60th ANNIVERSARY OF BIALYSTOKER STIMME The year 1981 also marked the 60th year of publication of our highly regarded magazine, Bialystoker Stimme. Published by our /andsmanschaft twice a year, before Passover and Rosh Hashanah, the Stimme is one of the most important publications founded by immigrant Jews and remains one of the few significant magazines published regularly for sixty years. With great pride we salute the Bialystoker Stimme, which celebrates our Center and Home for the Aged in New York among Jandsleit everywhere. If solidarity exists among Bialystokers all over the world, most of the credit belongs to the Stimme. Its original editor for many years was David Sohn. After his death on February 10, 1968, no effort was spared to ensure the Stimme would continue publication. Mr. Sohn’s successor as the Stimme’s editor is Izaak Rybal, General Secretary of the Bialystoker Cen- ter. The co-editor of the English section is Rabbi Lowell S. Kronick, Chaplain. The Stimme, which in recent years expanded its content and format, is read by Bia- lystoker /andsleit and friends everywhere. Concerning the Bialystoker Stimme’s founding sixty years ago, Mr. Sohn often told the following story: “In 1921, I and other people active in the Bialystoker Center were inspired to issue a periodical that described our activities, recorded the accomplishments of our societies, recognized /andsleit who worked for the insti- tution, bound together Bialystokers in America with our brothers and sisters in the old country, and collated the historical events of the Jewish community in Bialystok. ‘“We also wanted to let other /andsmanschaften know about the achievements of the Bialystoker /ands- leit. Furthermore, approximately 40,000 Bialystoker Jews in America needed their own publication, devoted to their interests, which the Yiddish press at large could not always satisfy.” * אי אל The first issue appeared on a ttrial basis in November 1921. Whether succeeding issues were pub- lished depended on the response of l/andsleit in America, which was positive. Afterward, the magazine appeared every three months. In the thirties, it became a monthly. Some of those early issues varied in size and content. Some were scanty, from eight to sixteen pages, and others contained about one hundred pages. The Passover and Rosh Hashanah issues were consistently large and rich in content. Several special issues, con- taining about one hundred pages, honored milestones of the Bialystoker Young Men’s Association, Bialy- stoker Somach Noflim, Bialystoker Ladies Auxiliary, Relief Society of Paterson, and Club of Bialystoker Friends, among others. 170 Among the early writers for the Stimme were: Jakow Krepliak, Herman Frank, Sam Kosel, Jechiel Wajntrojb, Louis Grynhojz, Pejsach Kaplan, Nojach Zabludowski, Awrom Kotik, Isroel Lipski, L. Fejgin, M. Goldman, J.J. Indicki and Litman Rozental. When one leafs through more than three hundred editions of the Stimme, comprising many thousands of pages, one discovers a treasury of materials. Every subject of consequence to Bialystokers found recognition in the Stimme. The magazine reaches all geographical locations where /andsleit live — Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Israel, Paris and Bialy- stok. The Stimme served as a monument to the 60,000 martyrs of Bialystok, as well as a beacon of hope that its ideals and traditions will live on long after the city’s destruction. This publication contains thousands of documents, articles and pictures that cannot be found anywhere else. The Stimme must be regarded as a worthy archive and everlasting tribute to everything Bialystokers loved and _ lost. * * * While the Stimme has done much to enshrine the past, it also helps the Bialystoker /andsmanschaft in America expand. Who can adequately assess the work of the Bialystoker Relief Committee, after World War I, which sent millions of dollars to save Bialystok’s institutions? Moreover, the Stimme popularized the Bia- lystoker Center and Home for the Aged in New York, the international headquarters of the /andsmanschaft. It encouraged Bialystoker Jews in America and elsewhere to send assistance to our unfortunate brothers and sis- ters in Bialystok during World War II. The magazine has also helped reunite relatives who had been out of touch for many years. The Stimme encouraged Bialystokers to appreciate culture. It also faithfully recorded births, bar mitzvahs, bas mitzvahs, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, and deaths of /andsleit. The Stimme has enabled all Bia- lystokers to feel like one extended family, sharing good times and bad. * * * Let us hope the Bialystoker Stimme will continue to fulfill its mission: uniting our beloved Jandsleit throughout the world despite great distances separating them. THE LADIES AUXILIARY