My Hometown Yedwabne, Province of Lomza, Poland,
By: Rabbis Julius Baker and Moshe Tzinovitz

Yedwabne is located twenty-one kilometers northeast of the city of Lomza, in the district of Wiski, amidst the forests, fields of green herbage, and pasturage.

From Polish sources we learn that in the year 1455 the village of Yedwabne already had a church. It then belonged to Jan Bylicy who was the Judge of Wiski, and the forefather of the Yedwabinskis.

In the year 1494 Yedwabne was comprised of twenty families. Pawel Yedwabinski, Ensign of Wiski, had obtained a permit to have a Market Day once a week on Wednesdays. This took place some time in the 1680's, since the nearby town of Wisno, which had an established weekly market on the same day, complained to the authorities that the Wednesday Market Day was damaging their business. An order then was issued by Yan the 3rd Sobieski in the year 1688 to stop market day in Yedwabne. . .

The Destruction of the Beautiful Synagogue and the City of Yedwabne in 1913 (Pages 9-10):

All those who remember the Old Wooden Shul in Yedwabne, find that there are no words to describe the beauty of the structure, inside and outside. It was praised by many periodicals of that time. From the Archives of Poland we learn that the Synagogue was already in existence in the year 1771. That was the year it was expanded. Therefore, it is believed that the original Synagogue was built when the first group of Jews from Tykocin moved to Yedwabne in the year 1660. In September of 1913, a fire started in a barn, burned three quarters of the homes of Yedwabne to the ground and completely destroyed the beautiful Synagogue and its precious books.

A woman was milking her cow by the light of a candle. The candle toppled over and set fire to the straw in the barn. Instead of immediately using the milk to put out the blaze, she ran to the house for a bucket of water. By the time she returned, the fire had already engulfed many houses and reached the Synagogue, where were stored tanks of naphtha used for the hanging lamps. The wind then carried the flames through the entire community.

Rabbi Eliyahu Winer, the Rabbi of Yedwabne, was visiting his son in the United States. When he heard the terrible news, he immediately called a mass meeting at the Synagogue of Yedwabne in New York for the purpose of raising funds to help the sufferers. With the assistance of Pinchas Turberg and his father-in-law, the famous orator Tzvi Hirsh Maslansky, Rabbi Winer accumulated an enormous sum of money that was forwarded to Yedwabne.

In the newspaper Hatzfirah of September 17th, 1913, Z. Tasmovsky writes that a request for assistance was sent to the neighboring cities of Shtucin, Wisna, Radzilowa, Lomza, Suwalk and Grodno. The appeal stated, "During the night of September 17th, three fourths of the community, including the beautiful Synagogue and its precious books, was destroyed within two hours. People ran from their homes without shoes or proper clothing. Hundreds are in the streets, without shelter, shivering from cold, hungry and thirsty. The more fortunate found shelter in the pits in the fields .. . Families of means are now totally impoverished. Those who had little, now have nothing They walk about with pale faces begging for food and clothing. Now, winter approaching, we fear the danger of an epidemic of cold weather diseases. Something has to be done before it is too late.

Signed: Rabbi Eliyahu Winer
R. Yaacov, the son of Shmaryahu Brams
Yonah, the son of Yitzchok Tikucinsky".

Most of the above-mentioned cities answered with some help, but the city of Lomza, so close to us and with whom Yedwabne had business connections had not done a thing until a small group of noble people formed an organization and undertook to help us with cash. They also lowered the cost of building material for the reconstruction of the many houses that were burned in the fire in Yedwabne.

The Pilgrimage, By: Rabbi Julius L. Baker (Pages 71-76):

. . . On our return we stopped in the city of Lomza, where I spent many years learning in the famous Talmud Torah and Yeshiva. I walked through the streets with the hope of finding some trace of Jewish existence there. To my sorrow, I found only the distinctive bricks of the beautiful synagogue built into a garage on Dluga Street.

All the cities and towns through which we drove had totally destroyed every trace that might show Jews had lived for hundreds of years among the inhabitants, and had also considered themselves as Poles. Everything looked very alien to me.

From, Lomza we drove the 21 kilometers to Yedwabne in about 15 minutes. During my youth I walked quite often from Yedwabne to Lomza and back. I knew every village and its people. Many Jews of Lomza were murdered in those villages during the Second World War.

