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FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION
The original Yizkor Book of Luboml was a
very personal and cathartic undertaking that
started in 1967 and was published in Israel in
1975, in Hebrew and Yiddish. Later, members of
the Libovner-Voliner Benevolent Society in New
York, specifically Victor Gershengorn and Nathan
Eiger, decided to produce an English translation
of the Pinkas Libivne as the book was popularly
called by the landsleit (Libivne was the Yiddish
name for Luboml). Other society members wanted
the same, so that their offspring and the English
speaking world could read about and experience
the legacy. The book would provide invaluable
testimony on the culturally rich Jewish life in the
shted before the Shoah.
Current scholarship speaks of the yizkor book
as a new genre of writing. In the Luboml book,
vignettes of daily life, descriptions of community
institutions and testimony of the Holocaust are
presented in a humble, matter-of-fact style. They
are synopses of life and death imprinted on the
psyches of survivors, thoughtfully laid out almost
as a bearing of witness to truth under God's
eyes.
The English edition is a complete translation
of the original yizkor book. Additionally, we
have included two new pieces and an appendix
of recent articles about Luboml and the efforts to
create an exhibition about the shtetl. A few of the
illustrations have been replaced because the photographs
used in the original could not be located.
The list of martyrs which appeared in the
YizkorBook ofLuboml has also been expanded to
include additional names of those killed by the
Nazis in October 1942.
The nine-year project was beset by many
problems that could only have been resolved
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because this was a labor of love. It required
special skills and knowledge of Luboml, concerns
for accuracy in translation and authenticity,
faithfulness to the authors' characters and
integrity of language, while enhancing clarity
and readability.
There were seemingly endless roadblocks,
both emotional and financial, that had to be
overcome. Only the persistent demands and total
devotion of committee members and landsmen.,
such as Victor Gershengorn, who would call and
say, "Nathan, nu?" could have led to the completion
of this book. Benjamin Rosenzweig provided
invaluable assistance, remembering names of martyrs
and their children. Toby Axelrod, a journalist
whose roots are from Luboml, lent her editing
and organizational skills, as did Eleanor Sobel,
my wife.
Ultimately, Aaron Ziegelman, who had left
Luboml in 1938 at the age of 9, brought his special
vision and financial support to the project. Believing
only the highest quality was worthy for a
memorial of his birth town, and in rememberance
of all the martyrs, Aaron Ziegelman guided the
project through its last years of refinement, and
ultimately to its printing.
Many others contributed to the birth of the
English translation. Special thanks to all the
landsmen from Luboml: Abraham Getman for
continuous moral support, Victor and Rubin
Lichtmacher, Benjamin Rosenzweig, Bernard
Meller, Moshe Samet, z"1, Hershel Bergerbest,
Chanah Gitalis, Yosef Karpus, Yitzhak Sheyntop
(Sheyn), Max Fisher, Yankel and Matl Rayz,
Avraham Raz, z"1, Malka (Sobel) Gitelis, Rivke
Milshteyn, Khane Nemetz, Shmuel Goldberg,
Chaim and Nieshl Dorenboy, Menachem Erlich,