10 | AUGUST 18 • 2022 

August

Yetzt August is here
Un s’iz zayer hays, my dear.
 Men darf shtayn cool
 Oder gayn tzu di pool,
Dos iz zummer, so give it a cheer.

Yetzt: Now
Un s’iz zayer hays: and it’s very hot
Men darf sntayn: you have to stay
Oder gayn tzu di: or go to the
Dos iz zummer: This is summer

 By Rachel Kapen

ghetto, all the people from the 
countryside, from the cities, 
were squeezed into a crowded 
small section of the city. No one 
was allowed to leave under pen-
alty of death. Up to 20 people 
in one room. And then began 
typhus fever to decimate us, but 
these were the blessed people 
who died by the hand of God, if 
only all had died in this way.
And now I come to my own 
family tragedy, up till then I 
was able to protect those close 
to me as a physician with a 
practice. In the middle of May, 
there began in our province the 
action to clear it completely of 
Jews and now it reached us too, 
in our city, it started on May 23 
with 1,800 sent to Belzec and 
from this day on the gendarmes 
shot a few hundred every day in 
the forest.
Our tragedy began on May 
24, we gave to Molech [the angel 
of death] people in nine weeks:
Abraham Mandel, my dearly 
beloved father; Regina Mandel, 
my dearest mother, the per-
sonification of kindness; Hinde 
Mandel nee Adler, 21 years old, 
my brother’s wife; Jacob Mandel, 
2 years old, child of my brother, 
who we called “Wunderkind” 
prodigy; David Mandel, uncle; 

Reize Mandel, aunt; Abraham 
Mandel, 43 years old, the only 
son, one of the most intelligent 
men in the city, perfect Hebrew, 
German, English and French; 
Simcha Mandel, uncle; Pesach 
Adler, my brother’s father-in-
law; Chaya Adler, mother-in-
law, sister of Kercen Szachter in 
New York.
We younger ones were put in 
a forced labor camp.
On May 30, my grandfather, 
Mendel Mandel, 86 years old, 
was shot, of course, together 
with all the others. Every day 
the forest was turned into a 
slaughter yard. On June 13, my 
beloved bride and my sister, 
Minna Mandel, aged 27, with 
her the son of Pesach Adler, 20 
years old and Henia, age 15. 
My fiancee, Feige Lichtblau, was 
21. And this was the end of my 
tragedy. 
On June 21, we fled to the 
forest, in order to perhaps be 
able to save our lives.
All our remaining cousins 
were shot in the camp on June 
14, so today, I, Dr. Isak Mandel 
and my only brother, Markel 
Mandel, we are numb and with 
a heavy heart and severely pun-
ished by God and fate, saved 
from the death of our dearly 

beloved and cherished, tortured 
by fear and terror as to what 
tomorrow will bring.
Our situation is indescrib-
able. We cannot show ourselves 
to people, live in the forest or 
sometimes with good people in 
the country of whom fewer and 
fewer can be found, and entreat 
the Almighty to grant us life, not 
in order to live, for we are not 
able to anymore, but to be able 
to tell the world what we have 
experienced on Earth in the 
20th century.
For ten years, I carried the 
burden of helping people as 
a physician, day and night I 
worked always with the idea of 
saving people and not in order 
to earn money.
The whole population of the 
town is my witness; nine weeks 
after the murder of my adored 
parents, three weeks after the 
murder of my eternally beloved 
sister, a girl full of youth 27 years 
old, I am like an old man, don’t 
know what to do, suicide or be 
killed by the SS troops, unless a 
miracle happens.
With tears in my eyes, I beg 
you, my dear acquaintances 
and strangers, visit our town, 
our mass graves in the forest. 
Acquaint yourselves with our 

tragedy, our shame.
[Signed]: Warmest greetings 
and kisses from Dr. Isak Mandel 
and Markel Mandel, brother.
We never learned the fate of 
our cousins Isak and Markel 
Mandel. They were never heard 
from again.
My great-uncle donated the 
original copy of the letter to 
the YIVO Institute for Jewish 
Research in New York City, Not 
long ago, I found a meaningful 
way to honor the memory of 
my lost family members by 
submitting a copy of the letter 
along with other family doc-
umentation to Yad Vashem’s 
Gathering the Fragments 
Project in Jerusalem.
In the Project’s own words, 
“Items submitted together 
with the stories behind them 
have an important role in the 
commemoration of the Jews 
murdered in the Holocaust 
and in preserving their memo-
ry for future generations.” 

Howie Mischel is a veteran of the U.S. 

public finance industry. Following aliyah 

from New York in 2009, he worked as 

an aliyah adviser at Nefesh B’Nefesh 

and with several startup companies. 

Today, he lives with his wife, Terry, in 

Modiin, has four married children and 

is the proud grandfather of 20.

CORRECTIONS
• In the story “From Frankel to 
Fatigues” (Aug. 4, page 12) 
featuring Rachel Baker, it should 
have stated there are many Frankel 
Jewish Academy alumni who have 
served or are serving in various 
capacities in both the U.S. and 
Israeli military.
• In “
Adventures of an Art 
Collector” (Aug. 11, page 56), 
it should have said that Suzy 
Farbman has four grandchildren at 
Hillel Day School, not seven.
• The photo credit for the Aug. 11 
JN cover should have gone to Luke 
Dickey.

LETTER FROM THE SHOAH continued from page 4
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