YOYSEF-LEYZER HILKOVITSH (JOSEF LEJZER HILKOWICZ)

YOYSEF-LEYZER HILKOVITSH (JOSEF LEJZER HILKOWICZ) (1885-1942)

            He was born in Warsaw, Poland, into a family of military tailors.  When still young, he moved with his parents to Vlotslavek (Włocławek), where he studied in religious elementary school and in synagogue study hall.  For a time he worked in his father’s workshop, and simultaneously he became engrossed in self-study.  Until WWII he was a small-scale businessman, a leader in the Mizrachi movement, and a councilman in the Jewish community.  He published articles on Jewish issues, feature pieces, and humorous sketches in: Vlotslavker vokhnblat (Włocławek weekly newspaper) (1932-1939); Vlotslavker bleter (Włocławek pages) (1931), and others.  Among the pamphlets he authored: Mayn proyekt menshn zoln lebn 140 yorn (My project that people should live 140 years) (Petrikov, 1935). 16 pp.; Mayn interpelatsye (My interpolation), on the state of Jews in Poland (Petrikov, 1935), 16 pp.; An apel tsu tsar bale-khayim, tsi zol men ale rasn mentshn oykh nemen vi beheymes unter ir shuts (A appeal regarding the [principle of the] suffering of living creatures, should people of all races, like animals, be taken under protection) (Petrikov, 1936), 8 pp.; Mayn plan tsienizm zol durkh tsien far ale rasn mentshn oyflebn (My plan that Zionism will revival all races of mankind through Zion) (Petrikov, 1936), 16 pp.; Mayn tsienistisher emigratsye-program lehagire leerets yisroel, an apel tsu tsar bale khayim (My emigration plan to the land of Israel, an appeal to [the principle of] suffering of living creatures) (Petrikov, 1936), 24 pp.  During the German assault on Poland in 1939, he and his family left for Warsaw.  They were murdered during the first Aktion in the Warsaw Ghetto in January 1942.