To the Editor:
I am referring to your issue of l0 Sivan page l4, a section
entitled, "First Hatzoloh Work" in the article about HaRav
Wolbe zt"l.
In the summer of 1938 the Polish Government got jittery about
the close-to-l00 foreign students in Mir. It was a time of
threatening moves by Hitler. To forestall any dire
consequences for the talmidim the Rosh Hayeshiva Reb
Eliezer Yehuda Finkel appointed Rabbi Avrohom Kalmanovitz to
intervene with the Polish Government to straighten matters
out and he sent me to represent the student body along with
him. We had audiences with the Jewish Seym Deputates, the
Jewish section of the Polish Parliament, among them Leibel
Muentz and Senator Trockenheim. The matter was settled and
there were no more difficulties for the foreign students
including the 40 who had German passports.
We had hoped that the problem was settled at that time. Then,
all of a sudden, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe received a letter from
the Polish government to leave the country within thirty
days. Nobody could understand why he was singled out because
he was just one of the bnei Torah and not involved in
anything else. So the only way we understood it was that
obviously Hashem Yisborach had a special task for him,
a special assignment.
He could not return at this time to Germany to his parents in
Berlin because the German consulate in Warsaw had advised all
those with German passports that their return to Germany was
"undesirable," so it was figured out that the only way of
rescue for him was through Latvia to Stockholm in Sweden.
Therefore Reb Wolbe became the ambassador for the Yeshiva and
was the Vaad Hatzala branch in Sweden for the bnei Torah
and others in need.
In the coming years he saved hundreds of nefashos and
especially at the crucial time of escape he was in constant
contact with the Yeshiva who had at that time reached
Lithuania. Some bochurim had not managed to receive
the proper visas and turned to him and he was able to provide
by telegraphic confirmations various visas and documents. He
also developed a bastion of Yiddishkeit in Stockholm
for the Jews there.
At the time of preparing for the rescue route to Shanghai,
Reb Shlomo Wolbe had already been three years in Stockholm.
It was Moshe Zupnik, one of our chaverim who now lives
in Brooklyn, NY, with his committee who arranged for the
Curacao and Japanese exit visas. None of the bnei
Torah was forced to stand in line to receive those
documents from the Consulate.
I hope this corrects your previous comments about the rescue
efforts of Shlomo Wolbe.
P.S. We would like to bring to your attention that the name
of the Mirrer Mashgiach is Levovitz and the name of Boruch
Ber of Kamenitz is Leibowitz. Please correct it in the
future.
Rabbi Yoseph Fabian
Cleveland, Ohio
