Shtutshin's closest neighbor is Rozhanka, which was, before the division of Poland, the estate of the well-known nobles of the house of Patz. The town was thus called "Rozhanka-Patzovska", to distinguish it from another Rozhanka. A General Patz defeated the armies of Bogdan Chmielnitsky in the year 1650, thus saving Vilna and Grodno from the invasion of the Cossacks. (There is a common assumption that the Patz Family's origin is Jewish.)

The Viavoda (General) of the House of Patz established, in 1764, the luxurious Cathedral of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in Rozhanka. During the 1830's, Rozhanka was confiscated from the House of Patz because they participated in the Polish Rebellion against the Russians. During the 1860's, when Czar Alexander II freed the Serfs, the lands of Rozhanka were given to the serfs on the condition that they would repay the price at long-term payments.

Few Jews lived in Rozhanka. Their settlement there started during the 1880's, when the Railway Line passing nearby was laid. However, a few Jews had started an agricultural settlement in nearby Malivitzia in the 1860s.

The mestechko of Rozhanka in 1899 belonged to Slonim Uezd (second stan), and according to the territory divisions, was the main city of Rozhanskaya Volostj and the central post office for the surrounding small villages. Potoka, in Lida district, then was in Vilenskaya Guberniya. The Vilenskaya Gubernya "book" is in the Library of Grodno Museum.

In 1928, Rozanka was designated as a miasteczko (small town) & gmina wiejska (parish town) in the Second Uchastok, Lida powiat, Nowogrodskie voevodstvo of Poland. The Justice of the Peace was in Szczuczyn and the Justice Court in Wilno. The 1928 miasteczko population was 734. The railway station was three kilometers away in Rozanka n. Niemnen, on the Mosty-Lida line. The post office and telegraph were in Rozanka and the telephone in Mosty. Rozanka had one Catholic church, one synagogue, and mills. Imenie "Rozhanka", now the building of the secondary school, in 1928, belonged to R.K. Kobordo-Mernicheg. Rozhankovskaya gmina, Lidski povet.

In 1972, Rozhanka was a village in Schutchin District of Grodno Region, seven kilometeres from Scucyn, 74 kilometers from Grodno and four kilometers from Rozhanka railway station, On the Mosty to Schutchin road. Rozanka had a tractor repair workshop, a wood-cut workshop, one secondary school, a House of Culture, a library, a kindergarten, a hospital, a post-office, four shops, and one monument to those who died in the WWII. (Soviet Belorussian Encyclopedia-1972)

A brick synagogue in the center of Rozhanka still exists [1998] but is being made into an Orthodox church during the summer of 1998. The Jewish cemetery does not exist. Some of the gravestones are visible in the river. The Jews of Rozanka were shot at a place in Schutchin.
Sources:
Szczuczyn Yizkor Book

Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego, p. 854:

Ro?anka, 1. Mko rz?d. Nad Turejka, pow. lidzki, w 3 okr. Pol., gm. i okr. wiejski Rozanka, o 56 w. od Lidy a 144 w. od Wilna, ma 833 mk. (445 m?z. i 438 kob.). Ko?cio? par. Katol. p.w. ?w. Piotra I Paw?a z muru wzniesiony w 1764 r. przez wojewod? Paca. Par. kat., dek. lidzkiego, 2097 wiernych; kaplica na cmentarzu grzebalnym. Okolica cz??ci? wynios?a, cz??ci? za? r?wna, grunt zwirowaty, las?w ma?o. Dziedzictwo niegdy? Pac?w, dzi? w?asno?? rz?du, kt?ry ziemi? odda? w?oscianom na wykup. Gmina Rozanka nale?y do 2 okr. Pokojowego do spraw w?o?cia?skich, 2 rewiru powo?anych do s?u?by wojskowej z pow. lidzkiego oraz 2 okr. s?dow., obejmuje 64 wsi, maj?cych 351 osad, zamieszka?ych przez 4264 w?o?cian p?ci ob.; sk?ada si? z 2 okr. wiejskich: Rozanka i Rakowicze. Szkola gminna znajduje si? w R. (75 uczn.). Pod?ug spisu z 1864 r. by?o w gminie 619 dusz rewiz. w?osc. uw?aszcz. i 1011 b. w?osc. skarbowych. W sk?ad okr?gu wiejskiego wchodz?; mko R., wsi: Podzamcze, Dowklewszczyzna, Wierzbilki, Bobra, Podbobra, Zaborze, Potoka, Nowo-Rozanka, Kryszylki, Dziakowce, Malewicze Dolne I G?rne, Podr?zanka, Ciejkowszczyzna, Makiowce, Dolina Zarzeczmowszczyzna, Dolina, Tur?wka; za?c. Krylyszki i Klimowszczyzna, oraz kolonia ?yd?w rolnik?w Malewicze, w og?le w 1864 r 838 dusz rewiz. b. w?o?cian skarbow. 2.) R. Nowa, w? w?o?c., pow. lidzki, w 3 okr. pol., gm., okr. wiejski Rozanka, 2 dusze rewiz. 2.) R. Nowa J. Krz.

