell me where he got the money. We went to buy goodies –  a small bottle of vodka, salami and candies. We hid near the bridge of the new market and had a feast. Somehow the next day someone found out and I saw Beryl at school with red eyes.  I saw that something was wrong.

The principal called me into his office and hit me with a stick. Fortunately, no one at home found out. I was afraid and only told my brother. Again Beryl’s father forbid me to visit because I did not tell them about the money but after awhile that passed, as well.

When I was 11 years old, Moshe sent me to Rojenoy during summer vacation to be with aunt Chayah and cousin Beryl. She was the only Jew in this non- Jewish area.  Most of Jews lived in the business centre.  I went to Rojenoy by horse and carriage and stopped in middle of the night in a village to eat milk and bread.  This was the first time I left home. The driver was the son of a cousin from Alte Colonia.

Chayah’s husband was killed in World War I when he was in the Russian army. Moshe was 2 years old and Chaya was still pregnant with Beryl. Being a widow, she had to support herself and had an black market grocery store because she could not afford the licence. Sometimes neighbours informed on her to the police and she had to go to court.

When I came to visit she was in jail for 2 weeks in an unlocked cell. She came home in the evening to sleep.

I went fishing with Beryl near a mill and it started to rain hard and we hid under the bridge. On the way back we had to cross a river where the water was so high it reached Beryl’s chin. I was sitting on his shoulders.

Chaya sold dried applies and I loved them and would sneak a few when she was not looking.

Beryl took me to visit Layah’s family in Rojenoy, Aunt Mira. I also went to Alte Colonia once to visit Uncle Laibe and his wife and they had lots of children and grandchildren. I stayed for a couple of days.

After that I always hoped to visit again, it was an all Jewish town, a beautiful place, warm and friendly.

My Uncle tested my torah reading.  The daughters who was attractive and had dark eyes. But I never returned. Now there are no Jews living there. Layah heard that a son of a cousin might still be alive.

My cousin Moshe, who lived with me, yelled at me to do my school work but he never helped me.  I did not seem to have the desire to study. Students with older sibling had help from them.

I did not learn much, I was very slow.  In school the teachers did not bother with students who had problems and children were more concerned with getting a job than being in school. I wanted to go to a better more organized Hebrew school but we were much too poor to pay.

The TOZ, a children’s fund to help poor children, would come to the school and bring warm milk and buns. Sometimes Dovid and I did not receive any food because we were considered to be from a wealthy family since we worked in the slaughterhouse.  Soup was given after school. I never got any soup but a friend would sometimes sneak some for me.  In 1936, I finished grade 6 and left school. It was difficult for me to attend school because I had nowhere to do my homework.  The slaughter house was too noisy.

 One day, when I was still in school, I gave my skates to be repaired at a shloser (metal worker). His name was Ellie Roshyanski. He was in his 30’s, and had two small children. He had poor vision and red eyes because of the smoke and bad lighting (petrol lamp) in the dark basement.

 He didn’t fix the skates right away so I came back a few times and started to help the man because he was working alone.  He liked me and after that I came after school to help him and he started teaching me the trade. He promised that when I finish school I can become his apprentice.  This was a very good skill to have.  I did not tell anyone at home because they may have not allowed me to go. The metal work was in a basement, under a store in the centre of town.  It was very dirty work. I had a problem of finding a way to wash myself before going home. Sometimes I used snow to clean myself. I went there for a couple of months until I stopped because it was too much for me.

When I was 13 years old and just finished school, I went to see him shloser/ locksmith, Elie and told him that I wanted to be his apprentice.

Elie called my guardian and discussed it with him.  He was glad for me and wanted me to learn a trade.

I did not get paid but was happy to be learning a trade.

I liked the work and later I was grateful to him because of this much needed skill saved me from being drafted into the army.

I walked proudly in the street with a dirty face like I was somebody.

