The Book Smugglers, page 32
3. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 215; Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 401–2 (November 10, 1942); Kruk, Last Days, 408.
4. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 215.
5. Kaczerginski diary, file 615, pp. 34–35, Sutzkever-Kaczerginski Collection, RG 223, YIVO archives.
6. Ibid., 35.
7. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 217.
8. Ibid. 216–19; Abraham Sutzkever, “A vort tsum zekhtsiktn yoiyl fun YIVO,” in Baym leyenen penimer (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1993), 206–7; Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 53.
9. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 43–44; Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 221.
10. Krinsky-Melezin, “Mit Shmerken,” 129.
11. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 216.
12. Alexandra Wall, notes of interview with her grandfather, Abraham Melezin, November 2007, in possession of the author.
13. Szmerke Kaczerginski, “Dos elnte kind,” in Lider fun di getos un lagern, ed. Szmerke Kaczerginski (New York: Tsiko bikher farlag, 1948), 90–91.
14. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 221; Ona Ŝimaite, letter to Abraham Sutzkever, August 23, 1947, “Shimaite, Anna,” file 1, Sutzkever Collection.
15. Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 263.
16. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 115–16; Tubin, Ruzhka, 194.
Chapter 10. The Art of Book Smuggling
1. Michael Menkin (Minkovitch), interview by author, Fort Lee, New Jersey, February 13, 2014. Menkin worked in the YIVO worksite in the spring and summer of 1942. He now lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
2. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 300–301; Kruk, Last Days, 322 (with modifications). Kruk gave a partial list of documents they rescued. “Documents from the Ukrainian People’s Republic, of the People’s Republic’s Ministry of Jewish Affairs [from 1918–19]; materials from the archives of Nojekh Prylucki, Simon Dubnow, Ber Borokhov; a portfolio of materials about Isaac Meir Dick, consisting of a bibliography of his publications and material for his biography; a portfolio of proverbs from various countries and places. And there was an enormous amount of letters: letters from Sholem Aleichem and several of his manuscripts; manuscripts by David Einhorn, David Pinsky, and S. L. Citron; materials from Dr. Alfred Landau’s [Yiddish] linguistic treasures; photographs from YIVO’s Yiddish theater museum; letters by Moyshe Kulbak, Sh[muel] Niger, D[aniel] Charney, Chaim Zhitlowsky, Joseph Opatoshu, A. Leyeles, Zalmen Reisen, Leon Kobrin, Moyshe Nadir, Marc Chagall, H. Leivick, Dr. Nathan Birnbaum, Yaakov Fichman.” On September 24, 1942, Kruk added, “Recently the Rosenberg Task Force employees work with a new energy. Scores of books and documents are brought into the ghetto every day. The brigade of porters [i.e., smugglers] has grown by several times.” Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 351.
3. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 217. For examples of denunciations by the caretaker, see Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 110 (July 9, 1943), 112 (July 13, 1943).
4. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 82–83.
5. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 217–19; Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 53–57.
6. Krinsky-Melezin, “Mit Shmerken,” 130–31.
7. Answers to questions by her granddaughter Alexandra Wall, box 1, Abraham Melezin Collection, RG 1872, YIVO archives.
8. Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 111–12.
9. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 94 (December 9, 1942), 110 (July 9, 1943), 112 (July 13, 1943).
10. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 217–18.
11. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 74 (August 2, 1942). Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 209, states that Kalmanovitch opposed hiding books from the Germans and believed it was preferable to cooperate in the shipment of books to Germany, because the materials would be retrieved after the war. This is a simplification of Kalmanovitch’s view. As his ghetto diary indicates, Kalmanovitch supported both the smuggling of books into the ghetto and the shipment of books to Germany, to minimize the third option—their destruction in the paper mills.
12. Kaczerginski, Partizaner geyen, 69; Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 41–42; Avraham Zheleznikov, interview by author, Melbourne, Australia, July 8, 2012; Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 110.
13. File 330, p. 9, and file 366, pp. 68, 73, 115, records of Vilnius Ghetto, RG-26.015M, USHMM.
14. Sutzkever note, “Gefunen dem togbukh fun dokter hertsl,” file 770 and part 2, file 184, Sutzkever-Kaczerginski Collection, RG 223, YIVO archives.
15. Kazys Boruta, Skamb˙ekit v˙etroje, beržai (Vilnius: Vaga, 1975), 341–42.
16. Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 112.
17. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 219–20.
18. Abraham Sutzkever, “Kerndlekh veyts,” in Yidishe gas, 32–33 (New York: Matones, 1947); English translation: Abraham Sutzkever, “Grains of Wheat,” in A. Sutzkever: Selected Poetry and Prose, trans. and ed. Barbara Harshav and Benjamin Harshav, 156–58 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991).
19. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 575–76 (June 18, 1943); Kruk, Last Days, 567–68 (with modifications). Abraham Sutzkever, letter to Max Weinreich, Paris, January 12, 1947, foreign correspondence, 1947, YIVO Administration, RG 100, YIVO archives. Kalmanovitch wrote about this event, “I blessed God for granting me the privilege to hear good tidings. . . . I told the news to a number of people who were close to the institution. All are rejoicing. There are no words to express the emotions that are stirring.” Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 107.
A Rescued Gem: Herzl’s Diary
1. Ilse Sternberger, Princes without a Home: Modern Zionism and the Strange Fate of Theodor Herzl’s Children, 1900–1945 (San Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1994); “Hans Herzl, Son of Theodor Herzl, Commits Suicide after Funeral of Sister Paulina,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency Bulletin, September 18, 1930; “Hans Herzl’s Wish Comes True—76 Years Later,” Haaretz, September 19, 2006.
2. Zalmen Rejzen, “Doktor Teodor Herzl’s umbakanter togbukh,” Morgen-zhurnal, April 10, 1932; Max Weinreich, memo to Abraham Cahan, June 7, 1933, “Teodor hertsl’s togbukh fun di yorn 1882–1887,” Bund Collection, RG 1400, YIVO archives.
3. Weinreich, memo to Cahan.
Chapter 11. The Book and the Sword
1. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 54.
2. Ibid., 95.
3. Ibid., 95–96.
4. Ibid., 90–92.
5. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer; Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 395; Michael Menkin (Minkovitch), interview by author, Fort Lee, New Jersey, August 19, 2013.
6. Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 122–25, 229.
7. Aba Kovner, “Flekn af der moyer,” Yidishe kultur (New York) (May 1947): 26; Rokhl Mendelsund-Kowarski, letter to Pinkhas Schwartz, undated, file 770, pp. 1–2, 5, Sutzkever-Kaczerginski Collection, RG 223, YIVO archives.
8. Shmerke Kaczerginski, “Mayn ershter pulemiot,” Epokhe (New York), nos. 31–32 (August–October 1947): 52–56.
9. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 96–97; Leon Bernstein, Ha-derekh ha-ahronah (Tel Aviv: Va’ad Tsiburi, 1990), 184.
10. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 96. Isaac Kowalski, who worked in the YIVO building for three months, also smuggled munitions manuals and arms into the ghetto on behalf of the FPO; Kowalski, Secret Press, 96–101.
11. Kowalski, Secret Press, 100.
12. Abraham Sutzkever, “Di blayene platn fun roms drukeray,” in Lider fun yam ha-moves, 94; in English, Abraham Sutzkever, “The Lead Plates of the Rom Printers,” in A. Sutzkever, 168–70.
13. Kaczerginski, “Mayn ershter pulemiot,” 57–58.
14. There are three versions of this incident, with slight variations: Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 220; Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 45–52 (and in Kaczerginski, “Mayn ershter pulemiot,” 57–59); and Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 220–21. I have followed the Pupko-Krinsky and Kaczerginski versions, which are fully compatible.
15. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 11.
Chapter 12. Slave-Labor Curators and Scholars
1. This detail is mentioned in the study by Ioffe, “Wilna und Wilnauer Klausen,” 10, 14–15.
2. Sutzkever, “Tsu der geshikhte,” 13–15; Kaczerginski, Partizaner geyen, 69–71. See also Bernstein, Ha-derekh ha-ahronah, 169. On the Karaite question, see below.
3. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 327 (July 30, 1942); Kruk, Last Days, 340 (with modifications); Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 73–75 (July 31, 1942), 75–76 (August 13).
4. W.K., “Die Einstige des Judentums, eine wertvolle Sonderschau des ‘Einsatzstabes Rosenberg’ in Wilna,” Wilnaer Zeitung, no. 194, August 20, 1942.
5. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 75.
6. Sutzkever, “Tsu der geshikhte,” 15; Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 178; Kaczerginski, Partizaner geyen, 69.
7. Kalmanovitch, “Togbukh fun vilner geto,” 94.
8. Kiril Feferman, “Nazi Germany and the Karaites in 1938–1944: Between Racial Theory and Realpolitik,” Nationalities Papers 39, no. 2 (2011): 277–94; Shmuel Spektor, “Ha-kara’im be-eyropah she-bi-shlitat ha-natsim be-re’i mismakhim germani’im,” Pe’amim 29 (1986): 90–108.
9. Feferman, “Nazi Germany”; Spektor, “Ha-kara’im be-eyropah.”
10. Gerhard Wunder in Berlin, letter to ERR in Riga, for forwarding to Vilna, October 28, 1942, ERR collection, op. 1, d. 118, pp. 146–47, TsDAVO.
