Other Rebbes?
"On May 8th detachments of Germans and Ukrainians surrounded the Headquarters of the ZOB Command. The fighting lasted two hours, and when the Germans convinced themselves that they would be unable to take the bunker by storm, they tossed in a gas-bomb. Whoever survived the German bullets, whoever was not gassed, committed suicide, for it was quite clear that from here there was no way out, and nobody even considered being taken alive by the Germans. Jurek Wilner called upon all partisans to commit suicide together. Lutek Rotblat shot his mother, his sister, then himself. Ruth fired at herself seven times.
Thus 80% of the remaining partisans perished, among them the ZOB Commander, Mordechaj Anielewicz. "
This is from the account of Marek Edelman, the representative of the Bund in the Command of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB by the Polish initials) in the Warsaw Ghetto, the only one of them still alive (the last time I read about it). The complete text gives a fascinating, matter-of-factly written account of the period leading up to the uprising. While the activities of the anti-Zionist Bund take most space, he does not detract from the Zionist contribution; as evidenced by the passage quoted here on what happened 63 years before today. It was several weeks after Hitlers birthday on April 20 for which the elimination of that ghetto April 19-20 was to be a birthday present.
Some sporadic fighting continued for a while longer, but it was the end of organized fighting; and the death of essentially all remaining fighters of the Hashomer Hatzair. Yet they thought they had accomplished more than they had thought possible. I agree.
In the Hashomer Hatzair, the Bund was like a dirty word, (about the same as the Yevsektsia, the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party in the 1920-s, which played a major role in the persecution of Zionists by the regime). It may have been so in other Zionist organizations, too, and probably reciprocated in the Bund. I only found out details about the outfit in the process of writing this WEBSITE (the Wikipedia article on it looks well informed) . It may be Yitzkhak Zuckerman's personal open mindedness that made him emphasize that he respected, and found it easy to work with, Marek Edelman in occupied Warsaw. Lately the mutual hostility seems to be abating; possibly because there are only small isolated Bundist groups left of what used to be the main organization of Jewish workers in the Eastern European countries that gained their independence at the end of the Tsarist Russian empire.
I haven't had anyone even remotely comparable to a rebbe who viewed himself as an anti-Zionist; non-Zionist, yes. That refers to what we considered Zionism to be, that we Jews just pack our bags and all take off for Eretz Yisrael, then British Mandatory Palestine, so as to become a normal nation again. My father was not such a Zionist. We did have a blue coin collection box of the Keren Kayemet (usually referred to now as Jewish National Fund, or JNF) at the entrance to our apartment. It was for buying land in Palestine where Jewish kHalutzim (pioneers) coming to Palestine could establish a new life in agriculture (and was corrupted badly after Israeli independence so as to dispossess Arab Israelis). My uncle, M. Jahre (later Yaari in Israel), was an old Zionist and the Dortmund representative of the Keren Kayemet. Most Jews now referred to as Zionists in North America are non-Zionist in that sense. The "ultra-orthodox" sects that sprouted the fanatical, violent characters dominant among the "settlers" in the occupied Palestinian territories were mostly anti-Zionist. This is not the place to clarify all that has been confused on that, largely deliberately.
Unlike other members, I had not joined the Hashomer Hatzair but rather was transferred to it. It had no chapter in Dortmund. My Jahre - Yaari cousins and I had joined the Werkleute ("deedpeople" may be the best way to render that) when they established a chapter with groups in our age range. The Werkleute had been founded from a part of the Kameraden (a German Jewish youth movement with affinity to the Wandervogel) at the initiative of Herman (later Menakhem) Gerson, who continued to be the leading spirit. It would stretch the term even more than up to here if I referred to him as a rebbe, both in view of his modest personality and his background of thorough assimilation to the "monocultural" German environment; until he felt the need to reconnect to the sources of Jewish culture, for which Martin Buber turned out to be the right address. While Buber influenced the other youth organizations, too (and many others), he had a direct role in the formation and development of the Werkleute through (mainly) his meetings and correspondence with Gerson. Buber thus could fill the role of a former rebbe of mine, although I never met him personally. Like Meir Yaari, he did come from a kHassidic family. His paternal grandfather Solomon, a major Jewish scholar, was close to the Sadgora rebbe, and the young Martin, born in Vienna, spent several years with his grandfather in Lemberg (now Lviv; there are many websites about Buber).
