Education in our small town occupies a central place from many generations ago. Educate young generation in Jewish spirit like our wise people said: "Study of Torah is equal to execution of all precepts." It was one of main tasks for community activists. There were several educational institutes chadarim [system of primary level community religious education, singular is cheder], Talmud Torah [teaching of Pentateuch and other sacred texts], and modern schools such as Tarbut and Tzisho.

In this way continued the golden chain of existence of the Jewish people. This issue occupies a distinguished place in our historical registers. It was like this from the beginning of my childhood. I was in almost all chadarim schools, night classes and later I was became a faculty member of the Yavneh cultural school, and therefore I feel obligated to write for posterity these pages in our symbolic stone.

Shmuel the Melamed [religious teacher]

He was my first rebe [religious teacher]. He was our neighbor, a Jew of black beard. When I studied with him, his father was still alive; his father was very old, and was a tailor by trade. He asked us boys to help him thread the needle. They said he was 110 years old. From that time I have engraving in my memory my father's Z"L [blessed his memory] first visit. He arrived at the cheder while the melamed was testing me. An angel throws from the sky a kopek [Russian coin] on the sidur [prayers book]. I ran then to the loft to see whom G-d had sent to brings gifts to good students.

Herchel, the teacher

This was the name of my second rebe, who knew Russian. The nickname "teacher" [rather than rebe] maybe was for his liberal behavior and his modern suits. He was tall, thin, and had a very short beard. Apart from Hebrew and sidur, he put special emphasis on writing. These two chadarim were under the same roof, and in the free time there were often many discussions and fights among the students. On occasion both teachers intervened and exchanged juicy curses.

Yudel the lame

The real last name of my third rebe was Berezovsky. He dragged a leg, and was called by everybody "the lame". His parents were peasants of Michalinka, a village about 15 kilometers from Bereza. His brother, Michele was a well-known speaker, with a degree from the famous Grodno Seminary. Previously he worked in a secondary school in Brest. Yudel was a great specialist in Hebrew grammar. My father was a great expert in the talmud, and he thoroughly knew tanach [Bible] and Hebrew grammar. I remember he came to school often and several times there were great discussions between him and Rebe Yudel. The topic of their discussion could be the correction of a grammatical detail, or the interpretation of tanach verses. Yudel was distinguished for his beautiful writing, especially in Russian. Women came to ask him to write addresses on envelopes. In the last years he lived on Church St., in his own house.

Polonsk Religious Teacher

My fourth rebe was Mordechai Fishman better known as the "Polonsk religious teacher". Taught chumush (Pentateuch) and talmud, and some Hebrew grammar. He was a quiet Jew of medium height and blond beard. He had his own house and a cow in the stable. He lived in a narrow street behind the school. Domestic issues were solved by his wife Velia who was tall and thin, and was a virtuous woman. He had two children; a beautiful daughter, and a son Leizer who studied in a yeshiva in another city; when he returned home in the evening, he taught some talmud pages in the synagogue.

Lipe the melamed [religious teacher]

This rebe devoted his life completely to teaching talmud. He had a whip and whipped the children in the cheder for any small transgression. This was his typical punishment. The rebe of Polonsk used to punish his students with fist blows. Yudel the lame did it with lashes and was helped by other students who enjoyed retaliating against students whom they disliked. Lipe was short of view, looked oblique; he was cross-eyed; was a great bible reader in the new synagogue and read it by heart since his vision was faulty. His wise son Simcha knew more talmud and knew it better than Leizer, son of the Polonsk rebe, and he also taught a talmud page in synagogue to the male youths. Then he received rabbinical authorization to carry out tasks in the Rabbinate.

The melamed from Malch

His name was Ysrael. I did not study with him. The system of his cheder was similar to that of Lipe. His wife was a virtuous woman, and she also helped him in maintaining his home. During the time between Purim and Pesach they were in charge of baking matzot. Their home was organized as a barrack. He was a Jew of wide backs. He walked around the house with head covered with a kipa [skull cap] and supervised the product so that it was kosher. From time to time he became furious with the women who did the work of flattening the mass, and also with the men who had the function of kneading and perforating the matzot, and putting them in the oven.

Moshe Yosel Pearl

In his cheder I studied for one or two periods. His specialty was talmud. He was very seriously devoted to his work. He was very knowledgeable in other studies. He was a great influence on his students, and they tried to study with great seriousness. He was proud of the respect that the whole community had for his high intellectual level. Particularly recorded in my memory was his yellowish fingers from so much smoking.

Aaron son of the shojet's [animal ritual butcher] wife

In second street called "The Road" was Aaron's cheder -- Aaron was the son of the butcher's wife. He had a thick beard and was huffy by nature. Also his head was always moving. He had a long and white beard, and thick brows covered around his eyes, which gave him a patriarchal aspect of a Jew of the past. His cheder was located in a house, and a partition separated it from the other side of the house that belonged of his wife's two sisters and his brother-in-law Zelig. They had inherited the house. I remember Thursday afternoons, when we studied and interpreted some deep problems in talmud, or a complicated chapter of Chob's book. The rabbi's wife was an expert in this material because she had listened to it for several years, and she helped students, which angered the rebe.

Yosel Malinow

Yosel the religious teacher was short and had a long beard that ended in a tip. His cheder was similar to the previous one. These two chadarim were the oldest in town, and their level was very high. The learning cycle was completed there, and anyone who wanted to continue higher Jewish studies had to move to another place because there was nowhere else to receive higher education. This teacher would sometimes fight with students who didn't want to study but went to school because their parents forced them. The rebe's insistence on studying and the inadequate answers of not uneducated students caused the rebe a lot of pain, and therefore he was huffy and nervous. His knowledge of Russian was very scarce.

I remember a case in point: At one time a policeman with a book under his arm entered the cheder for a matter related to tax payment. The rebe talked to him in Russian mixed with Yiddish and said, "Mr. Police, sit down in the bank.."

Aizik Molodovsky

Our citizens' father, the well-known writer Kadia Molodovsky, was already a modern teacher. It was said that he sometimes taught tanach with his head uncovered. He was very expert in general Jewish culture, and followed a little Yiddish-ism [as opposed to Hebrew- ism]. His school prospered and flourished in Bereza.

The teacher Girashov

He was a public school teacher. This Jew, slightly assimilated, came from some distant place of deep Russia, together with his wife who was yet more assimilated. During many years he educated the boys and girls of our town. Their students were the children of Jewish families that wanted to offer their children general culture in the Russian language. In their school they had three courses, especially for Jewish children. The boys studied during the morning and girls during the afternoon. Music classes were mixed. For Christian children there was another school of a lower level. The fee was twelve rubles annually that was paid to the municipality, and the teacher received his salary from the government authorities.

He also owned a printing [picture of the czar]. In spite of being slightly assimilated, the teacher Girashov went twice a year to synagogue -- on Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippur. He prayed for two hours wrapped in a silk talit. When he talked with his best students, he expressed his critical thoughts as for example: "Jews don't come to temple to pray, but to talk among them". Or he asked: them how they would interpret the paragraph "You must have conscience in front of whom you are." The cycle in his school lasted three years, and I made it in two. It is interesting to note that in spite of his Russian patriotic behavior, he was a Jew with deep national feelings.

The following event demonstrates his czarist Russian patriotism. One day, when we were in his classroom, policeman Krilchuk suddenly entered, who was a tall gentile of wide back. He was sent by police chief Timinsky for a routine issue. The policeman forgot to take his cap off. The teacher screamed with fury "Take off your cap" and pointed out the Czar's and Czarina's picture. The confused policeman asked to be forgiven, and stayed firm. Teacher Girashov showed him the door and the policeman left the classroom embarrassed. Did the teacher perhaps want in this way to retaliate on the gentile?

This teacher was a mathematician and wrote a mathematics study book. He published it. The book had great success in its time and was widely recognized all over Russia.

