18 | DECEMBER 12 • 2024 J
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andsmanschaften — immigrant 
aid and benevolent societies 
— may be an unknown term to 
young Jewish Detroiters but, at one 
time, these groups from Europe were 
an important part of this community. 
 The Yiddish term landsman-
schaften comes from the word 
“landsman” — meaning someone 
from your hometown. Seeking 
opportunities for friendship and 
mutual assistance, landsmen (and 
women) joined together to form 
immigrant organizations in their new 
communities.
At one time there were more than 
50 such groups in Detroit and more 
than 500 in New York City by 1914. 
They existed in other countries as 
well, and there were similar non-
Jewish groups. Landsmanschaften 
helped their members find housing, 
jobs and loans. They sent money 
back to their relatives still in Europe 
and later to those who immigrated to 
Israel.
Some landsmanschaften organized 
local synagogues while others were 
involved in Workmen’s Circle, Zionist 

and other Jewish organizations. 
In 1952, under the auspices of the 
Detroit Jewish Community Council, a 
council of Detroit landsmanschaften 
was formed. 
After World War II, some 
landsmanschaften created and 
published accounts of their European 
communities that were decimated 
by the Nazis. Many of these 
memorial books — accounts of pre-
war Jewish European life written 
in many languages — are among 
the collections of the Zekelman 
Holocaust Center in Farmington 
Hills.
However, as the years passed, 
immigrants assimilated into the U.S. 
and younger generations lacked a 
direct connection to European Jewish 
life. Detroit’s landsmanschaften began 
to fade out of existence. There was 
a brief invigoration after World War 
II when benevolent societies helped 
their surviving landsmen, including 
some Holocaust survivors, in Europe, 
Israel and the United States. 
Today at least three landsman-
schaften remain active in Detroit 

— the David-Horodokers (David-
Horodok, Ukraine), the Pinskers 
(Pinsk, Poland) and the Radomers 
(Radom, Poland). Roz Blanck 
and Amy Friedman Brody are 
co-presidents of the local Horodokers 
Society. According to Blanck, the 
Detroit men’s organization — David-
Horodok Unter Verein — was started 

in 1909 and the women’s organization 
started in the early 1920s. 
She says that today more than 600 
families participate in Horodoker 
groups worldwide; two-thirds reside 
in Detroit. The group has held annual 
gatherings in person and via Zoom in 
multiple cities. Several generations of 
Blanck’s family members have been 
active in the group and its women’s 
organization. “They sent money to 
Holocaust survivors in Israel and gave 
money to Israel and local charities,” 
Blanck said. 
Detroit’s Radomer Aid Society 
was formed in 1920, and the 
Pinsker Progressive Aid Society 
was established in 1927. Both have 
continued philanthropic and social 
activities.
Rick Stoler, a local expert in the 
history of the Bereznitz Jewish 
community, remembers his father 
driving past an impressive building 
at Linwood and Davidson in Detroit, 
pointing out that it was the Bereznitz 
Building. His grandparents were 
active in the Bereznitzers group. 
Their small hometown is located 
in northwestern Ukraine near two 
other villages — Vladimertiz and 
Sarny — that also once had large 
Jewish populations that formed 
landsmanschaften in Detroit.
Stoler and others who 
are interested in Detroit’s 
landsmanschaften and Jewish history 
are concerned that records of these 

Community members seek to preserve records 
from early immigrant aid groups. 

Detroit’s 
Landsmanschaften

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY
Bialostockers 
Aid Society

PHOTOS COURTESY LEONARD N. SIMONS JEWISH COMMUNITY ARCHIVES

A woman’s lansmanschaften group in the 1930s

