#mp2:
Yaakov Shafran and his friend Vitka.
#mp3:
Mordechai Pozner and Yaakov Shafran
#mp4:
Catalog Number2302
Inventory DescriptionThe memoirs of Chana Szafran, nee Pozner.
Extended DescriptionThe memoirs of Chana Szafran, nee Pozner, who was born in Vilna in 1927. She tells of her life in her parents' home and of what happened to her during the Holocaust. After the outbreak of war her family settled in the town of Molodechno. On Oct. 25, 1942 the Germans rounded up the Jews of the town, loaded them into trucks and shot them about 15 kilometers from the town. Hana and her sister Luba were visiting their father Mordechai, who worked outside the town and thus were saved. Their mother, Bella, perished. In the evening they were arrested by the local police and were released thanks to the local priest who knew Mordechai Pozner. From there they reached the Vileyka ghetto where they remained until April, 1943.
When the rumors about the liquidation of the ghetto grew rampant, the family found sanctuary in the home of a Christian woman. On their way to her home Luba was caught and murdered. Hana and her father continued on to the forest and were absorbed into the partisan unit commanded by Markov. Hana fought against the Germans, participated in acts of sabotage against them and also worked as a nurse. After the war she married the partisan, Yakov Szafran and they immigrated to Israel in 1950.
Other members of Chana's family who lived in Warsaw were sent to Treblinka extermination camp and perished. Zvi Pozner was sent to Auschwitz extermination camp but he survived. Chana works in the archives of the Ghetto Fighters' House and teaches the legacy of the Holocaust and the resistance to young people.
In the file there is also a document from the head command of the partisans in Bielorus dated Aug. 12, 1944, confirming that Anna Pozner served in the Gorky partisan unit from Sept. 1, 1943 - Aug. 10, 1944 as a private and an additional document dated June 20, 1945 confirming that Jakov Semionovitz Szafran served in the Lazo parisan unit in the Voroshilov Brigade from May 20, 1943 - June 1, 1944.
#mp5:
Rabbi Mordechai Zundel Rubinstein on the left and his son in law;
Rabbi Yehudah David Goldman on the right
In 1913 Rabbi Yehudah David Goldman married Sarah Ester, the daughter
of rabbi Mordechai Zundel Rubinstein, the author of Ish Yehudi [Jewish
Man], My Travels in Russia, etc. Rabbi Rubinstein, who lived his
entire life in Molodetschna (near Vilna), was the son of Rabbi
Alexander Ziskind Rubinstein, known as "R. Zissel R. Tzemach's" from
Khomsk (near Drohitchin).
After his wedding, R. Yehudah David studied in the Volozhin Yeshiva,
where he was ordained in 1914 by the eminent scholar, Rabbi Rafael
Volozhiner. Rabbi Goldman remained in Brisk, and when World War I
broke out, he moved to Drohitchin; in 1921 he and his family moved to
Chicago.
In Chicago Rabbi Goldman served as rabbi in the following synagogues:
Bais Avraham (3017 South Wabash Ave.), (at the same time led the
Pesach Neierman