Public Life Politics
Public Life: Politics
1. Political parties and their activities
The Orthodox parties
The political parties that would represent the Orthodox population were established in Poland relatively late, and they were organized on the German model. The largest political Orthodox organization in Poland between the two wars was founded in 1916, under the name Association of the Orthodox “Agudas Haortodoksim”. In 1918 the name was changed to “Szlojmej Emunej Israel”, and finally, in 1919, Agudas Isroel. The first branch in the Lublin District was established in Sokołów in 1916, followed by branches in Siedlceand Łuków in 1918 and in Lublin in 1919.
According to the party’s platform, its main aims were as follows: To protect the religious rights of the Jewish public; to disseminate the religious principles among the Jews; to support Jewish education; to promote civil rights and religious principles; to distribute charity and encourage cooperation. The Zionist ideas were adopted only in so far as they did not counter religious principles. Immigration to Eretz Israel was not perceived as a conclusive solution to the problems of the Jews dispersed in exile; nevertheless they supported the organization of Orthodox agricultural settlements in Eretz Israel. In all controversial issues, the religious laws were paramount.
Unlike other Jewish groups (Zionist, National and even the Mizrachi), for the Aguda the national aspect was of secondary importance. According to the Aguda, the Jews defined themselves basically by means of their religion.
The organization exerted considerable influence, in particular among the elderly. They constituted the majority among the Jews and it was owing to their support that the Aguda succeeded in wielding a great deal of political power, even though it only had a small number of members.
The Zamość branch of the Aguda was established in 1920. It was founded and headed for many years by Icek Boruch Manzys (its chairman until 1939). The party’s office was in Zamenhof Street, in the community’s center, next to the synagogue in the Old Town. At first the party’s activities were limited. Unlike other Jewish organizations, the Aguda rarely organized large cultural events, assemblies or political demonstrations. In the mid-1920s, some of the members of the Community Council and of the community administration subordinate to it were important activists of the local Aguda branch, among them its chairman Icek Boruch Manzys, and also Lejba Strasberg, Hersz Cwirin, M. Maler, Jonas Wolfenfeld, Moszko Rajsfeld, M. Frajd, Jojna Worym and M.L.Frydling. It should be pointed out that Aguda’s limited activity in the 1920s was related to its total involvement in the political struggle within the community and in the elections of the new rabbi. The defeat of the Zionist block and the Bund in this struggle, and the victory of the candidate Rabbi Blum, further reinforced the influence of the Orthodox in the community. In the 1930s they constituted the majority among the members of the Council. In February 1937, in the elections for the community’s institutions, the Aguda received six mandates, the Bund two, and the General Zionists, the Mizrachi, and Poalej Syjon-Jamin (quite strong parties in Zamosc) received only one mandate each.
The Aguda considered the elections to the town’s institutions of secondary importance. Participation of the Orthodox in the Town Council had only one aim – to prevent the making of any decisions, liable to erode Jewish religious, educational and to some extent also cultural rights. In the years 1918-1939, in nine elections to the Town Council, the Orthodox presented an independent list of candidates only once (in November 1925). The election committee of The Religious Jews received 11.5% of all the Jewish votes and one mandate. Szulim Tyszberg became a member of the Council. These elections were later annulled. In the 1919 town elections, in which a list including Jewish Democrats, Zionists and Orthodox participated, the following representatives became members of the Council: AbramGerson, Szloma Wahl, Izrael Szyfmanand Hersz Cwirn. In 1926, Tyszberg was elected to represent the United Jewish Democratic List. The Zamosc branch of the Aguda supervised two Talmud Torah schools (in the Old Town and in Nowa Osada), an Orthodox girls’ school “Bejs Jakow” and the yeshiva Etz Hayim. The party activists used to organize various religious and cultural events. The Orthodox were also at the center of the activities of the Zamosc public organizations and various charities, in particular those that provided assistance in the religious sphere (among others “Linas Hacedek”, Hevra Kadisha or Beit Halechem). All the branches of the Gmilat Hesed in the town were traditionally run by the Orthodox.
In 1929 the Zamosc branch of the Aguda (still called by the authorities “Szlojmej Emunej Israel”) had 310 members, and was thus the largest Jewish party active in the town. The branches in the district that were larger were in Garwolin (1,110 members), Radzyń (960 members), Lublin (615 members),Łuków (560 members), and in Biała Podlaska (450 members). In the southern and eastern part of the district capital, the Orthodox party had the smallest number of members. It had no branches in Chełm and Krasnystaw, in Hrubieszów there were 150 members, in Tomaszów110, and in Włodawa only 20. Larger branches were only in Biłgoraj(300 members), and in Janów (252 members). In the area near Zamosc, the Aguda was only active in Szczebrzeszyn.
In 1929, the party directorate numbered 15 members. The chairman was Icek BoruchManzys, his deputy was Icek Majer Kohen, and Nuchym Perlmutterserved as its secretary. The organization’s activity was limited and not especially evident. Unlike the other branches of the party, active in the district and numbering more members, the Zamosc branch did not have a youth section.
The drop in interest in the party’s platform, in particular among young people, triggered a surge of activity. Wishing to change the situation, Icek Boruch Manzys, the chairman, and Rabbi Moszko Chaim Blum came up with the idea to hold a regional convention in Zamosc, the first since 1920. Before September 20th, 1933, many rabbis and Aguda activists (a total of 250 people) from the surrounding towns arrived in Zamosc, among them Rabbi J. I. CytrynbaumfromWojsławice, Sz. Altermanfrom Komarów, and the general secretary of the Tzeirei Agudat Israel, Abram Mordko Krongradfrom Warsaw. Zamosc was represented by Blum and Manzys, and also by the assistant of the rabbi from Nowa Osada, Mordko Szternfeld. The climax of the convention was the lecture by Abram MordkoKrongrad, entitled “The role of the Orthodox nowadays”, in which he pointed out that the primary duty of religious Jews was to promote religious education of the children and youth.
In the first half of the 1930s, besides the regional convention the Aguda organized several more events and lectures that were very popular. In 1932, some 250 people came to listen to a lecture by Majer Wolf Niestępower from Ostrów Mazowiecki, in which he called for education of the children in the spirit of religion. A year later some 800 people gathered for three lectures organized by the Aguda. The first two lectures, devoted to the principles underlying the activity of the religious girls’ school Bejs Bakow, were given by a lecturer from Krakow. The third lecture, attended by women only, was given by three women: ŁajaRosenbergfrom Zamosc, Brucha Unger from Szczebrzeszyn, and Brucha Ajferman from Izbica. In 1935, 200 people listened to a lecture by Rabbi H. Hirszhorn from Jaworzno.
The Aguda also tried to attract followers from among religious Zionists. To this end it included in the events it organized topics related to Eretz Israel, emphasizing the positive attitude of the Orthodox to Zionism. In February 1934 the Aguda organized “a festive Eretz Israeli assembly”, where Srul Jankiel Kahan lectured on “Our work for Eretz Israel” and rabbi Blum on “How shall we venerate the Torah and Eretz Israel”.
The launching of the newspaper “Zamoszczer Wort” by the Aguda at that time was undoubtedly a success. Owing to this initiative, Zamosc was the only town (apart from Siedlce) during the twenty years between the two wars, where the Orthodox had their own newspaper. It was a biweekly edition, printed in 700 copies, and it appeared for the first time on Friday, April 11, 1930. The editor was Berko Firsztman, a resident of Nowa Osada, who also published monthly newspapers devoted to religious subjects (“Unzer Gajst” and “Habajer”).
In the course of time, the Orthodox Aguda that adhered to the “old-fashioned” haredi way of life and appeared to oppose all innovations, came to be perceived by young Zamosc Jews who had begun to assimilate as behind the times, a party not providing any new horizons. Therefore during the 1930s, together with the process of modernization and assimilation that the Jewish public was undergoing, the status of the Aguda gradually declined.
The Zionist parties
The first time a Zionist Movement was mentioned in Zamosc was at the end of the 19th century. The supporters of the return to Eretz Israel, active in the town and influenced by the movement Hibat Cyjon, came mostly from groups in the ‘bet hamidrash’
These were mostly youths and young men from Orthodox families, whose yearning for Zion still had a religious coloring. At first their activity was limited to the publication of explanatory bulletins in Hebrew, disseminating Zionist ideas.
Real Zionist activity began in Zamosc after 1905. The awakening came in the wake frequent visits to the town of well-known activists (Ezechiel Nisenbaum, Kuratko). They influenced the local population that started to promote Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel. Zionist activity at that time focused on the distribution of shares in the Jewish Colonial Cartel and the collection of contributions to the Jewish National Fund. The following were some of the activists, managing these campaigns: Dr. Izaak Gelibter, Elichanan Gelibter, HerszHandelsman , Jakob Josef Sznejerson and Gdala Hofman. The first mention about the organization of a political party in Zamosc, combining Zionist ideas with the idea of a revolution, appeared at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1905. It was a group of Social-Zionists, led by JudkaandJankiel Gelibter.
The expansion of the circle of followers of the Zionist Movement from among the intelligentsia, the progressive groups and the workers was made possible thanks to the activities of Hersz Chaim Gelibter, graduate of the Hebrew High School in Jaffa. When he returned from Eretz Israel to Zamosc, he initiated a campaign for the spreading of the Hebrew language and culture. In 1909, he founded in the town the Society of the Friends of the Hebrew School which managed its own school, based on progressive and Zionist principles. Among the young activists were Izaak Frenkiel, Aron Nadler, Saul Grosbaum, SzyjaFruchtgarten, Azriel Szafir and Chaim Josef Gebet.
The outbreak of the First World War caused a delay in the Movement’s activity. During the Russian retreat from the Polish Kingdom in 1915, many of the Zionist activists were exiled to outlying areas of Russia. Among them was Hersz Handelsman, who was later active in the Zionist Movement also in Berdyczew in the Russian territory.
