Overview This is a memoir of the Kessler family, friends, and community of Wysokie Litewskie, during the inter-war period. (The only dates indicated on photos are 1925 and 1929.)
Yaakov (Yankl) Kessler survived, as he was serving in the army, and moved to Israel. Yankl Kessler's family numbered 7 people.
Avraham Hirsh Kessler --visible in this group photo-- was Yankl's father.
Avraham's wife was Zavtl. Their children: Leizer, Esther, Velvil, Shimon and Yankl.
Velvil is pictured here, with a friend, and Shimon can be seen in this group photo. Yankl's cousins, Avreml, Tzipe, and Dvoshke Farber are pictured here.
Leizer and Esther immigrated to the States in 1921. No contacts were maintained between them and the surviving family in Israel. They died a long time ago.
Yankl survived because he served in the army. He returned to Poland after his service in the Red Army.
The rest were exterminated.
Discovering his family and girlfriend perished, Yankl joined a community of Jews in Krakow, which they named Kibbutz. There he met Adela,who had escaped to Russia with her grandparents during the war. Adela returned to Poland after the war and joined the Kibbutz as well. Yankl and Adela were married there, gave birth to Ziva, and in 1950 they made Aliya to Israel. Credits
Thanks to Ziva Kessler and her mother, Adela, Yankl's widow, for stories and photos.
On-the-ground research in Israel, translations, commentary, and enthusiasm by Hannah Kadmon.
