Heidim - Bulletin for Schoolchildren in the American Zone in Germany - Holocaust Survivors - The Last Issues ...

Heidim - Bulletin for Schoolchildren in the American Zone in Germany - Holocaust Survivors - The Last Issues Published on German Soil. 1951

Heidim - bulletin for schoolchildren in the American zone in Germany, published by the education department of the Joint Distribution Committee - two booklets about Shavuot and Passover: Booklet 6, Sivan, 1951/ Booklet 8, Nissan [1951], edited by A. Ben David (Soknik). One of the last journals published for children among the Holocaust survivors on German soil. Unknown.

Two booklets for children published by Holocaust survivors in Germany. Stencil print with illustrations. Articles for children on Jewish topics: Zman Matan Torateinu; "Torah V'Sechorah," honoring parents; the commandment of first fruits. Along with various columns written by the children themselves, expressing their difficult feelings. Some children were orphaned during the war or did not know the whereabouts of their parents, and they express their yearning for their families and the Land of Israel.

One of the interesting columns is titled "Local Children Write." It collects the personal stories and feelings of the surviving children in their own words. Letters written and sent to these refugee children by same-aged children living in other countries are integrated into the column, "Children of Israel Write." For instance, the column includes a letter written by Sarah Felner, a student in sixth grade in the Jewish school in Feldafing: "I have no more patience here on this cursed German soil, soaked with the blood of our brothers and sisters who were killed for no reason by cruel murderers. With my entire heart, I want to leave the exile and immigrate to the Land of Israel ... all the children of the German exile wish to come to our Land, but despite their wishes, they are forced to travel to various exiles ... soon I will finish and end this period of wandering in my life and I will be free ..." Includes a chilling story by one of the students in which she relates how her mother had to pay money to redeem her from the Ukrainian gentile who took care of her during the year wars. Another story from a student named Channah Kopot describes how she hid in a bunker in Lutsk during the war, which saved her life. Another interesting story by Edna Korngold describes how a man and wife both thought they had lost each other, but met in the dining room of an immigration camp after the Holocaust, and much more.

An essay titled "The Happy Day," written by eighth-grade student Peninah Gelberg, expresses her feelings: "I am waiting for the happy day in my life, the day that I can immigrate to the Land of Israel and be free like all the children in their Land, and I will no longer need to suffer like I have until now. I am sure that there, in the Land of Israel, children are happy, and when they walk to school, they are happy and dance. When will the day come when I will also dance in the streets and feel that I left this cursed exile. I am sure that the holidays in the Land of Israel are nicer and that the children are happier on the holidays than the children here in exile ... here when a child walks in the street, he is always sad and full of fear, I want to flee Germany every minute, and never want to see the faces of the murderers who killed and pillaged our nation ... I am still sitting in the German exile in the Föhrenwald DP camp and am waiting and hoping to make aliyah soon.

Additionally includes a special essay with the greeting that Frieda Greener of 8th grade gave consul Dr. A. Livne on a visit to the school in honor of the third Independence Day of the State of Israel: "On behalf of the Tarbut school in the Föhrenwald camp, I have the honor of blessing the representative of our state, the Israeli consul, with the best of our blessings for our great holiday - Chag HaAtzmaut. Dear delegate, we the children of Germany, for various reasons that only our parents know, still remain here. We hope that this will be the last year of Jewish exile on German soil ... I am happy that in the near future I will move to Zion, our Land, our free country ... May the hand of the IDF be strong, those who stand strong guarding the borders ... we the children, the remains of the refugees, promise loyalty following in the footsteps of our redeemed brethren, in order to assure a life of freedom and happiness to the scattered of Israel who will yet arrive en masse to their homeland."

These issues were among the last Jewish journals published on German soil for survivors. Booklet 6 concludes with an interesting notice from the education department of the Joint that the Jewish institutions in Germany will be closing, along with a chart with the number of children who studied in the various camps: "With the closing of the schools, the task of the education department of the Joint is coming to a close ... the period of exile of Jewish children on German soil is coming to a close. The closing of the school is now final, because there will be no need for a Jewish school here, without children for them, since most of the children will reach a safe place of residence in the coming weeks ... with the hope we will see you again at the start the new school year of 1952, in schools in the State of Israel."

Rare. This journal is not in the National Library. Very fine condition.