The first opportunity for Zionist activity to receive legal status came with the Austro-Hungarian occupation. At that time news of the establishment of the Cejrej Syjon Party in Warsaw in 1916 arrived in Zamosc, a party that brought together young Zionist activists. In 1917 Hersz Chaim Gelibter founded, together with a group of youngsters, the first legal Zionist organization in Zamosc according to the Warsaw model, a branch of Cejrej Syjon. Even though the incentive came from Warsaw, the organization was officially registered in Vienna under the name Kadima, and was subordinate to the Movement’s center there. The first leadership of Cejrej Syjon was composed of Hersz Chaim Gelibter, Hersz Gebet, IzraelRosset, Chiel Goldwag, Salomon Cyppel, Szmuel Finkman, Toba Sztern, Rajzla Goldberg-Rosset, Szyfra Lewinson-ZegenandNechemiasz Fejler. The Zamosc organization acted as a district council, and Zionist youth groups in the vicinity were under its wing. Thanks to the activity of Hersz Chaim Gelibter and his frequent visits to the province, in 1917 a district convention of Cejrej Syjon was successfully organized in Zamosc.
In 1917, a scouts organization Hashomer Hatzair was also established in Zamosc and was connected from its inception to the Cejrej Syjon both organizationally and in its membership. It was founded by the couples ChewaandJosef Fuks, ŚliwkaandChewa Falk. These Zamosc organizations were subordinate to the centers in Łódź and Warsaw.
From the beginning of 1918, Zionist activists, who had been evacuated from Zamosc in 1915, started returning from Russia. Their return, as well as the arrival of new activists from Russia, spurred on the Zamosc Zionists. Among the returnees were Izaak FuntandJosefCesler. Funt, who returned from Warsaw where he had been active in the center of the Tzeirei Tzion Movement, drew to the Zamosc branch of the Movement youth from the Bund and the Communists. They initiated evening meetings for adults (before 1914 Cesler was a teacher in a ‘reformed cheder’, founded by Hersz Chaim Gelibter), and an amateur theater group was also established.
In 1919, a branch of Cejrej Syjon was also founded in Nowa Osada. Salomon Cyppel was elected its chairman. The following were members of the branch’s council: SzyjaHofman - deputy chairman, M. Fejgenbaum – secretary, S. Szpizajnan – treasurer, and S. Wagner and Chaja Szwarcberg – members of the council. Among the activists were also Sz. Cwirn, Jakub Fejgenbaum, Lejba RozenmanandMojżesz Sztern. When it was founded, the organization numbered 70 members.
In December 1919, Cejrej Syjon was the only political organization to present a list of candidates for election to the Town Council. It included the following: Hersz Chaim Gelibter, Mojżesz Sztern, Izrael Waks, Sara Bajczman, Hersz Gebetand Fajga Perla Brondwajn. In those elections, over 600 people voted for the Zionists, constituting 28% of all those voting for Jewish lists. Gelibter, SzternandWaks were elected. At the opening session of the town council Hersz Chaim Gelibter presented the platform of the Tzeirei Tzion party.
Until 1922, Cejrej Syjon and Hashomer Hatzair were the only Zionist organizations active in the town. Their activity was manifested mainly in a series of lectures devoted to Eretz Israel issues. The main lecturers were Hersz Chaim Gelibter and Izrael Waks. Cejrej Syjon sometimes invited lecturers from outside Zamosc, among them Szaja Chajfler from Chełm or Szmuel Ajges.
In 1922, branches of two Zionist parties, considered important even in Poland as a whole, were established in Zamosc. A branch of the General Zionists was founded in February. The local branch of Poalej Syjon-Jamin was set up a few months later.
Cejrej Syjon, which until then had been the center of Zionist activity in the town, lost much of its status after its leader, Hersz Chaim Gelibter, left the organization, and after it merged with Hashomer Hatzair and Maccabi. The crisis became more serious when, in 1924, some of the party activists, headed by Abram Fecher and Jakub Najmark left the party (they set up a branch of the Zionist-socialist Party, Dror). After this group had left, the Cejrej Syjon activists decided to unite with Poalej Syjon-Jamin. The merger of the two parties (including Dror) took place in 1925. Just one year later, Poalej Syjon-Yamin that had merged with Cejrej Syjon presented a list of its own candidates in municipal elections. The list included the leaders of the new party (most of them had belonged to the former Poalej Syjon-Jamin): Lewi Rozenman, Mojżesz Herman, Josef Luksemburg, Lipa Huffand Samuel Dykier.
The Hechalutz organization, belonging to the General Zionists, was established in 1924. Owing to its close relationship with Poalej Syjon-Jamin, a serious conflict developed between Hechalutz and Hersz Chaim Gelibter. In the end, in 1925, the pioneer organization remained under the decisive influence of Poalej Syjon-Jamin. From then on, only activists of that party were members of the leadership. In 1926 the agronomist Szmul (Samuel) ElaSzwerdszarf was the organization’s chairman, Mojżesz Szlam was the secretary, Mendel Zylbersztajn was treasurer, and Jankiel Mandelajl and Lejba Ryngler were members of the council. Hechalutz numbered 15 active members and was located in Mickiewicz Square No.8. In 1929 Beniamin Rozen was chairman, Jakub Najmark was the secretary, and Rywka Bokser was treasurer. The branch had 30 members, and its office moved to Zamenhof Street No.5. Four years later Mojżesz Szlam was elected chairman, Lejba Goldgraber became the secretary and Jehuda Wagner treasurer; the members of the council were Szmul GrosmanandLejbaSzmaragd. At that time the organization had 18 members.
The main aim of Hechalutz was to prepare its members vocationally for aliyah to Eretz Israel. The training was first and foremost practical, with emphasis on work in agriculture. In 1925 the local pioneers decided to rent a farm in the vicinity of Zamosc and learn various relevant types of work there. Wigdor Inlender proposed to lease to the pioneers a large piece of land on his estate, near Nowa Osada. In spring 1925, after settling the conditions, Hechalutz established an agricultural village on his land, called Awigdoria. Among the pioneers who lived and worked there were Jakub Najmark, MenachemZylbersztajn, Szmul Dulcher, Menachem Zyngerman, JehudaAjzenfeld, Chajka Funt,Rachela ZobermanandMosze Hornfeld. The main reasons for its collapse were financial problems and Inlender’s annulment of the leasing of the farm. Even though this enterprise lasted only a short time, it was an important one for the Zamosc Zionists. Awigdoria was a place where concrete steps were taken towards the realization of Zionist ideas. Many of the Wigdorians later made aliyah, and the experience they acquired on the farm made their absorption in the new environment easier.
At the time of the establishment of Awigdoria, the Zamosc Hechalutz also used to send its activists to work on various farms in the vicinity. Among other places, several pioneers were sent in 1926 to a farm near Izbica, to join some pioneers there from Lublin. Besides work on the land, the Zamosc pioneers learnt to bake matzot and to melt glass (in 1926 three chalutzim were sent to work in a glass factory in Ruda Opole near Chełm). At the same time several pioneers organized a group of lumberjacks. In 1929 several chalutzim were sent by Ort on courses for builders in Włodzimierz Wołyński.
Aliyah was also supported financially. They organized collections in the streets and the income from cultural events also often served those setting out on the journey to Eretz Israel. One of these events took place in January 1927. Some 120 supporters of the organization came to a conference and listened to speeches by Mojżesz Herman, JochananMorgenszternand Mojżesz Rubinsztajn. During the meeting contributions were collected for the Keren Hayesod Fund, and the participants “decided to provide financial support to the Jews of Eretz Israel”.
Most of the cultural events organized by the Chalutzim were devoted to the work and struggle of the Jews in Eretz Israel. They frequently showed displays about the pioneers’ life and organized meetings commemorating Jews who had fallen while fighting Arabs. However, they rarely marked anniversaries commemorating outstanding Zionists (for instance Ch. N. Bialik). The most impressive event organized by the Zamosc Hechalutz in February 1934 marked the tenth anniversary of its establishment. The organizer was Lejba Goldgraber, who succeeded in gathering some 400 participants.
It is noteworthy that Zamosc was the center of several pioneer organizations, active in the neighboring regions. Several regional Hechalutz conferences were organized in Zamosc. In 1930 delegates of the Warsaw central office participated in them, among them ChaskielRabinowicz and Lejba Lewita. The relations of the Zamosc Hechalutz with the central council, besides visits by its delegates, also resulted in subscription to the journal Davar, printed in Warsaw.
Poalej Syjon-Jamin exerted an influence not only on Hechalutz, but also on sports clubs such as Maccabi and Hapoel, and on one of the vocational organizations active in the town. The Maccabi Sports Federation was established in 1921 by Mosze Luksemburg, JakubBajczman and Sz. Gelibter, among others. The organization flourished particularly in the mid-1920s, when it was joined by Hashomer Hatzair. In 1925, 73 youngsters were training to play soccer (under the management of Pardon and later Fuks). Among the important activists were members of the local elite: the architect Ignacy Izaak Spiegelglass (the husband of a well-known Zamosc doctor), and the landowner Tobiasz Margulies. Even though the club’s main activities were sports competitions and gymnastic displays, its members also organized cultural events. In July 1924 members of the organization (25 people) participated at a festive prayer meeting in the local synagogue on the first anniversary of Herzl’s death. A year later, in October, they organized a series of lectures on Jewish subjects (prepared by the chairman of Hechalutz, Samuel Szwerdszarf).
The Jewish workers’ sports club Hapoel was established in 1934. The initiative came from the Poalej Syjon-Yamin activist Majer Pekler. The most important section was the soccer team, participating in regular matches against local professional and amateur teams. In February 1935 Samuel Ela Szwerdszarf was elected chairman of Hapoel, Szymon Szek became its secretary and Szmuel Bergierson the treasurer. Majer Pekler, Szloma Luksemburg, Mojżesz Dreszer and Izrael Fleszler were elected members of the council. At that time 32 athletes were members of the club.