11. The translations, bibliography, and essay are found in the YIVO archives, Karaites, RG 40; and in op. 1, files 18, 22, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius.
12. ERR collection, op. 1, d. 233, p. 122; d. 118, pp. 118, 146–47, TsDAVO; Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 82 (October 11, 1942); quote from Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 90 (November 15, 1942). On Szapszal, see Mikhail Kizilov, Sons of Scripture: The Karaites in Poland and Lithuania in the Twentieth Century (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015), 216–83 and passim.
13. On the visits, see Kalmanovitch Yoman be-geto vilna, 105 (April 30, 1943); and Akiva Gershater, “Af yener zayt geto,” in Bleter vegn vilne: zamlbukh, 41–45 (Lodz, Poland: Farband fun vilner yidn in poyln, 1947), 44–45. On Szapszal’s honorarium and plans to disseminate his study, see ERR collection, op. 1, d. 170, pp. 204–5, d. 118, pp. 146–47, TsDAVO; slave labor salary, ERR collection, op. 1, d. 147, p. 383, TsDAVO. On Kalmanovitch’s extra loaf of bread, see Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 87.
14. Sutzkever, “Tsu der geshikhte,” 11; Gershater, “Af yener zayt geto,” 44–45; and similarly Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 332.
15. Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 332. This account is confirmed by the ERR collection, op. 1, d. 128, pp. 309, 329, TsDAVO.
16. ERR collection, op. 1, d. 233, pp. 220–21, d. 118, pp. 341–42, TsDAVO; Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 76 (August 9, 1942), 78 (August 21, 1942).
17. The studies are found in files 9, 15–17, 26, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, and files 233, 494, 504, 505, records of Vilnius Ghetto, F. R-1421, both in the Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius. See my article, “Slave Labor Jewish Scholarship in the Vilna Ghetto,” in There Is a Jewish Way of Saying Things: Studies in Jewish Literature in Honor of David G. Roskies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, forthcoming).
18. “Die Juden im historischen Littauen,” file 16, p. 10, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius.
19. Ibid., p. 12.
20. “Friedhofe und Grabsteine der Juden in Wilna,” file 9, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius.
21. ERR collection, d. 118, p. 315, TsDAVO.
22. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 93 (December 7, 1942), and 103 (April 25, 1943); ERR collection, d. 118, p. 379, TsDAVO.
23. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 469 (March 8, 1943); Kruk’s final report for the ERR, covering the period February 18, 1942–July 10, 1943, op. 1, d. 5, pp. 37–39, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius.
Chapter 13. From the Ghetto to the Forest
1. Kaczerginski, Lider fun di getos, 341–41.
2. An excerpt of this document is presented in David E. Fishman, Embers Plucked from the Fire: The Rescue of Jewish Cultural Treasures in Vilna, 2nd expanded ed. (New York: YIVO, 2009), 19–20.
3. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 53–55.
4. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 221–22; Abraham Sutzkever, “A tfile tsum nes,” in Lider fun yam ha-moves, 38. The translation is my own.
5. Mark Dworzecki, “Der novi fun geto (Zelig Hirsh Kalmanovitsh),” Yidisher kemfer (New York), September 24, 1948, 4–5.
6. Bernstein, Ha-derekh ha-ahronah, 245; Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 119 (August 2–3, 1943).
7. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, xxxviii–xxxix; Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 269; Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 211.
8. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 126.
9. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 87–87.
10. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 90, 95; Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 180–90.
11. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 99.
12. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 113, 119–21.
13. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 127–51.
14. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 152–59.
15. Moshe Grossman, “Shemaryahu Kaczerginski,” Davar (Tel Aviv), May 14, 1954, 4; Chaim Grade, “Eykh noflu giboyrim,” in Shmerke kaczerginski ondenk-bukh, 44–45.
16. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 172; Sutzkever, “Tsu der efenung fun der oysshtelung lekoved mayn vern a ben-shivim,” in Baym leyenen penimer, 213–14.
17. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 194–96; Moshe Kalcheim, ed., Mitn shtoltsn gang, 1939–1945: kapitlen geshikhte fun partizaner kamf in di narotsher velder (Tel Aviv: Farband fun partizan, untergrunt-kemfers un geto-ufshtendlers in yisroel, 1992), 149, 283.
18. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 212–17.
19. Kaczerginski, Partizaner geyen.
20. Shmerke Kaczerginski, “Yid, du partizaner,” in Shmerke kaczerginski ondenk-bukh, 253.
Chapter 14. Death in Estonia
1. On Kalmanovitch’s decision, see Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 118–19; Kaczerginski, “Der haknkrayts,” 641; on Kruk’s decision, see letters by Liola Klitschko, 1946, and Rachel Mendelsund-Kovarski to Pinkhas Schwartz, 1959, in file 770, Sutzkever-Kaczerginski Collection, RG 223, YIVO archives.
2. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 109; Mark Dworzecki, Vayse nekht un shvartse teg: yidn-lagern in estonye (Tel Aviv: I. L. Peretz, 1970), 305.
3. See Dov Levin, “Tsvishn hamer un serp: tsu der geshikhte fun yidishn visnshaftlekhn institute in vilne unter der sovetisher memshole,” YIVO bleter 46 (1980): 78–97.
4. Abraham Sutzkever, “Vi Z. Kalmanovitch iz umgekumen,” Yidishe kultur (New York), no. 10 (October 1945): 52.
5. Yudl Mark, “Zelig Kalmanovitch,” Di Goldene keyt (Tel Aviv), 93 (1977): 143. Similarly, see Dworzecki, Vayse nekht. For a detailed account by inmate Aryeh Sheftel, see Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 55–57.
6. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 109–10; Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 58.
7. Based on Maria Rolnikaite, “Ya dolzhna raskazat,” in I vse eto pravda, 123–35 (St. Petersburg: Zoltoi Vek, 2002); Grigorii Shur, Evrei v Vil’no: Khronika, 1941–1944 gg. (St. Petersburg: Obrazovanie-Kul’tura, 2000), 181–87; Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 481–84.
8. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 291.
9. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 75.
10. Kruk, Last Days, 674–55; Dworzecki, Vayse nekht, 133–34, 141.
11. Dworzecki, Vayse nekht, 224, 308, 324.
12. Borukh Merin, Fun rakev biz klooga (New York: CYCO, 1969), 136, 142.
13. Kruk, Last Days, 685–86.
14. Kruk, Last Days, 693–94.
15. See Dworzecki, Vayse nekht, 138, 161–63, 189, 287, 302, 305, 377–79; Kruk, Last Days, 704.
16. Kruk, Last Days, v.
Chapter 15. Miracle from Moscow
1. “Undzer batsiung tsum ratnfarnand: aroyszogunugen fun yidishe shrayber,” Dos naye lebn (Lodz, Poland), November 6, 1946, 3; Sutzkever, Baym leyenen penimer, 66.
2. See Sutzkever’s biographical portrait of Paleckis in file 1008.2, Sutzkever Collection.
3. See Sutzkever, Baym leyenen penimer, 131; Boris Grin, “Mit sutzkevern in otriad ‘nekome,’ ” Oystralishe yidishe nayes (Melbourne), October 13, 1961, 7.
4. Sutzkever, Baym leyenen penimer, 67.
5. Abraham Sutzkever, “Rede fun sutzkever,” Eynikayt (Moscow), April 6, 1944; Dos yidishe folk in kamf kegn fashizm (Moscow: Ogiz, 1945); Sutzkever, Baym leyenen penimer, 139–40.
6. Ilya Ehrenburg, “Torzhestvo cheloveka,” Pravda (Moscow), April 27, 1944, 4.
7. Leon Leneman, “Ven boris pasternak shenkt avek zayn lid avrom sutskevern,” Di tsionistishe shtime (Paris), January 31, 1958.
8. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 282.
9. Ibid., 291–303.
10. Ibid., 312.
11. Ibid., 346, 372, 380–83, quote from 383.
Chapter 16. From under the Ground
1. According to Kaczerginski, in “Vos di daytshn,” the Germans detonated the building before retreating from Vilna.
2. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 386–87.
3. Ilya Ehrenburg, Liudi, godi, zhizn: Vospominanie v triekh tomakh (Moscow: Sovetskii pisatel, 1990), 2:339–40; Aba Kovner, “Reshita shel ha-beriha ke-tenuat hamonim,” Yalkut Moreshet 37 (June 1984): 7–31.
4. Shmerke Kaczerginski, Tsvishn hamer un serp: tsu der geshikhte fun der likvidatsye fun der yidisher kultur in sovetn-rusland, 2nd expanded ed. (Buenos Aires: Der Emes, 1950), 15–41.
5. Abraham Sutzkever, “Ilya Ehrenbnurg,” in Baym leyenen penimer, 142–43; notes by Sutzkever (undated), file 219, documents on Vilna Ghetto.
6. Kaczerginski, “Vos di daytshn,” 7.
7. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 179, 183, 205.
8. Ibid., 197, 239, 240.
9. Ibid., 218, 244.
10. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 184.
11. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 307.
12. Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 229.
13. Kaczerginski, Tsvishn hamer un serp, 41 (diary entry dated July 20, 1944).
14. Kaczerginski files, no. 11, Sutzkever Collection.
15. File 47, Shmerke Kaczerginski Collection, RG P-18, Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel.
4. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 215.
5. Kaczerginski diary, file 615, pp. 34–35, Sutzkever-Kaczerginski Collection, RG 223, YIVO archives.
6. Ibid., 35.
7. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 217.
