In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

1 Part One The Only Jews in Poland Srulik Is Born in Tarnow My father, Mordechai David Unger, came from a small village near Tarnow, Poland, called Ryglice in what was known as Galicia—a region that encompassed southeastern Poland and western Ukraine. He was born in 1902. He had eight brothers and sisters, but I do not know their names and we do not know exactly what happened to them other than that they were murdered by the Nazis. Unfortunately I did not ask my father about this when he was still alive. I am still trying to find out their names after all these years. My mother was Hinda Fisch. She was born in 1904 in Bobrowniki Wielkie, a village near Tarnow. Her family was from Dąbrowa Tarnowska, also near Tarnow. Her father was Chaim Fisch and he was apparently a wood merchant. He worked for a nobleman—a Graf or Earl. According to my wife, Marlene, who got this from my mother, there were logging drives down a river and the family was involved in this business. His wife was Raizel, my maternal grandmother. She was born Raizel Grossbart—I have that information from my parents’ wedding certificate. My paternal grandfather was Josef Pinkus Unger and my paternal grandmother was Hana Leia Lesser before she became an Unger. My parents totally lost contact with them once the Germans occupied Poland because all communication and movement between Jewish communities was forbidden. They were murdered in the Holocaust. Unger was a fairly common Jewish name in Poland. There were quite a few Ungers in Ryglice. My father decided to go to Tarnow, about twenty kilometres to the north. As a young man he somehow started a business and became the sole owner of a bakery. He was an up-and-coming businessman and he wanted to get married, so he went to a schadkhin, a matchmaker, and the schadkhin found him my mother. My father came from a poor family 2 the only jews in poland that was rabbinical. My mother was from a family of means and she was well educated for the time. One of the things that she learned was German; her sister learned accounting. It was seen as a good match for both of them. There were some people who didn’t want him to marry my mother and they told my father that my mother was a sickly woman and he shouldn’t marry her. “That’s the woman I am going to marry!” my father said. And he did. They went for a walk a couple of times. I guess my mother thought this was the way it should be done. She was going to marry this man who the schadkhin had found and that was fine. It pleases me to note that I never met a couple more loyal and devoted to one another. One of the first things that my mother did after she was engaged was to begin working on her trousseau. She made a matzo bag so they would have it for the first Passover of their married life. She embroidered the matzo bag and put a little lace frill around it. My mother had been taught like young ladies were taught then, how to do fancy work. That matzo bag was one of my parents’ only possessions that survived the war. When we were forced out of our house, whoever got our house packed a few of our belongings in a box. My mother found it after we came out of hiding. My parents were married in Tarnow—in which synagogue I don’t know, but definitely orthodox . There were many synagogues in Tarnow at the time and stiebels too— little prayer houses. Before the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed there was Temple Judaism. When people came to the Temple there were priests and sacrifices were made. When the Temple was destroyed in the year 70, what were you going to do with Judaism? It then became Rabbinic Judaism, which is what we have today. In eastern Europe at the time, rabbis were not what they are in North America today. The rabbis would basically paskin shayles, that is, answer questions about kashrut—the dietary laws or minor disputes and so on. The rabbi did not lead the prayer services. Any ten male adults constituted a quorum and could pray. Any one of them could lead the service. You didn’t necessarily need a...

Share