Their two children, Nioma and Fima, both students, were also proud of their Judaism in front of gentile friends. After the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, and after the beginning of WWI, their destiny was tragic. They escaped toward deep Russia fearing the Germans, and left everything behind. After the revolution they returned to Kartuz Bereza, but the Polish regime did not give them citizenship and they were sent to the Soviet border. The Soviets, on the other hand, didn't receive them because of their having been faithful to the Czar and the opponents of the revolution.

Finally after many request and efforts by the Jewish Community to government authorities, they were granted temporary status until they had the opportunity to travel to the land of Israel. To get the certificate was a very difficult task. Meanwhile they lived in poverty and deprivation in a gentile's house. They stayed but with difficulty, thanks to the support of their admirers' from the past. When we left Bereza in 1925 and traveled to Argentina, they were still there. What was their destiny? I do not know

Secondary School teacher Vainshtein

This teacher, with his wife Pola, directed a private high school that was located in the house of Berl Rybak, who was at that time the city mayor. After I concluded studies in chadarim, and then Girashov's state school, I wanted to follow higher studies. For this reason, I took private classes with teacher Vainshtein. For three weekly classes, we paid him seven and a half rubles per month. He taught me and my cousin Nisl, who in 1925 emigrated to Israel (he had the privilege of taking his parents, my uncle and my aunt, and died some years ago in Israel). I studied almost a year with Vainshtein , until the outbreak of WWI. The world turmoil put an end to my dreams of carrying out higher studies, and to thinking of a career.

Teacher Vainshtein was a young man, of delicate manners, and had a cowlick of gray hair, possibly for the pogroms that suffered in Russia and other difficult situations during czarist domain.

"Reb Aizik, the judge

He was a talmid chacham [student of wise men] and very humble. Aizik the judge was short and worthy of respect. He was not a religious teacher, and due to my father's request he agreed to teach me talmud once a week, so that I would not forget what I had learned previously in chadarim. This specialist taught a class of talmud every day in synagogue,.between the time of mincha [morning prayers] and maariv [evening prayers]. From Friday after dinner to Saturday evening, it was taught only to studious Jews.

Today I still remember my childhood, when my father took me on Saturday winter nights to the old Bet Medresh [academy of Jewish religious studies], which was well heated, to listen to judge Aizik's classes. The room was illuminated with a chandelier brought by his assistant Michl. In a dimly lit corner, dominated by shades, children brought blocks of ice that were taken out of Yanke ben Ytshe's basement. The ice melted from the heat, and the next day the Bet Medresh was filled with water -- children's pranks. For me it was a mystery how the water came to the Bet Medresh.

Community schools

After an interruption that lasted four years -- from the beginning of the first German conquest when the city was taken from hand in hand, until it finally came under the domain of an independent Poland -- began a time in which educational institutions settled down in our city. First was the Yiddish-ism movement. They had influence on the Finances Commission and they received American help in establishing eating rooms to feed hungry children.

They repaired the public bathrooms building, which was made of stones in Cemetery St., and, transformed it into a modern school. In this school were gathered the group of idealistic fighters, and among them activists such as Shloimke Vainshtein, Meir Fodostroitza, and Director Yoine Reznik, educator, with a degree of Grodno famous courses. With them worked a team of seven to eight teachers. They occupied all the classrooms of the new building, and left only two for Tarbut .

Tarbut got two additional classrooms in the building in which the Talmud Torah was located. The ideological distance between the two groups hindered the school's development. Only after the Balfour Declaration , with the bloom of political Zionism, was the Yavney school enlarged and Hebrew dominated. It was directed by Zionist activists Yshaia Zaltsman, Leib Dantzig, Ythak Shtuker and others. They also formed a young Zionist group that attended night courses.

Two groups of youths, the Yiddish's and the Hebrew's, held meetings to discuss actions to carry out and to prepare cultural nights. Then a Hebrew Corner was founded in which classes in Hebrew were held, chats and discussions under the direction of Manievitz who was a fanatic of Hebrew language. He was from Lemberg and his instruction and culture was acquired as a student in Moscow. Teachers at the Yavneh school were Portnoy, Parpeliutshik and Puterman, who were from Baranovitch and had studied in Vilna Hebrew Teachers Seminary. The Polish teacher was Mrs. Shulgin from Warsaw. At various times teachers Vais, Rabinovitsh, Kogan, Rosenfeld, Himelfarb and others worked there. Thanks to competition among groups, there began cultural discussions. Each group brought its speakers, and each one wanted to overtake the other one.

Guemara [post biblical religious rules] and tanach [bible studies]

I should mention that besides chadarim and the schools previously mentioned, there were in our city -- at different stages -- youths' groups that taught guemara and tanach in the community. I remember teachers Leizer Veile's and Simcha Lipe's, both children of religious teachers. The first one was known by his father's name Lipe and the other one for his mother name called Veile. Both were yeshiva boys very well prepared. Among erudite it is also necessary to remember Yacov Rubinshtein and Solnitz. Yacov Rubinshtein was characterized by his deep and problematic questions in difficult chapters of religious texts.

As for teachers of tanach, there were the distinguished young Yosel Brainsky and in later years Moishe Cheshes (I believe he is now in US). This group called themselves tiferet bachurim [flowered youth], and was created by a maguid [preacher] who from time to time came to our city.

To conclude this chapter in which I told about educational and cultural institutions, and about individuals that were active in this field, I want to acknowledge other teachers and, in general, good Jews, responsible for offering their support in favor of education for the young generation of Kartuz Bereza. During my time, and although I personally didn't study with them, they were:

Shmuel Bam; teacher, brown young man, of black beard and mustaches, expert in tanach and grammar.

Faivel Baidatz (Tzekernik): religious teacher, emigrated to US before WWI

Nima ha"Melamed": religious teacher, also a couples matchmaker, emigrated to the US before WWI

Mordechai Gedalia y Nuska: both religious teachers in the Talmud Torah.

Henoch Rabinovitz: famous teacher of tanach and erudite in grammar. Was considered as one of the best adolescent teachers. Not all had the privilege of studying with him; only children of rich families could study with him. At the beginning he gave private classes, then he taught in the Talmud Torah.

Moishe Elie Meir: taught beginners.

Arke The Teacher: Teacher of previous times prototype. Taught letter writing in Yiddish to maids, cooks, poor children, and cart drivers' children. He was very accepted by women whose husbands were in America. Wrote letters to their husbands and read to them the answers they received.

Mendel Rishes; The judge, tall Jew, long and white as snow beard. His aspect was severe, huffy, and detailed. Was known as follower of Bet Shamai [orthodox very severe tendency]. Constantly tried to interpret, according to Moses' laws, all type of problems and social discussions. As Aizik the judge mentioned above, was serene, and contrary to previous comment, he was as pious as the followers of Bet Hillel [school of permissive moderate tendency].

We had two Rabbis. There have always been discords and discussions between them, and each one had his followers. One was Rabbi Klatzkin of urban group, and the other was Rabbi Osherovitz his opponent. To replace Rabbi Klatzkin, came Rabbi Trop who had been the Rabbi in a distant city in deep Russia. When Rabbi Osherovitz died, he was replaced by his son-in-law, Rabbi Vigodtzky, who occupied this position until the end.

[Fund for Territorial Recovery in Israel]

As I recall, until the Balfour declaration, our KKL activity was driven by veterans of chovevei zion [lovers of Zion] group. Moshe Tabulitzky, activist and fanatic of Hebrew language, was dedicated fully to this objective. He came from a noble family known for several generations. He lived in a beautiful house, with a great balcony, on The Road in downtown. I remember from my childhood that people were proud of him, his wife, and their only son. They spoke only Hebrew in their house. His wife, also came from a noble family, and like her husband was also interwoven with Zionist ideal. This activist was a serene and humble individual, who worked in silence.

