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VISNEVO
(IN POLISH WISZNIEW, IN YIDDISH VISHNEVA)
A SMALL TOWN IN THE DISTRICT OF NOVOGRUDOK, BELORUSSIA, BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD
WARS PART OF POLAND. VISNEVO WAS FOUNDED IN THE 14TH CENTURY , ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER OLSHINKA.
THE BEGINNING OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN THE PLACE IS ATTRIBUTED BY TRADITION
TO THE JEWS OF BOGDANOW, A NEARBY VILLAGE, WHO ACCEPTED THE OFFER OF THE
OWNER OF THE LANDS, GRAF HERPATOVITZ, TO SETTLE IN THE PLACE AGAINST A
SMALL TAX. IN THE COURSE OF TIME, THEY WERE JOINED BY JEWS FROM
NEIGHBOURING SETTLEMENTS.
IN 1866 THE JEWS COMPRISED THE MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION, 500 OUT OF A
TOTAL OF 712. IN 1907 THEY NUMBERED 1863 OUT OF A TOTAL OF 2650. THE
SYNAGOGUE IS MENTIONED ALREADY IN 1892. THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE JEWISH
COMMUNITY WERE SET UP IN THE CENTRE OF THE TOWN, NEXT TO THE MARKET
PLACE. THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILDREN BEGAN WITH THE TRADITIONAL HEDER, AND
ALREADY BEFORE WORLD WAR I THE COMMUNITY HAD ALSO A HEDER METUKKAN
(REFORMED HEDER), IN WHICH HEBREW AND ARITHMETIC WERE ALSO TAUGHT. THE
OLDER CHILDREN CONTINUED THEIR STUDIES AT THE FAMOUS YESHIVOT OF THE TIME,
OUTSIDE VISNEVO. SOME OF THEM ACQUIRED ALSO GENERAL EDUCATION AND WHEN
THEY RETURNED HOME THEY BROUGHT WITH THEM THE INFLUENCE OF THE HASKALAH
(ENLIGHTENMENT) AND ZIONISM. A YESHIVA WAS ESTABLISHED AT VISNEVO IN 1910,
HEADED BY RABBI ISSER UNTERMAN, LATER (FROM 1964) ASHKENAZI CHIEF RABBI
OF ISRAEL. THE YESHIVA FUNCTIONED UNTIL THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR I. WHEN
WORLD WAR I BROKE OUT (1914) THE JEWISH MEN WERE ALSO DRAFTED. IN AUGUST
1915 MOST OF THE TOWN'S HOUSES, WHICH WERE BUILT OF WOOD, INCLUDING THE
SYNAGOGUE, WENT UP IN FLAMES WITHIN TWO HOURS. RESTORATION WAS QUICK, BUT
THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION STOPPED WHEN THE FRONT LINE DREW NEAR. THE
INHABITNANTS DESERTED THE TOWN AND FLED TO THE WOODS. SOME OF THEM
RETURNED WITH THE GERMAN OCCUPATION OF THE PLACE AND OTHERS RETREATED
WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES. WHEN THE FRONT AREA WAS STABILIZED , WITH
VISNEVO IN IT, ALL THE JEWS WERE EXPELLED FROM THE TOWN. THEY SCATTERED IN
NEIGHBOURING LITTLE TOWNS AND BECAME REFUGEES.
WHEN THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION BROKE OUT IN 1917, THE RUSSIANS RETREATED
AND VISNEVO WAS OCCUPIED BY THE GERMANS. THE JEWISH REFUGEES RETURNED TO
THE TOWN AND FOUND IT COMPLETETY RUINED. THE FIRST SETTLED IN THE
SUBURBS, WHERE THE HOUSES WERE INTACT, AND THE OTHERS BEGAN THE WORK OF
RECONSTRUCTION. THE LOWER CLASSES OF A HEDER WERE OPENED IN A PRIVATE
HOUSE. AT THE END OF THE WAR (1918) , WHEN THE GERMAN ARMY WITHDREW , A
WAR BETWEEN THE SOVIET UNION AND POLAND STARTED, THE TOWN CHANGED HANDS
SEVERAL TIMES, UNTIL THE PEACE TREATY WAS SIGNED AND AN AGREED BORDER
WAS SETTLED IN 1922. VISNEVO WAS INCLUDED IN THE POLISH TERRITORY.
