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TALNOYE

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Thus Our Town Was Established ...

Thanks to Lynn Arroyo Larroyo1944@aol.com who, through her efforts, has graciously re-typed a portion of a relative's journal about the founding of the town of Tarnovka. The town's name may or may not ring any bells, but read on. From the town of Bosivka, many pogrom victims or potential victims scattered to found Tarnovka, or to live in already established towns, such as Talnoye, which is mentioned below. Perhaps this information will shed some light on someone's family research.

The town of Tarnovka, at the edge of the Podolia District, bordering on the Kiev District, belonged in the days of the Soviet rule to the Kiev District. The guess is that the town was called "Tarnovka" because of the low-lying, thorny bush called "Tern" prevalent in the area. The bush produced bluish, edible, cherry-size fruits. Among the people, this fruit was called "tarn", from which, apparently, the name "Tarnovka." According to oral tradition, the town was founded in 1813, under the following circumstances:

Close by a certain cornfield was a small town named "Bosivka" which stood on the land of a Polish squire. * Once, in Bosivka a distinguished wedding was arranged. The young man, an 18 years-old rabbinic prodigy, already ordained, was the son of the community rabbi, Abraham Wartman. He came under the huppah and to a life of good deeds with the daughter of Rabbi Raphael of Bershad, the student of Rabbi Pinhas of Koretz of the family of the BESHT. ** All the Jews of Bosivka participated in this simhah, dancing and singing in the streets of the town.

At that moment, by chance, the Polish squire of the town, a zealous, Jew-hating Catholic, passed by. When he saw his "zhids" happy, rejoicing, singing and dancing on the main road of "his land", he was infuriated and directed his underlings to demolish all the Jewish homes for this insolence on their part.

In those days, an edict from the squire was the same as an edict from the government, and, to the shock and dismay of the fearful Jews, the mad and cruel edict of the squire, despite the entreaties and tears of the Jews, was executed immediately. After the destruction of their homes, nothing was left to these unfortunates other than to take their children, their wives, their moveable goods, and wander to another place to find rafter and roof.

About half of the people of Bosivka –there had been about a hundred families- moved to a nearby town "Rachmistrivka" [transliterated from the Hebrew] and Rabbi Abraham Wartman served as rabbi of the Bosivka Jews who had settled there. The rest of the refugee families scattered to towns such as "Monastyriska", "Talna," "Tolchin" and others. Rabbi Jacob spoke to the heart of the Jews of Bosivka that they establish a new community and not settle in places in which there were already Jews.

Thus they arrived at "Tarnovka" where they came before the squire and asked permission to settle on his land, there to establish a Jewish community, the squire agreed readily for he knew well that the Jews are an industrious people and would help him develop his holdings. He allocated to them an area of land upon which to build their homes and to establish a Jewish community.

* The Hebrew "paritz (poritz) refers to minor Polish nobility. In Jewish usage, it is also a pejorative referring to someone perceived as a violent oppressor.

** acronym for Rabbi Israel Ball Shem Tov (C. 1700-1760), the founder of Hasidism.

(Talnoye, Talna, Tolna) - the birth shtetl of my father, Samuel Charles (Chaim Shmuel) Margulis. In his memory, my wife Shirley and I visited this town in August 1994 and met the Mayor. He told us that we were the first Americans, to his knowledge, to have visited Talnoye and welcomed us with open arms.

Twersky Rabbinical Line from Talna
Rabbi Y. Twersky, Talner Congregation, 64 Corey Road, Brookline, MA 02146 and Harvard University Center for Jewish Studies, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. An Ohel, close to the center of the town holds the remains of Reb. David Twersky

We were interviewed by a newspaperman, Arkady, who turned out to be a young Jewish fellow, but he wasn't very happy about admitting that fact. And we met two Jewish women - a mother and daughter who remembered, very vaguely, my father's family.

If you are interested in an account of life as it existed in Talnoye around 1921, I suggest you find a copy of 'Manya's Story' written by Bettyanne Gray and published by Lerner Publications Company in Minneapolis DS135.R95AA2754 947'.71 {B} 77-88522 ISBN 0-8225-0762-5 You may be able to get a copy through my hyperlink to Amazon.com located at the left side bar of this page.

If you can read Ukrainian (or Russian) you can read 'all about it' -- our visit to Talnoye in the local Talnoye newspaper.

Ted and Shirley Margulis' visit to Talnoye August, 1994

The Mayor, Andrei I. Polishchuk (at the right) and our driver Mikhail (peeking over the fence) looking for 'The Natenson who now live in the home of my grandfather in Talnoye.

Interestingly, Mikhail, our driver, was a former MIG pilot and though he did not speak English, he became a good friend of ours as we spent our time visiting around Ukraine.

At my grandfather's house. This is where many of the Talnoye Jews lived.
There are only a couple of Jewish people left.

The current condition of the tombstones lying on the hillside after being bulldozed from the original cemetery site. Photo taken by Ted Margulis

Natenson Tombstone laying on the riverbank where the Communists had bulldozed all of the tombstones that were on the Jewish cemetery graves. They needed to bulldozed the stones off to make room to build a school which now stands built over the graves. The tombstones lie on a nearby river bank - just scattered around - where they fell.

My wife Shirley and I looking, in amazement, over some of the many old tombstones just lying around on the river bank.

Another view of how the tombstones are just scattered around the hill side.
Some are showing up in the middle foreground of this photo.

Bridge into Talnoye. That's a goat in the picture. My grandfather's flour mill stood nearby, but is no longer visible.

Once a rich man's home, this old house has been rebuilt into a small hotel in Talnoye.

'The Castle' - once the home of a Ukrainian land baron, before the Communist regime came to power, this has become the Talnoye Museum where they display some wonderful old furniture and paintings. Some are pictured in the photos below.

Interior of an early 20th century scene and posters in 'The Castle' Museum of Talnoye

A reconstruction of the main gate of Talnoye in the 17th century shown in
'The Castle'.

Painting of a 'pogrom happening' in Talnoye on display in 'The Castle'.

A scale model of an ancient village layout that was discovered on the outskirts of Talnoye and now displayed in 'The Castle' along with hundred of pieces of pottery and jewelry found in the area. I have a booklet that was given to me by the staff at 'The Castle' that details the find.

June and Alan Byrnes traveled to Talnoye in 2002 and have taken some excellent photos. To see them, just click here > More Talnoye Photos

more to come ...

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