Every day I came home proudly and related my stories of what I learned that day.  One day I was drilling holes, the next day I was cutting iron.  There was no electricity so all the work was very “primitive”.  My job was to hold the petrol lamp and clean it so Ellie could see.  I pumped a forge with my foot.  From his home, I brought him his lunch in a pot. Then I went home and had lunch.

Generally, it was hard to make a living and not enough work to do.  When there was work, I cut iron for days with a hammer and chisel and often hit my knuckle.  I mainly drilled holes by pressing and turning a very basic drill.

I worked from 8 am to whenever he told me to go home.  Sometimes I worked 10-12 hours a day.  When he left me alone in the shop, I made my own things – wood chisel for my brother and a flint lighter since matches were taxed and very expensive.  Everyone was surprised that a little boy could make such things.

I worked with Ellie for a year.  The reason I left this job is that one day, by mistake, I broke a die to make bolts. When Ellie found out he yelled at me and pulled me by the ear.  He told me to go home and that he would think again about having me as his apprentice.  I never returned and decided it was time to look for a paying job. In 1939, Ellie was drafted into the Polish army. The last time I heard about him he was in a POW camp, almost blind and he never came back.

I asked Moshe to ask the man who fixed the water pump in the slaughterhouse if there was any work for me. His name was Avrom Velvel Schtigel.  I think he hired me because I was an orphan.  I was 14 years old and it was illegal for me to be working.  He already had 3 employees.  The most experienced were paid 2 zlotes a day.  Another one was an orphan from an orphanage who lived with him.  The third was a relative of his wife Chanah-Rochel. He was clumsy and slow. The shop was in the living room.  There was not enough room for everyone; everything was “primitive” -no power or electricity.

Sometimes, we worked in the kitchen, attic, backyard or basement.  The whole house had iron junk and was dirty.  We forged in the basement.  The boss took me wherever he went, he liked me more than the others.  While waiting for the forge to heat up, my boss would tell me about the Bible, the Talmud.  He was a religious man.  He was also very inventive.

During winter when it was slow they made beds.  He made a press to make washers from scrap metal for the beds.  He had the biggest shop in town and he had a good name. He was well known and did creative work. He kept his methods and techniques a secret. 

One day I saw my previous boss and I started to come to visit him after I finished work because I could not home right away.  I enjoyed his company. He asked me questions about my current boss and I ended up telling him some secrets which I didn’t want to tell. 

The first three months were unpaid and then for Rosh Hashana Avrom gave me a shiny 5 zlote piece (equal to $150 today).  I was very happy. It was my first pay.  He then paid me ½ zlote per day.  I worked from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm.

I did not have a bar mitzvah. I never experienced an “aliyah” because Moshe didn’t care and did not go to shul himself.

When I finished school, I was quite religious and joined the Shomer Hadati youth movement (Mizrachi party) because my friends were there. I liked to sing songs and folk dance and have meetings. But I felt too embarrassed about my clothing and afraid they would not accept me.  My closest friends were members but most were rich children. I went on walks through the forest with them on Shabbat and girls picked leaves. But I felt uncomfortable and left after one year.

I wanted to join Tsukumf (Future) – the youth wing of the socialist Bund but I was afraid Moshe would not let me.  Moshe was afraid that the police watched the communist party which was illegal and had infiltrated the Bund.

One day Moshe met a canvasser from the Tzukumf and he told him about a summer camp for boys for 3 weeks that was not expensive so Moshe got the idea to send me. And then I joined the organization.

When I told my boss that I was going to this camp, he disapproved of me going to a secular organization.   He and his wife told me that if I go then I won’t have a job when I return.  He needed me mostly in the summer when there was more work and the other boys also wanted to go to the camp.  I badly wanted to go to the camp and so decided to go.

Tzukumf

In 1938, there were over 100 children from different towns at the Tsukumf.  The camp rented an old palace from a Russian landlord where the children slept. There were beautiful grounds with a river, mill, fields, scout games, programs, swimming, folk dancing, bon fires, sports, and exercises.

They invited Jewish youth from the nearby town of Palonka to perform gymnastics. At night, they stole the flag from the Shomer Hadati camp nearby and there was lots of celebration.

