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Jewish epitaphs from Białystok, 1905–6: towards mending the torn thread of memory

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 41; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13501674.2011.587650

1743-971X

Heidi M. Szpek,

Polish-Jewish Holocaust Memory Studies

Abstract In the centre of the Jewish cemetery of Bagnowka in Białystok, Poland, stands a black pillar that serves as a memorial to two 1905 massacres and the 1906 pogrom that devastated this Jewish community. The historical record has not yet recognised that, in addition to this Memorial Pillar, another evidentiary source exists within Bagnowka Beth-Olam, marking violence from 1905 to 1939. This recently uncovered source consists of nearly 100 of the extant 2300 epitaphs from this cemetery. The current paper specifically examines the provenance, formulaic structure and content of the epitaphs commemorating the victims of the 1905 and 1906 violence. Set against those of their period, the memorial matzevoth replicate stone type, shape and stonecutter's hand dating c. 1900 to 1910. Their formulaic components similarly parallel epitaphs from this time with two exceptions: the addition of specific language referencing death by violence, and, occasionally, inclusion of specific details delineating distinct circumstances of death. Consideration of the presence of these memorial matzevoth also provokes the question: why memorialise by both pillar and matzevoth? While pillars and matzevoth are attested to as memorials in Eastern Europe, Bagnowka Beth-Olam stands at present unparalleled in combining both architectural structures in its form of remembrance. Such remembrance, as we will see, is not simply duplication; rather each structure serves a distinct function. Equally provocative is that several deceased remembered on these memorial matzevoth are also remembered by epitaphs on matzevoth in sections outside the memorial area. No such duplication of epitaphs exists for individuals after the violence of 1905–6, suggesting that memorialisation by pillar, memorial matzevoth and personal matzevoth was intentional, marking violence unprecedented in Białystok's history. Keywords: Jewish epitaphsBiałystokPolandmemorialisationpogroms Acknowledgements This research was funded in part by the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies and the Office of Graduate Studies and Research at Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington, USA. My deepest appreciation is extended to Frank J. Idzikowski for his photographic efforts, companionship and patience on the journey to pursue this research. My gratitude also extends to my research intern, Courtney C. Allocca, of Central Washington University for her editorial assistance. All images copyright Heidi M. Szpek and Frank J. Idzikowski. Notes Young, The Texture of Memory, 186. Ibid. In Bransk, Poland, southwest of Białystok, one epitaph dating to 1939 references the death of a husband and wife amidst the Soviet recapture of this city from the Germans. At Jasionowka, northwest of Białystok, a fragment of the epitaph of the daughter of Reb David Zlaterninski reveals she was “plucked up in the bloodshed of her world on 18 Adar 5691 7 March [1931].” Northeast of Białystok, the urban city of Sokolka's Jewish cemetery at present reveals two epitaphs. East of Białystok, in the largest shtetl cemetery of Krynki in this region, five epitaphs remember men and women whose lives were “plucked” or who “fell slain” in “the bloodshed” of their day. These epitaphs date to 1921, 1929, 1930 and 1933. Moving northwards to Suwalki: a memorial wall preserves what remains of the tombstones from this Jewish cemetery. Of the approximately 150 tombstones, some complete, some fragments, seven remember women who perished “in the bloodshed of their days” in the years 1852, 1889, 1891, 1916, 1917 and 1921. One fragment does not preserve a year of death. A plaque has also been erected on this memorial wall to all those martyrs who fell in Suwalki and were buried in this cemetery. In central Poland, in the oldest section of Warsaw's extensive Jewish cemetery, (at present) only two epitaphs, one with no date legible, another dating to 1870, have been discovered. Also, a 1916 photograph from Brzezany, Poland, preserves one epitaph that speaks of death “by