Another veteran activist in Bereza was Sheike Berkovitz who was a fervent Jew, full of life. Many times he appeared and read interesting speeches filled with Zionist content and mentioned words of our chazal [wise men of blessed memory]. In his youth he was a yeshiva boy, and later become a partner of Mr. Goldstein, proprietor of the steam engine flour mill, and the sawmill that was the most important in town, inherited from his father-in-law Shamai Berezovtzky.

Goldstein came from the city of Pruzhany. He was an affectionate man and great supporter of Jewish causes. He always was among the first for any purpose, and he was a model for other Jews. His contributions to KKL consisted of high amounts. His hand was also open for all town needs.

With the Balfour Declaration, the Zionist movement was reinforced in all fields. One of the personalities that occupied an important function in the diffusion of Zionist thought and Hebrew language among Bereza youth, was Guzalka (today Goraly in Israel). Among other things, he opened up night courses for youth, and was founded KKL group which maintained an intense activity.

Until the last day when I left my native city, I had the position of KKL Secretary. I want to remember fellow activists: Rabnitzky, Velvel Minkovitz (student of the Seminary Mizrahi in Vilna, today in US)., Fodostroitza (in Israel), Tuchman, Grosman, Eidlsberg, Etl Schwartz (I believe he is now in Canada).

Fellow Plotdkovksy and I traveled as delegates to the Ushishkin Congress that was held in Warsaw in 1924. Zionist groups were very active in all fields. Already being in Argentina, we heard about settlement of collective farms (those that prepare pioneer immigrant to Israel) in Kartuz Bereza, and also in the nearby small village of Bluden.

According to an old tradition during czarist régime, and also in new Poland, firemen organizations had an important function in preserving order in the city. During fair days, firemen were dressed with their uniforms, and stationed at all entrances of the city to collect tax of all peasants that arrived with their cars to the city.

During disorders and in occasions of attacks on Jews, these strong and skillful youths were in charge. The anti-Semitic bands that threatened to harm and damage Jews, received more than once strong punishments. One especially stood out one of them, and he was nicknamed Meilech Pap. His occupation was horse merchant. He was really "a teacher to give them back". It was said of him that when he hit someone, no hair ever again grew in the place that was hit. More than once it happened that he intervened before the police arrived when Jews were attacked in the market, since it is obvious that the police were slow to arrived when called upon to defend Jews from anti-Semitic bandits groups.

If some revolt broke out in any place, Meilech immediately appeared and in his hand he had his famous gnarled stick. Bandits were prisoners of terror, quickly mounted their horses and carts, and returned to their villages.

During national feasts and official ceremonies, as for example May 3rd., firemen were invited to participate in the parade, headed by Yankel Seletzky, the Jewish fire chief. They dressed in their elegant uniforms, and with strong and spread step he introduced his unit to the military commandant.

Many of the Jewish firemen fulfilled their function with respect and pride, as for example Itzl Karolitzky, the siblings Yablonovsky (two of them are living today in Rosario, Argentina), and from my memory I recall the valiant Chanoch Liskovsky who was the firemen's commandant for a time. During the czarist regime, the commandant was a gentile, Adam Posniak. I also remember the Jew Berel Katsher who, during a dispute, opened Posniak's head and he abandonded Bereza for many years.

Frequently the firemen held drills of simulated fire situations. For example they declared that a certain house was catching fire, climbed to the roof, and threw water on neighboring houses so that fire wouldn't spread. This was like a dress rehearsal, because fires occurred frequently, as most of houses were wooden. Our firemen demonstrated agility and efficiency in their work. In later times they founded a wind instruments orchestra. They also bought modern water bombs.

In honor of our trip to Argentina which involved seven families (an insignificant number considering the total population of the city), the firemen prepared a ceremony of festival farewell and accompanied us to the train station with their orchestra, because among the travelers were some firemen.

In all the towns of our District, the cart driver occupation was known. There were two classes of cart drivers: those who transported travelers and merchandises from one city to another or to a train station several kilometers away from the city, and others that were devoted only to vazke, that is to say cut trees or other heavy merchandises transport.

Our railroad station Bluden (during the czarist regime it was called Fagadina) was five kilometers from the city, and many families made their living transporting merchandise to and from the station. This work was often passed down from father to son. They also had carts that transported heavy items such as horses and cattle.

Cart drivers were right and simple Jews. They were distinguished for their courage and force when it was necessary to make use of it. I want to tell about two outstanding men among our cart drivers. The Mayor family - I was told that their last name had its origin in the following episode: during the first German conquest an official of the German army with the title of Mayor died in Bereza. The ceremony was impressive, they buried him with his elegant uniform, his gold watch, and with all rings that he wore in life. I was told that a family opened the coffin, and removed all elements of value from the dead body. In town it was rumored that this act was done by this family, and from then on they were known by that last name of Mayor.

The family head was Shloime Mayor, a fat, tall Jew with wide back, small white beard, a cowlick of gray hair, and two red-as-fire cheeks. He was our neighbor on Kantzelaria - Kostziol St.. The wooden passageway trembled when he stepped on it, loaded with packages to celebrate Saturday, full with fish and vegetables. The tchont [traditional meal of beans, potatoes, chicken and animal fat that was made on Friday evening and was cooked until Saturday lunch when it was eaten] of Mayor was very famous. The tchont was closed in an oven until Saturday noon, when the family returned from synagogue. But the boys opened it the on Saturday morning because they were impatient, and they sometimes eat the whole tchont before the family returned .

In bad times, when it was necessary to defend the Jews, Shloime demonstrated his force. If a gentile attacked a Jew, he gave him many blows so as to remember many times. All who were not circumcised spoke of him with respect because of his physical force.

It is convenient to refresh our memory with the stories of my grandfather Shaul Agoz Z"L.

• What's the matter here Reb Shaul? The whole inn is full of smoke and there are so many drunk people!
• Shaul answered him: "G-d sends you" exclaimed the stunned the inn owner
• Immediately, Immediately, wait a minute. I will order immediately, answered Shloime

Many times gentiles trembled when they saw this brave man, and they respected him much.

The head of our cart drivers was "Yasha the cart driver". Before leaving Bereza he was already 60 years old. His beard was blond, and he constantly had a pipe in his mouth. Everyone respected him very much. When youths fought, it was enough if Yasha lifted his cane, and quickly order and silence returned.

During Simchat Tora he used to drink a toast. Then he ran out into the streets of the town surrounded by groups of children. He exclaimed "Sacred flock" and children answered him "Baa", and he joined them. Then he took off his boots, took off his clothes, and continued running nude until some neighbor pitied him and took him into his house.

About cart drivers behavior, the following story is a testimony: He worked in the steam engine flour mill of Berkovitz-Goldshtein company, and would stay until the group of cart drivers discharged wheat boxcars, and brought bags to the mill. Sholem, brother of the mill owner Seike Berkovitz inspected the empty carts, and found in Reb Yasha's cart a small wheat bag, maybe five or six kilograms. Sholem broke out angry and screamed "Thieves! Bandits! Does a Jew take these things? It is a shame!" Yasha the cart driver exclaimed "Don't scream this way, Reb Sholem. You are mistaken, it is not a robbery! It is a very old habit for many generations. Ask anybody". And he took the bag of wheat from Sholem's hands and added "This is the cart drivers tithe. It is for our kohen"

Certainly, nobody could oppose this habit of "cart drivers tithe".

I want to conclude my memories of my native city Kartuz - Bereza, describing how my fellow citizens settled in Argentina.

After a long letters exchange with JCA representatives in Warsaw and Paris, after navigating 32 days in the ship of the French flag "Ceylon", six families from Bereza arrived in Argentina in March of 1927. In Warsaw we were joined with other families from the Brest and Galitzia areas, and we were all called "Brisker families". From Kartuz Bereza these families traveled to Argentina: Yakov Sokottzky and his family, Aaron Gloz and his family, Eliahu Vorodovsky and family, Biniomin Shtuker and family, Ytzhak Goldfand and family, Yeshayahu Sokotzky and family. Later came Note Gloz and Moishe Gloz. Note Gloz is now in Buenos Aires.