THE JEWISH COMMUNITY HAD TWO SYNAGOGUES, WHICH STOOD AT THE MARKET PLACE,
TWO HOUSES OF STUDY (BET MIDRASH) AND STUDY GROUPS ("SHAS" AND "EIN
YA'AKOV"). A THIRD SYNAGOGUE , "DIE KALTE SCHUL" (THE COLD SYNAGOGUE) WAS
CLOSED IN WINTER AND DURING THE REST OF THE YEAR WAS OPEN ONLY ON SABBATHS
AND FESTIVAL DAYS. AS IN THE TOWNS OF LITHUANIA, HASIDISM WAS NOT
PREseNT IN VISNEVO, YET A SMALL MINORITY BELONGED TO THE HASIDIM OF
SLONIM, AND THEY HAD THEIR OWN PRAYER HOUSE.
AMONG THE RABBIS OF VISNEVO IN THE 19TH CENTURY WAS EMINENT RABBI MEIR MARIM
SHAFIT, A GREAT SCHOLAR, WHO SERVED AS THE TOWN'S RABBI UNTIL 1849. RABBI
EPHRAIM PERLMAN-MARGALIT WAS THE TOWN'S RABBI FROM THE END OF THE 19TH
CENTURY UNTIL 1920, WHEN HE WENT TO ERETZ ISRAEL, WHERE HE SERVED AS RABBI
AT PETAH-TIKVAH AND LATER AT REHOVOT. HIS POST AT VISNEVO PASSED TO RABBI
ZUNDEL LURIE, WHO WAS THE TOWN'S RABBI UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1924. HE WAS
FOLLOWED BY RABBI ZEVI EPHRON, A LIBERAL MINDED RABBI. HE WENT TO ERETZ
ISRAEL IN 1927 AND WAS APPOINTED AS RABBI AT REHOVOT. AFTER SOME TIME HE
RETURNED TO POLAND AND PERISHED IN THE HOLOCAUST. THE LAST RABBI OF
VISNEVO, RABBI ITZHAK WEINSTEIN, WAS APPOINTED TO THE POST IN THE SECOND
HALF OF THE 1930'S AND WENT TO ERETZ ISRAEL IN 1939.
THE SOURCES OF LIVING OF THE JEWS OF VISNEVO WERE VARIED. EVERY HOUSHOLD
HAD A SMALL PLOT FOR GROWING FOOD. POTATOES WERE THE MAIN CROP, HENCE THE
NICKNAME "POTATO-EATERS" BY WHICH THE JEWS OF VISNEVO WERE CALLED. THE
RELATIONMS BETWEEN THE JEWS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS WERE BASED ON THEIR
MUTUAL ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE. THE GENTILE FARMERS SOLD THEIR
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE TO THE JEWS AND BOUGHT FROM THEM VARIOUS PRODUCTS.
THIS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY TOOK PLACE MOSTLY ON SUNDAYS, AFTER THE MORNING
PRAYERS AT THE CHURCHES, ON WEDNESDAYS, THE WEEKLY MARKET DAYS, AND IN A
NUMBER OF YEARLY FAIRS, WHICH ATTRACTED THOUSANDS, JEWS AND NON-JEWS ALIKE.
THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WHICH TOOK PLACE IN RUSSIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE
20TH CENTURY AFFECTED ALSO VISNEVO. ROADS AND RAILWAYS WERE CONSTRUCTED,
THE CONNECTION WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD EXPANDED, TRADE DEVELOPED. JEWISH
MERCHANTS BOUGHT THE LOCAL PRODUCE ((GRAIN, TIMBER) AND SOLD IT IN THE
NEIGHBOURHOOD AND IN THE TOWNS OF THE DISTRICT. SHOPS WERE OPENED, AS WELL
AS WORKSHOPS SUCH AS AN OIL-PRESS, TANNERY, AND A CARPENTRY FOR JOINING
VIENNESE FURNITURE. A MATCH FACTORY, WHICH A JEW FROM KOVNO FOUNDED,
EMPLOYED LOCAL WORKERS. IT WAS DESTROYED IN WORLD WAR I. ALONG WITH A SMALL
GROUP OF WEALTHY MERCHANTS, WITH INFLUENCE IN THE COMMUNITY, THERE WERE
ALSO CRAFTSMEN AND PEDDLERS WHO HAD DIFFICULTY IN MAKING A LIVING.
