THE BIALYSTOKER CENTER HELPS Lmmediately after our brothers and sisters were liber- ated from the Nazis, they sought assistance. They needed to recover from their horrible experiences in order to begin new lives. | The survivors from Bialystok — including ghetto escapees, exiles in the Soviet Union, resistance fighters and others who emerged from the bunkers, quickly sought to establish contact with /andsleit in other parts of the world. The Bialystoker Center in New York enthusiastically responded to their appeals for help. Right after the war, countless letters arrived at the Center from survivors in Europe, Cyprus and Israel, where they fled after the Nazi defeat. They appealed for financial and moral support. Furthermore, they inquired about relatives and friends with whom they lost contact during the war, or who were already living in the United States. The Center’s positive response made the survivors feel they were not alone. During that postwar period, our Center fulfilled the sacred traditions of Bialystok — compassion, humanity and generosity toward people in desperate need. A large-scale relief effort, supported by the /ands- leit in the United States and in other countries, went into full swing. Bialystoker societies in New York, Newark, Paterson, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto, Canada, participated. The Bialystoker Center in New York sent money and supplies to Jews in Bialystok and surround- ing towns, as well as to Bialystokers who resettled in other European countries and on Cyrpus, on the way to Israel. Those temporarily confined to displaced-persons camps in Germany, Austria, Italy and other countries became additional beneficiaries of the relief program. Many survivors who moved to the United States or Canada received support from the New York Bialy- stoker Center. In turn they became active in the Cen- ter’s program to help less fortunate Bialystokers, just as they had received support in their time of need. The Bialystoker Stimme, the official magazine of the Center in New York, played an important role in furthering the relief effort. Spotlighting the dire straits in which survi- vors found themselves, it succeeded in uniting /andsleit in America, Israel, Canada and other countries to help their counterparts in Eastern Europe. Leafing through the pages of the Stimme, we find moving articles, notices and letters concerning the fund- raising campaign carried out by the Bialystoker Center, as well as expressions of appreciation from beneficiaries of the program. Particularly touching is the solidarity that Bialystokers — donors and recipients alike — felt. In the following pages, excerpts from documents The Bialystoker Memorial Book printed in the Bialystoker Stimme are reproduced to illustrate Bialystoker humanitarianism and kinship. THE RELIEF COMMITTEE FORWARDS ASSISTANCE TO LANDSLEIT IN EUROPE $4,375 allocated for food, medicine and other supplies — $2,500 sent through the “Joint” to Jews in Bialystok — Paterson Relief Society sends $1,000 — Assistance provided to Bialystoker poor in France, Sweden and Italy — A campaign launched for clothes — Relief Conference to be attended by delegates from all over U.S. will be held Sunday, December 16, 1945. Some three hundred Jews live in Bialystok today, with more arriving daily. Gradually, Bialystokers are return- ing from the Soviet Union, having gone there at the start of the war to escape annihilation. Life in Bialystok is still gloomy; practically nothing of the city stands. A Jewish Reconstruction Committee registers all the Jews who return to the city. Our Relief Committee in New York awaits an updated list of all the Jews liv- ing in Bialystok. The Relief Committee has allocated $1,000 for food packages for Bialystok and for other countries in which Bialystokers reside. It appeals to all members to send clothes in good condition for needy survivors. A decision was made to send $500 to the Bialystoker Cen- ter in Paris for desperate /andsleit. Sunday, December 16, 1945, a conference of dele- gates from Bialystoker societies throughout the United States and Canada will meet at our Center in New York to improve coordination for the relief effort. TELL THE NEW GENERATIONS OF THE HOLOCAUST AND RESISTANCE 137