We were taken to Montefiore colony. In the beginning, JCA gave us only 75 hectares of land, and later they increased up to 112 and by the end to 150 hectares and the livestock. Many of those who stayed in the colony bought land with their own money. Others abandoned the place for various reasons, such as climate and nature. For 30 years the colony passed thorough different setbacks. Some left to the cities, either for the children or for desire of looking for a better life.

I should point out that the colony had a brilliant past. There were times when the number of settlers was 250 families. When we arrived there, the colony already had 28 families, and during our stay, the number increased to 120. It was a growth time for the colony. Nowadays there are 60 to 70 families. Another dozen live in a near town, and are owners of their fields.

Today there are few adults. First generation diminishes and youths occupy their place. We should mention with pride that the group of settlers that arrived from Bereza still persists in Montefiore. The Litvaks [as opposed to the Galitzianers] are growing roots more than any other group, and watching that we second generationers do not betray our parents' ideals, as mine, my mother and others who were faithful earth workers in our old home, in our native city Bereza.

From generation to generation, we opposed ourselves to easy economic sustenance, we highlight Baron Hirsch's vision and we exalt his memory.

In 1882 Mr. Berl Rybak was elected Kartuz Bereza city Mayor and then reelected nine times. Rybak performed this function for 33 years until the German entrance into Kartuz Bereza in 1915. The Germans wanted him to continue in this position, but after being advised by friends about the responsibilities -- city address in war times, police, contact with German authorities among others -- he reached the conclusion that for this position required a young and energetic person. The decision was made to elect Naftaly Levinson, young and intelligent man, for Vice Mayor position.

During the first 20 years in this role, Rybak didn't have any special problems. His work consisted of issuing passports and of inspecting shepherding fields and collecting special taxes to Jews, as for example meat tax and candles tax. Together with four people, of whom two were gentiles, he forced the population to pay official taxes. The rabbis of Kartuz Bereza didn't intervene in city matters. This was because of rivalry existing between the rabbis the difficulty they had talking with each other.

In 1905 new winds began to blow and, as in other towns, turbulent groups arose in Kartuz Bereza. The police used to come to the City Council to watch the behavior and places where suspects inhabited. It was evident that when they suspected somebody, nothing good was waiting for him. The Town Council was located in Rybak's house and every time a policeman came to receive details about a suspicious Jew from a gentile, they immediatley brought the gentile an appetizing meal and a bottle of alcohol. The genteil ate and drank, and meanwhile somebody of Rybak's family ran to warn the suspect, who already knew what he should do.

The chief of police in Kartuz Bereza received a fixed bribe as annual compensation, so that nothing bad would happen to the Jews of the town.

Of the 1905 events, I remember one related to a Jewish soldier by the name of Horwitz who was stationed in Kartuz Bereza. He was detained by mistake and he was going to be very severely punished. The case came to the attention of youth's that formed the town revolutionary movement, and they decided to free him. They knew the detainee would be transported by the main road. At a preset hour, they left in a sled, and came face-to-face with those that took the detainee. One of youths stopped the guards to ask them something. When they stopped to answer him, he threw tobacco in their eyes. In that moment Horwitz escaped by getting onto the revolutionaries' sled.

The military began to look for the detainee. The revolutionaries arrived at Rybak's house and asked him to help them hide the Jew. Rybak had a brilliant idea: his house abutted the chief of police's house and a door separated the attics of both houses. They hid Horwitz in the police chief's attic! He was hidden there for two weeks, and when the military inspected each car that left the town, they didn't find him. When the military action subsided, Horwitz escaped to a nearby town, and then he left in a train to the German border. After a while, a letter arrived from him in the US.

Shimshon Dovid Shapira, intelligent man, Rybak's son-in-law, helped his father-in-law in complicated cases. With the help of Shapira and with money from Israel Grinberg (one of richest Jews of town), a Jewish state mixed school was founded in 1905, where Russian was taught. About 120 Jewish students studied there. Until 1915 it was directed by teacher Girashov.

With the help of both Shapira and Grinberg, the first Savings and Loan Fund was founded in 1909

The Library had books in Russian, German and Yiddish, and was directed by Shapira. Many youths gathered there to read.

In February 1919, the Poles conquered Kartuz Bereza. The above-mentioned Naftaly Levinson, was named Mayor. The son-in-law of Shapria, Yechiel Nisan Zakheim was named Vice Mayor. He served for about ten years was in this position until he resigned. He was a studious and arrogant Jew, who defended interests of Jews with great effort. He offer them great support for Jewish institutions.

In 1939 Zakheim returned to Kartuz Bereza. He participated in community life, and during the Nazi conquest he tried alleviating Jews suffering in ghettos. He predicted the tragic end of Jews, and together with his wife Libe Shapiro (a dentist) and other activists, he committed suicide the night before the ghetto's liquidation. Their two children survived; both are outstanding engineers who were active in the secret French Jewish movements, and they fought with courage from there.

This happened in the beginnings of 1920's. The literary group headed by Peretz Markish conquered Jewish Warsaw. This literary group met at 13 Klomatzke St. and became a focus of interest. In those days, I had finished my studies at Warsaw Teachers Seminar and started teaching in Kartuz Bereza, where the Polish regime installed the famous concentration field. The town was known for its two schools, one in Hebrew and other in Yiddish. Their youth was known for their cultural attitude: library, choir, wind instruments orchestra, and a drama theater group. It should be noted that the youth was active and never resting.

The first thing the residents of Bereza asked me when I arrived was "What is happening in Warsaw? You of course know Peretz Markish, is it true that he is a great writer?" I didn't doubt that each person that asked had read his famous composition "Di Kupe" (The Mound), and certainly they were embarrassed of not having understood it.

In a School meeting, I suggested inviting Markish to give a lecture, and was surprised at the total silence that followed. Finally, the President asked "Are you serious? Would this be possible?" My suggestion was taken, and we communicated immediately with Warsaw but we didn't receive an answer.

Two weeks later I received a postcard of Markish regarding my invitation. He said that he would come for three days, from Friday until Sunday. It is clear that, from this moment on, Markish's visit to our town had begun. I was worried that Markish might be disappointed by the community and that he would not behave himself in front of it. I knew very well his spirit and his whims. He was accustomed to Warsaw's fanfare, and I hoped that he would not be depressed in our small town.

That Friday, together with my friends from the School Management, I went to the train station that was a few kilometers from the city. Before the train arrived, I mentioned to my friends that Markish would certainly be in a bad mood after a long trip that lasted the whole night (the trip from Warsaw to Bereza, was from 11 PM to 8 AM). We came closer to the cart that was waiting for us. The cart driver, father of school students, asked me with smiling eyes, "Is this is your Markish?" The famous hair cowlick of Markish was jumbled. His face was gray and tired, his eyes were almost closed. He was crouched due to morning cold, and he was smaller. When we sat down in the cart, we hardly spoke. Finally we arrived at the hotel that was end of town. We waited for him while he put organized his room, took a bath and had breakfast. I didn't want to leave him alone, and suggested to him that he try to sleep. I also explained to him that I would sleep, because that day didn't have to teach.

"Then I will go with you, I won't stay here alone ", he said. "He has already began" I thought, and I told him aloud: "Well, then come with me"

It was a pleasant summer day and it was not far from the hotel to my house. When we entered my room, the sun shone in all corners. The windows were open, and from the orchard came fruits smell. "This is a true paradise," said Markish, and he added smiling "Do you remember Motel, Peisy the chazan's [cantor's] son? Do you teach in school the symbolic aspect of this issue? This book is a blessing! Only with this issue could be filled the whole system of studies."