PRIOR TO WORLD WAR I, THE COURT OF THE LOCAL NOBLE WAS THE FOUNDATION OF THE
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. JEWS LEASED FROM THE "COURT" FOREST PARCELS, THE BIG
DAIRY, TO WHICH THE MILK FROM ALL THE "COURT"'S COW-SHEDS WAS BROUGHT, AND
THE DISTILLERY OF SPIRITS. IN THE PERIOD AFTER THE WAR, FINANCIAL SUPPORT
FROM RELATIVES IN AMERICA BECAME AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN THE LIVING OF PART
OF THE TOWN'S JEWS.
WHEN THE POLISH RULE STABILIZED, THE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY WAS RENEWED. WITH
THE HELP OF A FUND CREATED BY THE "JOINT" TO ASSIST IN THE REHABILITATION OF
JEWISH SETTLEMENTS HURT BY THE WAR, A LOAN AND SAVING FUND WAS
ESTABLISHED. IT RENDERED HELP TO THE COMMUNITY IN RESTORING ITS
INSTITUTIONS, AND INDIVIDUALS WERE GRANTED LOANS FOR BUILDING HOUSES OR
SETTING UP A BUSINESS. SOME JEWS ACQUIRED LAND AND MADE A LIVING FROM
FARMING. JEWS DOMINATED THE TRADE IN WINES AND SPIRITS, DEALT IN
MANUFACTURING DAIRY PRODUCTS AND THE EXPORT OF HARD CHEESES, SUPPLIED
AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY TO THE POLISH NOBILITY AND THE RICH FARMERS. THANKS
TO THE JEWS, THE NON-JEWISH FARMERS LEARNED THE USE OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS.
DURING THE 1930'S MANY YOUNG CHRISTIANS FROM THE VILLAGES BEGAN MOVING
INTO THE TOWNS TO ACQUIRE TRADES, AND WHEN THEY RETURNED HOME THEY TOOK THE
PLACE OF JEWS AS SUPPLIERS TO THE FARMERS. THEY ALSO OPENED SHOPS WITH THE
ASSISTANCE OF THE AUTHORITIES. ON TOP OF ALL THAT CAME THE CRISIS OF THE
EARLY 1930'S, WHICH AFFECTED ALL BRANCHES OF THE ECONOMY. RELATIONS BETWEEN
THE JEWS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS DETERIORATED. IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE
DECADE ANTISEMITIC PROPAGANDA INTENSIFIED.
THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, WHICH MADE ITS FIRST STEPS IN THE COURSE OF WORLD WAR
I, MADE GOOD PROGRESS IN THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE TWO WARS. HALUTZIM
(PIONEERS) FROM RUSSIA, ON THEIR WAY TO ERETZ ISRAEL, BROUGHT WITH THEM
THE ZIONIST IDEA, AND A BRANCH OF "ZEIREI ZION" WAS FORMED AT THE TOWN. A
CIRCLE OF "MAX NORDAU" YOUTH WAS ESTABLISHED, AND WITH THE INFLUENCE OF
"ZEIREI ZION", IT DEVELOPED INTO THE YOUTH ORGANIZATION "HERUT VE-TEHIYA" IN
1921. A DRAMA GROUP WAS ALSO FOUNDED, WHOSE EARNINGS WENT TO SUPPORT
ZIONIST ORGANIZATIONS AND SETTING UP A LIBRARY. ALTOGETHER, A VARIED
ZIONIST ACTIVITY OF RAISING MONEY, DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION, AND THE
SALE OF "SHEKELS" TOOK PLACE.
