Memories from interwar period
Jewish community before 1989 – Accounts, memories
Polska / małopolskie
Memories of the pre-war Wadowice have been compiled in Sefer zikaron le-kehilot Wadowice, Andrychów, Kalwaria, Myślenice, Sucha (Memorial Book of the Wadowice and Andrychów communities, Jewish register districts and Jewish religious communities in Galicia Kalwaria, Myślenice and Sucha) edited by Dawid Jakubowicz and published in 1968, Tel Aviv. A manuscript of the Polish translation is stored in the Historical Museum in Wadowice.
It contains the history of the community, inhabitants’ experiences during the Shoah and memories of the most prominent Jewish citizens. The following is a fragment of the memoirs of Szoszana Feuerstein – Nechusztai, who left her hometown taking the risk of migrating to Palestine:
When the news about Balfur’s declaration reached Wadowice, our hearts were full of happiness and many of us started preparations for Aliyah[1.1] at the time when the country’s gates were to be opened. Among the first Aliyah swallows from our town were my friend Malka Weiner, now Ram, living in “Dagania” and I.
Our resolve moved the entire public opinion and many of our friends could not believe we were actually realizing the plan. We faced a number of problems concerning our journey, for instance we did not have sufficient financial resources. Mr. Nesselroth and his wife came to our aid.
Eventually there came a moment we had been dreaming of. On an August day in 1920, when we went to the railway station to set out on the journey, a number of the town’s inhabitants came to say goodbye to us and to give us their blessing. They promised they would follow our traces. In fact, after a few years, an organized group of settlers from Wadowice appeared in the country and they constituted part of the Wadowice population. Most of them accustomed to a new environment and stayed in Poland.
The last moments before the departure were a difficult experience for us. I could hear my mother’s quiet crying long afterwards. My heart is aching at the very thought that most of the people that came to the railway station to say their goodbyes did not live to see Aliyah.
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[1.1] Aliyah – immigration to Israel
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