Markish began to step along the room, and each instant he came closer to the open window. His face was illuminated as if it absorbed all garden light.

That evening after dinner, Marskih's lecture was held in the living room of the Yiddish School Theater (it was a wooden construction, kind of summer theater that was settled down with the effort of school activists). The living room was full. The spirit was high. There was a feast sensation. Not only youths, but also old men and children came to see and to hear Markish. When the poet saw the audience, he was moved a lot. "It is a long time" he said, "I do not feel fear before an audience". His eyes radiated light and warmth.

"It is good to be able to speak to this audience" he said. "They understand and they feel", I replied.

The title of his talk was "The essence of poetry". We decided that the lecture would last an hour, or at most an hour and a half. Markish began his speech, and an absolute calm reigned in the living room. At the beginning his voice was weak and trembling, but soon he exalted, his voice grew, his eyes glowed, and his face paled and for moments blushed. Everybody had the sensation that this man fought with his many thoughts and feelings, and his effort was to be able to express them in a clear and evident language. I heard Markish speak many times, but this time was for me a new revelation. His whole body trembled. His hands, as wings, looked to draw images in the air, and his voice ascended and lowered, filling any hole in living room.

When Markish finished his talk, calm prevailed. Listeners were not willing to end his words. Several minutes later, applause exploded. Markish sat down when his legs trembled. "One more minute and I would have fallen" he murmured. He was pale, covered with perspiration, and breathed with difficulty. His speech lasted three hours!

After the lecture, a snack in one of the activists' house was served. The atmosphere was warm and sincere, and there were no speeches. Markish understood very well the recognition, love and enthusiasm of the people present there. He was as excited as a boy. He came close to each one and kissed him. Many people present were simple town people, The house owner was also a typical character of "Tevya the Milkman" stories.

Markish enjoyed his own jokes and his humor. At the end of the reception, when Markish rose to say some words, his eyes were full of tears. "I cannot speak dear people, I love you so much ...I decided not to travel on Sunday ...I will stay with you." It is easy to imagine the happiness that broke out after the poet's announcement. "Then we must drink a toast in honor to our dear guest" one of the participants said. I was perturbed, I did not suspect that the house owner would offer drinks immediately. Markish had asked me to keep him from drinking alcohol. I should have announced that they don't serve alcoholic drinks, but I forgot. Participants were surprised, how could I forget such an important matter? There was an agreement: I would be forgiven for not having warned them about serving alcoholic drinks on the condition that on the following day the blame was fixed.

The next day, on Saturday afternoon, Markish's second lecture was to be delivered. It was on "The idea on modern literature". A few hours before noon he was going for a walk in the garden near my room. I hardly entered, when he continued with our interrupted previous day chat.

I remained silent. In front of me was the great poet Markish who, more than anybody, introduced in Yiddish poetry the flame of the Russian Revolution, and was one of most important poets. Markish had faith in the Russian Revolution as a religious Jew has faith in the Messiah's arrival. His second lecture was no less successful than the first one. Markish developed thoughts of modern literature, and mainly of poetry. In doing this, he reflected the chaos of revolutionary storm. The old forms of life would be destroyed, and new poetry is not the enough a sensible and very balanced thing, at the light of irrational human instincts.

That evening, a farewell meeting was held. A lot of people participated. There were speeches and drinks. The meeting became a popular party. People danced and sang. Markish "stepped out the measure" (drank too much). The meeting lasted until very late and when the people dispersed, we loaded the poet who was intoxicated with drink and with the participants' warmth.

In spite of his desire, Markish was not able to spend more time in town, and the following morning we accompanied him to the train station. Suddenly, we heard a sharp scream. We went back and saw Markish in the middle of the Brest-Moscow road with his hands extended toward sky, claiming: "I want to return home! To my house, to the country of the Revolution!" We grabbed him and brought him to the hotel room, removed his clothes, put him in bed, and took care of him whole night. The following morning, he said to me a little embarrassed "I asked you not to give me alcoholic drinks"

In the train station, Markish looked towards the town with nostalgia and murmured to himself "How wonderful is Kartuz Bereza! What so dear Jews! For sure there are many towns like this! They are a spring of Jewish life! Here it is necessary to repair Jewish thought!"

From time to time I remember that night scene when the Jewish poet Peretz Markish stood in the middle of the road and said:

"I want to return to my house, to the country of the Revolution!"

In that moment we did not think of the possibility. Neither Peretz Markish thought that in the fire of that burning bush, its most faithful children would immolate on the blaze, those who gave their lives to revolutionary ideal, among them our own Markish.

Redaction Note: Peretz Markish was murdered by communists headed by Stalin. His descendants went to the Jewish State.

In our little town there were: two rabbis, two ritual slaughters, two popular bath houses and two groups of firemen as well: one of Jews and one of gentiles

The gentile firehouse was outside the town, beside Sidelsky's house, near to the gentile collective housing. There were also the court, the school, and the police station. The building was built on wooden planks and it seemed like a big stable. It was settled aside a great water-and-mud mirror, which never got dry, even on hot summer days. Inside the firehouse were two huge wooden barrels and a water pump that was always broken down. Very close, there was another building where the police station was located, and a jail.

The Jewish firehouse looked like a stable too. It was near the main road, on the main street of the little town, and there was an everlasting pool of about 1000 square meters and 1 meter depth in this place too. In winter when water froze, we children of cheder used to slide on the ice. In summer, cart men would submerge their carts in order to moisten the wooden wheels so they wouldn't get dry in the heat. In Jewish firehouse there were four wooden barrels, two water pumps and about ten tall wooden poles with a hook in their ends.

The chief of the Jewish fire department was always a Christian. He was a kind of landowner, who always liked strong alcohol, no matter where it came from, whether it was Jewish or gentile. In summer days the Jewish fireman used to do maneuvers at the end of town near to the river. The smiths were located there. They would ignite a heap of straw and yell "Fire!" Then firemen came with their barrels and their water pumps and tried to extinguish the fire. They took their places strategically, threw water, climbed up roofs and carts; in short, it was funny. Once the fire was extinguished, the fire chief would drink until he was drunk, and the young firemen raised him in their arms and cried "Hurrah!"

We children, who liked to watch the maneuvers, received a fresh water bath, and sometimes a few blows for being in the midst of the firemen's feet and disturbing their work.

After the maneuvers, it was customary to take the tools to be repaired to the two town specialists.. They were Yakov the locksmith and Yosef Chaim the blacksmith. Sometimes a fire would burn only during these maneuvers, so they could go to the specialists -- they didn't have ordinary repairmen yet.

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I don't know when the two aforementioned fire departments were established, and maybe it's not important,. The important thing is that's the way it was until World War I. In 1915 our town was conquered by the Germans, and the Russians were shooting from outside over our town. All the houses in Market Place were set on fire, and there wasn't any chance of extinguishing that giant fire.

When World War I was over in 1918, the Jewish firehouse was resurrected, but with the purpose of fighting the petlyura [hooligan gangs], which were thoughtlessly destroying all surrounding villages, and came to Kobrin. A self-defense group was organized as well, headed by Sheike Shapira. This group used to do maneuvers and get weapons. In the meantime the Red Army arrived and conquered the little town. Almost a month later, the Poles expelled the Bolsheviks. Then they retreated but not for long. One week later, the Poles returned stronger and they re-conquered the town.

During this arduous time, the Jewish firemen were the only defense for the Jews in Bereza. There was no police, and the firemen defended day and night.

In 1920 the Polish army withdrew, alleging that they were searching for Russian soldiers who might be hidden. Then the Polish soldiers assaulted Jewish houses, emptied closets out, and took away everything they could. Of course they also blowed, and pulled Jewish beards out.