In 1926 Jehuda Wagner, one of the leaders of Poalej Syjon-Jamin, established the Association of the Ready-made Clothing Industry Workers, numbering 25 members. It was located in the Third of May Street No.8, and chaired by Wagner himself.
According to the 1929 report by the town’s Mayor, in the early 1930s the Zamosc branch of Poalej Syjon-Jamin, united with Cejrej Syjon, numbered 80 active members and some 150 supporters. The chairman of the party was Mojżesz Herman, working in the office of the local electricity company, its secretary was Hersz Elbaum and the treasurer was Gerszon Cukier.
In 1929, Poalej Syjon-Jamin, united with Cejrej Syjon, again presented a list of candidates in the elections for the Town Council, as the only independent Zionist political party. The candidates on the list were the following: Lejba Rozenman, Batszewa Garfinkiel, Mojżesz Waks, Gitla Wajnbergand Lipa Huff. The list received over 550 votes, and Lejba Rozenman was appointed a member of the Council.
In January 1930 elections were held for the new party council. Gerszon Cukier was elected chairman, replacing Herman, and the following were elected members of the council: Jehuda Wagner, Hersz Elbaum, Jochanes Morgensztern and Jakub Najmark. Three years later Lejba Rozenman was elected chairman, Lipa Erlich became the secretary and Mojżesz Manzys the treasurer.
Most of the lectures, organized by Poalej Syjon-Jamin, dealt with Eretz Israel and the situation in the Zionist Movement. Among the issues raised was Jewish settlement in Birobidżan (the lecture by engineer Morduchaj Chmielnik from Białystok), Britain’s attitude to Palestine (Mordko Fifa, representative of the central committee from Warsaw). The relationship of Poalej Syjon-Jamin to other factions of the Zionist and workers movements were also dealt with. They criticized the Revisionists (delegate of the party’s central committee M. Tyger). The most important cultural project of the Poalej Syjon-Jamin activists was the publication in Zamosc of the Jewish biweekly journal “Zamoszczer Sztyme”. This newspaper appeared longer than any other one published in Zamosc. Its owner, publisher and editor was Lejba Goldgraber; a member of the editorial board was Mojżesz Zahler.
The lectures and cultural events usually took place at the organization’s center in the Third of May Street. The center served as a well-known meeting place for Zionists living in the area. Every Sabbath, after dark, they organized very popular “Radio evenings”. Lusia Raz (the daughter of a well-known party activist Majer Pekler) recalls that they used to listen to special programs “Melawe Malka” at the end of the Sabbath, broadcast from Jerusalem.
In October 1929 during the “Working Youth Day”, while members of Poalej Syjon-Jamin were making speeches, Bund and communist activists caused an uproar, and the police dispersed the convention. In February 1927, during a lecture by Izaak Rithof, when he criticized the situation in the USSR, “a group of young Jewish communist sympathizers tried to create a disturbance during the lecture by stamping their feet”.
Every year members of the party participated in the procession on the 1st of May. In the 1930 parade, organized by Poalej Syjon-Jamin, 80 people participated. At the assembly in the evening, the following party leaders made speeches: Lewi Rozenman, MojżeszHerman, Jakub Najmark, Abram Fecher and Judka Wagner.
In the last parade before the outbreak of the Second World War, organized by PoalejSyjon-Jamin, 120 people participated. The speeches by the leaders were influenced by the events taking place. They spoke about “the need to fight fascism and for the Jews to organize to confront anti-Semitism with determination”.
In 1939 Poalej Syjon-Jamin again presented a list of candidates for the municipal elections. This time they decided to present a list together with another Zionist party, Hitachdut. The candidates on behalf of the Old Town were David Mojżesz Zahler, MoszkoSzlam, Hersz Siecicho, Izrael Jakub Akerman, Szyja Berencwajg and Szymon Szek; and on behalf of the New Town, Majer Pekler, Szyłem Fałek, Gerszon Cukier, Mojżesz LejbRubinsztejn, Mojżesz Wolf Kasner, and Mordko Josef Wertman. The only one elected to the Town Council was Zahler.
The League for the Assistance of Workers in Eretz Israel was established in January 1932. It was greatly influenced by Poalej Syjon-Jamin. The founders of the organization and members of its directorate were all Poalej Syjon-Jamin activists. The chairman was one of the leaders of the Hechalutz, Jochanan Morgenstern; the secretary was the Hechalutz activist and the future leader of the Hitachdut, Mojzesz Szlam, the treasurer was Icek Herc, and the members of the directorate were Emer Erlich and Mojżesz Manzys. The declared aim of the organization was the collection of funds to support the Jewish yishuv in Eretz Israel.
Mass happenings were organized to attract new supporters for the League. In April 1934 the new chairman of the branch, Motel Lastigzon, invited to Zamosc members and supporters of the organization from 21 towns in the Lublin district for a regional convention of the League for the Assistance of Workers in Eretz Israel. Out of the 830 delegates who arrived in the town, 104 represented Zamosc, 104 came from the rest of the towns in the district, 152 from the Tomaszów district, 101 from the Hrubieszów district, 151 from the Krasnystaw district, 64 from the Biłgoraj district and 10 from Chełm. The assembly was chaired by by Motel Lastigzon and Abram Białopolski, who gave two lectures devoted to the aims and tasks of the organization and to the situation in Eretz Israel.
The growth of the number of members can first and foremost be related to the activities of the leadership, headed by Motel Lastigzon, who fulfilled his post since January 1933. In November 1935 he was a member of the board together with deputy Lejba Goldgraber, the secretary SzmulSzek, the treasurer Fajga Sochaczewska, and members of the council were Lejba Szmaragd, Majer Pekler and Mosze Manzys. In the 1930s the activists of the League who had returned from Eretz Israel, were staying in Zamosc on the invitation of the party leadership (among them Josef Barc and Pinkwas Lubianiker). One of the great organizational successes of the League was the visit to Zamosc by Stanisław Dubois, a well-known socialist activist and member of the leadership of the Polish Socialist Party, who gave a lecture to the members of the organization, entitled “New People in an Ancient Land”. Over 250 people came to his lecture. Those in charge of the event wrote: “The lecture dealt with his impressions during his stay in Palestine. The lecturer was impressed by the tremendous economic development in the country, by high salaries, no unemployment, and so on, which he ascribes to Marxism and the socialist regime”. Dubois ended the lecture by calling for emigration, because “in Poland a Jew will never reach an influential position”.
In 1925 a branch of the Zionist Labor Party Hitachdut was established in Zamosc. Its founders were Szmul Putter, Abram Emer and Majer Goldhar. This trio also constituted the first leadership of the party. In the early 1930s the Hitachdut numbered 40 members and some 100 supporters. The chairman was Mojżesz Rubinsztejn, the secretary Mojżesz Szlam, and the treasurer Icek Goldberg. The organization had a youth section, Gordonia, numbering 20 members, run by Beniamin Rozen. The party’s central office was in Zamenhof Street no.9.
In 1933 the Hitachdut’s activists succeeded in establishing an additional sports club, “Szomrija”, which brought together Zionist youth. In addition to Sara Lewin, Chaim Magarył, Bronia Edelmanand the doctorMojżesz Cynberg, the management included Jonas SzyjaPeretz, aged 69, who rarely contributed to the party’s activity. Unfortunately, owing to interpersonal misunderstandings, a month later the chairman (Peretz) and his deputy (Cynberg) resigned. They were replaced by Josef Szpajzman, Noma Goldgraber and SzajaGildyner. When it was founded, the club had 23 members.
The party’s main sphere of activity was the organization of series of lectures, mainly devoted to spreading Zionist ideas and to issues related to Eretz Israel. The lecturers were frequently visitors from Warsaw – a delegate of the Sejm (the Polish Parliament) and chairman of the Party’s council A. Lewinsohn, Szloma Fiszel Popowski, Josef Szulman and Jakub Białopolski) and also Zionists who had returned from Eretz Israel (Henoch Gierszon).
Owing to the duality of Hitachdut’s party platform, merging social class and national interests, it was in close contact with both Poalej Syjon-Jamin and the General Zionists. Members and the leaders of both these parties frequently participated in festive events organized by the Hitachdut. A teacher at the local Jewish High School and a member of the leadership of the Organization of General Zionists, Szulim Wajner, was frequently invited by the Hitachdut to lecture at local events. The Hechalutz Movement, whose leadership included members of the Hitachdut’s council, Mojżesz Rubinsztejn (who until 1926 also served as the general secretary of the Organization of the General Zionists) and Mojżesz Szlam, also cooperated with the other parties (mainly with Poalej Syjon-Jamin).
The branch of the Organization of General Zionists, established in Zamosc on February 14th 1922, represented the bourgeois faction of the Zionist Movement. Even though its membership was rather small, local Zionists, who were very active, joined it. Besides Hersz Chaim Gelibter, among its founders were also Szulim Wajner and Nechemiasz Fajler. Until the mid-1920s, among its members were future leaders of other factions in the Movement: Majer Goldhar, Mojżesz Rubinsztejn, Szmul Ela Szwerdszarf and Mojżesz Szlam.
The most intensive period of activity of the Zionist organization was in the mid-1920s. During that time the General Zionists organized the largest number of cultural events, lectures, festivities and political conventions. One of the most important events organized at the time was the celebration marking the opening of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. This event was marked in Zamosc on the1st April 1925, attended by almost all the local Jews. The series of events began with prayers in the synagogue in the Old Town, attended by over 400 people. Szulim Wajner made a speech in Hebrew (translated into Polish by the principal of the local Jewish High School, Dr.Rafael Jakubowski, and into Yiddish by Aszkenazy). The main even took place in the afternoon in the town hall. The assembly, which went on until late in the evening, was attended by several hundred people. The speeches dealt with the importance of the Hebrew University for the Jewish people. Among the speakers were the following: The teacher Ch. Winderman, Rafael Jakubowski and Hersz Chaim Gelibter. In the evening the windows in Jewish houses were illuminated in a festive way. During the events, stickers for the windows with Zionist content were sold and the proceeds went to the national funds. Jewish merchants closed their stores for 30 minutes to demonstrate their support for the events.
