Jacob Oleiski was a devoted Zionist and
did not conceal it. After German death
camps and family tragedy, he set up the
ORT school in the Landsberg displaced
persons (DP) camp and was a leading
figure in World ORT‘s programme in the
DP camps. He then arrived in Israel already
seriously ill but undertook the development
of the ORT school network there with great
energy. Working as the Director General of
ORT Israel he was responsible for a sharp
increase in numbers of both schools and
students within the ORT Israel network.
Oleiski died at the age of 80 still holding
his posts as member of the governing
bodies of ORT Israel and World ORT.
Interestingly, he was succeeded as Director
General by fellow Litvak and partisan,
Joseph Harmatz, who later became
Director General of World ORT (1980-
1993).
For me, Oleiski was and remains the symbol of creativity,
of the achievements of ORT in Israel, the wise man who
thinks deeply, with a keen intelligence and a particular
sense of justice and righteousness. I first met him when I
was a child in Lithuania. He was a friend of my parents
and used to stay in our home when he came to our village
on missions for ORT. I can picture him: handsome,
enigmatic, full of energy, strangely dressed and
unconcerned about his appearance. My parents used to
say: “Oleiski should be helped. He saves orphans”. After
his Aliyah, he lived for some time with us in Tel Aviv.’
From ‘In Memoriam of the late Jacob Oleiski by Joseph
Harmatz’– in ORT – the magazine of the World ORT
Union, Vol. 1, No. 3, May 1981. World ORT Archive
Jacob Oleiski (born in 1899)
was Kaunas [Kovno] ORT
school principal from 1929.
Besides being its principal, he
worked as a teacher not only
at the school, but in different
craft courses as well. During
the Second World War he
established a vocational
school in Kaunas ghetto. After
the war he emigrated to Israel,
where he became the head of
ORT Israel.
Joseph Harmatz (born in
Rokiškis, 1925). Escaped from
the Vilnius ghetto to join the
partisans in the forests; served
as Director General of ORT
Israel (1967–1980); and
Director General of World
ORT (1980–1993).
Jacob Oleiski’s notice stating
his consent to be a member of
the ORT school board, 29
March 1937.
LCVA
A student perspective ON JACOB OLEISKI
“Oleiski was in his early thirties. He looked
very well – tall, with an athlete’s figure, a
fine head of black hair; he had very good
enunciation. He wore a well-tailored grey
striped suit; spoke calmly, did not wave his
arms. His manners did not give out that not
long ago he attended yeshiva at the small
town of Šakiai.
He had studied abroad, had a diploma in
agronomy.” “We had very good pedagogues
of practical and general subjects. Director
Jacob Oleiski gave lectures on natural
sciences and the history of the Jews. As no
one else he knew how to stimulate our
imagination.”
ON IZRAELIS ALTERIS NOMBERGAS
“Engineer mechanic Izraelis Nombergas
headed the main practical courses.
Exceptionally exacting, he was a very good
worker, a clever pedagogue. He did a lot to
make us learn his subject as well as possible.
There was only one bad thing about
Nombergas: he was unpleasant and very
difficult to get on with. He simply did not
know how to speak with people and not to
shout at them. All teachers too, were very
afraid of him and would simply try to avoid
him.”
W. Vilensky.
Twists of fate: A Book of Memoirs.
Jerusalem,1986 World ORT Archive
Participants of the second mechanical and metalworking courses organised
for Jewish refugees from Germany, Kaunas, 1933–1934.
ORT Kaunas vocational school students with Director Jacob Oleiski
and teacher Izraelis Alteris Nombergas, Kaunas [Kovno], 1937.
World ORT Archive
