SMORGON'
Belarus
С м а р г о н ь, Б е л а р у с ь
С м а р г о н, Б е л а р у с ь
SMORGON'
Belarus
С м а р г о н ь, Б е л а р у с ь
С м а р г о н, Б е л а р у с ь
Maps
A late 19th century map of Belarus, in Russian, shows Smorgon as С м а р г о н ь (Click your Back icon to return here.)
In the Smorgon' Yizkor book, Smorgon mehoz Vilno; sefer edut ve-zikaron (Smorgonie, District Vilna; memorial book and testimony), Tel Aviv, 1965,
Elyezer Karpel, Mordechay Tabouriski, & Israel Levinson
drew a map in Hebrew and Yiddish of what Smorgon' looked like in 1941. This version of
the map, used with permission, is reproduced here (click image below to enlarge it). The JewishGen Yizkor Book Project has an English version
of the Smorgon Yizkor book.
Ron Arons translated one of the first chapters of the
Smorgon Yizkor book translated from Yiddish to English.
The
chapter is about twenty pages long and relates the history of the town and
neighboring communities.
You may read this translation at Historical Introduction (Click your Back icon to return here.)
JewishGen Family Finder
Provides a list of Smorgon' researchers from JewishGen's Family Finder database. (Click your Back icon to return here.)
(requires login to JewishGen)
Some History of Smorgon'
According to the Encyclopedia Judaica, Smorgon' is in the Grodno oblast or district of Belarus, 107 km WNW of Belarus' capital, Minsk. It was established in Poland in the early 17th century but passed from Poland to Russia in 1793 as part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. For most of its existence until the mid 19th century, Smorgon' was the private property of the princes of Radziwill. Smorgon's Jewish settlement probably dates from the early 17th century. From the shortly after WWI to the end of WWII, Smorgon was part of independent Poland.
From 1628 the Jews of Smorgon' paid their taxes to the community administration of Grodno. In 1631 the community of Smorgon' became the center of a province within the frame work of the Council of Lithuania (in Hebrew: Va'ad Midinat Lita.) The autonomous status of the community was confirmed in 1651. In 1765 there were 649 Jews in the community of Smorgon' who paid the poll tax.
The Encyclopeadia Judaica describes the economic life of the 19th century Jewish community there stating, "In 1847 there were 1,621 Jews living in Smorgon. In the 1860s a tanning industry was begun in the town as a result of Jewish initiative. In addition to this, the Jews of the town earned their livelihoods from carpentry, the knitting of socks, the baking of bagels (which were famous throughout Russia), retail trade, and peddling." Some Jewish families worked the land in the nearby Jewish agricultural settlement of Karka.
There were 6,743 Jews living in Smorgon (76% of the population) in 1897. Zionist and Jewish socialist groups were active in the town. On the eve of World War I, there were two battei midrash (houses of study of religious commentary), seven synagogues, three elementary yeshivot (religious schools), and a Jewish hospital there. A section of the town's Jewish population were Habad Hasidim.
In 1915, during World War I, many of the Jews in Smorgon' were sent to the Russian interior. Jewish refugee tanners from Smorgon' founded the tanning industries in Kharkov, Rostov, and Bogorodsk. When Smorgon' reverted to independent Poland after World War I, the Jewish refugees began to return to their destroyed houses. Between the two world wars, a Hebrew Tarbut (Jewish nationalistic) school, a drama circle, sports clubs, Zionist youth circles, and branches of Po'alei Zion (a socialistic and Zionist organization), He-Halutz (promoting pioneering in the Holy Land) and Betar (a more radical Zionist group) were active in the town.
The Red Army occupied Smorgon' in September 1939 until June 1941, when the Germans occupied the town. In October 1941, some Jews were sent to the Ghetto in nearby Oshmiany. In the summer of 1942 more were sent to the Ghetto in Kovno (Kaunas) and shared the fate of that community while the others were sent to Ponary near Vilna, and were killed there. After the Second World War, the Jewish community in Smorgon was not re-established. An association of former residents of Smorgon in Israel and the U.S.A. was formed.
Photos of Smarhoń
Wikipedia site with photos of the modern city of Smorgon
(Click your Back icon to return here.)
Bibliography
Stephen Helgesen, a retired U.S. diplomat, is the author of the following two complimentary books.
Aron Straser né Struczanski was from the town of Smorgonie, 2nd Polish Republic, 1921 - 1939 (now in Belarus);
Isaac Kracier (a.k.a Yitsak Krajcer) was from the town of Gostynin, Poland.
Each man was a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. Each book can be found in the Holocaust Museum's library in Washington, DC.
This web page is a work in progress. It was created by Batya Olsen and was under her management from 1999 through 2025.
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Original version compiled by Batya Olsen
Updated by BMO, March, 1999
Copyright © 1999 - 2025, Batya Olsen
New version established 15 February 2026 by RLB