The Kreh Brothers:
Succoth in the Polish Ghettos

On September 8 and 9, 1939, the Nazi army invaded Poland, and within the month they occupied the country. This began Hitler’s attempted destruction of the Jewish people and the ultimate destruction of a unique way of life that existed in Eastern Europe. Within that first month of occupation, the Jews of Poland celebrated the first High Holy Days. They met on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with uncertainty and a maze of Nazi decrees.

Rabbi Shimon Huberband, who perished in Treblinka in August 1942, described this first Rosh Hashanah:

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah (Wednesday), a notice was issued that Jews were required to keep their shops and businesses open on the Shabbat and all Jewish holidays…On Rosh Hashanah 5700, close to 20 Jews gather in synagogue. The rabbi didn’t attend, the cantor didn’t lead the prayers, and the length of the service was shortened… Germans were proceeding from house to house… they took… all their possessions and dealt murderous blows. (p. 66)

This first celebration of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur under the Nazis was not just difficult, it was deadly, and being Jewish under the Nazis would continue to prove dangerous and being observant, near impossible. Emanuel Ringelbum comments in his Oneg Shabbat journal about the Yom Tovim 1940:”A Jew who prayed poorly on Rosh Hashanah, when asked why, he replied the prayer matches the year (sic)…” (p. 66).

Many of the synagogues and schools were burned or destroyed as the Nazis entered. Orders were issued in many communities to treat the Jewish Holy Days and the Sabbath as any other day and to report to work. But even more frightening to these Jews in newly occupied Poland was the uncertainty of what was to follow. They all were certain life would change shortly. But no one at this stage of the occupation was aware of how much their daily existence would be disrupted.

Rabbi Huberband described Succoth 1939: “on the first day of Succoth there wasn’t a single Succoth in the whole city… it was the first time in history of this ancient Jewish community that Jews didn’t receive a shehecheyanu blessing in the Succoth” (p. 52).

Life for the Jews got worse as the Nazis ghettoized the towns in Poland. The physical process of ghettoization primarily took place in the General Government, the state carved out in the middle of Poland. The Eastern area was given to the Russians and the Western area annexed by Germany itself. The ghetto was usually established in a small, poor area of the town. The ghetto was governed under the direction of the Judenrat (Jewish counceil), which operated the city services including the postal system. Mail could be sent to and received in the ghetto. To many this was the only communication with the outside world. The revenue derived from selling stamps at the ghetto post office went to the General Government; the Judenrat paid the postal workers by charging a surcharge to deliver the mail.

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No matter how life changes or becomes more difficult, there are certain constants, customs, and activities that we continue to do, to maintain a sense of normalcy. The Jews of Poland were no different, as the correspondence from the Polish ghettos to the Kreh brothers illustrates.

A glimpse into ghetto life and an attempt to keep things as normal as possible can be seen in a correspondence addressed to the Kreh brothers, Gustavo and Max. The brothers were wholesale distributors of mail-order dry goods, based in Genoa, Italy. The religious items they carried were etrogim and lulavim (citron and palm fronds) used for the Succoth holiday.

Even with the uncertainties of ghetto life, plans were made to prepare for the Succoth, which, as mentioned earlier, requires etrogim and lulavim, which the Jews of Poland could not get in the ghettos. In 1940, Succoth fell on October 16, and in preparation for the holiday, they reached out to the Kreh brothers.

Jacob Ziegler addressed the Kreh brothers from Tarnow on August 24, 1940: “I remembered you recently in that years ago you sent to me in Cieszanow… a few citrons. Now I live here, and I should like to order 1 or 2 pieces of myrtle and 2 palms.”

On Sept. 25, 1940, Samuel Lichtig wrote from Cracow and gave specific instructions: “Can you cut them from the bottom to 60 or 70 cm?”

Currency was in short supply and very hard to send out of Poland because of surcharges and importing taxes imposed by the Nazis. Many requests came to the Kreh brothers, such as the one from Samuel Lichtig of Cracow, September 25, 1940: “Write to me and say you are sending the package as a gift. Should I get permission I will send you money immediately.” The Kreh brothers unselfishly sent the items in anticipation of payment.

On October 27, 1940, the previously mentioned Jacob Ziegler took a moment to express his thanks and also made a request: “I confirm with thanks by this card the receipt of the citrons on the 8th (Succoth was the 16th) and thus timely. Unfortunately, the palms and myrtles… did not arrive… I give you my heartfelt thanks for your goodness and for your trouble… My brother Osias is unfortunately in a camp near Lemberg… May I be so bold to ask you… to send some food (something that will not spoil) to them, as well as warm, used clothing? (These must be disinfected.) These would help keep them alive. We are in abnormal conditions here, please excuse that.”

