Zelman Bornstein

Title: A Leaf on the Diaspora Tree
Author: Zelman Bornstein
Publisher: Self-Published
Place of publication: Elsternwick, VIC
Year of Publication: 1994
Location of Book: Lamm Jewish Library, Sydney Jewish Museum, State Library of Victoria, University of Melbourne and other public libraries.
Cities/town/camps: Poland: Leczyca, Gdansk; Australia: Melbourne
Note: those cities/towns/camps underlined are those which are most central to the narrative
Genre: Literary Memoir
Key events/experiences: Jewish refugee

Zelman Bornstein’s A Leaf on the Diaspora Tree is a short 136-page collection of essays, reflections and transcribed interviews designed to recapture Jewish life in pre-war Poland and the post-war diaspora community in Melbourne. In eclectic fashion, A Leaf on the Diaspora Tree covers a range of topics from Jewish humour and culture to Polish antisemitism.

Pages 1-12 presents the frontmatter, brief introduction, acknowledges and contents pages. Pages 13-50 recounts the author’s experiences in pre-war Poland and his brief transit through Nazi Germany in 1938, as well as his reflections on Polish-Jewish relations. It also commemorates Bornstein’s small Jewish community in Leczyca, Poland, which was destroyed during the Holocaust. The main body, pages 51-128, consists of various articles he published in the Montefiore Homes Journal in 1992 and 1993 as well as comments submitted to the Melbourne newspaper The Age between 1981-1993. These cover a range of topics concerning the Jewish community in Melbourne, as well the Holocaust and Israeli politics. Pages 128-136 are primarily devoted to the topic of “Jewish humour”.

Zelman Borstein was born on 7 April 1910 in Leczyca, Poland, to Benjamin-Chaim and Fajga Dawidowicz. He was raised in a large, middle-class, Orthodox family,. Zelman’s mother died when he was 15. He had three brothers and five sisters, as well as nieces and nephews - all of whom perished in the Holocaust. As a Zionist, in 1934 Zelman attempted unsuccessfully to immigrate illegally to Israel via Greece In May 1934, he married Janta Raca and the couple were able to obtain a landing permit to Australia from her brother who had already emigrated in 1935.

In June 1938, the Bornsteins left Poland for Australia via the Polish port-city Gdansk. Whilst on board the ship, the Baltrover, Jenta Raca suffered a miscarriage and the couple were forced to disembark in a small town named Brunsbuttelkok, in Nazi Germany, for her to receive medical care. As Polish Jews aware of the brutal treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany and its occupied territories, the Bornstein’s feared for their lives. For six days, Jenta Raca recovered in hospital where she received treatment by a young doctor bearing a swastika who greeted the nurses with a Nazi salute. During this time, Zelman stayed in nearby lodgings and was forced to visit the police station daily where he was subjected to intensive interrogation by Nazi authorities. Fortunately, they were permitted to leave Nazi Germany, boarding a ship for London where they were given shelter by the Jewish Welfare Centre in East London whilst waiting for the next ship to Melbourne. The Bornstein’s arrived in Port Melbourne on 19 September 1938, where they were welcomed by Jenta Raca’s brother and family.

The couple settled in St Kilda and had two sons. Zelman began working at a factory for women’s clothing. Tragically, after the war, the Bornstein’s learned that almost their entire families, together with the Jews of Leczyca, perished in the extermination camp Chelmno. In April 1942, together with other survivors and immigrants from Leczyca, Zelman formed the Leczycer Committee to help survivors from Lecyzca emigrate to Melbourne.

Over the years, Zelman was an active member of the Melbourne Jewish community, engaging in several cultural programs and writing weekly articles in the Yiddishe Najes (Jewish News) and journal ‘The Landsman’ during the 1960s as well as publishing many articles for the Montefiore Homes Journal between 1992-3. In May 1993, Zelman was interviewed by Doris Liffman of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. The taped interview served as a template for Zelman’s account of his experiences in Poland and Nazi Germany.

A Leaf on the Diaspora Tree is a compilation of reflections on the Holocaust, antisemitism and the Jewish diaspora. It is brief and straightforward, though heterogeneous, containing a fusion of satire, commentary and historical reportage. Much of the memoir is devoted to commemorating the Leczycer Jewish community.