Possibly the only thing on the web about the short history of the Werkleute as an independent outfit is this short account in German (which I may translate later.
Im Deutschjuedischen Wanderbund Kameraden hatte sich um Hermann Gerson ein Kreis gebildet, der sich intensiv mit Martin Buber und seinen Schriften auseinander setzte. Bei der Spaltung der Kameraden 1932 bildeten seine Anhaenger mit 1000 Mitgliedern die groesste Fraktion und nannten sich Werkleute. Innerhalb der Kameraden hatte Gerson angeregt Hebraeisch zu lernen, nun wendete sich der neue Bund ganz dem Zionismus zu. Grund dieser Entscheidung war das "Galutherlebnis des Jahres 1933". Schon im alten Bund hatten die Werkleute durch deutsche Kultur und die emotional erlebte deutsche Landschaft ihre Identitaet definiert. "Und nun stiess uns dieses Land, [...] das uns in so vielen geistig-seelischen Beziehungen die Praegung gegeben hatte [...] von sich" schrieb Gerson 1934. Die intellektuell ausgerichteten Werkleute stellten sich auf die Auswanderung um: Ein eigener Kibbuz wurde gegruendet und durch Sammlungen brachten sie Gelder für den Landkauf in Palaestina auf. Bis 1936 konnten ca. 200 Jugendliche auswandern. Der Bund umfasste zu dieser Zeit 1150 Jungen und Maedchen, von denen sich 400 auf die Auswanderung vorbereiteten. Die durch die gesetzlichen Einschraenkungen der Schulausbildung für juedische Kinder mangelhafte Ausbildung versuchte der Bund durch eigene Seminare und Schulungen zu verbessern.
Bodo Mrozek (Letzte Aktualisierung dieser Seite erfolgte am: 01.02.2005
From: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bodomr/kameraden.html
Early influences (from what would now be called role models) also must include the other major left Zionist youth organization. It has figured here mainly as represented by Yitzkhak Zuckerman (or Antek), leading figure of the Polish wartime Hekhalutz Hatzair after its fusion with Dror; both of which were tied to the United Kibbutz (Me'ukhad). In Germany (and other Western countries) the Habonim stood for the same, instead. Before the Werkleute started, we had followed Hermann Jahre (later Tzvi Yaari), my oldest Dortmund cousin, into the Habonim. It later turned out that, along with my youngest Yaari cousin Shraga ("Spatz"), we had not been formally members, since we were not yet 10. We had just participated in their activities. After deportation to Zbaszyn, our local leader was Oskar Handler, shown earlier in a photo with Antek (whom he had rescued when "lost" at the beginning of the war). Before Zbaszyn, Oskar had been in the German leadership of both the Habonim and the Hekhalutz, the umbrella for all the kibbutz bound outfits. It was through him that we found out in Zbaszyn that Werkleute and Hashomer Hatzair were together now; and that the move to the latter's hakhsharah kibbutz in Czestochowa was arranged. It was through another who had been in our group in the kibbutz, whom we happened to encounter, that we managed to make contact with the Zionist underground forming in the part of (prewar) Poland newly under Soviet rule; specifically with Oskar Handler; thus got to Vilna, newly in still independent Lithuania; then, in Palestine, by another strange coincidence, ended up in Hazorea, the kibbutz of the Werkleute now within the Hashomer Hatzair. Although he didn't bring it up, I am confident that Oskar expected me to join one of their kibbutzim; and in most respects it probably would have been preferable (but especially Hazorea was a good place for a youngster to spend almost two years in). Anyway, he surely was important in my life. (And I surely ought to tell some more about the very eventful half year between getting stuck in what was becoming Soviet Ukraine and arrival in Hazorea; the other outfits are found on the same website as shown above for the Werkleute, with Kameraden replaced by Habonim, Hechaluz or Haschomer; i.e. German spelling).
Also important was my cousin Hermann, who drew my brother and me away from the direction our father preferred and toward the left Zionist outfits described (also in some other ways). But so most surely was my father; not just because I soon abandoned my Zionist convictions. He was a small businessman, but clearly a very good one. Apart from volunteered admiring testimony, it is seen by his record of making a good living in tough times with only 2-3 salespeople; during the depression, during Nazi rule. He was seldom involved in selling, but always went himself to Pirmasens to select the shoes to buy at the factories; rather than relying on the local pitch of their representatives. I never sold anything myself, but I am good at buying, too. I can't see how I learned anything on buying directly from him; but there can't be a good buyers gene; some sort of osmosis. And that has been a very important effect on (my part in) the design of our lab's solar energy project. Now, more than three decades later, it is becoming more obvious than ever that this readily competitive solar power would have been society's buy of the century.
