p. 287 Translated by Lars Gerland, Germany

Chapter Eighteen

The Anniversaries: 1908-1928 and 1908-1938

Twice Haynt celebrated major anniversaries. In 1928, at the 20th anniversary and in 1938 - at its 30th year of operation. In honor of both occasions, jubilee books appeared with a wide range political, economic, and literary-artistic content. They contained important articles and studies that discussed in-depth the situation of Jews in Poland and in the world, the political situation of Zionism, and the achievements in Israel. Parts of the articles, especially those related to Poland, the authors illustrated with detailed, statistic charts that are valuable contributions to the research of the Jewish situation on the verge of the destruction. The jubilee books are big volumes, half a page of the format of a newspaper.

The first book is called Haynt Jubilee Book of 1908-1928*

The cover was drawn by the artist Yitzhak Brauner (1889-1944) in two colors, in the style of the covers of old Jewish books. During the Nazi-occupation, Brauner has made his living with different works in the Ghetto of Lodsz, also with playing the fiddle. The Germans arrested him when he was walking in the street with his fiddle in a cloth bag and then one took him away to Auschwitz. He died in the age of 57.

The book has 216 pages and it has several tens of photographs. It was sold for 1.9 Zloty. Together with the Friday-issue of Haynt. In the free sale the price has been 4 Zloty. When the date of the 20th anniversary had approached, 

 

*    In the beginning the idea was to print a jubilee issue as a special issue of the Haynt, but when the rich material and the great number of announcements has by far exceeded by far the format of a newspaper, the issue was changed to Haynt Jubilee-Book, then the title was printed on the cover and on the first text-page. The whole book had been already printed and therefore one couldn't change the headline on the other pages. It remained as before - Haynt-Jubilee-Book.

 

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a civic committee of Jewish personalities was formed, which released the following appeal:

“Haynt celebrates its 20th anniversary. This 20 years has been a difficult and creative period - a period of big disasters and catastrophes, of a lot of skirmishes, waking up and revival. In this period Haynt has always been the speaker of the new revival-idea, the spokesman and the executor of the new revival-movement. We have planted and cultivated the Jewish national awareness,  woke up the fight for national liberation, sustained with all forces, creative deeds in all fields of life of the Jewish people. The best forces of the Jewish literature have found in Haynt a place for their creation. Haynt has broken though a way for the masses Jewish of readers, endeavored to advance them, to enhance them, to wake up within them the national pride, the comprehension for the big and responsible challenge, which our period imposes on each faithful son of the Jewish people.

Especially in the last years, since Poland became independent, Haynt was the leading organ of the Jewish revival, of the Zionistic movement. In each big accomplishment, in all historic events, Haynt lead the way. Haynt called for the fight and strengthened during the suffering. Haynt stuck with the people in the time of progress and didn't forgot itself or sink into despair in the moments of decline.

As Haynt served the Jewish people and their revival-ideal the whole 20 years, so it serves also today. (This is a play on words because haynt is Yiddish for today.) No obstacles can lead us away from his difficult way, which we have chosen and upon which we want to lead the reader.

And therefore the holiday of Haynt is the holiday of the honest, national, Jewish word, the holiday of our revival-movement, of Polish Zionism. At this holiday we call for you to celebrate together with us!"

The anniversary-committee summoned a big academy in Warsaw in Kaminsky's theater. The theater was packed. The second anniversary-book had the title Haynt Jubilee book of 1908-1938. The book had 328 pages and is illustrated with photographs of the coworkers. As in the first anniversary-book, the photos of the authors were printed together with the articles. The cover was drawn by Chaim Goldberg (Chegi). The book was set in the

 

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case room "Graphika" (owner M. Kopperstock and M. Kramasz) and "Vukograph". It was printed in three printing shops: "Renoma", "Vuspolpratza" (owner Abraham Keisman) and "Universalna" (owner Jakob Handler). The cover was printed in the printing shop "Biurawa" (owner Jona Rochman). Chaim Goldberg has made the proofs in his zincography "Graphika". The typesetting was accomplished by L. Rind. The price of the book was 5 Zlotys in Poland and 7.5 Zlotys abroad. Tens of thousands of copies of both anniversary books were sold.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Haynt, a committee was formed of renowned political leaders, persons engaged in the social and cultural sector, writers from Poland, and from the Jewish communities in the world. The names of the members of the both committees are listed in the Part Three. The call to the Jewish society that the committee released was:

