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Irving Shapiro Notes (Jews of Mezr.)

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Jews in Mezr.

Tabloit? story of the last 200 years

To describe a clear picture of the history of a town you must have a lot of historical material. A lots of the material was lost in fires, ruined by ignorant people like like written papers. The is plenty most of the material missing skinall the material of the history of the years in Mzriloh since the 15th century is mising therefore I limited myself to the last 200 years.

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Sine 1795 Poland and also Meznitz wendt through a period of diferent ocupations 1795 - 1809 - Austria - 1809-1815 Rusia in the 19th century the Jewish life conpletely took on a complete different character.

There are not to be found any place such originality as there was in Mezintl and Biala (the town where my parent busines was) Both are on the R.R. tracks beetwen Warshaw and Brest. there is only 30 minuts ride on the train beetwen them but it what a difference.

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Mezr. was one of a kind in all Poland and also western Rushia because of the trade and kind of work done there. - The processing of "hog hair" this eliminated all the competition. God and Liptzig Germany they use to say as long as there is Lipcig we are spared from harasment and antisemitizm. We are exporting all the furs and hair there.

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In 1928 the hair industrie almost went under the reason was the shortage of raw materials for many reasons there was no contact with the world market. The fait of the worker was doomed. the [deleted] owners who had a little capital turned to other busines and worked 17-18 hours a day to make a living. A year later some raw material was avaliable and some of the working people found employment. but the pay was so low that the workers did not have any choice bu go on strike to improve their working condition.

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Even in the good times the working condition of the hair worker were terible. The section of the town was the most rundown and the poorest. The houses were so close thet your hand can reach the next house from your window. the porch consisted of one step and in to thethe kitchen whichalso was the dining room bed room and the hog hair shop. the wife or the daughter of the worker could turn her head from the combing of the hog hair and look to in to her cooking supper on the stove. In spite of all the hardship the hair workers were proud of their neighborhood. They said: dos not matter what kind of "grave" I am living in, but it is my own. The importance of owning my own "hole" is not to have to pay rent.

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In Mezritz & ownership if I own my own "hole" I don't have to pay rent.

Resetling to Meridanek By Tipora Kestbrenner.Buenos Aires At dawn the 1st of May 1943 we heard the gun shots. My father picked up his prayer shall and philatinkik (Tefilim) and came in to our room. Let's go to the hiding place. We went up on narrow steps to an attic, pulled out a board and cralled in to a "rom" with 70 more people and / replaced the board not to arrise any suspision. The place was so quite you could hear the teeth chatter. even the young children of all ages were didint let a peep out. Their instinct told them in what kind a danger they are were