"PEACE AND CHARITY - The War against Fascism ended victoriously. The victory, however, was won at a terrible price. Almost thirty million people were killed, entire countries were devastated and hundreds of millions of human beings are starving now. The greatest loss of all is felt by the Jewish people, one third of whom was slaughtered by a savage nation the like of which never existed before in the memory of mankind.
To the shame of the so-called civilized humanity the surviving and destitute Jews are still in their camps built for their extermination in the country of their executioners. Their future is not causing any concern to anyone but their fellow Jews, while statesmen and other public figures are showing almost frantic concern about the future of Germany.
The surviving European Jews are not beggars. They are proud men and women. They are moral and spiritual victors over the so-called "Aryan Supermen" who are now begging for charity from allied soldiers.
The secret of the Jewish survival during three thousand years lies in deep appreciation of the preciousness of human life and therefore of constant readiness to give, to help and to save.
The Sudilkov-Shepetowka Relief Society exists for this purpose. During the year 1947 we will give more than ever to help and save Jews and other people who fight for the right to live and be free."
"The Sudilkov-Shepetowka Relief Society is affiliated with the Folks Division of the American Jewish Congress, to which it contributes regularly. The Congress is a non-partisan political organization which fights against political, economic and cultural discrimination against Jews and other minorities and for a democratic America. As a division of the World Jewish Congress it participates in the struggle against Antisemitism and all forms of Fascism all over the world.
Our Society contributes to the American Red Cross and Infantile Paralysis Fund.
It contributes to the upbuilding of a Jewish Palestine by regular donations to the Jewish National Fund for land purchases, Jewish Labor Federation (HISTADRUTH) for industrialization of the settlements, Hadassah, for educational institutions, hospitals, and children's homes, Pioneer Women's organization for bring and educating European refugee children to Palestine and Mizrachi for religious and educational institutions.
To help the war victims overseas we contribute to the Jewish Welfare Fund to take care of destitute and stranded people in the German camps, in battle-torn lands and wherever they have found an insecure refuge. We give to the American Federation of Polish Jews who are assisting the survivors of the crematoriums. We help the Ambidjan Society whose purpose is to settle the many Jewish war orphans of Ukraine and White Russia in the Jewish Autonomous Territory.
Here in America we donate to the Hias (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and to the Sanatoriums for Consumptives in Fox River, Winfield, Denver, and Los Angeles, Jewish charities, Hebrew Theological Seminary and others."
"This is not an appeal for money. Jewish boys, mostly 16 years of age or over, survivors of massacres and concentration camps, look for homes in Chicago and in other American cities. Their expenses, room and board, education and medical bills are paid by the Jewish Welfare Board through the Children's Bureau. They are carefully selected for their health and character before being recommended for placement in private homes. Those of you who are able, or know people who are able to do so and take into your home a fine Jewish young man, orphan and survivor of Hitlerism, and without any expense to yourselves, please communicate with the Children's Bureau or with our Society."
Sudilkov, which was under the rulership of the Czar before the first World War, was a city with about 300-400 Jewish families. It did not have any commercial trains or any way of getting out through rail systems. About three miles away was the City of Shepetovka. The whole city of Sudilkov was very hard workers - blue collar workers - and they were very honest workers. They worked from sunrise to night. Some worked in factories about six or seven months per year. In the wintertime, they has to try to find another extra job to be able to supply the family in order to sustain their lives.
The youth started learning how to work from the time they were eight years old. They used to train for a job for about 40 kerblach for two years. After they trained, they were able to earn about 4 kerblach a week. They used to work until late at night, but they always had a happy mood and used to sing revolutionary songs along with their work.
Girls also used to work from the time they were eight years old and earned one kerble per week to buy shoes or a holiday dress and to give her parents some money. Young people used to go to Shepetovka to take a walk near the church in the evening. On Saturday afternoon, they all used to take a long walk in the woods and that was the time that you really saw the beauty of Sudilkov.
Our citizens were very nice and kind people. They took care not to insult poor and live by God's laws. If seombody was sick, the people used to go sit by their bed after a hard day's work and take care. The used to say "Tehillim." Who does not remember all the parties that our communities and our societies used to make in Sudilkov (not warmed up because they were held in the Shul that was cold)?
