Dr. Franka Horowicz

... I recall two funerals in the Zabia (ghetto) cemetery. Both took place in February 1943, shortly after the end of the first liquidation. We, the residents of 11 Fabryczna Street, buried the instructor at the Hebrew Gymnasium, the unforgettable Dr. Franka Horowicz. She had a massive funeral with the entire Judenrat in attendance. ...

... After November 1942, when it became clear that all Jews in the Bialystok region were destined to be exterminated — the specter of gas chambers pressing on the minds of Jews in the Bialystok ghetto — some peo- ple made their decision: better to die by one’s own hand than in a Nazi death camp. On the eve of the February liquidation campaign in 1943, some poisoned them- selves, while others fashioned gallows. These included: Kagan, the fruiterer, whose store was on Lipowa Street; Chaim Grynsztejn, bricklayer, who lived on Supra- selske Street; Szloyjme Jankelew, barber; Dr. Franka Horowicz, instructor at the Hebrew Gynmasium; three orphans killed themselves in a suicide pact at the orphanage on Czestochowski Street. Most of the people I knew, however, albeit shattered and in deep mourn- ing, wanted to continue living.