Rozanka 1.) small town official government above the TUREJKA [river], in Lida powiat, in the third Polish rural administrative district and commune Rozanka, about 56 wiorsts [59.752 km] from Lida and 144 wiorsts [153.648 km] from Wilna, has 883 inhabitants (445 males and 438 female), Catholic church building dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul built of brick in 1764 by voivode [a rank] Pa. Catholic parish, deanery [actually decanate; a grouping of 10 parishes] in Lida, 2,097 parishioners; [also] chapel on cemetery grounds. The terrain is hilly, the soil gravelly, there are few forests. Once in the hereditary ownership of the Pac family, the government has ransomed the land back to the peasants. The township Rozanka belongs to 2 peaceful districts of peasant affairs, 2 conscription rewiru into military service with Lida powiat [administrative division comparable to German Kreis] as well as 2 district seats, obejmuje 64 villages, majacych 351 settlers, residents over 4,264 peasant plci; composed of 2 rural districts: Rozanka and Rakowicze. Township school found in Rozanka. (75 students). According to list [census?] of 1864 619 affranchised peasants and 1011 financial peasants. The rural district includes: miasteczko [small town] Rozanka, villages: Podzamcze, Dowklewszczyzna, Wierzbilki, Bobra, Podbobra, Zaborze, Potoka, Nowo-Roznka, Kryszylki, Dziakowce, Malewicze Dolne and Gorne, Podrozanka, Ciejkowszczuzna, Makowce, Dolina Zarzeczna, Dolina, Turowka; settlement of lesser nobility or yeomen Krylyszki and Klimowszczyzna, as well as Jewish farming colony *Malewicze/ Malivitzia - a Rozhanka Jewish farming colony founded about 1864 was part of gmina "Rozhankovskaya", povet Stchutchinki, Novogrudskoe voedvostvo, Poland in 1932.
2. Nowa Rozanka, ws wlosc., pow. Lidzki, w 3 okr. Pol., gm., okr.wiejski Rozanka, 2 dusze rewiz.
New Rozanka, peasant or farming village, Lida district, in three Polish districts, rural parish district, two revisions.

Malewicze- a Rozhanka Jewish farming colony founded about 1864 was part of gmina Rozhankovskaya , povet Stchutchinki, Novogrudskoe voedvostvo, Poland in 1932.

POTOKA, village of Rozanka, p. 871:
1.) w?. w?osc., pow. Lidzki, w 3 okr. pol., gm., okr. wiejski i dobra skarbowe Rozanka, o 58 w. od Lidy, 15 dm., 190 mk. (93 dusz rewiz.). J. Krz.
1.) peasant or farming village, Lida powiat, in third Polish district, rural district and public property Rozanka, 58 wiorsts from Lida, 15 houses, 190 inhabitants (93 in revision list) J. Krz
1932: Potoki wies (village) was in gmina Rozhankovskaya, povet Stchutchinki, Novogrudskoe Voevodstvo) [Translation by Ellen Sadove Renck and Jan Sekta].

Need to convert old Russian units?
 

Sources:
Ksiega Adresowa Handlowa, Warszawa Bydgoszcz 1929
1923/Glowny Urzad Statystyczny Rzechzypospolitej polskiej
Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego

Other possible research sources:

• Kagan Haprenumerantn 8143;
• EVREISKAYA ENCY.: XIII: 572 [4 lines].
• Documentary Sources on Jewish History in the Archives of the CIS and the Baltic States:
• Preliminary List of collections, Compiled by Dmitri A. Elyashevich, Acropolis, St. Petersburg: 1994, St. Peterburg Jewish University, Diaspora Research Institute, Russian State University for the Humanities, Historical Archival Institute, Center for Archival research. Grodno (Belarus), Belorussian Historical Archive in Grodno: 167 Rozankovskaya Synagogue in Lidski uezd. #33, 10 chronicles, 1897-1900
• Yad Vashem: 6174, Yiddish, 1 Oct 1961, Meirowitz, Mordechai: "actions" in ROZANKA; escape from the Ghetto to RORELICZE, looting by the local population; abuse of Rav Israel VIERNICK and burning of Torah scrolls; concentration of remnants of TURZEC, IWIENIEC, KORELICZE, HONODYSZCZE, and ZDZIECIOL [Zhetel/Dyatlavo] in the Nowogrodek ghetto; slaughter and "actions"; counting graves; work camp in place; stockpiling weapons and digging tunnel; escape to partisans in Naliboki city; family camp under the command of the brothers Bieski; sacrifices of the partisans and only those that remained alive; revenge on the Belarussian murderers
• Yad Vashem: 62388, Yiddish, MEIROWITZ, Mordechai: expulsion of Jews from ROZANKA and the cities around Lida to the ghetto SZCZUCZYN and Novogrodek; tunnel digging in Novogrodek ghetto and escape by way of the partisans; relations with Jewish partisans

Address: Grodno Region Department, Director: Miss Karina Botrakova, National Belorussian Historical Archives of Grodno
and
National Belorussian Historical Archives, Grodno Region Department,
Director: Miss Karina Brotrakova
Teizengauz Ploschad 2, Grodno 230001Belarus

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