I met a girl, Rayzel Mordachovitch from Baronovitch. We exchanged letters and pictures after camp finished.  We had a nice farewell on the last night and we promised to meet again next year.

My friends and I talked about the camp and sang the songs afterwards. I felt that I belonged to a movement to improve the conditions of life.  We sang the song: “Where children should be playing, they’re working for their bread”.

When I came back I did not work for a few days and than saw my boss and he asked me to come back to work.

I went to lectures, meetings and socialized a few times a week.

There was a secret question box with information that there were some communists in the organization.  Once when I went to visit my friend, Itzel, the police searched me, saying they are looking for a lighter.  They would not let me leave.

They found a picture in my pocket of the group at camp and recognized the leader of the Bund. They took my picture to the police station and told me to get it later.  I expected trouble but nothing happened.  I never told Moshe about the incident.

I had a friend, a shoemaker named Hershl Voylikov.  He lived near the chimney sweeper.  I went to visit him when I could not go home after school.  We talked about the Communist Party.  He said that he was a member of the Party and was sent to Volkovisk and that he was the only undercover agent in town.  His secret was that he pretended to be an Orthodox Jew.   He often borrowed money from me and did not always repay it. 

In 1938, the Communist Party of Poland was dissolved because the secret police infiltrated the party and discovered all their secrets.  He told me that he spent all his money to support the Russian agents who visited him.   But I thought it was an excuse not to repay me.  I was very close to him and this was one of the main reasons that I decided to go to Russia.  While visiting him, he also taught me some shoemaking skills which I later used in Russia.

In July 1939, I went to summer camp again and my boss gave me permission this time.  The location of the camp changed.  It was in the border zone, 100 km from Russsia.  It was illegal for the Bund to be there. The border police instructed the camp to take down the red flag but they refused.  I had a new leader, who was professional, from Warsaw and a journalist for the Bund Folks Tzeiten.  He told us that this was the only one of 3 camps where Yiddish was used all the time.  

We made tables from digging trenches in the ground and piling up the soil in the middle.  Once, a Polish Socialist leader gave a talk on the Spanish Civil War.  While we were eating, he spoke about the starving Spanish children and everyone stopped eating and gave donations.  I did not have any money to give.  He identified with the Republicans (leftists) in Spain who were fighting against the military. 

We played a game of taking control over the river, as if it was the Elba River in Spain.  A man from the Yiddisher Wissenschaflecher Institute was collecting Yiddish sayings and riddles from the children who came from different parts of Poland.  We had debates and speeches concerning world politics. 

At this time, the Germans had already taken over Czechoslovakia and Austria in 1938.  We felt there would be a war between Russia and Germany because Germany’s main enemy was Communism.  Communism was the big fear in the world.  The Bund was against Communism because there was no freedom.

In 1934, Moshe went to serve in the Army. Berel, his brother who was 4 years younger than him, took over his job in the slaughterhouse. Berel was more easy going and I felt freer with him, although he still punished me.

One time Berel was angry with me for not doing a chore.  He refused to let me come in the house after work.  I slept next door at the keeper of the swine slaughterhouse. There were two sisters who liked me because they did not have any children.  They occasionally gave me baked goods.  The next day Berel came to the shop and told me to make sure and come home that night.

During this time, cousin Layah got married and moved out.  She had a big wedding and came home drunk.  She lived in the centre of town and I visited her often.  She kept my money for me.  When I needed to buy clothing, she went with me.  She was a good bargainer.  She was attractive and had get- togethers and sing- a-longs before she got married.

Aunt Dvosha told me that she once had an argument with my mother about taking my brother and myself away and raising us.  She was illiterate, very superstitious and religious.  She had a thick women’s prayer book called Tzena Urena (“go out and look”) written in Yiddish and Hebrew.