For example, the party of the Chevra Kadisha (the one that deals with burial rites) and the welfare and relief society. Each party had its beauty with songs and the like.
We used to sing songs while dining and invite strangers to take part in the meal. Such were our good people.
Who did not hear Mordechai, the Litvak, or Keisi and Kirsner, at summertime when they took the cows into the fileds about 6:00 a.m.? They used to sing together with the birds in the trees the beautiful Tehillim (psalms) while passing the synagogue. "With God's help, our land will bring a lot of fruit." The singing gave us a beautiful sweet feeling.
Friendship between one another was a marvel, especially when it came to the holiday of Purim when the whole City of Sudilkov used to love to go to each other with beautiful presents.
"Thirty-five years of unselfish activity and one hundred thousand dollars given to humanitarian causes - this is what we, the members of Sudilkov-Shepetowka Relief Society, are proudly celebrating this year of 1954. Deep in our hearts there is a feeling of happiness created by doing so many good deeds to so many people, something no publicity could give us, no inscriptions on marble or bronze tablets could do for us.
This thirty-fifth year of our fruitful existence is being crowned by our participation in furnishing the Shepetowka Memorial Clinic in the Zadonia suburb of Rehoboth in Israel. This is a fitting Memorial to the thirty thousand martyrs of the Shepetowka ghetto who were shot, clubbed to death, or buried alive on the Klemetowich Road. It as also a challenge to the mass assassins from Titus to Hitler who tried to kill both the Jewish people and the Jewish spirit, and failed miserably. The land of Israel is victorious over Rome and Germany. The Jewish spirit of mercy is the guide of the new state, and in this spirit is given our contribution.
By participating in this project we help the sick and wounded and pay our reverent message to our holy martyrs."
My family's name was Ahshpiz; my grandfather was named Shimon and his brother named Mayer. They were tailors, and orthodox. My father came to this country in 1914, after the first World War broke out, in order to avoid the draft, and made it to San Francisco by way of Siberia, Japan, and China. He came across a Jewish congregation in Mukden, Manchuria, with a Chinese-looking rabbi who spoke Hebrew and wanted to have him arrested on the chance that he was a Russian spy rather than an impoverished refugee. My father, an ardent socialist, wanted to go back home after the Bolsheviks came into power. My grandfather wrote that things were so desperate at home that rather than have his son return he would himself commit suicide. Father stayed here, of course.
In the period immediately following World War II, my father received a letter from a boyhood friend, the only Jewish resident of Sudilkov who survived the Nazi occupation, a man named (Leyzer?) Finkelshtein who had been working in the Ural Mountains at the time of the Nazi invasion. (Like many of the surviving Jews in the Soviet Union he was desperate to obtain some cloth or a sewing machine or some other small basis to stay alive among the ruins). Finkelshtein wrote that he had returned to Sudilkov only to find that all the Jews had been herded together, lined up in an excavated trench, and shot to death.
Sudilkov was a small town. The inhabitants were not known by their family names. For example, chances are that someone named Rovener had come from Rovno generations back, and all future generations were known as Rovenor. But mostly everyone was known by their nicknames, mostly as their trade. For example, a clock repairer would be known as "Die Zeigermaebers", a baker would be known as "Becker," etc.
Sudilkov was a wonderful beautiful shtetl with a very large round "mark" (shopping center). All the kleiten (stores) were in a circle around the mark, the mark would have a yarid (fair day) every other Tuesday. Tradespeople, peasants from around the nearby towns would bring their wares to sell, exchange, etc.
Sudilkov had the most beautiful shul, was known as the "calte" (cold) shul. It was so huge that there was no way of keeping it warm for the winter. The sabbath before Pesach was the official opening. The trees were tall around the shul, this being spring with the birds in the trees, the windows of the shul opened for the first time. It seemed that the birds and the worshippers on that Shabbat were like one choir, unforgettable.
The mark had a line crossing right through the middle, it was called the "shosei," supposedly paved road leading to Shepetovka westward and side roads to other shtetlach, eastward to Ritvez, Chrolin, Palone.