As we approached the outskirts of Yedwabne, I recognized every building we passed. And I recalled every Jewish family that had lived in those buildings. And now they were occupied by the Polish murderers. We drove past the house that belonged to the Zelenitz Family, and it brought back many memories of the happy days when I was a young boy. On the opposite side had stood the remains of the famous wooden Synagogue (it had burned down before the First World War), and the Bet Hamedrash, the Chevra-Tehilim, the Chevrah Bachuriin. And now we passed an empty lot.

We drove through the market place, where the Magistrate still existed. The structures and stores belonging to Jewish merchants were now occupied by non-Jews. We turned towards the road to Pshitula. We passed the old water well, the house that belonged to Shirke-Reizel Tzinowitz, and her big garden. We drove by an orchard that belonged to the priest, and Shilaviuk's house in front of which was a waterwell. I recognized Franek Shilaviuk - he ran into the house. He must have recognized me and feared an encounter. He was one of the chief murderers of the Jews of Yedwabne. There were witnesses to his killing of my Uncles Pecinowitz (the millers) and their families. May G-d avenge their blood !

We continued to the city of Radzilovo, passing the Zaganik (small forest), and many familiar villages. Even in this area there was left no indication whatsoever of the many Jewish families that had lived in its soil. On our return we again passed Yedwabne and drove to the cemetary. Near this area were burned alive all the Jews of Yedwabne and many from the cities of Radzilowa and Wizna on that fateful day of July 10, 1941. For almost two hundred years our ancestors were buried in that cemetary. Now, not one tombstone could be seen. Our neighbors, the Poles, had plowed under even the remains of dead Jews. We returned to Warsaw that evening physically and emotionally broken.

The following day we went to the Praga Cemetary near Warsaw. My Father of blessed memory, was buried there when he died in Warsaw during the Bolshevik-Polish War of 1920-21. There too, we could find no sign of a grave.

I had been steadfast in my belief in man. Suddenly, my ties were cut. My past was a memory only for me. Wherever I looked for the known, for the familiar, I found only emptiness. To stop the terrible depression which was overcoming me from every direction I had to get out of Poland as quickly as possible. I needed the comfort of my own people around me to regain my stability.

We left Poland for a very brief visit in Copenhagen. The dreary weather, the lack of all we needed for our Jewish souls shortened that stay. On we flew to London, where kindness from friends and sunny weather helped us over the weekend. And on Monday we boarded the plane for the United States of America and home.

The Destruction of the Jewish Community of Yedwabne, Poland, By: Rabbi Julius L. Baker (Pages 87-89):

Deaf were the heavens to the screams of agony of our unfortunate brethern who were tormented and then killed in the most vicious manner that has no equal. Dulled were the brains and hearts of the Gentile neighbors of Yedwabne, when they perpetrated such violence against our loved ones, who were a defenseless minority in their midst, and finally burned them alive.

The curse of G-d rests upon the filthy earth of Yedwabne. Nothing remains of its Jewish community. The courtyard of the old synagogue is no longer there. The Bet Hamedrash, the house of learning and prayer which was located in the midst of the city and was partly destroyed after the Jews were murdered, has been totally wiped out by the order of the city government. In its place they built dwellings that are now occupied by the murderers of our people. Among the Jews of Yedwabne were manufacturers, businessmen, public officials, social workers, and many scholars, both secular and Torah.

The Jewish community came into being two to three hundred years ago, and it ended with the beginning of the destruction of all Jewish presence in Poland. The Jews of Yedwabne were the first to be burned alive - because they were Jews. This was the accomplishment of the Gentile neighbors, the depraved and the defilers of humanity, with the permission of the Nazis, the monsters of history.

I feel it is my duty to do the Mitzvah of Kibud Av V'Em, honoring parents, grandparents, relatives and friends, by ensuring that the memory of these beloved ones remains with us forever. The horrible day of the 15th of Tamuz, 5701, corresponding to July 10th, 1941, must be made known to the world. The names of the murdered Yedwabne Jews must be added to the large list of the thousands of Jewish communities that existed before the Holocaust, and have been memorialized in books. The descendents of Yedwabne have tarried too long. In other cities, like Kolno, a common grave still exists as a memorial to the holy martyrs. Only in Yedwabne was there not even an indication that a Jewish community ever existed.

