Below is an excerpt of the Ostrowiec youth mentioned in the book ‘HaDerech Lecherut' (The Way to Freedom)  written by Joseph Zvi Halperin. [Page:27]

 The Ostrovtzer youth who reached our group were sent to us by the local committee people who feared for the refugees’ lives. They arrived in two groups: The first group, five girls and a boy, arrived in the second half of May; the second group, four girls and three boys, around a month afterwards. Some of these youths belonged to Zionist youth groups before the war, mainly to Betar; others came without any Zionist motivation, at times even against their will. (From among the thirteen Ostrovtzers who came to us in Kielce, only six settled in the Land; one girl who remained in Kielce was murdered there on July 4, 1946; six girls left us along the way and settled in America.)

Bella (Belkah) Gartner

Bella (Belkah) Gartner was raised in a Zionist family from which no one survived aside from her. When she reached us, she was sixteen years old (photo 2). She was an introverted young girl, intelligent and alert. She secretly wrote poetry as well as hymns to Zion. She was the only one of the Ostrovtzer youths to join us who knew Hebrew. Her brother, Abba Gartner, fell while fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. When we left Kielce, she decided to remain there and was murdered a year later.

-For page listing all members of the group see this page.