money, food and fuel for the winter. Old people received benefits every week.c¹⁴²³
Another organisation which deserves to be mentioned is the interest-free loan
fund established on the remnants of two other funds, namely the people’s
bank and the merchant bank. But that one at least managed to celebrate its
tenth anniversary with guests from Warsaw, among others Mr Borensztein,¹⁴²⁴
currently a senior clerk in the ŻTOS. Giving loans for establishing workshops,
buying tools or raw materials, the organisation offered constructive
help. Leading a miserable existence, both rightist and leftist Zionist organisations
shook off their lethargy only during elections, rousing people into
meetings, discussions, and hatred towards other parties.
A very interesting organisation was the female organisation WIZO,¹⁴²⁵
and although it lasted only for several years, I was its chairwoman from the
very beginning till the outbreak of the war. But this organisation was alive,
growing and developing. [12] There were as many as 80 disciplined and loyal
female members, always ready to work for noble purposes. Among those who
took notice of our work are: Mrs Buchwald, the present clerk of the Jewish
Community in Warsaw, Mrs Mira Jakubowicz, the director Mr Bloch,¹⁴²⁶ and
many others who visited Lipno for national purposes. I would also like to
mention the sports organisation Maccabi, which was reestablished several
times, yet it could not last despite the young people’s efforts. During one of
the many events organised by Maccabi, Mr Sztolcman,¹⁴²⁷ who also knows
Lipno, was present. cMany good things may be said about young people
in Lipno. They were well-educated in terms of party and politics, and read
a lot because there has been a large and well-stocked library maintained
for 30 years by the Zionist organisation. There were several thousand good
1423 c-c Author’s supplement, p. [22].
1424 Icchak Borenstein (Borensztajn).
1425 Women’s International Zionist Organisation (WIZO), founded in London in 1920.
1426 Eliezer (Aleksander) Lipe Leyzer Bloch (1888–1944), activist of the General Zionists’ party, director of Jewish National Fund (KKL), Tarbut collaborator, one of the leaders of the Jewish Social Self-Help and of Oyneg Shabes, associated with the Dror movement, collected funds for the Jewish Fighting Organisation (ŻOB); deported to the Budzyń labour camp during the Warsaw ghetto uprising in April 1943, he died in Mauthausen concentration camp.
1427 Adolf Abram Sztolcman (1890–1943), engineer, member of the Warsaw Judenrat; murdered by the Gestapo on 23 April 1943.