Yedwabne had famous Rabbis, Chazanim, Shochtim, Melamdim, world-renowned schools, modem teachers, and charity institutions. It was a thriving, lively place for and because of our people. Therefore it is frightful that not a word was mentioned in the newspapers of that time on the exact occurrences of that dreadful day of the destruction of the Yedwabne Jewish community. We can find only small paragraphs here and there. One is written by a woman from the Nilowicki family of Wizno, who came to Yedwabne for refuge. She, like many others thought this might be a safe place. A woman of the Finkelstein family of Radzilows, near Yedwabne, related that after the war was over, she was in Yedwabne and saw goyim occupying former Jewish homes. The children were dressed in clothes that had been worn by Jewish children. Through a window of Sorchie's bakery she saw some Jews and one was wearing a piece of yellow cloth on his arm. He told her that he worked in the food storage house in what had been the synagogue. He related also that the few remaining Jews suffered greatly because of the converted Jew, Israel Grondowski, who told lies about them to the anti-Semitic Polish gangs.

The son-in-law of the Shochet and Chasid, Dovid Nishtzonski from Radzilovo, at that time worked in Yedwabne. His wife and children refused to leave their father and grandfather, the Tzadik, alone in Radzilovo, so they remained with him. The wife wrote a note to her husband telling him that his being in Yedwabne would be worse than hers. She then wrote to someone else that only twenty Jews remained in that city by the end of November, when they too were sent to the extermination areas together with those from the Jewish Ghetto of Lomza.

A woman by the name of Rivke Kaizer from Wizno escaped from the market place in Yedwabne. In the Memorial Book of the city of Sokola, printed in Tel Aviv in 1962, she related that after the Churban of the Jewish community of Tykocin, they got word through escapees from Yedwabne and Radzilovo, about what had happned there. The goyinm ordered all the Jews, including the Rabbi and the leaders of the people, to go to the market place. There they were told to put on their Talaisim and Tfilin, and to dance and sing. Afterwards they were locked into a big barn near the Jewish cementery. The barn was then splashed with benzine and ignited. All were burned alive. May G-d avenge their blood !

World War Two Years Remembered, By: Herschel Piekarz Baker (Pages 91-99):

. . .  On July 14, 1941 my mother arrived in Goniandz. She had been running through the woods and fields from Yedwabne to Goniandz and was exhausted. She had been en route for three days and had escaped the slaughter which the Poles perpetrated on the Jewish community of Yedwabne. (She was able to escape because she habitually dressed in the manner of Polish women, spoke Polish without an accent, and could not be recognized as Jewish.) She related the following: On the preceeding day several wagons arrived from the surrounding villages. These were to have been used to take the Jews to concentration camps to work. The Poles, however, decided to kill the Jews right there. The Poles herded together all the Jews of Yedwabne and some from Wisneh and Radzilovo, a total of about fourteen hundred people. The aged Rabbi Avigdor Byalistotsky stood at their head as they were kept in the marketplace in the heat of the day. The Poles struck and mercilessly beat whomever they chose. The Jews were ordered to march along the road to the cemetery; and the Poles drove them into the barn, locked the doors, poured kerosene over the entire barn and ignited it. The Poles stood singing and pounding wooden noisemakers to drown out the piercing cries that emanated from the burning barn -- "Sh'ma Yisroel --" . . .

The Total Jewish Population of Yedwabne Burned Alive By Their Gentile Neighbors on July 10, 1941, By: Avigdor Kochav (born in Wizna) - Written for Yad V'Shem, Jerusalem, by Mr. Kochav of Kiryat Bialystok, Israel (Pages 100-101):

After the vicious pogrom against the Jewish population of my hometown Wizno, located twelve kilometers east of Yedwabne, my parents and I decided to take refuge at the home of my Uncle Moshe Dovid Pecynowitz, the miller of Yedwabne. In Yedwabne it was still quiet. The Jewish people had to work for the Germans under the worst demoralizing conditions, but at that time the Germans did not permit the very eager Gentiles to destroy the Jews. The leaders of the Jewish community collected a large sum of money and delivered it to the Catholic Bishop of Lomza, who promised that he would not permit a pogrom in Yedwabne. Yes, the Bishop kept his word for a while. But the Jews placed too much confidence in his promise and refused to listen to the constant warnings that came from friendly Gentile neighbors. My Uncle and his rich brother Eliyahu did not believe me when I told them what had happened in Wizno. "And if it had happened there", they said, "we here in Yedwabne are safe because the Bishop promised to protect us.