Faygel Schumacher, the chimney sweeper’s daughter was the same age as me.  She used to live near the slaughter house. We were the only 2 Jewish families in the area. She was part of a big family with 8 children, and all lived in one room.  They were very poor and my mother often gave them some meat to eat.  The father was an alcoholic.  Her mother told me that when my mother was alive they agreed that Faygel and I would make a good match.  Because of that I ignored her.

My brother and I visited them often because we grew up together and they had lots of children in the family.  Faygel visited the shoemaker in order to see me since I was there almost every evening. Hershel the shoemaker told me that she was interested in me. He tried to convince me to go out with her.  Even Hershel’s son, who was my friend, tried to convince me.  But I was not interested at first and gradually changed my mind. 

In 1939, the war started.  The Russians took over Volkovisk.  The Schumacher family had been living in a poor house owned by the Jewish community. When the Russians came, they gave them a large house which had been owned by a rich Polish family in the centre of town. 

I had not seen Faygle for a few months and I wanted to go out with her.  I also wanted to see the big house.  When I arrived, I found out that she had married a gentile Russian soldier who was also a doctor.   Later, when we spoke about this, she told me that she had liked me.  I asked her why she did not tell me and she replied that the boy should be the one to show interest, not the girl.

The war started in Sept. 1, 1939. Two weeks before that the Polish government drafted Moshe and Berel to fight against the Germans.

Moshe told me to take apart his bicycle and hide it in the attic since bicycles were expensive.

He also told me to dig holes in the backyard, in the wood shed and basement and hide products that belonged to Moshe’s mother’s store.  She had experience during WW1 and knew that money would be worthless and products will be scarc, especially salt.

Moshe told me to stay with his aging mother (in her 60’s) and that my brother should take care of the cleaning of the slaughter house.

In the town, an air raid defence team was organized. Each section of the town had a man who was responsible for calling men to take turns to be night guards.

I was called and I remember sleeping outside on a bench.

I decided not to do guard duty after being called once or twice because I felt responsible for Moshe’s mother.

Whoever had a radio would put it near a window so that everyone could hear the news of the war. Groups would stand around the windows listening to the news.

Farmers bought salt and in bulk and petrol. There was panic in the town because people started hoarding food and other items, e.g. salt, sugar and cigarettes were the first products to go.

The government made more paper currency which had previously been made from coins. Most of the money was going to the military.

Smaller paper money was made for small amounts.

Armed soldiers with helmets and bayonets patrolled the streets to keep order. Aunt Chaya (Moshe’s mom) cried every night for her two sons who were in the army. Her husband was killed in WWI.

Police reserves who were drafted dressed in army uniform and a police hat. Many of these men were sons of government officials who did not want their sons sent to the front.

All the civil servants had run away expecting the Russians to come. For 24 hours there was no police. The city hall made the fire brigade responsible for law and order in the town. This also happened in WWI.

Poland had an overt Anti-Semitic party called OZON (United People’s party). They made Anti-Semitic propaganda. Christians were told not to buy from Jewish stores. Jews could not have any government jobs, e.g. post office, railway workers.  Therefore they became coach drivers and transporters. Christian coach drivers wore caps with the words “Christian Coach” on them.

On the day when most Polish government officials left town, the party planned to kill Jews. Later a list of 200 Jewish leaders of the community was found.  They managed to kill five Jews were, one was a good friend of mine.  We were together in Tzukumpf. He was the son of a shoemaker where my father lived.

On that day my friend and I watched the postal workers escaping from town and loading valuable on trucks. When I was returning to sleep at Aunt Chaya’s, I saw from afar, the reserve police on horses blocking the street. I was afraid and felt that something bad was going to happen.

I went through a side street to get to Chaya’s house. Later I found out that these police cut the arm of my friend and shot him.  They were aided by OZON. I had been told by another friend that this friend had been out picking flowers to welcome the Russians when he was killed.

The Germans were coming from one side and the Russians from the other. The Poles blamed the Jews for Communism.