the bloodshed of her days” on 13th Cheshvan 5675 (2 November 1914). A 1930 photograph, from Sejny in northern Poland, preserves an epitaph that marks the death of a young woman to such violence on the 20th Kislev 5670 (3 December 1909). These photographs are preserved in the Tomasz Wisniewski Collection in Białystok, Poland and available online at www.bagnowka.com under “Jewish cemeteries – pre-1945.” Cite surveys of these (and additional) cemeteries were conducted by the author in May 2007 and June 2010. This cemetery, called Bagnowka Beth-Olam after the district of Białystok in which it is located, was established in 1892. It lies adjacent to a Catholic cemetery, which in turns rests beside an Orthodox cemetery. Bagnowka Jewish cemetery once covered nearly 45 acres, which cradled the remains of nearly 40,000 Jews from Białystok and surrounding smaller towns. Today, due to the ravages of Jewish material culture during the Holocaust and further devastation under Communism, the cemetery has been reduced to about 30 acres, divided into 100 sections. Approximately 2300 tombstones with inscriptions remain, in various states of disarray. The tombstones of the 1905 massacres and 1906 pogrom were uncovered and photographed by Polish historian and journalist Tomasz Wisniewski between November 2009 and June 2010. Those related to other acts of antisemitic violence were gradually revealed between 2006 and 2009. The translation efforts of the author drew attention to their value in the brief popular article entitled “In the Bloodshed of Their Days.” Wisniewski's study of this Jewish cemetery in Białystok began in the late 1980s, documented in several journal articles (see especially Wisniewski, “Cmentarze żydowskie w Białymstoku,” 386–8), popular magazine articles, a site survey (Survey of Historic Jewish Monuments in Poland, 1993, funded by the United States Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad, prepared by Samuel Gruber and Phyllis Myers, updated and revised in 1995), a book Jewish Białystok and Surroundings in Eastern Poland and an extensive photographic record. Today, all images with translations of vital data from Bagnowka Jewish cemetery can be found at Bagnowka.com. See, for example, Kobrin, Jewish Białystok and Its Diaspora, 192–3, who references Nevodovska's poem and only associates the “dark pillar” and “martyrs” with the 1906 pogrom. The victims of the 1905 massacres are also not noted by Bender, The Jews of Białystok during World War II and the Holocaust, 16; Wiśniewski, Jewish Białystok and Surroundings in Eastern Poland, 18, 56; and Sohn, Białystok Photo Album of a Renowned City and Its Jews the World Over, 78. Nosonovsky, Hebrew Epitaphs and Inscriptions from Ukraine and Former Soviet Union, 107, 120, 122, 138, references select tombstones where death is by violence. The term “inscription” is used here when speaking of non-content details, i.e., the style of engraving words into a stone; the term “epitaph” is used when referencing an inscription for someone deceased. Bender, The Jews of Białystok, 1–17. Nosonovsky, Hebrew Epitaphs and Inscriptions from Ukraine and Former Soviet Union, 29. See also Segal, A Field Guide to Visiting a Jewish Cemetery, 25, who offers three other orientations based on his observations which would result in the inscription being engraved on a face other than the western face. As Segal explains (based on sources including Baba Bathra, 101b), the rationale for the West (head)–East (feet) orientation is that, “at resurrection day, the dead will arise and start walking toward Jerusalem (eastward).” According to Jewish epitaph tradition, Hebrew letters are used to indicate the day as well as the year of birth and death. Indication, however, of the thousand designation for the year is frequently omitted, e.g. [5]666, and followed by the Hebrew abbreviation meaning “as/according to the abbreviate era.” Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 1, 298. The Białystok Yizkor Book references the pillar and the names upon it without offering a specific date for its erection (16–18). A photo in the Białystok Photo Album preserves a view of the main (western) facade before which stands a matzevah (Sohn, Photo Album of a Renowned City and Its Jews the World Over, 65). Another image displays facades Gimel and Dalet behind which are scores of matzevoth adjacent to the pillar's base, in Krim, “Looking Back at Pre-war Białystok,” 53. Facade Aleph also contains a brief description of the pogrom and the poem “Pillar of Sorrow” by Zalman Schneur. The four sides of the pillar are literally marked at the top with the first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet, to assist one in reading the pillar. Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 114–15, does note additional victims of this massacre. Ibid. Inexplicably, the female victims of the Sabbath Nahamu massacre are recorded by Herszberg as part of the October 1905 massacre. Herszberg indicates that the source of these data is the report entitled “Remembering the Names of the Victims of the Pogrom” (Yiddish), prepared by the Białystoker Committee, Assistance Related to the Pogrom. The date of this list is not provided nor is this document extant. It is unclear whether this report only references the Sabbath Nahamu 1905 massacre or also served as the source for the lists of victims Herszberg provides for the October 1905 massacre as well as the 1906 pogrom. The Białystok Yizkor Book recalls such shooting: “But in the summer of 1905, a military pogrom against the Jews was launched. On a Sabbath afternoon, a company of soldiers appeared in the marketplace, shooting in all directions. Jewish passersby ran for cover. The soldiers scattered the groups into the nearby streets, firing upon innocent bystanders and into Jewish homes. This continued into the night. The toll in the Jewish Hospital was several scores of wounded and two rows of dead bodies, the victims of military bullets.” Pogorelski, “Pogroms in the 19th Century.” Herszberg provides a paternal surname for a Bejla – Lieberman (Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 116); however, she is listed among the October 1905 victims whereas the Memorial Pillar lists this Bejla among the victims of Sabbath Nahamu 1905. Białystok Archive, death record, Fond 264 #170F, for Bejla Mowszowna Liberman; children's birth records for Bejla Mowszowna Liberman (née GWIRC) and husband Chaim Szlemowicz Liberman: Menucha Liberman [girl] 1901, Fond 264 #295F, and Masza [girl] Liberman 1903, Fond 264 #104F, indicate her maiden name. Denz, Bundistinnen, 48. Blatman, “Women in the Jewish Labor Bund in Interwar Poland,” 65; Shepherd, A Price Below Rubies, 149; and Baum et al., The Jewish Woman in America, 86. Mendez-Flohr and Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World, 419. The life of a Bundist was not compatible with marriage and family, especially for women, as protests, demonstrations and even conferences kept members in constant movement. Ester's marriage was thus unique. Shepherd, A Price Below Rubies, 151; Denz, Bundistinnen, 48; and Białystok Archive, marriage record, Fond 264 #196. Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 114. The Białystok Photo Album preserves a photo of Ester Riskind and Gitl Zakheim, calling them “two leaders in the Bund,” 65. Shepherd, A Price Below Rubies, 149; Arbeiterinnen-Zeitung: Sozialdemokratisches Organ für Frauen und Mädchen, Record 15. No. 6, 20 March 1906. On the Memorial Pillar, two Esters are remembered who died on this Sabbath – Ester daughter of Jakob Lejb Kuran, age 21, and Ester daughter of Szmuel Bartinowski, age 17. Their ages recorded in Herszberg's Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 116, indicate they are not Ester Riskind. Zimmerman, Poles, Jews and the Politics of Nationality, 227. Because of these devastations, 330,000 Jews had migrated from Russia by 1908. For the Bund this migration dramatically reduced party membership. Disillusionment with revolutionary activism also contributed to the decline in the Bund at this time. Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 116. Jacobs, “Bund.” Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 115. Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 116; Białystok Archive, death record, Fond 264 #306M. Białystok Archive provides additional details about his wife and children: Pesia-Ginda Mowszowna Branzel's paternal lineage and maiden name are preserved in the birth records for daughter Rivkeh (Fond 264 #9) and for son Szimon (Fond 264 #457M). Baruch's surname is not engraved on this stone but it is recorded on the Memorial Pillar. Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 116, provides Baruch's surname and age of 53. Szold, “From Kishineff to Białystok,” 36; and Szold, “Report of the Duma Commission on the Białystok Massacre,” 74. The historic record notes that the victims of the 1906 pogrom were buried in a mass grave, atop which the Memorial Pillar stands, begging the question of why families erected individual tombstones upon burial sites wherein the deceased were not buried. Twenty-four of the 46 preserve this wording, as for example, “Here lies Reb Abraham son of Reb Zev Grinhojz who was killed 22nd Sivan 5666 as the abbreviated era.” As, for example, in the epitaph: “Here lies the martyr, the young man, Sender Lejb son of Reb David Chaim Zakhaim killed on the Holy Sabbath 23rd Sivan 5666 as the abbreviated era.” As, for example, in the epitaph: “Here lies the martyr, the God-fearing young man, the honourable Mr. Szlomo son of Reb Nachum Meir Furman killed by the hand of the killers on Friday the eve of the Holy Sabbath 22 Sivan 5666 as the abbreviated era.” So in the partial epitaph of Jakob son of Gershon: “The martyr, the young precious and pious scholar who was killed in the days of the pogroms on the day of the Holy Sabbath 22/23 Sivan year 5666, Jakob son of Gershon [remainder not extant].” So in the epitaph of Abraham Bachrach: “May the martyrs arrange a lament, O my cruel nation, for the martyred, upright young father Ajzik son of Abraham Bachrach who was murdered by cruel hands during the three days of the pogrom on the Holy Sabbath 23 Sivan 5666 16 June [1906] seven days after his wedding.” The Bachrach epitaph does use the word “murdered” (). The Memorial Pillar indicates that the pogrom lasted five days, whereas the memorial matzevoth state “days,” “three days,” or provide specific reference to one of three days in Sivan. Herszberg and period documentation also indicate three days. Perhaps the pillar's inscription adds two days because an atmosphere of agitation still prevailed. Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 119; Szold, “Report of the Duma Commission on the Białystok Massacre,” 81. While contemporary scholarship questions the potentially impartial nature of the Duma Report, the epitaphs do corroborate the details offered in the Duma's findings. See Lambroza, “The Pogroms of 1903–1906”; Klier, Pogroms, 1–38. Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 119. This fragment must belong to Mordechai, for it references a son and Aharon Mosze's epitaph still preserves this information. Likewise no other Nathan Nota, as a father, is listed among the victims of this pogrom. Regarding matzevah epitaphs, thought must certainly be given as to whether the epithets reflect genuine characteristics of the deceased or hoped-for attributes respected by the community. Those offered for the Lapidus children seem to be of the former kind as opposed to the almost cliché reference to men as “perfect and upright” like the biblical Job or women described as “a woman of valour,” in keeping with Proverb 31's praise of women. The Boyari suburb was an industrial area northeast of the town's centre, adjacent to a residential neighbourhood. Szold, “Report of the Duma Commission on the Białystok Massacre,” 80. Ibid., 78. The Duma Report provides this information as well, adding that three other victims jumped with Nachman from the burning house: Sholem Nowik, age 28; Hirsz Hepner, age 63; and Mordechai Szmukler, age 18. Szold, “Report of the Duma Commission on the Białystok Massacre,” 78. Ibid.,74. The assault in the railway station was also referenced in New York Times, 18 June 1906. See also Herszberg, Pinkos Białystok, vol. 2, 119–21; Bender, The Jews of Białystok, 15. Sohn, “The Pogrom against the Jews,” 117. Jewish passengers were also beaten with canes, stones and sticks as they awaited trains to carry them away from Białystok, or while hiding within the train carriages. Szold, “Report of the Duma Commission on the Białystok Massacre,” 74–6. Ibid., 75–6, only mentions seven (partial) names among those who were murdered at the railway station: Mulovir, Abramski, Kurrekta, Shimon Salmen, Mordvha Lew, Bruinski and Horovitz. Ages derived from Herzberg and Białystok Archive, birth record 1892 for Lejb Ichkowicz Mazur (Fond 259). Pogorelski, “Pogroms in the 19th Century,” 16. Szold, “Report of the Duma Commission on the Białystok Massacre,” 87–8. Nevodovska, As I Am, 24–5.