THE MEMBERS OF "HERUT VE-TEHIYA" WERE THE LIVELY ELEMENT IN EVERY ZIONIST
ACTIVITY, THEY WERE CLOSE TO "ZEIREI ZION", AND IN TIME WERE ABSORBED INTO
THEM AND INTO THE HE-HALUTZ ORGANISATION, WHICH WAS FORMED IN 1922. THE
YOUNGER ONES WERE ORGANISED IN HE-HALUTZ HA-ZAIR (YOUNG PIONEERS) AND JOINED
TRAINING KIBBUTZIM FOR ALIYAH TO ERETZ ISRAEL. THE FIRST GROUP FROM VISNEVO
WENT TO ERETZ ISRAEL IN 1925. IN 1928 BRANCHES OF THE YOUTH MOVEMENTS
"HASHOMER HAZAIR" AND "BETAR" WERE ESTABLISHED.
THE TARBUT SCHOOL, WHOSE FOUNDATIONS WERE LAID DURING WORLD WAR I, DEVELOPED
AFTER THE WAR IN A BUILDING WHICH THE COMMUNITY ERECTED FOR IT NEAR THE
SYNAGOGUE AT THE MARKET PLACE. AT THE END OF THE 1930'S IT WAS ATTENDED
BY 200 PUPILS IN EIGHT CLASSES. ON THE EVE OF WORLD WAR II A HEBREW
KINDERGARTEN WAS OPENED. AT THAT TIME ALL THE ZIONIST PARTIES WERE ACTIVE AT
VISNEVO. THE ANTI-ZIONIST "AGUDAT ISRAEL" WAS ALSO REPRESENTED. THE
ACTIVITY OF THE "BUND" , WHICH BEGAN ALREADY AT THE TIME OF THE 1905
REVOLUTION, AND WHICH STOOD AT THE BASE OF THE JEWISH SEL-DEFENCE, DECLINED,
AND A PART OF ITS ACTIVISTS EMIGRATED TO THE U.S.A. A BI-LINGUAL LIBRARY (IN
HEBREW AND IN YIDDISH) WHOSE FOUNDATIONS WERE LAID ALREADY IN WORLD WAR I,
WAS NAMED IN THE 1930'S "THE I.L. PERETZ VISNEVO LIBRARY". IT HELD 1300
VOLUMES IN HEBREW AND 1800 IN YIDDISH.
MANY OF THE JEWS OF VISNEVO EMIGRATED TO ERETZ ISRAEL DURING THE PERIOD
BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS. SOME OF THEM TOOK PART IN THE MOVEMENT OF
SETTLEMENT ON THE LAND AND IN THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. AMONG THE ONCE
VISNEVO JEWS ARE WELL KNOWN NAHUM GOLDMANN, WHO WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE WORLD
JEWISH CONGRESS AND ONE OF THE INITIATORS OF THE CONCEPT OF THE MUSEUM OF
THE DIASPORA (BETH HATEFUTSOTH), WHICH IS NAMED AFTER HIM; YEHOSHUA
RABINOVICH, WHO WAS MAYOR OF TEL AVIV AND A MINISTER OF FINANCE IN THE
GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL; SHIMON PERES, A FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL; AND
ABRAHAM DICKENSTEIN, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF BANK HAPOALIM.
ON THE EVE OF WOLRD WAR II ABOUT 700 JEWS WERE LIVING AT VISNEVO. WHEN THE
WAR BROKE OUT (SEPTEMBER 1939) MANY JEWISH FAMILIES FROM THE GERMAN
OCCUPATED PARTS OF POLAND CAME TO VISNEVO. THEY WERE ABSORBED BY THE
COMMUNITY AND THE NUMBER OF JEWS IN THE TOWN ROSE TO SOME 2000.
THE HOLOCAUST PERIOD
FOLLOWING THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN GERMANY AND THE U.S.S.R. (THE RIBBENTROP-
MOLOTOV PACT OF AUGUST 1938), AND THE OCCUPATION OF POLAND BY GERMANY IN
SEPTEMBER 1939, THE EASTERN PARTS OF POLAND, INCLUDING VISNEVO, CAME
UNDER THE RULE OF THE U.S.S.R. ALL ZIONIST ACTIVITY WAS SUPPRESSED, THE
COMMUNITY'S COUNCIL WAS ABOLISHED, THE HEBREW SCHOOL WAS CLOSED DOWN AND A
SCHOOL IN YIDDISH AND A SCHOOL IN RUSSIAN WERE OPENED IN ITS PLACE. ALL THE
HEBREW BOOKS WERE REMOVED FROM THE LIBRARY AND IT WAS MERGED INTO THE POLISH
LIBRARY. THREE JEWISH FAMILIES WHOSE HEADS WERE ACCUSED WITH
ANTI-COMMUNISM WERE EXPELLED TO THE USSR, BUT THANKS TO THAT THEY SURVIVED
THE WAR AND EVENTUALLY WENT TO ISRAEL.
