1977 — 1st edition, original cloth, 8vo. 518 + 96 pages. In Hebrew and Yiddish with an English section. Eight years have gone by since we first began preparations for this book on the Jewish community of Rozhan, until at long last it can be published now. It was a great effort made by a number of people devoted to the weighty and difficult task to erect a fitting memorial to our community. It is what other communities of Israel have done and no doubt it is the right thing to do for the people of the book. Rozhan was no different from other Jewish townships in Poland that are no more, but to us, who were born and grew up there, she has something unique. It is not only the landscape, the topographic situation on the high bank of the River Narew. It was also the Jews, who had been living at the place for generations, rebuilding it stubbornly and assiduously many times. In fact after each of the many wars that swept over the region, that lies on the road from Russia to Warsaw. Those were homely Jews of all social strata, orthodox and freethinkers, Zionists and anti-Zionists. Above all we have at heart the Jewish youth of Rozhan that took upon itself the task to redeem the world and the nation - and only few of them have reached the final haven of rest here in Israel, while others, of the few who did survive, have found shelter in the West and built their homes there. It is the intention of this book to keep our past alive and to preserve the shining memory of those who lived and were active there, to show that they were not anonymous and to describe their striving and struggling to maintain a definitely Jewish, religious, social and political existence. This book wants to tell future generations how the Jews of Rozhan created Jewish life in the midst of a hostile environment, how they built for themselves the framework of a society and filled it with deep-rooted national values, how they created their own institutions, that were able impose their authority - after democratically arrived at decisions with no governmental powers behind them. The book also wants to keep alive the old Jewish spirit maintained by our people everywhere, the rule Jews stand by each other that found its expression in individual help as well as in organized assistance such as various mutual funds. The book is also meant as a memorial to the tragedy of our people. Jews of Rozhan had to run for their lives during the very first days of the war, and one after the other they fell as victims on the bloodstained roads of Poland. Some survived after having passed through the hell of exile in the vastness of Russia and Siberia and back; only a few were lucky enough to reach Israel and to build new homes here. The book contains about 600 pages and it reflects a collective effort. It was not easy to obtain the material, as there are next to no writers among our people. So we had to apply to as many of our townsfolk as possible in order to make them talk or write - those who did write were a minority and most contributions were given orally and had to be taken down. We endeavoured to get in touch with as many as possible and to give a rounded out picture of the town, its history, people and folklore, but we feel that in spite of all our efforts we could not note everything worth remembering. All we can say is that we have done our best to present a many-sided picture of everything that was human and Jewish and good. (from English preface) SUBJECT(S) : Jews -- Poland -- Ro´z? An -- History. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) . Ethnic relations.
