Lene Naidus Yudevich
MY VILLAGE PRUZHANY
Pruzhany was a strange village!
Very different from other towns of Poland. Social life was continually
in effervescence. A town of five to six thousand Jewish inhabitants, had two
popular schools, a school in Yiddish, one in Hebrew, and a high school in Hebrew. In all Poland were ten Hebrew
high schools, and our town had one of them. Two organized libraries were
maintained by the Congregation, was a Society " Toz " with an own
children rest place in mount Liachi for 250 children. (Liachi was three miles
of Pruzhany). Other bigger cities didn't have colonies for children. A orphans
home in own building, an asylum for old men, and a society of social help.
Two weekly newspapers were published, "Pruzener Shtime" and
"Pruzener Lebn" .I remember that
visited us a Jewish writer, B. SHEFNER, who in an opportunity wrote a
note in a Warsaw's Jewish newspaper. He
said about Pruzhany: "A strange city, has two newspapers and one single
horse cart for human transport".
With these words he highlighted the importance of Pruzhany. All Zionist groups were active, and during a
Zionist encounter, the celebration of Balfour Declaration, women take out their jewels, and donated them for Eretz Israel. It was very
characteristic the attitude of a poor Jew, BORUCH YOSEF SELETZKY. All his
fortune was a seven pearls necklace and
he donated it for Eretz Israel. The Committee, when finding out his precarious
situation, requested him to take back
his donation, but BORUCH YOSEF SELETZKY refused, adding categorically that he
regretted not to have another thing to donate.
In the terrible days of last war, the responsibility of Pruzhany Jews
was a behavior model. The Committee worked with soul and life for population's
well-being, and for Jews that entered expelled of other towns. It was written
and was spoken about the Committee, as if they were sacred people. After the
liberation, most of the survivors met in Feldafing camp in Germany, and
established a collective society , where reigned unity and disinterested work. With a lot of effort they tried to
locate people of Pruzhany and they transferred them to Feldafing. They shared
groceries portions with those recently arrived
.
In New York, the Relief Committee was a model for other Landsmen
Organizations. At the beginning was impossible to be connected directly with
survivors, siblings and sisters, to transmit them words of comfort, and
material help. But the Relief Committee found the roads to help the unhappy . People that had been born in
Pruzhany and they are now in Philadelphia, Chicago, Argentina, Cuba and
Canada, sent their help to
survivors.
My town Pruzhany is not any more!
Was all exterminated. Everything was destroyed. We, born in Pruzhany and
now dispersed for all ends of world, should continue knitting the golden
threads of our dear Pruzhany, and build in our own country, Israel, a Memorial
for our dear village Pruzhany.