ON THE 22ND OF JUNE 1941 THE GERMANS OPENED THEIR ATTACK ON THE USSR. MOST
OF THE JEWS WHO HAD ESCAPED FROM THE TOWN HAD TO TURN BACK , SOME OF THEM
WERE KILLED ON THE WAYS, A FEW SURVIVED. ON THE 17TH OF JUNE THE GERMANS
ENTERED THE TOWN. THEY CONCENTRATED THE JEWS OF VISNEVO, THE WOMEN AND
CHILDREN WERE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES, WHILE THE MEN WERE
APPARENTLY HELD AT THE SYNAGOGUE BUILDING AND WERE TAKEN FROM THERE TO
FORCED LABOUR.. THEIR FOOD WAS SUPPLIED BY THE FAMILIES. THE GERMANS
APPOINTED A LOCAL MILITIA, HEADED BY TWO INHABITANTS OF GERMAN EXTRACTION,
WHICH ILL-TREATED THE JEWS. ON ONE OCCASION, TWO JEWS WERE MURDERED, AND
PERMISSION TO GIVE THEM A JEWISH BURIAL WAS DENIED. ON ANOTHER OCCASION,
ON THE INITIAVIVE OF A GERMAN OFFICER, 38 MEN WERE TAKEN OUT OF THEIR
HOMES BY NIGHT, SHOT DEAD AND DROPPED INTO A PIT WHICH HAD BEEN PREPARED
FOR THAT PURPOSE. FROM TIME TO TIME THE COMMUNITY WAS DEMANDED TO PAY
RANSOM, AND WHEN THE DELEGATES OF THE COMMUNITY BROUGHT THE RANSOM, WHICH
INCLUDED GOLD ARTICLES, SILVER AND JEWELLERY, TO THE GERMAN COMMAND, THEY
WERE BEATEN BY THE LOCAL POLICE ON THE INSTRUCTION OF THE GERMANS.
WHEN THE JEWS WERE ORDERED TO MOVE INTO THE GHETTO THEY NUMBERED ABOUT 1000
PEOPLE. THE GHETTO WAS SURROUNDED BY BARBED WIRE AND GUARDED AT THE
ENTRANCE GATE. THE AREA OF THE GHETTO COMPRISED THE SYNAGOGUE COURTYARD AND
THE ADJOINING STREET. THE GERMANS APPOINTED A JUDENRAT (COUNCIL OF THE
JEWS) WHICH WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR CARRYING OUT THEIR ORDERS. THE JUDENRAT
WAS CONSTANTLY FACING DEMANDS FROM THE GERMANS AND THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES FOR
MORE AND MORE MONEY. SOMETIMES PEOPLE WERE ABDUCTED IN THE STREETS AND
WERE RELEASED ONLY AGAINST PAYMENT OF RANSOM. WHEN THE MEMBERS OF THE
JUDENRAT FAILED TO COMPLY IN TIME, THEY WERE BROUGHT TO THE MARKET SQUARE
AND THERE MALTREATED. POLISH YOUTH WHO OPERATED CLANDESTINELY IN THE WOODS
KEPT CONTACT WITH THE JUDENRAT, BUT THEIR PLANS FOR AN UPRISING DID NOT
MATERIALIZE.
