A dramatic story of how a Russian Jew risked his life to save the Torahs in a Stalingrad synagogue when the building was hit by a Nazi bomb, was reported here today by the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee on the basis of a report given by Moshe Feigin, chairman of the Jewish Community in Kuibyshev.
“One Saturday in September, “the report states, “a German bomb fell on a synagogue in Stalingrad and enveloped the building in flames and smoke. Mendel Matlin, a fifty-year-old Jewish refugee from the Ukraine, rushed into the burning synagogue and, risking his life, rescued the Torahs. Disregarding his burning clothes and hands, he ran in and out of the synagogue until he had removed all the Torahs. Matlin comes from the city of Piriatin, near Poltava, where he was the manager of a Soviet mill. When Piriatin was bombed by the Nazis a year ago, he also rescued several Torahs from a burning synagogue and brought them safely to Stalingrad.”
The rescued Torahs have been brought from Stalingrad to Kuibyshev on two barges escorted by a group of religious Jews. Mendel Matlin reached Kuibyshev on one of the barges with his right hand seriously burned. One of the Torahs which caught fire was buried with religious ceremonies in Kuibyshev in accordance with Jewish tradition. A crowd of religious Jews followed the procession. Mendel Matlin recited “Kaddish” at the burial, the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee reported.
The Soviet authorities announced today that beginning this week the Kuibyshev radio station will have broadcasts in Yiddish on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