Chanoch Liskovsky organized the firemen in five-man groups. They addressed the commandant and asked him for help. They supplied him with ten Polish gendarmes who helped to keep order. Thus the looting was stopped, as well as Jewish harassement. With the Polish withdrawal, a shooting fight began and a part of the Market that hadn't been damaged in the first fire was totally destroyed now. It also burned a part of the Road, and a big part of Olner Street. It was impossible to extinguish that fire.

In 1923 the firemen were organized once more, now under the of Yacov Seletzky Koval. His house was near the firehouse and he used to enjoy military maneuvers. He organized the fire brigade again and was enthusiastically devoted to that task. He added a wing to the firehouse and opened a club there.

In the winter he kept water barrels inside the firehouse to prevent them from freezing, and in summer the place was used for cultural activities. He organized a firemen's orchestra, and bought new cars as well as an automatic water pump. Also women were trained as nurses. Prettier uniforms were made up, caps were bought, and also special helmets for fires protection. During the Polish festivities it was always the wind instruments orchestra that marched on ahead, and in the rear were the police and army units. It was an honor to belong to fire group. They were all working as volunteers.

I want to tell about an incident. One Friday a fire broke out inside the town limits, by the river, in Leibl Broide the shoemaker's house. The firemen went to extinguish the fire thinking it would be an easy task, since the house was beside the river! But half an hour later Shloime the cart driver's house, which was located beside the market near to the main road, was on fire,. Then another house, Shmaie the saddler's stable. In other words, three fires in a short time! The gentiles from the nearby houses were staring there and no one came to help extinguish the fire. One of them, whose name was Puzniak the crippled, said "Oh! The Jewish kugel [potato pie] is burning!" Soon another fire started in Zditshev Street, and the first house to burn was Puzniak's...

When the gentile's houses started burning, the fire seemed to have no end, given that the house roofs were made of straw. It's interesting to note that, for a long time after that, gentile people still used to remind Puzniak of his joke about the kugel issue.

When World War II broke out, the firemen had to perform other tasks that had nothing to do with their specific functions. The truth is, at times, they were the guardians of town. This has been already told in another chapter of our book.

In 1940, when the Soviets conquered our village, all activities of voluntary organizations were interrupted. Only some salaried firemen remained. The director of the brigade was a Russian who had come from the Soviet Union. In 1941, when the Germans entered the town, they set fire to the synagogue and also the houses close to the market; they wouldn't allow anyone to extinguish the fire. More than half of the town's houses were consumed by the fire. In 1944, when the Germans withdrew, they set fire to the rest of the houses, and there wasn't anyone left to extinguish it...

In general in all towns of "Lite" [TN: populations whose culture and traditions originated in Jews under Great Dukedom of Lithuania, and they belonged to Lithuania, Russia, Poland and now Belarus, successively] Jewish education was received in the chadarim and in the yeshivas.

When a boy was 4 year old, he was sent to cheder. The memamed's [Jewish teacher's] assistant sometimes brought him to cheder. His mother accompanied him the first time, and an angel threw him a kopek [coin], so that he would always be a good student worthy of receiving gifts. Until 1905 there were different categories of religious teachers: those that taught the aleph-bet [reading], blessings and prayers, while others taught the Pentateuch commented by Rashi [French sage of XI century] and Gemara [post biblical treatise of Jewish rules].

The school year was divided in two periods: from Pesach to Rosh Hashanah, and from Sucot to Pesach. After the first period, when the boy knew a little Hebrew, he was passed to another religious teacher who taught him Pentateuch with Rashi comments. During childhood, the boy who completed four periods, was passed to study Gemara with the religious teacher Yosl Ulinover or sent to a yeshiva in another city, for example Malch.

Wealthy children studied Gemara with the teacher Aizik the judge. The girls didn't study. Daughters from wealthy homes studied some writing with the teacher Arke. I remember that in the town there were some teachers who taught Hebrew grammar, and some who taught Yiddish writing and reading. Children from wealthy families studied with the teacher Aizik Molodovsky (poet Kadia Molodovsky's father); he taught grammar and Jewish history according by grades (first, second, third, etc.).

In the town there was a Talmud Torah [study house]. This was for poor children, who were taught prayers and Pentateuch. Religious teachers used a stick to stimulate the students. In 1908 a graduate teacher appeared in Bereza, dressed with clothes adorned with "golden bellboys". His name was Guerashov. He opened a school that had three degrees and that taught Russian. There, boys studied up until noon and girls starting from one o'clock. He accepted children who already knew the Russian alphabet. The cycle was of three years and Saturdays was not a learning day.

For this reason a protest broke out in town. It was said that this school converted Jewish children in gentiles, since they studied with "discovered head", but in spite of this many children went to this school. Other children continued outside state high school system, and they were called "externals". In 1910 the teacher Vainsthein arrived in our town, and together with his wife he opened a school for adolescent girls and taught manual labor. Shloime Gandz gave classes in Yiddish and Russian.

From the German conquest of World War I, up until the end of the war and the outbreak of the communist revolution, all chadarim and schools were closed. Shike Berman, Temtshe Rozansky, Elie Mote Bokshtein and Zeidel Faikov opened a kindergarten where Guerashov's school was. Teachers Beiltshe Berman, Chane Biltshik, Reizel Goldman and Feigl Perlovitsh, former students of state high school, taught Russian and Yiddish, as volunteers, without salary. This organization formed a choir besides the library and the reading room. The money they obtained from the choir shows was distributed in equal parts to the library and the kindergarten.

Then teachers Yoine Reznik, Roche Kamenietzky and another morá [female teacher] of Brest were invited as paid teachers; the kindergarten became a school. In 1919, under the Polish régime, the joint organization and those people from Bereza who settled in US helped to maintain the school. Their support provided benefits to most of the Jewish population and the children in particular. They received breakfast and lunch in school. The joint organization also covered the teachers' salary.

There were two public baths in Bereza. During the German conquest, one of them became a stable. The Assistance Council that distributed the American donations decided to renovate the bath's building and to install the school there. It was possible thanks to the help of the joint organization. Five classrooms were added for the school and two more for the Talmud Torah that had lost its building after the fires of the "Batei Midrashim". In the Yiddish school, Polish and Hebrew was taught according to the methodology of those days.

In 1922 the Hebrew school was founded. The Zionists brought teachers, and they taught Hebrew in private classes. When the number of students increased, the Zionist needed a separate building just for the Hebrew school. Since the Talmud Torah was transferred to a building donated by Mere Yaches, they were two classrooms free. First the Yiddish school requested them, and then the Hebrew school did too. They arrived at an agreement by which the Yiddish school received one classroom and Hebrew school a classroom and a half.

The activists of the Yiddish school, Shloimke Vainshtein, Gotl Pisetzky, Meir Fodostrivitze, Nisl Zakheim who were members of Bund, and Naftaly Levinson, Eliahu Mote Bokshtein, Ye'hoshua Kaplen, Niome Shapira, Iechiel Solnitz who were leftist, decided to include the school in the Yiddish educational network. In the house next to the school, a theater group was formed that prepared shows, and it's revenues covered part of the school budget. A children and adults choir was also organized, under the direction of Leibl Kaplan. The theater group and the choir had very successful shows.

The Hebrew school developed and was included in Education Institutions network of Tarbut institutions. A short time later, the institution grew and had activities in two different buildings. This hindered the task of students. The activists of the school Yehoshua Zaltzman, Henach Liskovksy, Moishe Goldshtein, Faivel Yaver and others decided to obtain their own building. They acquired some property in Gmine St. and in 1934 built a beautiful building and a conference room. The youth was organized in different movements, as Ha'shomer Ha'tzair and Betar.

When day classes concluded, the youths met around Hebrew and Yiddish schools. The shows and artistic nights that they organized were surprising, This helped to increase the economic funds of Jews in the town, and raised up culture. The teachers of both schools attended both presentations. Some parents sent boys to Hebrew school and girls to Yiddish school. Life continued this way in the town until the Holocaust, and one thing is astonishing and symbolic: only two buildings of all the buildings of the town survived undamaged. And these buildings that were undamaged were the Hebrew and Yiddish schools. The buildings were intact, but... empty.