From time to time the Zionist organization held regional conferences of party activists in Zamosc. One of the first took place in July 1925 in Ormienska Street No.8. It was attended by Zionist delegates from Hrubieszów, Tomaszów, Tyszowiec, Łaszczów, Komarów, Szczebrzeszyn, Zwierzyniec, Krasnobród, Janów Lubelskiand even Lublin. The host was Lejba Brondwajn, and the meeting was chaired by Dawid Kahan, who had just arrived from Eretz Israel. A year later, in January, there was another conference. Hersz Chaim Gelibter and Szmul Glazberg from Hrubieszów presided this time. The guests of honor were delegates from the Warsaw center: Rabbi Mendel Hagier and Professor Moshe Dawid Bejnis of Romanian origin.
In the mid-1920s, the events organized by the General Zionist focused on issues related to Eretz Israel. At various party meetings and political assemblies, the problem of aliyah was the main topic (with emphasis on the need to support the olim financially). In 1925 the meetings were chaired by, among others, Majer Gildhar, Szloma Wieliczker, Hersz ChaimGelibter and Kahanowicz from Łódź. These assemblies led to many street collections and their proceeds went to the olim. In the spring and summer 1925 a sum totaling over 220 zloty was collected during three such collections (on May 16th and 22nd and July 13th).
The topic of most of the lectures was also the Palestinian problem. The lecturers came mostly from the capital and represented the party leadership. Most of them arrived in Zamosc soon after their return from Eretz Israel, among them Abram Białopolski, (“What does Eretz Israel look like today”), Chaim Glazberzon (“How are we building Eretz Israel”), Minkiewicz (“The role of Poalei Eretz Israel in its revival”), Fiszel Popowski (“The Jewish Village” and “Ploughing the Fields”), Szloma Rabinowicz (“The History of the Rebirth of Eretz Israel”) and Dawid Kahan (“About Eretz Israel”). In 1924, the senator Lejb Kowalski arrived in Zamosc on the invitation of the Zionist organization. At the Zionist convention he attended, held in the synagogue in the Old Town, 1,600 people participated. The lecture “The Revival of Eretz Israel” brought together 500 listeners at the school.
Cultural events and commemorations were mainly devoted to subjects related to the Zionist Movement and to events taking place in Eretz Israel. Several assemblies commemorated Jewish settlers who had died fighting the Arabs (in February 1925 a prayer meeting was held in the synagogue in memory of Josef Trumpeldor). The anniversary of Herzl’s death and that of other Zionist activists was commemorated every year (in February 1925, the Zamosc military band played at an assembly in memory of Dr. Tchlenov).
Since 1927 the Zamosc General Zionists became a branch of the General Zionist Organization; the Movement’s center was established two years earlier in Warsaw. That year the following members joined the leadership: Izrael Rosset, Dawid Fołk and MojżeszKejzman. The new members of the leadership represented the radical faction of the movement, called Al Hamishmar, which promoted an increase in settlement projects and a speeding up of the building of the Jewish National Home in Eretz Israel. They also adhered to a more forceful policy towards the British, ruling Eretz Israel.
During the late 1920s, the Al Hamishmar group totally dominated the Zamosc Zionist organization, and its leader, Izrael Rosset, took over the leadership of the party, replacing Hersz Chaim Gelibter (who concentrated at the time on his role of principal of the Hebrew school Kadima and also on managing the national funds). In 1929, besides Rosset, the party leadership included Aron Szlafrok, who served as secretary, and Szulim Wajner, the treasurer. At that time the organization of General Zionist numbered 100 members and some 150 supporters, and became the largest Zionist party in Zamosc. Its office was in Zamenhof Street No.12.
The organizational and numerical development of the party was very soon arrested. Already in the early 1930s there were clear signs of the influence of the Zionist Revisionists on the members of the Organization. In 1932 this process led to important personal changes in the party’s leadership. New people who did little for the party were elected, and most of them were connected to the Revisionist Movement. Lejba Wajsbrot became chairman, replacingRosset, Salomon Witlin was elected his deputy, Judka Kornblit became the secretary, and the members of the council were Dawid Bajczman and Szloma Rappaport. Internal ideological struggles caused members and supporters to leave the party. The number of people remaining in the middle of the year in the Zamosc branch of the Zionist Organization was estimated at 60. The climax of the party’s crisis came in1932. In September the Zionist Revisionists, who made up the majority of the party, left it, and in October the leadership announced to the municipality that the branch was disbanded. The Zamosc Zionist Organization in fact ceased to exist.
Towards the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, the General Zionists continued to carry out an abundance of activities in spite of the crisis. In march 1932 one of the Zionist leaders in Poland visited Zamosc, the leader of the Al Hamishmar faction and a delegate in the Sejm (the Polish parliament), Izaak Grünbaum. The meeting with Grünbaum was held in the cinema-theater Stylowy and was attended by 500 people. Szloma Goldsztejn chaired the meeting on behalf of the Zionist Organization. In his lecture, entitled “The Political and Economic Situation in Poland”, the delegate described the decline of the economic and cultural situation of Polish Jews and pointed out that the only solution to the problem was Jewish solidarity, and second in the order of priority was emigration to Eretz Israel. That year visitors from Warsaw, Jakub Gorzałkaand Abram Lipman, gave lectures in the town. In 1929, on the initiative of the Zionist Organization and with the support of additional factions of the Zionist Movement in the town, the council and administration of the Jewish community published a joint decision, paying tribute to the Jews who fell in Eretz Israel. A festive prayer meeting was also organized on that occasion in the synagogue in the Old Town, attended by 1,000 people. In May that year an assembly was organized in the same synagogue in protest against limitations of immigration to Eretz Israel.
The organization, disbanded in the fall of 1932, was speedily revived. The absence of a branch of the Zionist Organization in one of the largest towns in the Lublin district caused great concern at the Movement’s center. At the beginning of November 1933, the delegate Joel Beck was sent to Zamosc. His task was to reactivate the local branch of the Zionist Organization. The task was apparently completed at the beginning of 1933. In his attempt to revive the status of the party, he decided to enlist a new leadership of activists, who would have complete autonomy and a great deal of influence, while not being involved in internal factional struggles. In the wake of a great effort made by the delegate from Warsaw, Hersz Chaim Gelibter, the founder and long-time leader of the party returned to the post of chairman. The party’s activities now focused on organizational issues, in attempts to revive its influence in the town and the vicinity, at least partially. Therefore they organized a regional conference in July 1933, attended by Zionist activists from the Zamosc and Krasnystaw districts (among others from Izbica and Żółkiewka). Dr. Ignacy Schiper, a delegate of the Warsaw central committee of the Zionist Organization came to the conference and gave a lecture devoted to the state of Zionism (mainly against the Revisionists). In the course of the year 1933, several cultural events were organized, mainly owing to Gelibter’s efforts. Rabbi Icko Berg came to Zamosc in March to give a series of lectures. In June, during an event in honor of Chaim Arlozorow who was murdered in Eretz Israel, Dr. Josef Kruk from Warsaw gave a lecture devoted to the Nazi Movement in Germany (“Hitler and Hitlerism”). In his lecture he came to the following conclusion: “All the Jews must rise up against the unjust acts, perpetrated against the Jewish community, whatever their political opinions. The passive attitude of a part of the Jewish public worldwide fuels the Nazi provocations”.
In the fall, after the party had been to some extent consolidated, Gelibter resigned from his position as chairman in order to make room for younger activists. Hersz Gecel Hochbaum became the chairman of the Zionist Organization, Icek Libel became its secretary and Lejba Ajzen the treasurer. Pejsach Bergier and Rachmil Gincberg were appointed members of the council. After a one-year term of office, the previous activists, who had been deposed by the Revisionist majority, returned to lead the party. Aron Szlafrok was appointed chairman, but he did not succeed in preventing the constant decline in the party’s influence. During the last meeting of the old council in October 1935, the members present accused the council of “laziness that led to the collapse of the party.” They also blamed the council for the drop in the number of members and for “lack of funds”. In spite of the serious accusations, Szlafrok stayed on as a member of the council (and so did Mordko Wagszul), but no longer as chairman. Izrael Rosset was appointed chairman, Szaja Rapaport his deputy, Uszer Zegan became the secretary, and Szmul Berger the treasurer. Two years later Aron Szlafrok replaced Berger. Izrael Mendelson and Sara Szlafrok also joined them in the leadership of the party. Jakub Goldberg, Boruch Zylberklang and Abram Zec were appointed members of the control committee, and Boruch Sobol, Jakub Goldman and Szmul Lesman were appointed to act as a tribunal to settle disputes among the members. Izrael Rosset remained chairman until 1939, and under his leadership the party's membership finally became relatively stable.
In the second half of the 1930s, the Zionist Organization continued to host in Zamosc distinguished leaders of the Zionist Movement. In February 1934, Dr. Ignacy Schiper visited the town and lectured about “the economic situation in Eretz Israel today”. During the years 1934-1936, among the visitors there were also people living permanently in Eretz Israel, including two Jerusalem residents, Rabbi Z. Gold and Samuel Szapiro. In their public appearances, they both described the situation in the Jewish yishuv to the Zamosc Jews.
As soon as the Hebrew high schools Kadima and Tarbut were established, they came under the influence of the General Zionists. The Zionist Organization also exerted an influence on the union of bookkeepers (in 1937 it had 62 members; the chairman was Josef Firstenfeld), and the union of artists (with 293 members in 1936; the chairman was Azriel Szeps).
