Wilno

... told him about the terrible slaughter the Nazis had carried out at Ponary, a desolate village ten kilometers from Wilno. Barasz answered her: “I can’t believe that what occurred in Wilno will also happen in Bialystok. I know the Germans. They won't dare conduct themselves in the same way here. They are only carrying out orders issued from Berlin — and should they receive such orders, surely they will let me know beforehand. ...

... When World War II erupted, Tamarof and Mersik, then 2 twenty-six-year-old man, lived in Wilno. Tamarof believed that Wilno had the tragic distinction of being the first city in which the Germans, together with their Fascist Lithuanian countrymen, carried out mass murders against the local Jewish population. From Wilno, additional barbaric ‘actions,’ meaning official German extermination campaigns, spread to other Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe. ...

... The driving force behind the Tel Chai kibbutz, who later would be one of the heroes in the Bialystoker re- sistance against the Nazis, was Mordechaj Tenenbaum- Tamarof. He came to Bialystok during the war from Wilno, Warsaw and other places where he had been active in organizing and leading resistance campaigns against the Nazis. The kibbutz boasted of other young leaders and several scores of members committed to make Aliyah who later demonstrated tremendous hero- ism against the Nazi oppressors. They included: Cwi Hersz Mersik of Melnice, near Kowel; Herszl Cwi Rozental of Jaszynowka; Ruwen Rozenberg of Sucho- wolja; Chanoch Zelaznagora of Szedliec; Jochewed Wajnsztein of Knyszin; Gedalja Petljuk of Knyszin; Cypora Birman of Rozyszcze; Tema Sznajderman of Warsaw, and others. ...

... Credit must go to the Jewish intelligentsia of Bia- lystok, which, refusing to be intimidated by the Com- munist terror in the city, hid Zionist and Bundist transients who sought to go to Wilno. People helped ...

... Because the Jewish writers from Poland lived in constant fear of arrest for their Zionist, Bundist or 1611 gious backgrounds, and because they were not hired for suitable work, most of them finally applied for travel to the Russian interior. Others managed to reach Wilno, from which they later escaped into the free world. ...

... Unfortunately, I must cancel these plans. For as I write, the borders of Polandeare in flames; Hitler’s bombs fall upon Warsaw and Wilno, Katowice and Krakow, Czestochowa and Lodz. ...

... part of the Yiddish movement in all of Poland and in the entire world. But with the exception of Wilno, no other Jewish town besides Bialystok was able to fashion such an intricate Yiddish school network, let alone a high school, despite difficult circumstances. ...

... The new homes brought in reliable revenues, although interest on capital invested in building houses was always smaller than earnings from business endeav- ors. That’s why at first only the wealthier capitalists could afford to erect apartment buildings containing several rental units. All of this changed when various banks in Wilno began granting loans to those who built new apartments. Certainly Bialystok’s creditable eco- nomic condition justified the banks’ action, since the textile industry would always continue to expand. Mortgages up to 60 and 70 percent of the buildings’ value were approved. Such a favorable climate for con- struction was a great asset for Bialystok.