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Prayer shawl that David Zuzl wore for prayers on Yom Kippur 1939
Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection
Donated by Batya Gurewitz , Givatayim, Israel
On Yom Kippur 1939, the Germans allowed the Jews of Wegrow, Poland to hold prayer services in the synagogue. During prayers German soldiers came to the synagogue, dragged the Rabbi outside and demanded that he pick up horse manure with his Streimel (traditional fur hat). The Rabbi refused and was murdered with a soldier's bayonet. They then proceeded to stab David Zuzl, who was mortally wounded and died of his wounds soon after. The prayer shawl he had been wearing was preserved by the family until they donated it to Yad Vashem for posterity.
In her testimony Batya, David's granddaughter who was six at the time, talks about the event as she experienced it:
"… we were allowed to hold prayers in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. The synagogue had been ransacked so some of the men started to clear it up… They allowed us to prepare for the holiday, and the Rabbi and my grandfather and all of us were allowed to pray in the synagogue. There was no place for the women because of the destruction, so we sat by the window to hear the prayers; in the middle of the service we saw the Germans arrive on horseback, I saw their shiny boots, they arrived with horses and took the Rabbi out of the Synagogue. My grandfather z"l went after him… and then the German told the Rabbi to take off his Streimel and ordered him to clean up the horse manure, the Rabbi refused… so they stabbed the Rabbi and my grandfather. They had bayonets that they used to stab them… my father removed my grandfather's prayer shawl and they allowed us to bury both the Rabbi and grandfather."