In September 1934 the organization of Zionist women, WIZO, was established as a branch of the Zionist Organization. Brana Ranc was appointed chairperson, Sara Rywka Fuks as her deputy, Jenta Lewin (daughter of Jonas Szyja Peretz) became the secretary, and Chaja Kronfeld (the wife of Mordko Josef, a wealthy local merchant, chairman of the Mizrachi Party) was appointed treasurer. In 1939 WIZO organized a lecture by Dr. Rosenbusch-Spiegelglass, devoted to medical problems. In November that year, on the initiative of Uszer Zegen, Aron Szlafrok and Samuel Bergier, a subsidiary branch of the Zionist Movement was set up under the name Zionist Youth. At that time the branch had 20 young members.
The party that had grown out of the Organization of General Zionists was the Union of Zionist Revisionists in Poland – Brith Hazohar. The disciples of Włodzimierz Żabotyński and the Union of Zionist Revisionists that he led and had become in 1925 an independent party within the framework of the World Zionist Organization, existed in Zamosc in the second half of the 1920s merely on the fringe of the local General Zionists. The Revisionist faction in the Zamosc branch was first mentioned only in 1930. At the beginning of 1931 its elected unofficial leadership included Szloma Szarf, Juda Kornblit, Lew Wajsbrot and Chaim Blum. The number of the faction’s members was estimated at 30, but, as stated by the Mayor, “they do not have much influence in Zamosc”. The organization only started to expand in 1932. Its first great achievement at the beginning of that year was its almost total takeover of the leadership of the Zionist Organization in Zamosc. The following members joined its leadership: Judka Kornblit, Salomon Witlin, Szloma Rapaport, Dawid Bajczman and LewWajbrot, who replaced Rosset as chairman. The new leadership established the Movement of Revisionist youth, Bejtar (a youth organization in the name of Trumpeldor), affiliated to the Zionist Organization,which was led by the dental technician Dawid Bajczman. The first event organized by Bejtar was a trip to the Sitaniecki Forest, 5 km. from Zamosc, where they held physical exercises, and the secretary of the Zionist organization, Kornblit, handed Bejtar their flag. At that time Bejtar numbered 38 members, 14 of them girls.
The next step taken by the Revisionists was the establishment of an independent organization, not affiliated to the Organization of General Zionists. This was made possible towards the end of June 1932. The Zamosc Revisionists, who were still officially members of the Zionist Organization, established at the time a branch of Brith Hazohar. The first independent leadership of the Zamosc Revisionist Party included Attorney Berel Edelsberg (chairman), the lawyer Zygmund Dychter (deputy chairman), Eliasz Wilner (secretary), and the merchant Lew Wajsbrot (treasurer), who at the same time continued to serve as chairman of the Zionist Organization. The office of the new party was in Zamenhofa Street No.1. In the middle of the year, the Revisionists, whose organization had become independent, began to take over completely the branch of the General Zionists. Their aggressive campaign, led by the branch’s chairman, resulted in 60 members transferring to the Brith Hazohar branch. After this move, the branch of the Zionist Organization in fact existed on paper only. Since it was no longer any use to the Revisionists, it was disbanded.
In March 1934, the following members still headed the Zionist Revisionist Union in Zamosc: Edelsberg, Dychter, Wilner and Wajsbrot. Szloma Szarf, the previous leader of the Revisionist section in the Zionist Organization, was appointed a member of the leadership. In September that year, national elections were held in Zamosc of the representatives to the conference of the New Zionist Organization (led by Włodzimierz Żabotyński), which was planned to take place in Vienna. The Revisionists, led by Żabotyński, received the majority of votes (450), the group of Elchon Lewin received 25 votes and the United Religious List of Rabbi Arje Erjon received 10 votes. On the occasion of the elections, Fajwel Kaufman, the representative of the central office from Warsaw, visited the branch. He gave a lecture entitled “Jewish Orthodoxy in the face of the New Zionist Organization”, attended by 180 people. Exactly a year later, another representative of the central office, Mojżesz Klerer, visited Zamosc; his lecture was entitled “In a new way”. In 1936 Mojżesz Bernsztajn lectured about “The legislative council”. In July 1935, Bella Szeftel, born in Riga, representing the New Zionist Organization, came to Zamosc. Her lecture in the hall of the Jewish community about the activity of the central office of the Zionist Movement was attended by 70 people.
In the mid-1930s, the Zamosc Revisionsts concentrated mainly on working with youth. The ideological education of the young supporters of the Revisionist Movement and the spread of its physical education program among them was dealt with by the Union of Jewish Youth in the name of Trumpeldor, and also by the Jewish sports association Nordyja. In the mid-1930s, this organization (organized on the same lines as the Scouts) was led by Dawid Bajczman (chairman), Szaja Rapaport (his deputy), Jehuda Kornblit (secretary), Gitla Borensztajn (treasurer), and Josef Bajczman (member of the leadership). The first chairman of Nordyja was Berel Edelsberg’s brother, Natan; the secretary was Zygmund Dychter; the treasurer was Jojna (Ignacy) Szpigielglass (a well-known interior designer and the husband of Dr. Bronisława Rosenbusch); the commander was Dawid Garfinkiel (son of a well-known industrialist Sanel Garfinkiel); and the house administrator was Dawid Wajsman. The two organizations together numbered over 60 members. Traditionally, the cultural events organized by these organizations were the yearly commemorations of Trumpeldor. In February 1935, 15 years after his death, 120 people attended the assembly mourning Josef Trumpeldor. Among those speaking about the hero who fell fighting the Arabs, were DawidBajczman, Icek ZobermanandEljasz Wilner (who spoke in Polish). The choir of the branch sang the organization’s hymn and Majer Goldcwajg played several pieces on the violin. Chaja Bergierówna recited poems about Eretz Israel. Visits by emissaries from the Bejtar central office aroused great interest among the organization’s members.
In 1933, 300 people gathered at the organization’s center for a protest meeting against the British immigration policy in Eretz Israel (the speaker was a Warsaw resident, Szymon Juniczman). That same year, Chaim Ungier visited Zamosc at the first yearly meeting of Bejtar. Two hundred people participated at the meeting, attended by activists from Zamosc and Szczebrzeszyn.
In September 1935, an additional political organization was established in Zamosc, uniting Zionist Revisionists. It was a branch of Brith Hajachol in the name of Żabotyński. The organization, numbering 60 members, was headed by the chairman Lejba Sznycer, his deputy Berek Szarf, the secretary Jakub Wajser, the treasurer Hersz Babat, and members of the council Josef Bajczman and Szloma Zec.
The branch, representing the religious section of the Zionist Organization, was registered in Zamosc rather late, only in July 1933. The available sources suggest that the party was already active in Zamosc in 1917, when the national-religious school, Jabne, was established on the initiative of its members. The founder of the party and its first chairman was the well-known Zamosc merchant, Mordko Josef Kronfeld. At the time of its registration, his deputies were the merchant Berek Szapiro and the watchmaker Bencjon Kirszt, the secretary was Izrael Rozen, who had an office writing requests, and the treasurer was MordkoMajer Cymryng. At the time of its founding, the branch of the party numbered 52 members, and its office was in Kołłątaja Street 7.
The Mizrachi organization in Zamosc was very little concerned with Zionist activity, even though it had quite a large number of members. The only organization in which the Mizrachi exerted considerable influence was the butchers’ trade union. Mordko JosefKronfeld, who headed the organization, was one of the Jewish activists esteemed in Zamosc. The negative opinions about Kronfeld were to some extent counteracted by his extensive charitable activities.
The lack of activity led to ongoing withdrawal of members. A few months after the party’s establishment, almost half the members left. During the several years of its existence, the Mizrachi organized only a few large events. In 1934 party activists from various districts in Poland visited Zamosc and gave a few lectures, among them a teacher from Krasnobród Aron Krepp, Cypojra Anglister from Garwolin, and representatives of the Warsaw center, Kelman Goldhajer, Szloma Halbersztat, Menachem Czapnik and Mojżesz Szczerański. The topics of the lectures dealt with internal organizational affairs and the party platform. They greatly emphasized the need for comprise between the Zionist idea and religion. In 1937, the Mizrachi moved to Pereca Street No.14, and Bencjon Kirszt replaced the unpopular Kronfeld.
The relations between the various sections of the Zionist Movement in Zamosc were diverse and dependent on their common denominator, or alternately, on differences in their platforms. Their shared aim was the establishment of a national home in Eretz Israel. The differences stemmed from different perceptions of the way to achieve this aim and to make the country politically viable. Cooperation among the Zamosc Zionists was manifested in their activity on behalf of the Jewish National Fund, affiliated to the Organization of the General Zionists. At the end of the 1920s, the leadership of the Fund comprised three representatives of the Zionist Organization and two representatives of each of the other Zionist organizations – Poalej Syjon-Jamin, the Hitachdut and Hechaluc. In 1929 the organization was headed by Hersz Chaim Gelibter, the secretary was Chemia Gelibter, and the treasurer was Szulim Wajner. All the Jews of Zamosc who cherished the Zionist vision participated in its activities, mainly intended to collect funds for the Jewish yishuv, expanding in Eretz Israel.
The Zionist organizations in Zamosc frequently cooperated in the organization of assemblies and political meetings. The aim of these events was to emphasize the solidarity between the Zamosc Zionists in their attitude to the Palestinian problem. The first such event took place in August 1936. The heads of the various sections spoke before an audience of 800 people: Izrael Rosset (the Zionist Organization), Mordko Josef Kronfeld (Mizrachi), Mojżesz Szlam (Hitachdut), Judka Wagner (Poalej Syjon-Yamin), and Szaja Rapaport (the Revisionists). On behalf of their parties, the speakers formulated the decision to condemn the British policy in Eretz Israel. They criticized British helplessness in dealing with Arab attacks against Jews. A meeting organized by the Zionist organization Poalej Syjon-Jamin, Mizrachi and the Hitachdut, held in the synagogue in the Old Town in May 1939, was in a similar vein. The organizers declared: “The meeting has been called in view of the ‘white paper’, laying down instructions by the British government regarding British policy in Eretz Israel, harmful to the most vital interests of the Jewish people”.
