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86 LUBOML
tical activity: organizing youth into groups and
having frequent conclaves and discussionsin
the summer in fields and forest groves and in
winter months in the party meeting-placeduring
which we explained to our members the
theory of the movement, its goals and aspirations
and ways to bring them about in our daily life
here as well as in future aliyah to Palestine.
While our activities increased, the involvement
of older youth broadened to include more
segments of the population. In addition to the
Poale Tsion party, the Tze'irei Zion party was
established, after that the Hit'achdut, and after
that the General Zionists and the Mizrachi.
One of the important activities around which
all party activities could gather was collecting for
the Keren HaKayemet Le'Yisroel, and after that
also for the Keren HaYesod. The outstanding
volunteers who took on these worthy causes
with great diligence and fervor were Beni
Rozenfeld (z"1) and his wife Rivtse (née Reiz),
may she have long life, who then emigrated to
America.
In time, cultural activity expanded, finding
expression in the new reading rooms and new
library (in addition to the one that had been
established by HaShomer HaTsair), the banquets
and lectures, the new choir and "mock trials" on
various topical issues. These activities were accomplished
by local talent as well as artists and
lecturers from the outside, generally invited by
the Union of Writers and Journalists in Warsaw.
Add to these, of course, the visiting lecturers
from the Keren HaKayemet and the Keren
HaYesod and from the various political parties.
Special mention ought to be made of the
Keren HaYesod emissary Moyshe Rozenberg
(nicknamed "Moysey"), who passed away a few
years ago in Haifa, and the representative of the
cultural center in Rovno, S. Rozenhak, who also
died in Haifa, in 1969.
Limiting Our Progress
The local authorities did not look favorably on
these activities and began in numerous ways to
halt our progress. For instance, they forbade
members of our movement, HaShomer HaTsair,
to engage in scouting, and especially to parade
through the streets of the city on Lag BaOmer, the
20th of Tammuz, and other days. We had to get
special permits, obtained with great difficulty
through the intervention of the prominent citizens
of the town.
The authorities also decreed that we must
have a permit for any meeting or assembly, even
for having books or maintaining a reading room,
not to mention for a performance. Getting a permit
depended on bringing certification from the
government censor (in Lublin) that the play contained
no propaganda or anything derogatory
against the authorities and government.
Many times we engaged in our activities in
secret; we often were taken to jail, from which we
were freed after a day or two through the intervention
of community leaders who assured the
authorities we did not belong to the Communist
party and that our only purpose was to organize
youth to emigrate to Palestine.
In this context I recall an incident that occurred
in our town when a memorial was convened
on the anniversary of the death of Dr. Max
Nordau, of blessed memory. The hall was packed,
and on a table two memorial candles flickered.
Just then the Police commandant came by and
began grilling us on the meaning of this meeting
being held without a permit.
One participant answered, in not very fluent
Polish: "Sir, Max Nordau has died"but using
the feminine form. The policeman, thinking we
were holding a memorial service for a woman
who had just passed away, was satisfied and
went on his way.
In fact, these persecutions never really let up.
Government representatives always found another
excuse to forbid our activities and put a stop
to them, and each time they brought up their
suspicions and fears that we were engaging in
underground activity directed against the authorities.
Persecutions and Pogroms
In spite of oppression and persecution by the
authorities, we continued our activities without
let-up until war broke out between Poland and
Soviet Russia in the summer of 1920.
The attitude of the authorities toward Jew-