אוסף אפרים וציפורה שדלצקי

Ephraim Froim Siedlecki (Shedletzky), a journalist and literary editor, was born on January 6, 1922 in the Jewish town of Minsk Mazowiecki, near Warsaw, Poland. His grandfather, for whom he is named, was the assistant to the Admor from Nuvo-Minsk, the author of Jewish philosophical texts. Upon completion of his studies in the 'cheder' in 1935, he began studying in the Tarbut School (a Jewish-Zionist chain). He edited the school newspaper. As a student, he passed on information about the pogrom in Kelz to the local newspaper and to newspapers in Israel. In 1938, one year before the outbreak of WWII he served as a field reporter for the 'Heint' newspaper in Warsaw. In September 1939, the Germans occupied Minsk, Mzobeitsk. They immediately looted stores and homes and sent the Jews to forced labor camps. In October 1940 they rounded up all the Jews and put them into the ghetto that was surrounded by barbed wire. Later they moved them into a three storey building that served as the Kopernick School (on Shinitzke Street). Ephraim was in the work camp in the ghetto and upon its destruction on August 21, 1942, lost all of his family. He escaped the camp and hid in the home of a Polish farmer called Marie Gut (Tzoka in Polish). There, together with Tzipporah Finklestein (who later became his wife), her sister Esther and her boy-friend (his future brother-in-law), the author Aryeh Leib Rochman, they hid from the Germans. The story of their survival, behind a double wall and a pit dug in the haystacks, was published in the autobiography of Lev Reichman, "Bedamayech Chayee"-' And You Shall Live in My Blood' (translated from Yiddish by Hanoch Kaley and published by Yesodot Publishing company, in 1961). In September 1944, after the Russian army entered and freed Poland, Ephraim and Tzipporah left their place of hiding. They married and together with Esther and Leib Rochman, they walked towards the city of Kaloshin and from there to Minsk and Lublin. Ephraim was one of the organizers of the Jewish writers and authors who founded the "Yiddisha Praasa-Agantur" (YPA) in Poland. He also edited the material for the YPA Bulletin for the Yiddish broadcasts for the Lublin Radio that were intended for Jews worldwide. Three times a week, the names of the holocaust survivors were broadcast from Poland. In the first edition of the paper, published on April 10, 1945, the names of all the people, writers, journalists, artists and scientists who were murdered in the Holocaust, appeared in the newspaper. In January 1945 Ephraim and Tzipporah moved to Rink Street #14 in Lodz and afterwards to Netrovitzah #32. Ephraim began working for Azriel Carlibach at Yediot Ahronot newspaper as a reporter, in addition to his job in the Yiddish press 'Das New Laban'- 'The New Life'. On April 19, 1945 Ephraim wrote an article on the enormous impression that the publication of the Jewish newspaper had on the Jews who remained in Poland. As time went on, his Zionistic articles did not coincide with the Communist line of the Russian rule in Poland, and in June 1947 Ephraim and his wife escaped from Poland and went to live in Paris, France. The Joint provided a house in which they lived with other authors, journalists and writers who survived the Holocaust. The house was close to the Artist's Quarter – Montmartar. The author Isaac Bashevis Singer (who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature) and Chaim Grada (who also later immigrated to the US) also lived in this house. While in Paris, Ephraim worked at the 'Undzer Vort' (Our Word) newspaper. Ephraim and Tzipporah came to Israel on December 7, 1948 on the 'Negba' boat. They were placed in an immigrant camp (ma'aboret) near Netanya. Ephraim found work as a journalist for the Zionist Organization and the JNF. He also worked for the Hebrew radio Yiddish broadcasts in Israel and abroad- 'Kol Zion Lagolah'- the 'Voice of Israel to the Diaspora'. They settled in Jerusalem, in the German Colony, first on Hatsfirah Street and a few months later, on Hamgid Street #15. In the early years of their life in Israel, Ephraim and Tzipporah sent money and medicines to Marie Gut, the woman who saved their lives. She was not recognized as a "Chassid Umot Ha'olam" a 'Righteous Gentile', because in the beginning she received gold coins for hiding them. Ephraim was employed in 'Kol Yisrael' for 38 years. He edited Remembrance Books for the Jewish communities that were destroyed in the Holocaust, including his home town, Minsk, Mazowiecki. He was the editor of a number of newspapers; "Karnenu" of the JNF, "Folk Un Zion" of the Zionist Organization and the "Almanach" in Jerusalem for Yiddish authors. As an author he published many stories and memoirs from the 'Jewish town': character studies and personal stories from the world that was destroyed. In addition he wrote articles about Israel and the new Jewish State, on new settlements and forests that were planted. He traveled widely in the country reporting to his readers, from personal experience, what was going on. He also published under various pseudonyms: A. Ben Moshe, S. Ephraim, A. Zuk and others. He continued writing and doing research after his retirement. Ephraim and Tzipporah had three children: Moshe Chaim (1950), Shmuel Mordechai (1958) and Chava Brown (1960). Ephraim passed away on November 29, 1992 at the age of 71. Tzipporah Finkelstein Tzipporah was born in Minsk Mzobeitsk near Warsaw on 28 December 1924. Her parents were, Chava Hefner from the town of Stusk, a descendent of the prophet of Lublin and Mordechai from Latvitz. Shortly after the marriage of Mordecahi and Chava WWI broke out. Mordechai was drafted and Chava was left at home pregnant with her daughter, Chaya. Mordechai served outside his house for four years and was a prisoner of a Jewish Hungarian lord!!!. When he returned home they had more children: Esther (Rochman) Chaim, Tzipporah and the youngest, Shmulik. Mordechai was a Gur chassid. His business was buying and selling material. He prospered and became a wealthy man. He used to put aside sums of money for needy people. The family lived near the town Tea House in a courtyard at the end of the market. At some point the grandmother of the family, Rachel Leah Finklestein opened a restaurant for the local farmers. Mordechai died in 1938 from cancer. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Minsk Mazowiecki. His mother Chava and younger brother, Shmulik, were sent to the concentration camp 'Treblinka' on August 21st, 1942. Chaim too was sent on the train, but succeeded in jumping off, however he was shot by Polish farmers. The eldest daughter, Chaya, who married in the ghetto, was shot to death in her ninth month of pregnancy during the destruction of the Kopernick ghetto. Esther Rochman and Tzipporah Shedletzky survived the war in hiding. Tzipporah had a thirst for knowledge. She participated in many courses and activities in the areas of art, social sciences and Jewish philosophy. After she became widowed, she started drawing. She died in her home on November 2, 2014 at the age of 90. She was survived by 7 grandchildren: Chaya (Gazit), Rachel (Hart), Evyatar, Yifatach, Niv, Efrat and Tomer, and 4 great-grandchildren: Yael, Yuval, Inbal-Dror and Libi. May the memories of Ephraim and Tzipporah be blessed!! Written by: Chaya Shedlesky-Bar- in Jerusalem, November 2015. اقرأ أكثر