The two Zionist parties most active in Zamosc between the two world wars were undoubtedly Poalej Syjon-Jamin and the Organization of the General Zionists. The former, representing the moderate left wing of the Zionist Movement, was widely supported by the local Zionists. It exerted an influence on many sports and pioneering organizations (Dror, Maccabi, Hapoel, Haszomer Hacair, Hechalutz, and the League Assisting Workers in Eretz Israel). The bourgeois Zionist Organization was mostly elitist, comprising the most active Zionists in the town.
A typical feature of the Zionist sphere of activity in Zamosc was its lack of stability. Most of the parties active in the town were worn out by its inner ideological struggles, and even more frequently by clashing ambitions. These often prevented cooperation in any extensive projects for the dissemination of Zionist ideas among the town’s Jews.
Another salient feature, characteristic not only of the Zamosc Zionist Movement, but also of the Jewish political scene in Poland as a whole, was the participation of Jewish youth in political activity. The young generation, seeking a new sphere of activity, not subordinated to parental or religious authority, found it in politics. New ideas (Zionism, socialism and also communism) were supposed to provide an answer to the young generation’s dilemmas, and above all to the problem of the status and situation of the Jews in independent Poland. Typically, the two periods of the most extensive activity by youth in the political sphere occurred in the years 1917 to 1922, and in the second half of the 1930s. The many Zionist organizations, founded towards the end of the First World War, mostly leaned to the left, and proffered an answer to the debate about the legal status of the Jewish minority within the Polish State in the process of its rehabilitation. The belligerent nationalistic slogans of the Zionist Revisionist Movement were supposed to counterbalance anti-Semitism on the individual, party and overall political plane, escalating during the last years of Polish independence.
Workers’ parties
The Jewish Workers’ Party in Zamość had a long and rich tradition, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. The spreading of revolutionary ideas within the town was first mentioned in 1904, even before the revolt of 1905-1907. Booklets and bulletins, published by the workers’ parties, were brought to the town mainly by young Jews. The material was distributed among the Jews and also deposited in crowded places (among others in the vicinity of the Jewish cemetery, the road linking the Old Town with Nova Osada, and the synagogue). The revolutionary ideas also reached the local garrison.
The turning point in the history of the Workers’ Party was the establishment of the Jewish General Union of Socialist Workers, the Bund, in the fall of 1905. Among its first members were many of those who later became known as Jewish political activists (some of them came from wealthy bourgeois families). The leaders were the brothers Samuel and Izaak Aszkenazy, Mojżesz and Icek Goldsztajnowie, Ignacy Margulies (tenant of the Ploska farm), Mojżesz Epsztajn (later a veteran member of the Town Council), Henoch Zycer, Fiszel Gelibter, Aron Perec, Rachmil Brondwajn (later a member of the Town Council), Szloma Lubliner, Anna Guberman and Dawid Fidler (later a member of the local Communist Labor Party). In the years 1905-1907 the Bund was a very popular organization, and apparently also the most efficiently organized among the Jewish parties that were ever active in the town (even though its activity was illegal). The first mass demonstration organized by the Bund took place in October 1905. In answer to the party’s call, 1,500 people took to the streets of the Old Town to protest against the policy of the Czar’s government and the October Decree (the demonstration that took place in the town square was dispersed by the police and the army). The second demonstration, to mark the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday in St.Petersburg, took place in January 1906. There was close cooperation between the Zamość Bund, the Lublin organization, and the central bureau of the party (the delegate to the central bureau was Margulies). The Bund had technical equipment (a duplicating machine and seals), and also a weapons cache in Polska. It also had a party library (with journals and booklets: “Żydowski proletariusz”, “Nasze Słowo”, “Czym żyje człowiek”, “Fala oraz “, “łos Robotnika”), organized by Brondwajn and Lejzor Ajzensztajn. As early as 1905, the Bund started to work hard among the local craftsmen. Very soon the first unions of workers in specific branches were established, subordinate to the Bund (each branch had its party administrator, and funds provided by party subscriptions), and frequent well organized strikes took place.
The Bund also carried out propaganda activities among the local garrison. In 1906 Brondwajn and Margulies succeeded in organizing in the Borodyn regiment a revolutionary military organization, the “Wojskowo–Rewolucyjną Organizację”, numbering 100 members. The successful secret organization was disbanded in 1907-1908 in the wake of mass arrests and the flight of some of its activists.
Besides the Bund, during the period 1905-1907 Jewish and Polish-Jewish revolutionary organizations were also active. In July 1906, the local militant party “Zamojska Partia Bojowa” was established under the leadership of Moszko Gierszon. Among its members were the three Albrechtow brothers, Józej, Andrzej and Antoni (later an SDKPil activist who participated in the 1918 uprising). It was a terrorist organization; they also planned to rob the local bank, and they stole at gunpoint 25 roubles from the owner of the local printing press, Mojżesz Hernhut. There was close cooperation between the Bund and the Organization of Social Zionists, led by Jankiel and Judkę Gelibterów.
The Bund, weakened by the persecutions following the revolution, very soon replenished its membership and revived its status as the main workers’ movement in the town. As a result of the First World War, some of the party activists dispersed in various regions of Russia, of their own free will or through compulsion. These people, who returned to their hometown after 1917, spread the revolutionary ideas and caused a radicalization in the town on the threshold of independence.
In the fall of 1918 the workers’ movement in Zamość was represented by two organizations: the Jewish Bund and the Polish Socialist Party, established in 1905, which was almost exclusively Christian. In spite of the cooperation between the two parties, the Poles refused to accept Jews into their party. This separation on the basis of nationality, which was apparently more important than the shared ideology, was typical of the Zamość workers’ movement almost throughout the whole period of the 1920s, between the two wars.
In November 1918 the left wing of the Socialist Party withdrew from it and set up a local group of SDKPiL, which later (in the middle of December) became a faction of the Communist Party. Its activists established a council representing the workers in the town and a council representing the soldiers, headed by Piotr Grabczak (of the Red Guard), acting in the field, numbering 35 soldiers of the local garrison. The Jewish activists did not play an important role in the Zamość Communist Movement created in this way (there was no Jew in the leadership of the organizations set up). Nor was any Jew involved in the preparations for the armed revolt, led by the Communist Party, called the Zamość Uprising.
The Jewish public related to that uprising, lasting two days, in various ways. Most of the Jews displayed no interest in it, but older, religious people, merchants and wealthy craftsmen, owners of houses with apartments to rent out and members of the intelligentsia were totally opposed to it. Apprehensive about outbursts of violence, almost all the Jewish storekeepers in the Old Town closed their stores, and most of the Jews avoided going out into the streets. The Zamość Bond, totally surprised by the uprising, forbade its supporters to provide any kind of assistance to the communist fighters, and unreservedly condemned the organizers of the uprising. In spite of this declaration, a certain group of Jews connected to the Bund, in particular the poor inhabitants of Nova Osada, spontaneously supported “the rebels” and participated actively in the fighting. On the first day, during the failed attempt to take control of the prison, two Jews were killed (one of them was called Ubala). On the next day, in the fighting to suppress the uprising by the companies of Major Lisa–Kuli, the outstanding fighters were Moszek Becher and Lejba Putter. The medical student, Jonas Szyja Perelmutter, treated the wounded. According to the description of the uprising by lieutenant Nachay of the local garrison, Jews shot from windows at his soldiers. On the 30th December shots were apparently still being fired from the windows of the synagogue at the soldiers patrolling the streets. The soldiers found weapons and ammunition in the synagogue and in a Jewish house in the vicinity, even a machine gun. Among those participating in the uprising, the following Jews were caught holding weapons: Putter, Becher, Eliasz Ruf, Gedala and Icek Rochmanow. Puter died while tortured during the interrogation, the others were among the most important 19 prisoners prosecuted during the trial at the Zamość district court in April 1923 (one of the lawyers for the defense was Henryk Cygielman). Among the people who escaped from the town for fear of retaliation was Zygmunt Lewin (Adamski), later active in the Georgian Kutaisi party.
One of the results of the Zamość uprising was a reshuffle in the local Communist Party. The leadership, until then only comprised of activists of Polish origin, fell apart as a result of mass arrests, or of flight from the town. The revival of the party was mainly carried out by Jewish activists. From that time on they also became the majority in the Zamość Communist Party. The first secretary of the council of the local Communist Party after the suppression of the uprising was Dawid Fidler, who had been a member of the Bund leadership. Nechemia Elster undertook to mediate between the Jewish and the Polish party cells. In 1919 the local council of the youth section of the Communist Party was established, headed by the dental technician Srula Wapniarski, who initiated an energetic drive to recruit Jewish youth for the movement. The drive took place in the trade unions, in the library in the name of L. Perec and in the cooperatives – institutions traditionally under the control of the Bund. Srul Wapniarski recalls: “The Party devoted a great deal of attention to the work in the trade unions. Until then the Bund had been in a better position in the unions of the Jewish workers. A decisive majority of the members had usually voted in favor of the decisions of the Bund. Every time members of the Bund presented to the vote a decision of the red faction (the term used for the communist faction), they did so in a mocking tone, because they were always sure that the decision would be upheld. Nevertheless, communist propaganda did bear fruit and very soon brought about significant results.
