Dorothy Kraus Memoir - Zionism in Wysokie

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Dorothy Kraus Memoir

Zionism in Wysokie
Sabra told me about the Zionist Club of which she was a member. She urged me to join it. Her father was an ardent Zionist. He hoped to be able to go to Israel after the war. She explained that that was why her father had given her the name of Sabra, which meant first-born in Hebrew. “For the same reason,” she added, “my little brother was named Solomon.” All of this mystified me. “You are going to Israel and we will be going to America,” I told her. “We may never see each other again.” And both of us became very sad.

She told me about the two older fellows who were the leaders of the club. They were educated and had read a great deal about Zionism and about Dr. Theodore Herzel. “We've also learned that Israel which once belong to the Jews was taken away from them. It was then that the Jews were forced to flee.” I was still very skeptical. “Will it be a religious country?” I asked. “No,” she replied, “it will be like any other country, like Russia, except that the government will be run by the Jews. Everyone will be Jewish.” Then she added, “But we also have fun at the club. We have learned many Israeli songs and also some cute dances. You'll love it, I know, so please do join. We'll be together all the time.”

The Zionist Club. Seated at the carpet at the center, are my friends Sabra and myself holding a Zionist newspaper. Seated on a bench behind us are our instructors. We all wear a blue bow over our heart, a Zionist token.

I discussed whether I should joint he club with mother and she advised me to do so . “You should be with your friends,” she urged. “But I am not a Zionist,” I protested, “you never told me anything about Zionism.” Mother insisted: “since there is no school it would not hurt for you to hear what they have to say about other subjects. Besides, it's only a club. If you don't like it, you can always leave it.” And so I joined the Zionist Club and soon became a fervent member.

The many reasons and arguments that the two leaders of the club presented about Zionism sounded logical and convincing to me. They told us about the Kishinev pogrom which took place in April 1903 in the Ukraine. Five months later, in August 1903, other pogroms took place in Gomel. Mother said she could remember hearing about the Kishinev pogrom whereas Grandmother was at that time already thinking of escaping to America! Her worry was how to gather together enough money for all their boat tickets.

One controversial subject that took up a great of the time at the club was what language would we speak in Israel? We knew that the orthodox Jews wanted it to be Hebrew. But we were against it. We wanted the language to be Yiddish. After all, Jews would be coming from many countries and all of them spoke Yiddish. Therefore it should be Yiddish! The two club leaders assured us that this problem would be worked out in Israel. Our task was to get other Jews interested in joining the Zionist movement.

The leaders of the club made it known to the German Commandant that a club for young people had been organized for the purpose of discussing educational and cultural subjects. evidently he didn't think much of it as we were left alone.

Editor's Notes: Solomon: The connection of this name to the Zionist cause is not clear. Kishinev Pogrom: more here. Gomel Pogrom: more in this article about Gomel.

This material is from Original Page 48a Original Page 49, Original Page 50, and Original Page 51 .

Page Last Updated: 16-Nov-2012