Memorial Book of Kolomey

The idea of a "pinkas Kolomey," which would tell about the once splendid past of our now, in the Jewish sense, destroyed native city, and which would, through the accounts of eye-witnesses, victims who miraculously survived, mourn the annihilation of the Jewish Community of Kolomey - arose silmultaneously among the "olei Kolomey" in Israel and among the "sharit haplita," the survivors in New York.

Here, in New York, the concept of a "pinkas Kolomey" was nurtured with deep love and devotion by the poet Naftali Gross. He, together with the writer of these lines, were to be the editors. We had an understanding that he, Naftali Gross, would be the chief editor and bear the major responsibility of reading and preparing the manuscript for publication.

First of all, he was much more involved, and with eager and sad interest, sought out every Jewish writer who had something to tell about the past joys and the later heavy sorrows of his Kolomey.

Secondly, the serious heart disease of his last few years which kept him from his regular editorial position, forced him to stay at home and thus gave him more time (how comic and how tragic was our optimism!) to be involved with the yizkor book project.

His illness gave Naftali Gross "more time" but not enough time to begin the selection and editing of the manuscript. He left us suddenly and unexpectedly on the night between Shabbos and Sunday, on April 8, 1956.

The yizkor book for which the living Naftali Gross was to have been the chief editor was dedicated by him to the martyred community of Kolomey; he had been the poetic voice of their lives and deaths. At the end of the section "Stories and Memories," we placed Naftali Gross's poem, "Yosl Klezmer Saves Kolomey from a Terrible Fire" and thereby memorialized both the poet and his hero, Yosel Klezmer, who was his literary alter ego.

We ended the section "Stories and Memories" with Gross's poem and began the section "Portraits" with poems of Naftali Gross and Itzik Manger (a Kolomeyer through his mother's family). To Naftali Gross's biography in that section, we added a brief review of his work; also added was the eulogy this writer delivered at the poet's funeral. I could not muster the energy and patience for a more complete evaluation.

In the section "Portraits," we tried to create a panorama of ideas and movements in the Jewish community and the achievements of its members. We included only those who were no longer living since we could better see how their efforts led to the achievement of their goals.