During 1934, the Polish government imposed sanctions on Yiddish schools of Poland. The aim was to ruin them. Yiddish school in Bereza couldn't avoid this sanction.

There were four schools in Bereza: Talmud Torah, Tarbut Hebrew School, Yiddish school belonging to Tsisho (Central Yiddish School Organization), and the Popular School supported by the Polish government. The Yiddish school was the most methodical and nicest. This was achieved thanks to the whole Jewish community's collaboration. The high level of studies in these schools was like a splinter in the Polish authority's eye.

One day before the school year ended, a commission arrived from Brest's zonal education authorities, and decreed that the buildings were not suitable for schools. If classrooms weren't renovated according to the authorities' indications before the beginning of the next school year, they wouldn't allow them to continue teaching.

The people shuddered and addressed to the Central Bureau of Jewish Schools in Poland. The Tsisho was concerned about other similar sanctions in other schools around the country, and left the fate of the Bereza schools in the local activists' hands. These activists summoned an assembly and decided to go on with the school, no matter what happened. They elected a Commission, which decided to ask people to work for several days without pay. Many workers contributed their time. Carpenters fixed doors and windows. Locksmiths did their work as volunteers. Cart driver transported materials and bricks, and many people helped according to their abilities, to save the school's prestige.

Even school children were summoned for this hard work. The holidays were only two months, and the main work carried out by the volunteers took place during the evening and night, after the workers finished their regular jobs. They used to work 'til midnight, and enthusiasm was big.

When the renovation was complete, an inauguration took place under direction of Shloime Vainshtein, who coordinated all the building activities.

During a festive meeting, a toast was made: if somebody donated a certain amount of money so somebody else was invited to do the same. Thus 8000 zlotys were collected, and later used to buy furniture and teaching stuff.

A delegation consisting of Shloime Vainshtein, N. Zakheim and Niome Shapiro went to Warsaw to invite the authorities to check the renovated building. When the government authorities and the Tsisho arrived in town, they inspected the building and were impressed. The Polish representative congratulated the activists, emphasized the fact that a great deal was accomplished in a short time, and he signed the requested school permission.

This piece of news flew off and spread all over population, and the town of Bereza was glad and satisfied. To our regret, it wasn't for long.

Three persons who lived in Kartuz Bereza influenced me, both sentimentally and emotionally. I remember them lovingly.

Meir Berman the painter, teacher and instructor, he was a bright impressionist painter. He painted a lot about men, and about Kartuz Bereza and its surroundings panorama. In the days of World War I, he arrived in Byalistok and there he shared his destiny with his wife.

Leibl Kaplan the composer, musician and chorus director, also a teacher and a bright educator. His pieces were poetical and full of feeling. He spent the days of war in Kartuz Bereza, and along with his wife was murdered by nazis.

Berl Shtuker, impressive liturgical singer, he had a powerful tenor voice, that made hearts tremble and impressed his listeners. His name got to be known in Western Europe and USA. In 1935 he emigrated to Israel and died there.

May their souls be linked with life's continuity!

During the summer, we children used to take walks around the old fortress's ruins, in the Kartusian monastery. We strolled and searched for treasures underneath stones covered by plants, between broken bricks covered by moss. Every shiny stone we found, every piece of colored glass, was for us like a precious stone.

In the winter nights, around Chanuka time, the house was warm; then we plucked the geese that were fattened for that occasion, and we fried their fat and made gribn.

In those moments, we children used to hear the tales about the Holy Brothers monastery, the Kartuzian monks who built the monastery in the XVII century, during Prince Saphia's times.

During those times, it was also used as a fortress with its towers and watchtowers, and high walls around. The inner walls were covered with polished marble. The floors, built on colored and beautiful mosaics. The furniture was charming, there were amazing paintings on the walls, the dishes and kitchen utensils were magnificent.

There were many legends about its treasures: gold, diamonds and precious stones. When the weather was nice, we used to hunt for treasures... but at night we were afraid of getting to close, since they said that, after the monastery was destroyed, there were ghosts and evil spirits in the ruins. In the dark of night they would crawl and leave their hiding places, in order to go to Jewish homes, particularly stables, and make the horses run in a ghostly dance...

That's the way the cart drivers of town used to tell it. All these tales stayed with us as we were wandering on the monastery's ruins, we breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the green meadow around the ruins, and we watched the landscape around us.

There were high white trunk pines (bereza) all around. From all of this, both the destroyed monastery and the trees, our town's name was born: Kartuz Bereza, which is Bereza Kartuzka in Polish.

We the Jews used to call our town "Bereze" intimately. My town, with wooden houses and tiled roofs between two or three adjacent two-story buildings, about ten streets, and a large and wide street in the middle, the road that begins in Warsaw and ends in Moscow. Lime tree groves, lilac plants, acacia that grew in my town and filled the summer air with nice scents for the heart. Old evergreen oaks and citrus trees full of red and yellow leaves in fall, that covered the ground with a colored carpet.

In summertime, our old house was hot. On the other hand, the winters were cold with lots of snow and frost. Between those two seasons, rain used to fall. We had no choice but to step on the muddy unpaved streets. Also the wooden sidewalks in the center of town were immersed in mud. In the dark evenings we had to walk with a candle, otherwise we'd sink into the mud.

In the '30s some of the streets were paved by the prisoners of the concentration camp who settled in our town. Due to this, our town was infamous throughout Poland and overseas as well. We already mentioned the concentration camp, and we must tell something else about it. In 1934 the polish fascist-anti-Semitic party called Sanatzia mimicked the ideology of its brothers in nearby nazi Germany, and installed a concentration camp in Bereza, in the same place where the military headquarters used to be in czarist times. They also annexed a little stone building at the town's entrance, where the army units were located. All this area was surrounded by a plank-fence 3 meters high, and on both sides there was barbed wire. The buildings inside the concentration camp were also surrounded by barbed wire. Completing the concentration camp model, they built cells. Some were full of water. They also built a torture-room.

A relative of mine, whose fate led him to taste that camp, told me that during interrogations they used to torture prisoners frightfully. They poured urine on his nose. Prisoners suffered from hunger, and they were forced to exercise out in the open in the worst weather conditions. That was hard labor!

There they built a concrete-stone factory for paving the roads and sidewalks. It was hard and exhausting to drag the concrete slabs down to its destination, and all this was done under a shower of punches. In the beginning the camp was used for communist who had been punished in an administrative way, without a trial. Young men and women, among them many Jews, were transferred here for distributing communist pamphlets, for hanging red pennants on the eve of May 1st, or for taking part in mass meetings against the regime. Sometimes they imprisoned spectators and criminals.

We used to see the prisoners when they were pushed into doing their paving-work. Dressed in rags, crestfallen... I want to emphasize that, when they were rushed to complete their work, we had to close our curtain, to avoid seeing who were the people under arrest and telling their relatives about it.

Of course it was forbidden to have any conversation with the prisoners. It's hardly surprising that the name "Kartuz Bereza" began to mean: a place where every person is tortured and denigrated....

The prisoners were watched over by hundreds of guards who lived in front of the concentration camp on the other side of the main road; those were houses specially built for them. It was rumored that there were 500 guards. There were also secret policemen, called compassionated, who used to go round the area and and pay attention to everything. The policemen brought prosperity to the town. Tailors and shoemakers had work to do now. They sewed uniforms, they made boots for the officials, customers came to the warehouses not only in the fair-days.

There was poverty in town, but it was even worse in the White Russian villages. Peasants used to split a match in four. In the town people would make fun of them, saying that "each byelorus had a car" because they wore rubber-boots tied with linen, and these were made of old tires. In general the peasants came to town once a week, on the fair-day, to buy and sell merchandise. Some who had shoes, used to carry them on their shoulder, and put them on when they entered the church or the canteen. Their clothing, mostly home made, was made of linen; they had sheep furs, large coats, discolored scarves, and hats on their heads.