Sudilkov also had a Bes Midrash. This is a type of shul where the people would sit all day and learn the Talmud, the Gemorrah, Mishneh, and all of the holy scriptures, aside from davening the three services every day. Sudilkov also had two "Kloizen." a "kloiz" is a sort of shul on a smaller scale. One was called the "Makarover Kloiz," but I do not remember the name of the other.
Once at school, when the teacher left the class for a moment, the pupils were mischievous and decided to have some fun on my account. They twirled a ring out of wire, and dared me to say the blessings (brochos) to a girl by placing the ring on her finger, and immediately after that chanting that according to the law, I'm married to this poor girl who cried her eyes out. I ran home, crept up to the attic to say "tillim" (psalms). The attic and the psalms were always my redeemer.
Our famous pastime among the youngsters was to catch a ride on a wagon or a sleigh in the winter. After "cheder" school was out, we gave chase to any vehicle, catch a ride until whipped off by the driver. So there was a horse and sleigh, and naturally I jumped on the sleigh, the driver hadn't chased me off, and I considered myself the champion of having the longest ride. But by feeling and poking at the load beneath me, I realized that it was a dead body. The poor Jew was bringing his wife for burial from his village, so in my fright I was back at my hiding place up in the attic saying "tillim" for hours to the Almightly to forgive me.
Sudilkov was mentioned in the Jewish Encyclopedia from the 19th century. In 1765, only 397 Jews lived in Sudilkov. The shtetl was a part of Volynsk province, Kremenets region.In 1847, the poluation of Sudilkov was 1,207 people, and according to the 1897 census, the population rose to 5,551 people, among them 2,712 Jews. At that time, Sudilkov was part of Izyaslav region. The town is named Sudilkov because there was a court (sudilische).
Jews lived in the center of the shtetl while the peasants lived around. Jews occupied about 1450 square meters. The Jewish part of the shtetl consisted of the market square, nine streets and seven side streets, altogether 221 houses. The houses in the center were built close to each other. Several houses had vegetable gardens growing from the fertile black soil. There were lakes with fish and many gardens.
Approximately 50% of the Jews owned small handcraft businesses, 38% were merchants, and 12% were employed workers and professionals. Before 1917 there were six shoe shops, five sewing shops and two hat shops. Among professionals, there were three hairdressers, three glaziers, two tinworkers, two leather specialists, six painters/bricklayers, four blacksmiths, and five shoemakers. There were four casket-making places, six small textile factories, factory for making talisim (Belonged to Ira Margulis, my grandfather), bakery, grain mill (Vinokur), mill (Lyusternik), steam-house, four blacksmiths. Near Sudilkov, there was a granite quarry.
The main trade was concentrated on the market square where all shops and stores were located. Many Jews were selling meat products, rolls, fruit-drops, haberdashery, etc. from their homes. The competition was fierce.
Before 1917, not everyone could find work in handcrafts or the trade business, and therefore many Jews came to America to look for work and then brought their families to them. There was a considerable decrease in population because of the civil war, invasion of Petlura gangs, and pogroms. Many Jews were immigrating in the 1920s anywhere they could go.
In spite of the fact that shops, stores and markets were full of food at that time, the buying level of the population was very low. The salaries were also low. New clothes and shoes were purchased only when the old ones were absolutely impossible to wear. The new clothes were usually bought for Passover and worn on holidays for many years. Women got two new dresses for their wedding (one should be black) and all their life they were the dresses to wear for parties. Owners of small businesses and workers were always borrowing money, they were buying food and goods on a credit basis, especially for Saturdays and holidays. There were also money-lenders lending money with interest.
Some poor families were sponsired by rich families who fed them on certain days. For example, my grandmother Ethel Margulis (daughter of Ira Margulis and wife of Gibes) fed poor people every Saturday and her permanent visitor was an old man Sukher (Zukher). When my grandmother, who had three daughters, gave birth to her long-waited son Nyuma, she gave such a big party that the old man ate too much and dies the next day. A few people hung around begging for money. There was a philanthropical community in the shtetl which asked young people to gather donations. The youngsters did it with pleasure considering it as a "mitzvah." Shprintsa Margulis, sister of Etel Margulis, always participated in gathering donations. Once, one very rich woman refused to give a donation (which happened very seldom). The smart provincial girl punished her for her greediness: when she left, Shprintsa removed the faucet from the boiling samovar.
