Yizkor Book

After the Holocaust, one way of remembering a Jewish Community was to publish a Yizkor (Memory) Book. More than 500  Yizkor books were published after the Holocaust. They were often published by groups of former residents, including Holocaust survivors. They were often published in Hebrew and Yiddish, but could include English, Spanish and other languages. Sometimes an editor was hired. 

A large collection of original Yizkor Books is at the New York city public library. The original books can be read online or downloaded. The Yiddish Book Center in Amherst Massachusetts usa also has the New York Public library collection available for online viewing,  for downloading and ordering a reprint. Jewishgen.org has an online translation into English program. The translations can be read online. When the translation is finished, the Jewishgen Yizkor Book in Print program makes printed versions available for purchase. Jewishgen.org also has shared the print versions with United States Memorial Holocaust Musuem, which makes the files available to read online or download.

Writing books about destroyed Jewish communites has a long history which dates to the middle ages when Jewish communites were devesated in Germany. The first modern Yizkor books were published after pograms in Ukraine after World War I.

The Doksyc-Parafianow Yizkor Book was printed in Israel in 1970 by the Organization of Emigrants from Dokshitz-Parafianow in Israel and the Diaspora., edited by David Sztokfisz. The book includes a short introdocution by David Sztokfisz. it is divided into several sections,  1. This was our shetl, 2.  Personalities 3. Parfianov, 4. Destruction and Heroism, 5. Dokshitzers in israel and the Diaspora and 6. The names of the martyrs. All chapters are in yiddish, and most are also in Hebrew. This implies that the book was originally written in Yiddish and then translated, with a couple of omissions, into Hebrew.

In 1990 the organization that published the yizkor book published an English translation of the parts in Hebrew, implying that the translation was from Hebrew. A few things were added to the book. 

Dokshitsy descendant Joel Alpert, who created the jewishgen.org Dokshitz page, organized the of the translation into Engish and its posting online. A major donor was Ralph Ginzburg. A translator was hired. A few of the Yiddish only sections were omitted.

Joel Alpert became head of the Yiddish Book in Print program and arranged for the Dokshitz-Parifianov book to be printed. The cost of adding additional material was low. An appendix was added with new material. The translation including the new material became available in 2017.

The Dokshitsy Parfianov Yizkor book with the new material describes life in the 1920s and 1930s, during the 1939-41 rule by the Soviet Union and during the Holocaust. 

links;

• NYPL Digital Collections (read online or download)

• Yiddish Book Center read online, download , or order a printed copy.

• Jewishgen Yizkor Books in print to order a printed copy of complete translation including new material https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ybip/YBIP_Dokshytsy.html

• Jewishgen.org translation (may not be complete): https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/dokshitsy/dokshitz.html