On August 17, 1941, a year later, we learn that he hasn’t heard from his brother in long while: I have heard nothing from my brother…”

Emmanuel Ringelbum wrote in his notebook about Rosh Hoshanah 1941: “This Rosh Hashanah, people were seized for forced labor. Jewish informers took soldiers along with them to minyans, and there–in the prayer rooms–people were able to buy their way out of forced labor service” (p. 224).

Succoth 1941 approached after another year of uncertainties, and there are more cards requesting etrogim and lulavim. Mrs. Lehrer wrote from Warsaw on September 26, 1941: “I respectfully request if it is possible for you to have 2 citrons sent express to my current address.”

There is an interesting correspondence from Dr. Aron Blum (Fig. 1) from Warsaw. The first card, sent August 15, 1941, asks, “Permit me to ask the following of you. Perhaps it will be possible for you to send a number of citrons and palms. I don’t know if I will be able to immediately pay the bill, as I must have the permission of the exchange office… I will turn to Mr. Sneerson in this matter…”

A follow up letter a month later requests “I am writing you to request that you send a larger number of citrons, palms, and myrtles. If possible 20 complete sets.”

 

A second interesting correspondence comes from Cracow. N. Steinhauer (Figs. 5 and 6) writes on August 31, 1941, “My teacher Jacob Lehrer has always received a few etrogim and lulavim just before Succoth… As a student, I turn to you with a heartfelt request for 5 etrogim and lulavim, including aravos [willow branches] and hadassim [myrtle branches]…”

On October 20, 1941, Steinhauer writes “…the etrogim and lulavim arrived just last week, unfortunately after the holidays… Now I should like to turn to you with a business proposition that will hopefully be profitable for you. I am interested in blackboard erasers for a local large wholesaler… Cost can be sent via foreign bank draft…”

Roman Lichtig also sent a letter (Fig. 7) to Gustavo and Max Kreh, requesting the religious objects. Lichtig was from Cracow, and later perished in Bergen-Belsen.

Shortly after the holidays of 5702 in December 1941, the Wannsee Conference began, and on January 20, 1942 the Final Solution was initiated. Throughout 1942 the death camps came on line. Both Auschwitz and Madjanek had served as concentration camps and were now serving a dual purpose. The Nazis began consolidating and liquidating the ghettos throughout 1942. Tarnow, where Jacob Ziegler was living, had its first major deportation June 11-13th, 1942, when 12,000 Jews were sent to Belzec. This was followed by the second major deportation shortly before Rosh Hashanah, on September 10, 1942, when 8,000 Jews were sent to the death camps.

Deportations from Cracow began June 1942. Within the week the Nazis entered the ghetto and began indiscriminately killing Jews. This was followed by sending 5,000 people to Belzec. On August 13, 1942, Moses Lowry requested from Cracow, “I have found out through Rabbi Frankel that you sent us etrogim and lulavim for the Succoth festival…”

The Succoth celebration began Oct. 26, 1942, and the next roundup by the Nazis started during this holiday, sending 6,000 Jews to Belzec. Cracow was Judenfrei with the final deportations in March 1943.

Deportations in Warsaw began July 1942 with over 300,000 Jews being sent to the Treblinka death camp. The ghetto’s final destruction began with the uprising April 19, 1943, Erev Passover. The ghetto’s final destruction was four weeks later.

In conclusion, even under the worst of circumstances, the Jews of Poland made an effort to fulfill certain religious obligations (mitzvoth). Commendable was the action on the part of the Kreh brothers, who, knowing that payment might never be forthcoming, sent the etrogim and lulavim anyway. These messages sent through the mail also show us the destruction of a people and a way of life. For a brief moment there is a glimpse of the struggle to survive during the Shoah.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Tzvi Weiss, Aviva Gordon, Bea Gordon, and Alan Goodkind for their help.

Bibliography

Arad, Yitzhak, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, The Operation Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1987.

Bauer, Yehuda, A History of the Holocaust, Franklin Watts, NY, 1982.

Huberband, Rabbi Shimon, Kiddush Hashem: Jewish Religious and Cultural Life in Poland During the Holocaust, Yeshiva University Press, NY, 1987.

Kreh, G., personal correspondence.

Leni, Yahil, The Holocaust, Oxford University Press, NY, and Oxford, 1990.

Ringelbaum, Emmanuel, Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto: Journal of Emmanuel Ringelbaum, Shockem Books, NY, 1974.

Trunk, Isaiah, Judenrat, Stein and Day, NY, 1977.