This letter appeared in the Hebrew-language children’s newpaper Olami HaKatan that was printed in Poland on January 20, 1939. Teodora Buchner writes that she was born in Chelm on the anniversary of Herzl’s death. Her father, Ignacy (Yitchak) Buchner, was an admirer of Herzl, the father of modern political Zionism, and decided to name his daughter in his honour. She writes that her family has all of Herzl’s books and that her father, a sculptor, has also created sculptures of Herzl and of Bialik. She mentions that she goes to the Tarbut school in her hometown of Zawiercie and that she loves reading Olami HaKatan. She finishes her letter by sending her greetings to the other newspaper readers, the children in Israel, the refugees from Germany, and the editors of the newspaper.
This letter provides a glimpse into the life of a Teodora, a young Jewish girl living in Poland a few months before the outbreak of World War II. She attended a school that belonged to the Tarbut network of secular Zionist educational institutions in Eastern Europe
Teodora Buchner was the only child of Ignacy (Yitchak) and Bronia Buchner. Ignacy was a textile designer in a factory in Zawiercie and a sculptor. One of his creations was a medallion made of ivory that he gave to a friend Zygmunt Marczewski. When World War II broke out, the Buchner and Marczewski families decided that Teodora would stay with the Marczewski’s grandparents in a village. However, Ignacy soon returned to the village and took Theodora back to town. Zygmunt wrote:
"We saw what was coming. We kept receiving horrendous news.…That is why we were startled when one day Buchner turned up in the village...My father tried to convince him to leave his daughter in hiding, but Mr Buchner was adamant. He claimed he had spoken with the Germans and they had assured him they were safe."
According to Yad Vashem testimony pages, Teodora and her family were deported from Zawiercie in 1942. While one of the testimonies states that Teodora was murdered in Treblinka, she seems to have ended her life in Auschwitz, the final destination of the Zawiercie Jews. The only thing left of the Buchner family is the medallion that was donated to the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
Teodora’s letter mentions two cities with large Jewish communities: Chelm and Zawiercie. She was born in Chelm, which she calls “the City of the Wise,” in reference to the Jewish tradition that Chelm is the hometown of well-meaning fools. The stories of the Wise Men of Chelm have become well-known thanks to authors such as Isaac Bashevis Singer.
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Tarbut Schools - The Tarbut schools existed between the world wars and close to 45,000 children learned in 270 Tarbut institutions. These schools taught both Jewish and secular studies in Hebrew with an emphasis on Israel and Zionism. In addition to the regular curriculum, the schools trained the students in physical labour to assist for their future in Israel. Tarbut also published the "Olami HaKatan" (My World) newspaper which appeared from 1936 to 1939. The newspaper aimed to connect its readers to other students of the Tarbut network and to the events in Israel. It also devoted attention to the major figures of the Zionist movement and Hebrew culture. The newspaper was aimed at younger children of primary school age and encouraged children to contribute to the newspaper. The onset of the Second World War brought the European Tarbut schools to an end and many of its students were murdered during the Holocaust.
Chelm - Chelm is a city in eastern Poland that had a Jewish community from the thirteenth century. Jews filled central roles in the city and were active in the economic development of Chelm, which became one of the largest and most important Jewish communities in Poland. Despite pogroms and political unrest in the region, the community grew, and before World War II, 15,000 Jews lived in the city, comprising nearly half of its population. The Jews were principally merchants, and three Jewish banks operated in the city. There were a number of Jewish schools, ranging from religious cheders to the secular Tarbut school, each catering to the different communities. Likewise, there were various Jewish organisations and institutions such as sports organisations, social and charity institutions, a library, and three Yiddish newspapers. Most of the Jews of Chelm were murdered in the Holocaust, with a small number of survivors returning to the city. The Jewish community existed until 1950, when the last remaining Jews moved to Israel, the United States, and other places in Poland.
Zawiercie - Zawiercie is a city where Jews had lived since the end of the nineteenth century. Zawiercie had a few synagogues, a yeshiva, and a Tarbut school. In 1939, 10,000 Jews lived in Zawiercie, comprising a quarter of the city’s population. In September 1941 the Jews were rounded up into the Jewish streets of the city, which subsequently became the ghetto. In 1942, 2,000 Jews, were deported from Zawiercie to Auschwitz. The remaining Jews of Zawiercie were deported in 1943.