In the early 1920s the Communist Party exerted influence on the unions of tailors, shoemakers, storekeepers, clerks, and workers in the wood industry, who had previously been led by the Bund. The Bund leadership, which had lost its dominant status within the local unions, turned for help to the central bureau of the party in Warsaw. To help in the task of the rehabilitation of the party, a well-known Bund activist, Herszel Himmelfarb, came to Zamość, and according to Wapniarski, even he did not succeed in saving the situation. During his visit, the delegate complained that the Zamość working population, considered until then a “Bund bulwark”, had turned into a communist one. The Bund’s status was also weakened owing to the activity of several of its members, who supported the communists secretly. One of them, Dawid Fiddler, who had in fact already become a communist leader, was at the same time a Bond candidate for the Town Council in 1919 (together with Mendel Szabaszohn, Chaim Kawe and Hersz Becher). Typically, the Bund, weakened by the communists, did not present a separate list in the elections held again four months later.
The political campaign by the Communist Party did not stop at the trade unions. By the year 1921 most of the positions in the management of the library in the name of L. Perec were in the hands of the Communist Party. From that moment the library (in Wielky Rynk Street) became a meeting place of members and supporters of the Communist Party, and the library acquired books by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Gorky and Hempl. It was at the end of 1921 that the communists achieved their greatest success. After difficult negotiations, lasting a long time, they succeeded in breaking up the Zamość Bund. The group that left the Bund, until comprising about half of the party, created a branch called Kombund, working in close cooperation with the Communist Party. A year later, all the members of this group together joined the Communist Party.
Towards the end of 1922, taking into account the coming elections to the House of Representatives, the Zamość leadership of the Communist Party established in the town a body called the District Elections Council of the Union of the Workers of Towns and Villages (Okręgowy Komitet Wyborczy Związku Proletariatu Miast i Wsi). Apart from Fidler and Wapniarski, the following were also active in the Council: Moszek Kornblit, Kiwa Rynd, Mendel Roffel and two Poles, Antoni Kukiełko and Michał Turczyn. The activities of the Council did not last long. Towards the end of September the police carried out the first of a series of actions intended to break up the Zamość branch of the Communist Party. Fidler, Rynd and Roffel were arrested and freed immediately after the elections, while Wapniarski, Kornblit, Kukiełko and Turczyn were sentenced to 3-5 years of prison. In August 1923, the library in the name of L. Perec, the offices of “igla” (needle) and bakers’ trade unions and others were dismantled. A member of the library’s management team, Jakub Najmark, was arrested. In spite of these losses, the Zamość Communist Party maintained its status. In 1923 it had 58 members and it was the strongest branch in the district. In spite of the persecution, important activists of the Polish Communist Party visited the town, among them Saul Amsterdam and Jan Hempel.
Until 1926 Dawid Fidler who headed the local council of the Communist Party, was the de facto leader of the local communists. After 1923, the following members were included in the leadership: Srul Zycer, Izrael Garfinkiel, Szloma Gierszon, Mechel (Michał) Hakman, Eliasz Rychtman, Icek Szyp, Wolf Kormas, Dawid Lewinsohn, Salomon Rotman, Abuś Spodek and Icek Morer. Some of them were candidates representing the election committee of the “class trade unions” for (twice) repeated elections in 1925-1926. In the end, in May 1926, a third of them – Dawid Fidler, Icek Morer, Srul Zycer - were elected to the Town Council as new members. Immediately after the elections, threatened with arrest, the leaders of the party fled from Zamość: the member of the Town Council Dawid Fidler, Srul Wapniarski (who had recently been released from prison), Icek Szyp and Izrael Garfinkiel, who crossed illegally to the USSR.
The Zamość Bund, since the 1920s under the leadership of Rachmil Brondwajn, suffered for a long time from the implications of the secession of the members of the Kombund. The lack of efficiency of the party’s activities also stemmed to some extent from the fact that it still contained supporters of the Communist Party. In spite of their official declaration that they belonged to the Bund, the leaders of the tailors’ trade union, Icek Szyp, Jakub Kojl, Beniamin Grinbaum and Aron Miller, actually belonged to the leadership of the Zamość Communist Party. The trade unions they headed, although belonging to the Bund, were totally under the influence of the Communist Party. The crisis in the party was still clearly evident in the middle of the year 1924. It had a severe effect on the youth movement Zukunft (Future), affiliated to the Bund. According to the report of the municipality, in April most of its activists went over to the Communist Youth Movement, and those who remained wavered between joining the communists or the Zionists. The Bund only succeeded in achieving relative stability in the second half of that year, and from the beginning of 1925 it started to feel its way to regaining the influence it had lost. This began with the opening of the branch The Union of Jewish Schools in the town, which later assisted in the opening of the private secular primary school in the name of L. Perec in the Lubelska suburb. The Bund not only succeeded in these two projects, but also in holding out against the communist attempts to gain control over them (as members of the Union described it: “They are not interested in having anything to do with those snifflers who only create a lot of commotion”). During the years 1925-1926 the Bund participated actively in the elections for the Town Council. The following members of the party were on the list of candidates: Rachmil Brondwajn, Abuś Szpizajzen, Chaim Szpizajzen, Jakub Lewin, Rachela Korngold, Chuna Goldberg and Izaak Majer Hercberg. In the end Brondwajn was elected member of the Town Council.
To attract the youth once again to the party, in 1926 the Bund activists founded a sports club as a branch of the Workers Association for Physical Education Morgenstern (Jutrznia, the Dawn). Majer Szternfinkiel was appointed its chairman, Izrael Mordko Cwilich as its secretary, and Mojżesz Mittelpunkt treasurer. Morgenstern was located in the Third of May Street No.11. In the first months of its activity the club had about 30 members. A year later a branch of the Kultur Liga, affiliated to the party, was also opened – an organization intended to spread secular Jewish culture. In the late 1920s the Bund began to try to regain influence in the trade unions. In 1927 the Party established The Trade Union of Jewish Craftsmen (in 1933 it became The District Union of Independent Craftsmen of the Zamość, Biłgoraj, Tomaszów and Hrubieszów districts), numbering 160 members after two years of activity. A local activist, the housepainter Izaak Cukierman, was appointed its secretary. A year later, The Trade Union of Polish Transport Workers was established at Żydowska Street No.11, comprising mainly porters. The organization, led in turn by Lejba Gildyner, Abram Haken and Gecel Lajnwand, was until 1939 the most closely connected one to the Bund. However, the Bund did not succeed in maintaining its influence on the Trade Union of the Apartment Guards, Household Helpers and Others, established in 1929. A few months after its foundation, the council of the Union came under the control of activists, connected to the Communist Party.
In the second half of the 1920s, the constant conflicts with the communists led the Bund, including all the institutions set up on its initiative, to start a propaganda campaign among Jewish workers. On the one hand, they tried to explain and disseminate the party line (with special emphasis on national and cultural autonomy), and on the other hand, to expose “the true face” of the Communist Party and criticize its platform. They organized events marking various special occasions and lectures by well-known speakers in the sphere of Jewish culture, intended to make the Party more popular. In 1927 they organized celebrations in the town hall to mark 30 years since the founding of the Party. An audience of 250 people attended lectures by Rachmil Brondwajn, Chaim Sztych and Majer Szternfinkiel. The lecturers, while describing the type of activities carried out by the Party, also explained the Bund’s “doctrine” and its status among the other parties. In May 1927 the Sports club Jutrznia organized two lectures by the Bund activist from Lublin, Szlomę Korn, in the cinema-theater hall Stylowy, entitled “The Zionist National Utopia” and “Revolutionary Slogans – and the Jewish Workers Movement”. The second lecture was obviously directed against the communists. In that lecture he stated: “The growth of the Workers Movement was arrested various socialist parties, spouting empty socialist dogmas and slogans”. At the same time he did not forget to mention that “the only organization… struggling to promote the workers’ interests and demanding national-cultural autonomy is the Bund, that is why the Jewish workers should support it”. In a lecture entitled “Objections to Communism”, taking place in the same hall three years later, Josef Leszczyński (Chmurner), a member of the editorial board of the Warsaw newspaper Fołkscajtung (The People’s newspaper) attacked the Communist Party.
In the years 1925-1926 the Party was greatly involved in the organization of the celebrations marking the workers’ festivals. The Bund, cooperating in this respect with the Socialist Party, created a situation in which, during the demonstrations organized by the other Party, the decisive majority were Jews, numbering 85% in 1926. Sometimes they also provided an artistic framework for the assemblies. In 1925, during the festivities taking place in the hall in which the Town Council held its meetings, the Jewish orchestra played “The Red Flag”, “On to the Barricades”, “Warszawiankę”, the Marseillaise, and the Communist Internationale. Most of the 250 participants at the assembly were Jews. The Party’s intensified activity bore fruit in the municipal elections in 1929. The Bund’s list of candidates, including Majer Szternfinkiel, Izaak Cukierman, Jakub Lewin, Jakub Feldstein, Estera Mendelsohn, Zelman Gierszon Gewercman and Izrael Morduchaj Cwilich, received 20% of the votes for Jewish lists. This result, compared to previous results (23% in August 1919, absence of a Bund list in December 1919, and 13% in 1926) proved that after a few years in a crisis, the Bund had succeeded in reviving its previous status among the Zamość Jews. The growth of its popularity led to an increase in its membership. In the mid-1920s it had 43 members, in 1930 it had 173 members (numerically larger branches within that district were only in Lublin, Radzyn, Białajie Podlaskie and Krasnytaw). During that period the Bund’s youth movement Zukunft (Future) had 80 members. At the end of the year 1921 the Bund was still headed by Rachmil Brondwajn and its secretary was Mordko Cwilich. Among its activists were Hersz Mandelbaum, Matjas Altberg (in the town called Limping Maćek), Dr. Saul Grosbaum, Izaak Cukierman and Majer Szternfinkiel. The activities of Zukunft were run jointly by Chaim Szpizajzen and Herszek Orensztajn. In 1929 the Bund’s center was in Perec Street No.3, and the monthly membership dues were 1 zloty.