8. Ibid. 216–19; Abraham Sutzkever, “A vort tsum zekhtsiktn yoiyl fun YIVO,” in Baym leyenen penimer (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1993), 206–7; Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 53.
9. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 43–44; Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 221.
10. Krinsky-Melezin, “Mit Shmerken,” 129.
11. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 216.
12. Alexandra Wall, notes of interview with her grandfather, Abraham Melezin, November 2007, in possession of the author.
13. Szmerke Kaczerginski, “Dos elnte kind,” in Lider fun di getos un lagern, ed. Szmerke Kaczerginski (New York: Tsiko bikher farlag, 1948), 90–91.
14. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 221; Ona Ŝimaite, letter to Abraham Sutzkever, August 23, 1947, “Shimaite, Anna,” file 1, Sutzkever Collection.
15. Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 263.
16. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 115–16; Tubin, Ruzhka, 194.
Chapter 10. The Art of Book Smuggling
1. Michael Menkin (Minkovitch), interview by author, Fort Lee, New Jersey, February 13, 2014. Menkin worked in the YIVO worksite in the spring and summer of 1942. He now lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
2. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 300–301; Kruk, Last Days, 322 (with modifications). Kruk gave a partial list of documents they rescued. “Documents from the Ukrainian People’s Republic, of the People’s Republic’s Ministry of Jewish Affairs [from 1918–19]; materials from the archives of Nojekh Prylucki, Simon Dubnow, Ber Borokhov; a portfolio of materials about Isaac Meir Dick, consisting of a bibliography of his publications and material for his biography; a portfolio of proverbs from various countries and places. And there was an enormous amount of letters: letters from Sholem Aleichem and several of his manuscripts; manuscripts by David Einhorn, David Pinsky, and S. L. Citron; materials from Dr. Alfred Landau’s [Yiddish] linguistic treasures; photographs from YIVO’s Yiddish theater museum; letters by Moyshe Kulbak, Sh[muel] Niger, D[aniel] Charney, Chaim Zhitlowsky, Joseph Opatoshu, A. Leyeles, Zalmen Reisen, Leon Kobrin, Moyshe Nadir, Marc Chagall, H. Leivick, Dr. Nathan Birnbaum, Yaakov Fichman.” On September 24, 1942, Kruk added, “Recently the Rosenberg Task Force employees work with a new energy. Scores of books and documents are brought into the ghetto every day. The brigade of porters [i.e., smugglers] has grown by several times.” Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 351.
3. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 217. For examples of denunciations by the caretaker, see Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 110 (July 9, 1943), 112 (July 13, 1943).
4. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 82–83.
5. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 217–19; Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 53–57.
6. Krinsky-Melezin, “Mit Shmerken,” 130–31.
7. Answers to questions by her granddaughter Alexandra Wall, box 1, Abraham Melezin Collection, RG 1872, YIVO archives.
8. Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 111–12.
9. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 94 (December 9, 1942), 110 (July 9, 1943), 112 (July 13, 1943).
10. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 217–18.
11. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 74 (August 2, 1942). Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 209, states that Kalmanovitch opposed hiding books from the Germans and believed it was preferable to cooperate in the shipment of books to Germany, because the materials would be retrieved after the war. This is a simplification of Kalmanovitch’s view. As his ghetto diary indicates, Kalmanovitch supported both the smuggling of books into the ghetto and the shipment of books to Germany, to minimize the third option—their destruction in the paper mills.
12. Kaczerginski, Partizaner geyen, 69; Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 41–42; Avraham Zheleznikov, interview by author, Melbourne, Australia, July 8, 2012; Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 110.
13. File 330, p. 9, and file 366, pp. 68, 73, 115, records of Vilnius Ghetto, RG-26.015M, USHMM.
14. Sutzkever note, “Gefunen dem togbukh fun dokter hertsl,” file 770 and part 2, file 184, Sutzkever-Kaczerginski Collection, RG 223, YIVO archives.
15. Kazys Boruta, Skamb˙ekit v˙etroje, beržai (Vilnius: Vaga, 1975), 341–42.
16. Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 112.
17. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 219–20.
18. Abraham Sutzkever, “Kerndlekh veyts,” in Yidishe gas, 32–33 (New York: Matones, 1947); English translation: Abraham Sutzkever, “Grains of Wheat,” in A. Sutzkever: Selected Poetry and Prose, trans. and ed. Barbara Harshav and Benjamin Harshav, 156–58 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991).
19. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 575–76 (June 18, 1943); Kruk, Last Days, 567–68 (with modifications). Abraham Sutzkever, letter to Max Weinreich, Paris, January 12, 1947, foreign correspondence, 1947, YIVO Administration, RG 100, YIVO archives. Kalmanovitch wrote about this event, “I blessed God for granting me the privilege to hear good tidings. . . . I told the news to a number of people who were close to the institution. All are rejoicing. There are no words to express the emotions that are stirring.” Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 107.