Thus 80% of the remaining partisans perished, among them the ZOB Commander, Mordechaj Anielewicz. "
This is from the account of Marek Edelman, the representative of the Bund in the Command of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB by the Polish initials) in the Warsaw Ghetto, the only one of them still alive (the last time I read about it). The complete text gives a fascinating, matter-of-factly written account of the period leading up to the uprising. While the activities of the anti-Zionist Bund take most space, he does not detract from the Zionist contribution; as evidenced by the passage quoted here on what happened 63 years before today. It was several weeks after Hitlers birthday on April 20 for which the elimination of that ghetto April 19-20 was to be a birthday present.
Some sporadic fighting continued for a while longer, but it was the end of organized fighting; and the death of essentially all remaining fighters of the Hashomer Hatzair. Yet they thought they had accomplished more than they had thought possible. I agree.
In the Hashomer Hatzair, the Bund was like a dirty word, (about the same as the Yevsektsia, the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party in the 1920-s, which played a major role in the persecution of Zionists by the regime). It may have been so in other Zionist organizations, too, and probably reciprocated in the Bund. I only found out details about the outfit in the process of writing this WEBSITE (the Wikipedia article on it looks well informed) . It may be Yitzkhak Zuckerman's personal open mindedness that made him emphasize that he respected, and found it easy to work with, Marek Edelman in occupied Warsaw. Lately the mutual hostility seems to be abating; possibly because there are only small isolated Bundist groups left of what used to be the main organization of Jewish workers in the Eastern European countries that gained their independence at the end of the Tsarist Russian empire.
I haven't had anyone even remotely comparable to a rebbe who viewed himself as an anti-Zionist; non-Zionist, yes. That refers to what we considered Zionism to be, that we Jews just pack our bags and all take off for Eretz Yisrael, then British Mandatory Palestine, so as to become a normal nation again. My father was not such a Zionist. We did have a blue coin collection box of the Keren Kayemet (usually referred to now as Jewish National Fund, or JNF) at the entrance to our apartment. It was for buying land in Palestine where Jewish kHalutzim (pioneers) coming to Palestine could establish a new life in agriculture (and was corrupted badly after Israeli independence so as to dispossess Arab Israelis). My uncle, M. Jahre (later Yaari in Israel), was an old Zionist and the Dortmund representative of the Keren Kayemet. Most Jews now referred to as Zionists in North America are non-Zionist in that sense. The "ultra-orthodox" sects that sprouted the fanatical, violent characters dominant among the "settlers" in the occupied Palestinian territories were mostly anti-Zionist. This is not the place to clarify all that has been confused on that, largely deliberately.
Unlike other members, I had not joined the Hashomer Hatzair but rather was transferred to it. It had no chapter in Dortmund. My Jahre - Yaari cousins and I had joined the Werkleute ("deedpeople" may be the best way to render that) when they established a chapter with groups in our age range. The Werkleute had been founded from a part of the Kameraden (a German Jewish youth movement with affinity to the Wandervogel) at the initiative of Herman (later Menakhem) Gerson, who continued to be the leading spirit. It would stretch the term even more than up to here if I referred to him as a rebbe, both in view of his modest personality and his background of thorough assimilation to the "monocultural" German environment; until he felt the need to reconnect to the sources of Jewish culture, for which Martin Buber turned out to be the right address. While Buber influenced the other youth organizations, too (and many others), he had a direct role in the formation and development of the Werkleute through (mainly) his meetings and correspondence with Gerson. Buber thus could fill the role of a former rebbe of mine, although I never met him personally. Like Meir Yaari, he did come from a kHassidic family. His paternal grandfather Solomon, a major Jewish scholar, was close to the Sadgora rebbe, and the young Martin, born in Vienna, spent several years with his grandfather in Lemberg (now Lviv; there are many websites about Buber).
Possibly the only thing on the web about the short history of the Werkleute as an independent outfit is this short account in German (which I may translate later.
