Dov Bar's Volchin - Introduction -- My Motivations For Writing

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Dov Bar's Volchin

Introduction -- My Motivations For Writing
I, Dov Bar, born 1927, write mainly about the Jews of Volchin and Wysokie Litewskie in Belarus.

Writing was hidden inside me for many years until that visit to Volchin in 1997. The writing burst out. I experienced a change of mind and started writing like a madman. This madness is with me today as well, maybe over-temperate. This of course expresses itself in collecting information about the Holocaust of my family.

Until today I am like a lonely bird, finding its food without getting help from others. This also explains my perseverance and my ability, out of habit, to research the underlying reasons, and all by myself. This is how I got the results, the uncovering of the murderers of my family in Volchin.

Why did I collect all the information and write my books?
Lacking organized reasons, I'll say this:

First, think of the author Shalom Yaacov Abramovitz, alias Mendele Mocher Sfarim --“Mendele, seller-of books”-- as compared to me. Perhaps I should be entitled Berele Kotev Sfarim, “Berele writer-of-books”, as I write books but I do not want to sell them.

About my writing
I define my writing activity as: I play with words as a hobby, and like to write them in my books in the form of stories from all the phases of my life, and articles about current affairs.

In the past, at elementary school I used to write long compositions. Our class educator noticed my talent and often sent me as class representative to the ceremonial tree-planting on Tu Bishvat, knowing that I would then write my impressions of the ceremony in my long compositions and read them in front of the class.

Translator's Notes: underlying reasons: in Hebrew, Dov used the expression meaning from where the feet grow. Class Educator: Dov is referring to a role in the Israeli system, more than a teacher, who takes responsibility for the education of the entire class. Mendele Mocher Sfarim:the pen-name of Sahlom Yaacov Abramovitz (1835-1917), a famous Jewish author who wrote extensively about his poor brethren in Russia. Tu Bishvat: The 15th of the month of Shvat in the Hebrew Calendar, which is dedicated to planting of trees as it is the time of flowring of the almond tree and other plants for which Israel is known.

Page Last Updated: 11-Apr-2012