A Rescued Gem: Herzl’s Diary
1. Ilse Sternberger, Princes without a Home: Modern Zionism and the Strange Fate of Theodor Herzl’s Children, 1900–1945 (San Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1994); “Hans Herzl, Son of Theodor Herzl, Commits Suicide after Funeral of Sister Paulina,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency Bulletin, September 18, 1930; “Hans Herzl’s Wish Comes True—76 Years Later,” Haaretz, September 19, 2006.
2. Zalmen Rejzen, “Doktor Teodor Herzl’s umbakanter togbukh,” Morgen-zhurnal, April 10, 1932; Max Weinreich, memo to Abraham Cahan, June 7, 1933, “Teodor hertsl’s togbukh fun di yorn 1882–1887,” Bund Collection, RG 1400, YIVO archives.
3. Weinreich, memo to Cahan.
Chapter 11. The Book and the Sword
1. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 54.
2. Ibid., 95.
3. Ibid., 95–96.
4. Ibid., 90–92.
5. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer; Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 395; Michael Menkin (Minkovitch), interview by author, Fort Lee, New Jersey, August 19, 2013.
6. Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 122–25, 229.
7. Aba Kovner, “Flekn af der moyer,” Yidishe kultur (New York) (May 1947): 26; Rokhl Mendelsund-Kowarski, letter to Pinkhas Schwartz, undated, file 770, pp. 1–2, 5, Sutzkever-Kaczerginski Collection, RG 223, YIVO archives.
8. Shmerke Kaczerginski, “Mayn ershter pulemiot,” Epokhe (New York), nos. 31–32 (August–October 1947): 52–56.
9. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 96–97; Leon Bernstein, Ha-derekh ha-ahronah (Tel Aviv: Va’ad Tsiburi, 1990), 184.
10. Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 96. Isaac Kowalski, who worked in the YIVO building for three months, also smuggled munitions manuals and arms into the ghetto on behalf of the FPO; Kowalski, Secret Press, 96–101.
11. Kowalski, Secret Press, 100.
12. Abraham Sutzkever, “Di blayene platn fun roms drukeray,” in Lider fun yam ha-moves, 94; in English, Abraham Sutzkever, “The Lead Plates of the Rom Printers,” in A. Sutzkever, 168–70.
13. Kaczerginski, “Mayn ershter pulemiot,” 57–58.
14. There are three versions of this incident, with slight variations: Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 220; Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 45–52 (and in Kaczerginski, “Mayn ershter pulemiot,” 57–59); and Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 220–21. I have followed the Pupko-Krinsky and Kaczerginski versions, which are fully compatible.
15. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 11.
Chapter 12. Slave-Labor Curators and Scholars
1. This detail is mentioned in the study by Ioffe, “Wilna und Wilnauer Klausen,” 10, 14–15.
2. Sutzkever, “Tsu der geshikhte,” 13–15; Kaczerginski, Partizaner geyen, 69–71. See also Bernstein, Ha-derekh ha-ahronah, 169. On the Karaite question, see below.
3. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 327 (July 30, 1942); Kruk, Last Days, 340 (with modifications); Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 73–75 (July 31, 1942), 75–76 (August 13).
4. W.K., “Die Einstige des Judentums, eine wertvolle Sonderschau des ‘Einsatzstabes Rosenberg’ in Wilna,” Wilnaer Zeitung, no. 194, August 20, 1942.
5. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 75.
6. Sutzkever, “Tsu der geshikhte,” 15; Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 178; Kaczerginski, Partizaner geyen, 69.
7. Kalmanovitch, “Togbukh fun vilner geto,” 94.
8. Kiril Feferman, “Nazi Germany and the Karaites in 1938–1944: Between Racial Theory and Realpolitik,” Nationalities Papers 39, no. 2 (2011): 277–94; Shmuel Spektor, “Ha-kara’im be-eyropah she-bi-shlitat ha-natsim be-re’i mismakhim germani’im,” Pe’amim 29 (1986): 90–108.
9. Feferman, “Nazi Germany”; Spektor, “Ha-kara’im be-eyropah.”
10. Gerhard Wunder in Berlin, letter to ERR in Riga, for forwarding to Vilna, October 28, 1942, ERR collection, op. 1, d. 118, pp. 146–47, TsDAVO.
11. The translations, bibliography, and essay are found in the YIVO archives, Karaites, RG 40; and in op. 1, files 18, 22, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius.
