Historical Background and Interviews
I. Ludvipol: A Modem Shtetl Ludvipol: A Modern Shtetl
Vashem, “The instructors used to read to us from books and pam- phlets they received from Palestine. It was before the Russian oc- cupation. I remember singing, dancing, hiking, a lot of hiking.” Nor was Ludvipol alone in its embrace of Zionism. Throughout Poland, there was intense interest in the movement. In the early 1930s HaShomer HaTzair had thousands of members in sixty-eight groups and five hachshara (rigorous training) camps, preparing youngsters for aliyah. Dror HeChalutz had a membership of 4,310 in seventy groups and nine hachshara programs. 1 The youths who completed their training and immigrated to Palestine served as a personal example to those left behind. In the mid-1930s, the Polish authorities began to restrict Zionist youth movements across the country. Certain movements were au- thorized and allowed to operate, but others were outlawed. HaSho- mer HaTzair was declared a “leftist social movement hosting el- ements hostile to the Polish government.” After it was banned, many of Ludvipol’s youths met secretly on the banks of the Slusch River near Hovkov. There, they sang HaTikva (the Hope), which later became the national anthem of Israel, and swore allegiance to the movement and the flag of Eretz Yisrael. Their three- finger salute symbolized one nation, one language, and one land. After these children were discovered by the Polish police and their par- ents were threatened with arrest, many of them switched to HeCh- alutz HaTzair (The Young Pioneer), a youth movement that was authorized by the Polish government. Another movement, Gordonia, came to town not long after HaShomer HaTzair and became the second largest youth group. Gordonia was named after Aaron David Gordon, a Russian Zionist who immigrated to Eretz Yisrael, where he became a labor worker and inspired generations of Labor Zionists. Sometime during the 1930s, Gordonia established a kibbutz with several dozen mem- bers, mainly from local towns, near Ludvipol. The Gordonia kib- butzniks were easy to spot because they wore high yellow boots and leather coats, and because they chopped wood and did oth- er physical work that was outside traditional Jewish occupations;
267
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online