In the center of town, down in the market, there were stalls with fruits, vegetables and fish. The peasants used to sell wooden planks in carts or sleds. In the market there were a few small stores owned by Jews, with food, material, and clothing, as well as kitchen utensils.

In the town there were about 500 Jewish families and the rest were Poles and White Russians. In the Jewish homes and streets, Yiddish was the main language. Many gentiles understood and spoke Yiddish. The Jewish stores were closed on Saturday; and on Sunday they used to serve on the back door. The train station was far from town. It was rumored that Jews were influential in having the station built in Bluden, about 5 kilometers from Kartuz Bereza, so it wouldn't disturb the sabbath rest.

There were a few wealthy families in our town, and the others lived modestly. Many men emigrated to America, in search of sustenance, leaving their wives and children in God's mercy, hungry and indigent. I remember I used to take in secrecy "Chalá" (plaited bread for sabbatical use) and food to poor families windows...

The Jews were in charge of small commerce and crafts: traders, tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and there was also an electrician and a clockmaker. Some Jews had stables with horses, cows and goats, and they worked in the orchard too. Milk and greens production helped to lighten the situation of many families. They hardly built in town, and for that reason many young couples had trouble finding a house, and they were forced to live with their parents. Like every town in Poland, Lithuania and Besarabia, after World War I the social and cultural life in Kartuz Bereza flourished.

Jews always stood out because of their solidarity feelings to their brothers, and they created social institutions to help the needy. There was in Bereza a Room for the poor to stay overnight [Linat Ha'tzedek], a Joint Savings Bank [Kupat Gmilut Chasadim], a Union of Women for Social Aid, a Popular Bank, and the Hospital. There's no need to emphasize the importance of these institutions. Jews always minded their children's education. There was a Hebrew school [Tarbut], and a seven-degrees Yiddish school. There was a Yiddish library, and of course right and left wing political organizations. There were also youth movements like The Pioneer [He'chalutz] and Betar. They collected money for KKL [Fund for land purchase in Israel] and for other Zionist purposes. The Yiddish trend organized a chorus and formed an amateur theatre, in which parents were very active -- they attended the the shows, and they took part too.

I was a student at the Yiddish school, took part in the theatre shows and sang in the chorus.

Also the orthodox Jews, no less than the lay ones, had their own world where they fulfilled their spiritual needs. Their children studied at the cheder and the Talmud Torah. In the town there were some of these houses of study, built of wood, in front of the small Old Bet Medresh there was one, the Tabulitzky's, the worker's, and, in front of these, the shtibl [little house of religious studies]. The Bet Medresh of Chevra Kadisha [institution mainly in charge of funerals] was well built, not far from the market, and finally the Bet Medresh of the wealthy, in the street where they lived.

On festive days, even lay families that only observed Jewish tradition, went to pray. Although I wasn't the daughter of a chasidic, I was attracted by the chasidic shtibl and I keep it etched in my memory. This was the reason for it: my birthday, and my brother Berele's, was on Simchat Torah. Friends came over to my house and we all received presents, like a small flag with an apple and a little candle on its end. With flags in our hands, we rushed to the shtibl; there the party was specially crowded, and everyone danced and sang. Reb Osher, the famous painter and poet Moishele Bernshtein's father, always stood out because of his singing and dancing. Bernshtein's paintings reflect Jewish life in town, and it's tragic loss. Their pieces are like a prayer not only to our town Bereze but to all the Jewish communities destroyed by the nazi killers.

That's the way Moishele Bernshtein sang to our home town in his poem "My little town Bereze":

Here I am, I come to you, Bereze town of mine,

When the dawn slowly clears up.

I come to hear the tune of my father's Gemará,

Along with the bird's song at dawn.

I come to smell the scent of flowers...

All this brings memories to me:

The smoke rising from chimneys,

The turmoil of cart drivers saddling their horses up,

Busy mothers very early in their kitchens,

And pigeons murmuring on the roofs.

Jews rushing very early to Beit Ha'midrash,

God-fearing, reverent and religious.

To you, Bereze, I come in late hours of night,

When couples take walks on the route,

Young men whispering between them,

Walking by wooded paths.

Streets and alleys, submerged in mud.

Down to the river stream around the town...

To you, Bereze, consumed by fire, I come.

Nostalgic and trembling.

I weep in the nights, and for my days, your weeping, Bereze...

My dear unforgettable home town!

Poor but pretty town, pure and ethical. The rooted Jewish life beat in it until September 1939, when nazi Germany attacked Poland and lit the terrible bonfire of World War II. In this flame 6,000,000 Jews were consumed and Jewish life in Eastern Europe came to its end.

It was my hometown, it was the Jewish Kartuz Bereza, it was and it no longer exists.

(From "The first half of my life", by Fanny Brener. Ed.Y.L.Peretz, Tel Aviv, 1989).

I'm sitting here and I want to write about my little town Kartuz Bereza, but I don't know how to begin. I have no choice but to close my eyes and "go back", many, many years ago, and remember the way my town was.

I see with the eyes of my spirit the houses, orchards, streets and people who lived there. Everybody knew each other. It was a typical Jewish town, although Russians and Poles lived there as well. We certainly didn't notice them because their houses were on the side streets, not the main ones.

In our town there weren't employment offices; instead there were social and mutual aid institutions. One of those was the Linat Ha'tzedek [Room for Needy to Stay Overnight], something like our current Yad Sarah [Sarah's hand] for aid to the poor. For instance, at the end of every winter they collected ice in a dark basement, in case somebody might need it. They also supplied medicines to sick people. Another institution, Kupat Gmilut Chasadim [Savings bank for joint aid], made interest-free loans.

The Kartuz Bereza community looked after supporting those families that had no sources of income. There was an old slaughter man in our town, father of two widows with children. This old man passed away and the families were in need of support. The Town Council managed things so the slaughter man's grandson, a teenager, was able to learn the slaughter profession, and then take care of this task in town, to support both families.

Another example: for the local rabbi to have a little extra income, they decided that nobody would sell yeast in any store; only the rabbi's wife was allowed to sell it, in order to obtain a few pence.

There were four schools in our town: one state-run Polish school, and three private Jewish schools. One was for Yiddish learning, the second was the Talmud Tora and the third was called Yavneh [also known as Tarbut School as it joined the Tarbut net]. Children also studied privately. The religious teachers of the cheder were called Rabbi and they taught Yiddish reading and writing. Jews didn't send their children to the Polish school, although it was free. Almost every Jew sent their children to the Hebrew or Yiddish school, depending on the families beliefs. Each school had a joint council in charge of teachers, secretaries, cleaning staff and general maintenance staff salaries. Parents had to pay for their children's education.

We had four synagogues, one public bath house and one ritual bath house (mikve) in town.

Now I think about all the activity displayed by my town's people, their concern and responsibility at the head of so many institutions, and all of this without getting money or compensation, but voluntarily as we use to say now. Then I didn't understand nor appreciate the effort and the personal devotion of everyone who worked at the head of all those institutions without asking for compensation. Now I admit the spiritual greatness of all these people. Right now I can't remember, or perhaps I never knew who they were, but I feel I must thank them in the name of my fellow citizens still alive and myself: thanks, thanks a lot for all their work

The collection of customs and folklore we are about to mention comes from the "Philological Writings" of YIWO Jewish Scientific Institute of Vilnius, 1928. That document mentiones the research about "Beliefs and customs related to death". This research was requested by pupils of the "Seminar of Yiddish Teachers of Vilnius", in 1925. There were 23 pupils who took part in it, among them Koval and Graievsky from Kartuz Bereza. From that research we present the following Kartuz Bereza-related material

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