There were no schools teaching the Russian language. Only in two private homes (Moishe Gritsever and Sundelson) could you learn (for payment) how to read and write in Russian. But there was a cheder where they could study religious subjects in Yiddish and Hebrew. Ninety-five percent of the population did not have high and medium education. Some of the rich people went to colleges and gymnasiums in other cities.
Reb Itsya Melamed taught all Jewish children from ages four to seven, teaching them how to read and write. His big house consisted to three rooms. There ere 30-40 children in each room. It was a dirty, stuffy place where the windows were never opened. Children did not want to go to him and his helper had to drag them inon his shoulders. Reb Itsya was sitting on a stool at the long table with a stick with thin belts on the end in his hand and beat the children on the head, no matter whether they deserved it or not. Every child in the line came to him and read a few words. And for that they had to stay without air and motion for six-eight hours per day. Together they read the prayer "Moide Ani" and went home.
Since there were no libraries, they borrowed books from each other. There were five religious insitutions in Sudilkov, including a Choral Synagogue. Sometimes in the private house of Sima Leibys, they put on plays by Ukrainian and Jewish writers. The young people loved it. In the house of the tailor, Meilakh Kupershtokh, there were dance lessons for payment. On Saturdays and holidays, young people went for a walk to the woods, meadow, or railroad stations. In the evening, they sat outside all together reading books by Jewish and Russian sriters and singing songs.
After the civil war, a Jewish collective farm was organized. The Director of the Board was Isaac Rabinovich. In Shepetovka, they opened a movie theater "Illusion," public gymnasium, two-year college, where all the Jews were accepted. My mother, Tsilya Gibes, and her sister, Brushka Gibes, studied in this gymnasium.
During the fascist invasion (1941-45) virtually the entire Jewish population of the shtetl was destroyed. Only a few returned and now live in Shepetovka or other cities in Ukraine. Other survivors were young people who were in the army during the war and did not die. All citizens of Sudilkov were held by Germans in the Shepetovka ghetto, located in the region close to the synagogue. Only two girls ran away from Sudilkov: Fanya Pugach and Klara Korol. All the Jews of Sudilkov, Shepetovka, and other nearby villages were killed in the forest just outside Shepetovka in three actions: July 21 1941, June 20 1942, and September 10 1942. The houses where Jews lived are destroyed now, the cemetery is ruined, stones from the cemetery were stolen by cicizens for foundations. Only a few remaining monuments remind us about the past of the Jews of Sudilkov.
in Sudilkov, small town in Ukraine, once under the Tzar's regime, were about 300-400 Jewish families. It has almost constant communication with the nearest town Shepetowka in about 3 "werst" distance. Our village lived working hard. The citizens were good workers, who worked from the morning till the evening about 6-7 months in a year in order to provide their families. In winter they had to look for additional work for support. The young generation had still another aim. They had to study to know the religion. From 8 years old the children used to start learning a profession. They paid 40 kerblach (rubles) for two years learning. After finishing their learning, they used to get 4 kerblach per week. Who doesn't remember the workers staying late at their workshops, singing revolutionary songs. Girls used to work too. They started to work from 8 years old and earned 1 kerble per week to buy shoes or a holiday dress, and also give her parents some money. Young people used to go to Shepetowka to take a walk near the church in the evenings. In the afternoon after the Shabbat meal they used to go for a walk in the woods.
Our citizens were very nice and kind people. They took care not to insult the poor and live by God's laws. When somebody got ill, people used to sit by his bed after a hard work day and take care. We also had a burial society and a relief society.
We used to sing songs while dining and invite strangers to take part in the meal. Such were our good people. Who can forget the singing of Mordechai the Litvak or Keisi the Kirshner when they took the cows out to the fields. They used to sing together with the birds in the trees their beautiful "tehilim" (psalms) while passing the synagogue. "With help, our land will bring a lot of fruit." The singing gave us a beautiful, sweet feeling.
And today they are very friendly one to the other and exchange gifts with pleasure.
Compiled by Miriam Kirshner
Copyright © 2020 Miriam Kirshner