In 1928 the Zamość Communist Party comprised two Polish and two Jewish groups. The neighborhood committee of the Party was in contact among others with Warsaw (Chil Form), Łuckie (Leon Sznycer), Hrubieszow (Szloma Goldsztajn and Emanuel Liwerant) and Izbicą (Lejb Putter). After Fidler and Wapniarski had fled, the new Party leader in the town was Beniamin Grinbaum. After his arrest in 1928, Josef Epsztajn and Mojżesz Rajzman took over the leadership.
In the mid-1930s, in spite of its numerical strength (in 1932 it had the largest number of members in the district), the Zamość Communist Party’s ranks suffered from frequent arrests. The Zamość police was very well acquainted with the composition of the Communist Party membership and also with its contacts, thanks to a wide network of informants and collaborators. One of the party activists recalled: “In the Zamość area there was such a large number of secret agents that it was difficult to distinguish between a member of the party and an agent sent by the police to infiltrate it”. The arrests peaked in the years 1931-1934 (between January 1932 and November 1834, 93 Zamość Jews were imprisoned for communist activity). The greatest blow was struck by the police against the Party’s leadership in 1931 at the end of the summer. The first to be arrested were, among others, Josef Epsztajn, Szloma Lembergier, Jona Moszko Zycer and Mordko Chaim Finkielberg. By the end of the police action, in the following spring, 26 local communists were in prison, the outstanding ones among them being Mojżesz Rajzman, Izrael Goldwag, Jakub Majer Forem and Moszko Erbesfeld. Several communists in danger of arrest fled the town, in particular to the USSR (Judka Birn, Izrael and Fajga Handwerkier, Chaim Wolf Hercberg, Lejzor Jonesgartel), but also through Czechoslovakia to Belgium (Jose Herszson) and France (Josef Epsztajn). In the wake of the arrests, the leaderships of the various factions of the Communist Party in Zamość were almost totally disbanded and their activists were imprisoned for many years (Mojżesz Rajzman for 6 years, Mordko Chaim Finkielberg for 5 years, Izrael Goldwag for 4 years, Moszko Erbesfeld for 3 years). Frequent arrests of communist activists also took place in later years. This necessitated recurrent rotation among the leaders of the various factions and precipitated the ever-deepening crisis in the Party, and mutual accusations of betrayal. An analysis of the composition of the communist group of Jewish origin, arrested in the years 1922-1937, leads to the conclusion that the Zamość Communist Movement was represented by very young people, in particular by craftsmen. This stemmed mainly from the town’s economic structure, the absence of more substantial industry and the predominance of craftsmen and merchants.
Out of the 135 documents about arrests, preserved in the archives, 115 of them mention the age of those arrested, and 106 mention their occupation. Two people were over 30 (1.7%); 40% had not reached the age of 19; and over 63% were craftsmen, mainly trainees, students and apprentices. The most common occupations practised by those arrested were tailoring (26), carpentry (12), shoemaking (8) and house painting (6), in other words, the most popular crafts in the town. There were only two workers among them. One of the last periods of more intensive activity of the Communist Party was the first half of 1934. In spring, during the election campaign for local government institutions, the communists concluded an alliance with the Socialist Party and the Bund, creating a joint list of candidates under the name Blok Robotniczo–Chłopski (block of workers in industry and on the land). This list, also supported by the trade unions subordinate to the Communist Party, received almost 20% of the votes and 4 delegates on the Town Council (among them Majer Szternfinkel of the Bund). The propaganda for the joint front of the communist parties was also noticeable during the First of May celebrations, when the march organized by the Socialist Party encompassed besides members of the Bund, Poalei Tzion-Yamin and the Ludowci (People’s Party), also the Communist Party and the Communist Youth Movement. It is interesting to note that the left wing alliance, functioning in spring 1934, came to the attention of communist groups abroad. According to the local leader of the Socialist Party Henryk Świątkowski, an extensive article appeared in a Swiss communist journal, describing the list representing the joint front in Zamość. It is noteworthy that the joint list, worked out by 35 members of the Communist Party, did not include a single Pole.
In early fall, a youth group, identified with the Communist Youth Movement, withdrew from the Hapoel sports club, run by Poalei Tzion-Yamin. They first set up an unofficial group called Amateur, which they later turned into a Jewish sports club, called Zamość. Several important Communist Party activists participated in the management of the sports club: Moszek Hercberg, Majlech Jonesgartel, Herszek Kalichsztajn, Towia Handwerkier and Judka Messer. A similar process occurred in the sports club Zamościanka, established in October. Although the club was owned by the Bond (the mangement included Berko Szarf, Ignacy Cukierman and Zelman Gerszon Gewercman), it very soon came under the control of youth under the influence of the Communist Party.
The successes of the Communist Party at that time, in particular the joint list with the socialists and the Bund in the municipal elections, paradoxically became a source of a later crisis in the Communist Party. The sports club Zamość was disbanded in the fall, and Zamościanka in February.
In the mid-1930s, the Bund was also struggling against organizational problems. The local party council, numbering only 63 members in 1934, was, according to the Mayor’s description of the situation, “minimally active, and confined itself to activity of interest to the whole Jewish community (elections, or 1st of May celebrations). The crisis in the party was also due to interpersonal friction among its leaders. In January 1935, the chairman Rachmil Brondwajn and the secretary Jakub Hersz Mandelbaum left the party owing to “private-financial settling of accounts”. This led to a temporary suspension of activity for several months, and eventually to the council’s withdrawal from activity. The Party only recovered in December, in the wake of intervention and pressure by the central bureau in Warsaw and the loyal endeavor of the member of the Town Council, Majer Szternfinkl; at that point a local temporary council of the Bond was set up in Zamość. Herszek Orensztajn joined Szternfinkl on the council, and Jakub Mandelbaum also returned to he Party. During the first public meeting of the new leadership Herszek Orensztajn gave a lecture to an audience of supporters that had gathered there, entitled “Join the Bund”. This was the start of the campaign and 22 members of the audience joined the Party.
The year 1936 was marked by protest actions by agricultural workers, galvanizing the workers’ parties into cooperation with the Ludowci in the whole Zamość district. The first joint initiative of the organizations was the establishment of Polski Związek Wolnej Myśli (Polish Union of Free Thought) in December 1935. It comprised activists from the Socialist Party (Stefan Sendłak, Franciszek Król and the chairman Piotr Nizioł), from the Communist Party and its youth section (Jan Skiba, Alfred Siwiec, Michał Błaszcak), the People’s Party (Józef Soroka), the Bund (Jakub Mandelbaum - secretary), and Poalei Tzion-Right (Mojżesz Herman - treasurer). Already in 1936, to promote the ideas of the Ludowij Front (The People’s Front), the Socialist and the Social-People’s Party, the Bund and the Communist Party published a weekly journal Nasze Życie (Our Life), edited jointly. The chief editor was the communist Edward Dubiel, and among the members of the editorial board were Jakub Mandelbaum and the prospective lawyer Dolek Sztern. The climax of the Front’s activity were the public celebrations in Zamość in September, attended, according to Józef Soroka, by 45,000 people from the town and the surrounding district. The campaign to calm the situation in the villages in the Zamość district and persecution by the police immediately following the festivities had a decisive impact, leading to a cessation of the Front’s activities. The branch of the Polish Union of Free Thought was dismantled in October, and among its arrested leaders was its secretary, Jakub Mandelbaum.
The last two years of the Communist Party’s activity were very hard for the Zamość communists. Their sphere of activity became very limited. Jankiel Berenfeld was the only one still showing signs of activity. He collected contributions, first for those fighting in Spain, later for the well-known Zamość communist, Mordko Chaim Finkielberg, who was released from Bereza Kartuska (the money collected made it possible to transfer him for convalescence to Krasnobrod).
The final disintegration of the Party began in summer 1937. The Zamość police that had updated information concerning the local communists, their meeting- places and their contacts, started to break up Party meetings systematically, bringing the activities to a total standstill. The members realized that there was a network of informants in their ranks and this destroyed the organization from within, undermining mutual trust. Unfounded accusations of betrayal even led to attempts at suicide.
The last mass arrests of the leaders of the Communist Party took place in September. During a meeting in the apartment of Nachman Sztern they arrested 25 people, among them the whole council of the youth section, including its head Pinkwas Fingier. The arrests led to a temporary split in the leadership. Some of the activists that had not been arrested established a new council, comprising Stanisław Kardygą, Szyją Kozłowski and Surą Fajgą Klajner. In the meantime all the members of the previous council were released from prison and wished to resume their activity, but they encountered opposition from the new council. Finally, towards the end of the year, they solved the problem.
Zamość communist activity came officially to an end in the middle of 1938, when instructions to disband from the central bureau of the Party reached the town. Only some small Jewish cells were left in Nova Osada. These tiny well-concealed groups existed until September 1939.
In the wake of the liquidation of the Communist Party, the only remaining workers’ party representing the Jewish proletariat was the Bund. That party, no longer in competition with the communists, had strengthened its position and increased its activity a few years prior to the outbreak of the war. Its status was reinforced during the second half of the 1930s owing to Zionist movements’ loss of influence, due to their disintegration from within, and also to some extent because of the anti-Semitic attitude of the British Mandate’s rule in Eretz Israel (in view of the facts on the ground, many Jews considered Zionist activity to promote the settlement of the country a hopeless endeavor). Support for the Bund was very evident in May 1937 in Lwow, during the funeral of one of the Party’s leaders, Herszko Orensztajn. It was attended by over 6,000 people, among them members of several trade unions, of various parties, and of the Bund. The funeral rites were led by Jakub Mandelbaum, who had been released from prison a month earlier. The Party’s successful activities peaked during the elections to the Town Council in May 1939. The Bund received 55% of all the votes for Jewish parties, leading to Jewish political mobility in the town. All the six new members of the Town Council represented the Bund. The party’s unprecedented success was undoubtedly due to the support of Jewish youth, until 1938 under the influence of the Communist Party.