Im Deutschjuedischen Wanderbund Kameraden hatte sich um Hermann Gerson ein Kreis gebildet, der sich intensiv mit Martin Buber und seinen Schriften auseinander setzte. Bei der Spaltung der Kameraden 1932 bildeten seine Anhaenger mit 1000 Mitgliedern die groesste Fraktion und nannten sich Werkleute. Innerhalb der Kameraden hatte Gerson angeregt Hebraeisch zu lernen, nun wendete sich der neue Bund ganz dem Zionismus zu. Grund dieser Entscheidung war das "Galutherlebnis des Jahres 1933". Schon im alten Bund hatten die Werkleute durch deutsche Kultur und die emotional erlebte deutsche Landschaft ihre Identitaet definiert. "Und nun stiess uns dieses Land, [...] das uns in so vielen geistig-seelischen Beziehungen die Praegung gegeben hatte [...] von sich" schrieb Gerson 1934. Die intellektuell ausgerichteten Werkleute stellten sich auf die Auswanderung um: Ein eigener Kibbuz wurde gegruendet und durch Sammlungen brachten sie Gelder für den Landkauf in Palaestina auf. Bis 1936 konnten ca. 200 Jugendliche auswandern. Der Bund umfasste zu dieser Zeit 1150 Jungen und Maedchen, von denen sich 400 auf die Auswanderung vorbereiteten. Die durch die gesetzlichen Einschraenkungen der Schulausbildung für juedische Kinder mangelhafte Ausbildung versuchte der Bund durch eigene Seminare und Schulungen zu verbessern.
Bodo Mrozek (Letzte Aktualisierung dieser Seite erfolgte am: 01.02.2005
From: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bodomr/kameraden.html
Early influences (from what would now be called role models) also must include the other major left Zionist youth organization. It has figured here mainly as represented by Yitzkhak Zuckerman (or Antek), leading figure of the Polish wartime Hekhalutz Hatzair after its fusion with Dror; both of which were tied to the United Kibbutz (Me'ukhad). In Germany (and other Western countries) the Habonim stood for the same, instead. Before the Werkleute started, we had followed Hermann Jahre (later Tzvi Yaari), my oldest Dortmund cousin, into the Habonim. It later turned out that, along with my youngest Yaari cousin Shraga ("Spatz"), we had not been formally members, since we were not yet 10. We had just participated in their activities. After deportation to Zbaszyn, our local leader was Oskar Handler, shown earlier in a photo with Antek (whom he had rescued when "lost" at the beginning of the war). Before Zbaszyn, Oskar had been in the German leadership of both the Habonim and the Hekhalutz, the umbrella for all the kibbutz bound outfits. It was through him that we found out in Zbaszyn that Werkleute and Hashomer Hatzair were together now; and that the move to the latter's hakhsharah kibbutz in Czestochowa was arranged. It was through another who had been in our group in the kibbutz, whom we happened to encounter, that we managed to make contact with the Zionist underground forming in the part of (prewar) Poland newly under Soviet rule; specifically with Oskar Handler; thus got to Vilna, newly in still independent Lithuania; then, in Palestine, by another strange coincidence, ended up in Hazorea, the kibbutz of the Werkleute now within the Hashomer Hatzair. Although he didn't bring it up, I am confident that Oskar expected me to join one of their kibbutzim; and in most respects it probably would have been preferable (but especially Hazorea was a good place for a youngster to spend almost two years in). Anyway, he surely was important in my life. (And I surely ought to tell some more about the very eventful half year between getting stuck in what was becoming Soviet Ukraine and arrival in Hazorea; the other outfits are found on the same website as shown above for the Werkleute, with Kameraden replaced by Habonim, Hechaluz or Haschomer; i.e. German spelling).
Also important was my cousin Hermann, who drew my brother and me away from the direction our father preferred and toward the left Zionist outfits described (also in some other ways). But so most surely was my father; not just because I soon abandoned my Zionist convictions. He was a small businessman, but clearly a very good one. Apart from volunteered admiring testimony, it is seen by his record of making a good living in tough times with only 2-3 salespeople; during the depression, during Nazi rule. He was seldom involved in selling, but always went himself to Pirmasens to select the shoes to buy at the factories; rather than relying on the local pitch of their representatives. I never sold anything myself, but I am good at buying, too. I can't see how I learned anything on buying directly from him; but there can't be a good buyers gene; some sort of osmosis. And that has been a very important effect on (my part in) the design of our lab's solar energy project. Now, more than three decades later, it is becoming more obvious than ever that this readily competitive solar power would have been society's buy of the century.
posted by solar_sol | 8:40 PM
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