One day before the Germans bombed Volkovoisk, all the streets around the army base, near the railway station were full of soldiers, carriages, horses and bicycles because the Polish army retreated from the front which was about 100 km from town. By that time Poland had already lost the war, so I wondered why there was bombing from 15-20 airplanes. Aunt Chaya lived across the street from the army base. Many soldiers were all over the place.  There was not enough room for them in the base.

At the time of the bombing, my aunt and I were in the backyard. There weren’t any sirens because there was chaos in town. I heard the roar of airplanes and I took my aunt into the house, the bombs fell, the house shook and windows broke.

I thought of hiding in the basement but the bombing did not last long.

After it was over I went out to look and saw that near the place where we had been standing a bomb had fallen. A piece of shrapnel had made a hole through the fence, the door and the brick oven.

On the street were dead and wounded horses and people and blood all around. On the street near the house lay a dead peasant woman cut in half, beside her a big basket.  She probably came to town to get some scarce food supplies. 

Our house was not badly damaged but some houses nearby looked as if a bomb had fallen straight through the roof.  One had a big, 5 yard diameter round hole on the roof.

This was the only taste of war with the Germans that I had. The next day the Polish army evacuated the town right after the bombings and the townspeople and people from neighbouring towns came to plunder the base, especially the officers’ quarters.

I saw people carrying books, clothing and chairs. People felt free to do anything, there was no law. All night I heard shooting, my aunt and I were afraid of what might happen next.  The next morning I heard a roar that shook the house. I went out to see and saw a heavy tank trying to enter the base.  I could not see any identifying marks on the tank and did not know if it was German or Russian.

More people came out on the street to see what happened and more tanks came.  One had a small red flag showing they were Russians.

I felt happier because they were not Germans. I heard stories from Jewish refugees fleeing from occupied Poland about how Jews were treated in Germany.  I also read in a newspaper about when Hitler came in to power and built concentrations camps for anyone who opposed him, Socialist Jews and Germans.  These camps were not destruction camps yet, they were labour camps.

I went to meet friends and found out about the 5 Jews who were killed and also some Jewish soldiers from the Polish army, killed because they were Jews.

All the friends from Tzukumf went to visit the family of the dead Jewish boy (who was my friend) for the funeral. We stood on guard with bowed heads and there were red flags in the house. We marched in a line with the red flags from the Bund.

There was one long procession for all the 5 dead Jews and we

marched to City Hall. A high ranking Russian officer stepped out on the balcony of the city hall and made a speech condemning the anti-Semitic Poles who were involved in the pogrom.

Jewish people were grateful that the Russians came just in time and prevented a larger progrom mainly aimed at prominent Jews.  The

Poles vented their anger of being defeated by the Germans and Russians.

A Jewish shoemaker known to be a brave man, took a gun and went to get the leader of the OZON party, a pharmacist who organized the pogrom and brought him to the Russians and later he was sent to Siberia.

Later in another town a Polish mailman was recognized to be one of the men involved in the pogrom. He was later executed.

Two weeks after the Russians came in, Moshe returned from the Polish army. He told the story of a Jewish doctor in his unit who gathered a Jewish group and led them to the Russians and voluntarily surrendered.

This group was taken to Shepedofka (Koloz) in the Ukraine and stayed there for two weeks and they were allowed to return home.

The reason they surrendered to the Russians was that the Germans were coming from the west and Russians from the east.  Jews did not want to fall in the hands of the Germans. The Russians were occupying Ukraine and White Russia with little resistance.

Aunt Chaya cried because she was worried about Berel who had not returned yet. After a short time Berel came back. He was in a German POW camp.

Polish Jews and gentiles who were from Russian occupied Poland were allowed to leave. Later they only let gentiles leave.

Russians put up notices in the town saying that life should continue as before, open stores and continue to work.

Boys (mostly Jewish) became the police, called workmen’s guards and wore armbands. The Russians did not trust the Poles. They guarded public buildings and railways, against any sabotage by the Poles.

In Volkovisk there was not a strong resistance. There were stories of stronger resistance movement in larger cities. The Polish army fell apart and there were Polish soldiers in the streets and in empty buildings  because they could not go back home. Their homes were occupied by Germany.

