Berel Mark

... While survivors like Chajke Grosman, Srolke Kot, Bronja Klibarski, Dr. Szymon Datner, Berel Mark, Refoel Rajzner, Dowid Klementynowski and others provided a rich bibliography about the Holocaust in Bialystok, it is still interesting to examine the minutes of the Judenrat meetings. ...

(Editor’s note: Awrom Szmuel Herszberg, the wri- ter of the above article about Bialystok one hundred years ago, was murdered by the Nazis in August 1943, as reported to his family in New York מן‎ a letter by Berel Mark, a well-known Yiddish writer. In his letter, Mark wrote: ““Concerning your inquiry about the fate and death of the prominent Jewish historian and author from Bialystok, I can share with you the information that he perished during the second liquidation of the Bialystok ghetto in August 1943. He was led out by the Jewish police together with his daughter and the Secre- tary of the prewar Jewish Kehilla, Mr. Bachrach. He conducted himself with great dignity when, after an- swering a German hooligan sharply, the latter had pre- pared to strike him. In the middle of the street Herszberg collapsed. He was assisted and led further to the death train. In the ghetto he lived in his old house on Gumjener Street. His monumental books and manuscripts unfortunately no longer exist.’’) ...