"The year 1938 means an anniversary in the history of the Jewish press. Thirty years ago this Jewish tribune was founded, which demonstrated a way for the printed Jewish word to break through the broadest layers of readers and to make the Jewish newspaper a successful tool in the fight for reviving the Jewish people. In January 1908 Haynt began publication, which had quickly got huge attention thanks to Haynt’s  deep understanding of the psychology of the masses and its bold treatment of Jewish life problems, which no Jewish newspaper reached before it. Haynt, enjoying a unusual trust and popularity on the Jewish street, put this capacity in the service of the Jewish national idea, for which he has educated millions not only in Poland, but also in the whole region of the East European countries, where the largest number of the Jewish people lives.

In order to depict to the full extent the beginning of Haynt during his 30 year long existence, one has to depict the whole, long way of our revival-movement, of which Haynt was the keeper and advocate in this stormy period. There was nearly no place in the Jewish life, where the traces of the effect and the influence of Haynt was not noticeable. Unforgotten for our generation will be the role of Haynt in the fight against the firm rule in the Jewish life in Poland . The defeat of the


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assimilation, which is adversarial to the Jewish people, and the victory of the Jewish people's democracy - the historic-meaningful process, which has radically changed the character of the Jewish society, is in a major part the merit of Haynt, which has attacked with incomparable bravery and endurance, not regarding any threat or fight, the positions of the nadir caused by the exile and which has awakened the masses of the people to national self-esteem and to the brave fight for a better destiny.

Together with the political-social education of the reader, Haynt, with the collaboration of the best Jewish authors and poets, has installed a tribune with the authority in the Jewish literature with a big resonance, which helped the Jewish artistic word to penetrate the Jewish masses and to be planted in them an understanding and longing for the worth of the modern Jewish culture.

The achievement of Haynt in the last two decades after the world war has been invaluable, when it has become the central tribune of the Jewish urge for liberation in the exile and for the endeavors of the construction of the Jewish national home in Israel. In a stiff-necked fight for the Jewish cause, by a rare consequence and extreme devotion-soul- and big loyalty to the Jewish, national ideals, the Haynt has eked out this position. Like a rock in the stormy sea he was standing on the guard of the democratic, Jewish people's politics in the exile and he has been the pioneering, constructive character of the assembly of Israel, delivering the most determined battles against all, which have tried to diminish the hearing of the Jewish urge to the human incline and the national raising or to seduce the Jewish masses to ways of illusions and fake hopes.

Also in this difficult times for the Jewry in the world Haynt carries comfort and encouragement in the darkest places of the Jewish life. He encourages each deed of self-help and strengthens morally the Jewish man (Mentsh) by deepening his awareness for the historic challenge of our generation. Therefore, the 30th anniversary of Haynt is a jubilation of the loyal and honest service to the Jewish people, and a holiday of Haynt is the holiday of the whole national, Jewish society, which can be proud on the property of this valuable, earnest tribute. We call all friends of the Jewish-national press to celebrate this


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holiday by giving a dignified expression of the earned acknowledgment for the 30 years of activity of Haynt for the general Jew and therefore to encourage Haynt to continue his way of fighting and defending for the liberation and raising of our heavily scrutinized people."

When the call was published, congratulations to the jubilee of the newspaper were received from hundreds of Jewish organizations, from hundreds of Jewish centers, big and small communities of the whole world, warm wishes to bear up in the fight for a better tomorrow.

Even before the jubilee book appeared, new suitors, readers, have spontaneously started to send money to order the book in advance, At the end of the jubilee book is printed a list of the subscribers that paid in advance for a book. The list has nearly 3000 names of readers in 386 cities and villages in Poland and of Jewish communities in 14 countries: Israel, Australia, America, South-Africa, Hungary, Belgium, Holland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, England, France, Rumania, Switzerland, and Sweden.