After the resistance of some places, the Polish soldiers (Jews and gentiles) were sent to Russia as Prisoners of War. At this time thousands of Jews from German-occupied Poland fled to the Russian side including Volkovisk. They filled up our synagogues, schools, and empty stores. They organized soup kitchens and bunk beds were built in synagogues.

It started to get cold early and many did not have any winter clothes. I remember a woman in a light summer dress in front of the synagogue shivering from the cold. Many Jewish families took in the refugees (who were mostly Jewish). My friend the shoemaker took in 2 refugees. He lived with his son in one room. He was a poor man and I brought scraps of meat from the slaughterhouse for them.

Because there were so many refugees in the town without work or housing, the Russians put notices encouraging people to go to Russia where they would find work in construction and coal mines.

These 2 refugees talked of going to Russia and that is how I had decided to go, as well.

On the day the Russians came, people cheered and greeted the soldiers in the streets. Many people knew Russian from the time of the Czar and they talked to the soldiers. Soldiers gave them cigarettes.

I knew Russian and talked a lot with the Russian soldiers and found out the reality of Russia, that life was not as wonderful as I imagined it to be. Young people at that time saw Russian as the model of the perfect country – true socialism.  But I still thought it would be better for me to go to Russia than stay in Volkovisk.

The Russian solders bought everything from the stores because in Russia there was a shortage of goods. The Russians emptied the stores and then the stores closed down.

This was where we ended the story. 

Amsterdam

As told to Tova by Hersh Fainsilber in 2006(?)

After the war, we went to a Displaced Person camp in Germany. Then we went to Amsterdam, Holland. We lived on 15 Amstel Street. There were  50 families living in a building that once was an orphanage, called Yoche Veis Hoyse, Beit Yotamim.  It was near the old Sephardic synagogue which was 400 yrs old.  In the orphanage was a large room divided with cardboard into small rooms.  I worked in a factory that made curtain rails. 

Everyone refused to work and went on strike because of fights among families, crowded conditions, lack of heating in the winter, and a baby girl dying due to poor conditions. After that, they allowed 10 families that wanted to live in the country to move temporarily to a village called Shchvalland until they repaired the hospital in Amsterdam that was being renovated into living quarters.

While we lived in the village Shchvalland I worked in a factory in the city of Illfarzum. It was a Philips factory that belonged to 2 partners and they made hospital equipment.  I worked as a blacksmith and made all kinds of things, including kettles. I worked in different areas and in time I became a specialist in making the whistle for the kettles.

We had to go back to Amsterdam to live in renovated hospital. It was very far from my workplace, the Phillips factory.  I had to ride a bicycle to the train, park the bike and take the train to work. The owner of the factory agreed to reimburse my transportation costs. 

In the new quarters in the renovated hospital there was a problem of many large mosquitoes.  At night I killed the mosquitoes with a broom on the ceiling and walls. In the morning, there was a lot of blood on the ceiling and walls. They complained to me about why I made the newly painted walls dirty with blood.  I remember that Tova and everyone else had many stings. The mosquitoes came because of the many ditches in the city. These ditches were built in a form of a horseshoe for defense purposes during the war.  Tthe houses were put on stilts in the water like electrical poles, made of hardwood that would not rot in the water.

I heard of a ship called the Negba, that was being repaired in the port and was soon to travel to Israel. There was a possibility for those who are interested to go to Israel on that ship.   We were among those people who registered to go to Israel. There was the option to go to Venezuala or Israel and we opted for Israel. When I came to tell the factory owner that I was leaving for Israel, the owner, a Freemason, put his hand on my head and blessed me and gave me a recommendation letter. 

This Life Story was written by Shoshana Fainsilber and posted to the web by Eran Wass.

Eva Fainsilber, Hersh's wife, story can be found here:

http://evafainsilber.blogspot.com/ 

Hirsh with his great grandson Nitai Wass 2008