One day my Uncle Moshe Dovid had a visitor. His daughter Devorah's Gentile friend came with a warning. "Tomorrow there will be a pogrom on the Jews of Yedwabne", she said, "and they should all run away" My Uncle and his brother did not believe it, but the younger folks followed my advice to take refuge in the fields of tall corn. We lay hidden there the entire night. Early in the morning we noticed a great number of villagers traveling at great sped toward the city. This was very unusual except on a market day. Suddenly we heard windows being broken and the terrible crying of women and children in the city. I decided then to go back home to Wizno and meet my parents and family who had already returned there a few days ago. They wanted to see what had happened to their possessions. I tried to run through the road of the cemetery, thinking thereby to avoid contact with the goyim in the city, but a group of shkotzim caught me and after beating me mercilessly brought me to the large market place. The entire Jewish community, men, women and children, including Rabbi Avigdor Bialystocki and all the leadership, were gathered there.

In the middle of the market place was a statue of Lenin. The goyim forced the old Rabbi to carry the statue and recite, "We Jews are responsible for the war and want the war to continue". Then they ordered a burial for the statue on the Jewish cemetery. With guns and knives in their hands they chased the tired, hungry, thirsty people who were faint from standing all day in the hot, bright sun, and they beat them savagely. Some of us succeeded in running to the corn fields. Many were caught and killed on the spot. Those of us in the fields could hear the Rabbi saying "Vidu" (confession) with the people, and then we saw smoke rise, and there came the smell of burning flesh. Later I was told that they were driven into a big barn near the cemetery, and then they ignited the straw roof and the Jews who were locked inside were burned alive. The remains were buried near the cemetery.

Eight Jews, including the writer of these lines, survived.

Reports: "The Burning Alive of the Entire Jewish Community of Yedwabne on July 10, 1941 (15th of Tamuz 5701), By: Itzchak Yaacov (Yanek) Neumark (Pages 111-116):

. . . When the Germans attacked the Russians in the year 1941, many Jews ran to Russia. I couldn't do it for I had to care for my aged father and a sister with a child whose husband was then in Uruguay. I also had to help my brother's wife and 4 children. My brother was also in Urugvay.

As soon as the Germans conquered our section, the Polish goyim of the surrounding villages began planning with them how to exterminate the Jews. They drove all the Jews of Yedwabne, among them also were Jews from Wizno, and Radzilova, into the market place and left them in the burning sun without water to drink. They had there 1440 people including men, women and children. After merciless beatings and many killings on the spot, they drove them into a barn belonging to Bronek Shlishenski. Standing nearby were the known Jew haters : Jack and Stephan Kozlowski, the blacksmith from Pshestreler Street near the cemetery, the baker Kurlevski, Aurbach and his son-in-law, and the entire family of the Osetzkes who lived near the barn. With joyful songs they poured benzene upon the barn and ignited it with the Jews packed within. At the door stood Stashek Shilaviuk with an ex in his hand ready to behead anyone trying to escape from the barn. I was standing with my family at the door, for I had the good luck of being among the last ones forced into the barn. Suddenly, by the force of the flame, the door opened up and when I saw Stashek Shilaviuk at the other side of the door ready to hit me with the ax, I managed to pull the ax from his hands and managed also to take with me my sister, her five-year-old daughter, and Itzchak Aaron Mendel's son. The latter's back was already scorched with wounds that never healed. He later perished in Aushwitz. I could see my father falling burned to the ground. We ran to the cemetery and lay there till night fell.

In these terrible moments, I noticed that my sister and her little daughter became totaly gray. In the darkness of the night I took my sister Esther-Lea and daughter Reizale to the priest of the village of Pshitul, and I myself hid at the house of the Doctor Kowaltzuk. After the war I was told that they killed my sister Esther-Lea just two weeks before the war ended. Someone recognized her as a Jewess. About her daughter Reizale I could never find a trace. . .