12. ERR collection, op. 1, d. 233, p. 122; d. 118, pp. 118, 146–47, TsDAVO; Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 82 (October 11, 1942); quote from Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 90 (November 15, 1942). On Szapszal, see Mikhail Kizilov, Sons of Scripture: The Karaites in Poland and Lithuania in the Twentieth Century (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015), 216–83 and passim.
13. On the visits, see Kalmanovitch Yoman be-geto vilna, 105 (April 30, 1943); and Akiva Gershater, “Af yener zayt geto,” in Bleter vegn vilne: zamlbukh, 41–45 (Lodz, Poland: Farband fun vilner yidn in poyln, 1947), 44–45. On Szapszal’s honorarium and plans to disseminate his study, see ERR collection, op. 1, d. 170, pp. 204–5, d. 118, pp. 146–47, TsDAVO; slave labor salary, ERR collection, op. 1, d. 147, p. 383, TsDAVO. On Kalmanovitch’s extra loaf of bread, see Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 87.
14. Sutzkever, “Tsu der geshikhte,” 11; Gershater, “Af yener zayt geto,” 44–45; and similarly Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 332.
15. Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 332. This account is confirmed by the ERR collection, op. 1, d. 128, pp. 309, 329, TsDAVO.
16. ERR collection, op. 1, d. 233, pp. 220–21, d. 118, pp. 341–42, TsDAVO; Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 76 (August 9, 1942), 78 (August 21, 1942).
17. The studies are found in files 9, 15–17, 26, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, and files 233, 494, 504, 505, records of Vilnius Ghetto, F. R-1421, both in the Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius. See my article, “Slave Labor Jewish Scholarship in the Vilna Ghetto,” in There Is a Jewish Way of Saying Things: Studies in Jewish Literature in Honor of David G. Roskies (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, forthcoming).
18. “Die Juden im historischen Littauen,” file 16, p. 10, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius.
19. Ibid., p. 12.
20. “Friedhofe und Grabsteine der Juden in Wilna,” file 9, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius.
21. ERR collection, d. 118, p. 315, TsDAVO.
22. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 93 (December 7, 1942), and 103 (April 25, 1943); ERR collection, d. 118, p. 379, TsDAVO.
23. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, 469 (March 8, 1943); Kruk’s final report for the ERR, covering the period February 18, 1942–July 10, 1943, op. 1, d. 5, pp. 37–39, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, F. R-633, Lithuanian Central State Archive, Vilnius.
Chapter 13. From the Ghetto to the Forest
1. Kaczerginski, Lider fun di getos, 341–41.
2. An excerpt of this document is presented in David E. Fishman, Embers Plucked from the Fire: The Rescue of Jewish Cultural Treasures in Vilna, 2nd expanded ed. (New York: YIVO, 2009), 19–20.
3. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 53–55.
4. Pupko-Krinsky, “Mayn arbet,” 221–22; Abraham Sutzkever, “A tfile tsum nes,” in Lider fun yam ha-moves, 38. The translation is my own.
5. Mark Dworzecki, “Der novi fun geto (Zelig Hirsh Kalmanovitsh),” Yidisher kemfer (New York), September 24, 1948, 4–5.
6. Bernstein, Ha-derekh ha-ahronah, 245; Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 119 (August 2–3, 1943).
7. Kruk, Togbukh fun vilner geto, xxxviii–xxxix; Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 269; Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 211.
8. Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 126.
9. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 87–87.
10. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 90, 95; Korczak, Lehavot ba-efer, 180–90.
11. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 99.
12. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 113, 119–21.
13. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 127–51.
14. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 152–59.
15. Moshe Grossman, “Shemaryahu Kaczerginski,” Davar (Tel Aviv), May 14, 1954, 4; Chaim Grade, “Eykh noflu giboyrim,” in Shmerke kaczerginski ondenk-bukh, 44–45.
16. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 172; Sutzkever, “Tsu der efenung fun der oysshtelung lekoved mayn vern a ben-shivim,” in Baym leyenen penimer, 213–14.
17. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 194–96; Moshe Kalcheim, ed., Mitn shtoltsn gang, 1939–1945: kapitlen geshikhte fun partizaner kamf in di narotsher velder (Tel Aviv: Farband fun partizan, untergrunt-kemfers un geto-ufshtendlers in yisroel, 1992), 149, 283.
18. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 212–17.
19. Kaczerginski, Partizaner geyen.
20. Shmerke Kaczerginski, “Yid, du partizaner,” in Shmerke kaczerginski ondenk-bukh, 253.
Chapter 14. Death in Estonia
1. On Kalmanovitch’s decision, see Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 118–19; Kaczerginski, “Der haknkrayts,” 641; on Kruk’s decision, see letters by Liola Klitschko, 1946, and Rachel Mendelsund-Kovarski to Pinkhas Schwartz, 1959, in file 770, Sutzkever-Kaczerginski Collection, RG 223, YIVO archives.
2. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 109; Mark Dworzecki, Vayse nekht un shvartse teg: yidn-lagern in estonye (Tel Aviv: I. L. Peretz, 1970), 305.
3. See Dov Levin, “Tsvishn hamer un serp: tsu der geshikhte fun yidishn visnshaftlekhn institute in vilne unter der sovetisher memshole,” YIVO bleter 46 (1980): 78–97.
4. Abraham Sutzkever, “Vi Z. Kalmanovitch iz umgekumen,” Yidishe kultur (New York), no. 10 (October 1945): 52.
5. Yudl Mark, “Zelig Kalmanovitch,” Di Goldene keyt (Tel Aviv), 93 (1977): 143. Similarly, see Dworzecki, Vayse nekht. For a detailed account by inmate Aryeh Sheftel, see Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 55–57.
6. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 109–10; Kalmanovitch, Yoman be-geto vilna, 58.
7. Based on Maria Rolnikaite, “Ya dolzhna raskazat,” in I vse eto pravda, 123–35 (St. Petersburg: Zoltoi Vek, 2002); Grigorii Shur, Evrei v Vil’no: Khronika, 1941–1944 gg. (St. Petersburg: Obrazovanie-Kul’tura, 2000), 181–87; Dworzecki, Yerushalayim de-lite, 481–84.
8. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 291.
9. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 75.
10. Kruk, Last Days, 674–55; Dworzecki, Vayse nekht, 133–34, 141.
11. Dworzecki, Vayse nekht, 224, 308, 324.
12. Borukh Merin, Fun rakev biz klooga (New York: CYCO, 1969), 136, 142.
13. Kruk, Last Days, 685–86.
14. Kruk, Last Days, 693–94.
15. See Dworzecki, Vayse nekht, 138, 161–63, 189, 287, 302, 305, 377–79; Kruk, Last Days, 704.
16. Kruk, Last Days, v.
Chapter 15. Miracle from Moscow
1. “Undzer batsiung tsum ratnfarnand: aroyszogunugen fun yidishe shrayber,” Dos naye lebn (Lodz, Poland), November 6, 1946, 3; Sutzkever, Baym leyenen penimer, 66.
2. See Sutzkever’s biographical portrait of Paleckis in file 1008.2, Sutzkever Collection.
3. See Sutzkever, Baym leyenen penimer, 131; Boris Grin, “Mit sutzkevern in otriad ‘nekome,’ ” Oystralishe yidishe nayes (Melbourne), October 13, 1961, 7.
4. Sutzkever, Baym leyenen penimer, 67.
5. Abraham Sutzkever, “Rede fun sutzkever,” Eynikayt (Moscow), April 6, 1944; Dos yidishe folk in kamf kegn fashizm (Moscow: Ogiz, 1945); Sutzkever, Baym leyenen penimer, 139–40.
6. Ilya Ehrenburg, “Torzhestvo cheloveka,” Pravda (Moscow), April 27, 1944, 4.
7. Leon Leneman, “Ven boris pasternak shenkt avek zayn lid avrom sutskevern,” Di tsionistishe shtime (Paris), January 31, 1958.
8. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 282.
9. Ibid., 291–303.
10. Ibid., 312.
11. Ibid., 346, 372, 380–83, quote from 383.
Chapter 16. From under the Ground
1. According to Kaczerginski, in “Vos di daytshn,” the Germans detonated the building before retreating from Vilna.
2. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 386–87.
3. Ilya Ehrenburg, Liudi, godi, zhizn: Vospominanie v triekh tomakh (Moscow: Sovetskii pisatel, 1990), 2:339–40; Aba Kovner, “Reshita shel ha-beriha ke-tenuat hamonim,” Yalkut Moreshet 37 (June 1984): 7–31.
4. Shmerke Kaczerginski, Tsvishn hamer un serp: tsu der geshikhte fun der likvidatsye fun der yidisher kultur in sovetn-rusland, 2nd expanded ed. (Buenos Aires: Der Emes, 1950), 15–41.
5. Abraham Sutzkever, “Ilya Ehrenbnurg,” in Baym leyenen penimer, 142–43; notes by Sutzkever (undated), file 219, documents on Vilna Ghetto.
6. Kaczerginski, “Vos di daytshn,” 7.
7. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 179, 183, 205.
8. Ibid., 197, 239, 240.
9. Ibid., 218, 244.
10. Kaczerginski, Ikh bin geven, 184.
11. Kaczerginski, Khurbn vilne, 307.
12. Sutzkever, Vilner geto, 229.
13. Kaczerginski, Tsvishn hamer un serp, 41 (diary entry dated July 20, 1944).
14. Kaczerginski files, no. 11, Sutzkever Collection.
15. File 47, Shmerke Kaczerginski Collection, RG P-18, Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Israel.
