(Talmud, Babylonia). Masechta Yoma, Shekalim, Megillah, Moed Katan & Chagigah. Bound in one volume. Vilna, Romm, 1897.

The Nazi-allied Hungarian regime drafted tens of thousands of Jews into forced labor battalions between 1941 and 1944. In brutal conditions, conscripts worked in mines, built railroads and engaged in other forms of heavy labor. Subjected to impossible to meet quotas, insufficient rations, exposure to the elements and the sadistic abuse of their oppressors, a great many conscripts did not survive. One can only imagine the Mesiruth Nefesh of one such young draftee, Yitzchak Menachem Lanskner, who by happened upon the Sasregen Beth Medrash while based in a work camp 15 miles away. Availing himself of the opportunity, he spent what little energy he had, poring over the familiar, comforting pages of the Gemara. Not knowing whether he would live to see the end of the war, Lanskner recorded his name for posterity. <<This volume is a testament to a most passionate form of resistance to the Nazis: The continuation of Torah learning above all else.>> Sasregen (Reghin/ Szaszregen) is a Transylvanian town that was host to the famed R. Hillel Pollak (1810-93) who led the community for 27 years in the spirit of his mentor, the Chasam Sofer.