ON THE NIGHT BEFORE THE 17TH OF THE MONTH OF ELUL 5702 (30 AUGUST 1942) THE
GHETTO WAS SURROUNDED BY SOLDIERS. AT DAWN, ALL THE JEWS IN THE GHETTO WERE
ORDERED TO ASSEMBLE AT THE COURTYARD OF THE SYNAGOGUE.. THE SICK, WHO WERE
UNABLE TO LEAVE THEIR BEDS, WERE SHOT ON THE SPOT. THE JEWS STILL BELIEVED
THAT THE OBJECT WAS MOVING THEM TO A LABOUR CAMP. GROUP AFTER GROUP THEY
WERE TAKEN TO THE END OF THE GHETTO STREET, FORCED TO KNEAL DOWN FACING A
WALL OF A DERELICT BUILDING, SHOT IN THEIR BACKS AND HURLED INTO THE
BUILDING, MANY OF THEM STILL ALIVE. WHEN THE SHOTS AND THE SCREAMS OF THE
FIRST GROUP OF VICTIMS WERE HEARD, THE PEOPLE THEN STILL ON THE TRUCKS
REALISED WHAT WAS AWAITING THEM AND JUMPED OFF THE TRUCKS IN THE HOPE OF
ESCAPING INTO THE FIELDS AND WOODS. ONLY A FEW MANAGED TO GET AWAY, ALL
THE OTHERS WERE SHOT BY THEIR PURSUERS, AND THEIR BODIES REMAINED STREWN
ALL OVER THE SPACE BETWEEN THE TOWN AND THE WOOD. AFTER THE MASSACRE, FIRE
WAS SET TO THE BUILDING.
THE MASACRE TOOK PLACE ON SUNDAY, AND THE INCESSANT RINGING OF THE CHURCHES
BELLS SUMMONED INTO THE TOWN THOUSANDS OF VILLAGERS. THEY CROWDED AROUND
THE BURNING BUILDING AND HEARD THE SCREAMS OF THE DYING. THE LAST OF THE
VICTIMS WAS THE TOWN'S DOCTOR, PODZELBER, WHO WAS WELL KNOWN IN THE AREA
AND EVEN THE GENTILES ASKED TO SPARE HIM, BUT TO NO AVAIL. AMONG THOSE WHO
MANAGED TO ESCAPE WERE THREE YOUNG BOYS. TWO OF THEM SURVIVED AMONG THE
PARTISANS , AND THE THIRD MANAGED TO STAY ALIVE BY ROAMING ABOUT AND HIDING
IN SEWERS. ELEVEN MORE OF THE JEWS OF VISNEVO REMAINED ALIVE BECAUSE THEY
HAPPENED TO BE AWAY AT LABOUR CAMPS OUTSIDE THE TOWN.
THE SURVIVORS ROAMED THE WOODS AND AS PARTISANS RETURNED TO THE TOWN AND SET
IT ON FIRE. THE HOUSES OF THE JEWS WERE OCCUPIED BY MANY GENTILES FROM THE
VICINITY WHO HAD TAKEN PART IN THE MASSACRE AND LOOTED THEIR PROPERTY. A
CARPENTER'S SHOP WAS SET UP IN THE BIG SYNAGOGUE. THE JEWISH PARTISANS
FROM VISNEVO JOINED A COMPANY OF RUSSIAN PARTISANS AND TWO OF THEM WERE
KILLED IN ACTION. AFTER THE WAR THE OTHERS WENT TO ISRAEL OR EMIGRATED TO
THE U.S.A.
WHEN THE TERRITORY OF BELORUSSIA WAS LIBERATED IN THE SUMMER OF 1944, 18
JEWS WERE AT VISNEVO. WHEN ONE OF THEM WAS MURDERED, THE OTHERS REALIZED
THAT THE TIME HAD COME TO LEAVE, AND THEY LEFT TO GO TO ERETZ ISRAEL.
THE PARTISANS WHO VISITED VISNEVO AFTER THE LIBERATION DUG A MASS GRAVE AND
ERECTED ON IT A TOMBSTONE. A MEMORIAL STONE WHICH THE SOVIETS ERECTED IN
MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST DOES NOT STATE THAT THEY WERE
JEWS.
IN THE SUMMER OF 1990 THE JEWISH CEMETERY WAS REVEALED ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF
THE TOWN. THE PLACE WAS OVERGROWN WITH TREES AND ONLY THE TOPS OF THE
GRAVESTONES WERE VISIBLE HERE AND THERE.
BETH HATEFUTSOTH - FAMILY NAMES AND COMMUNITIES DATABASE
This is a multiple-database search, which incorporates the databases containing over 300,000 entries from Belarus. This multiple database search facility incorporates all of the following databases: JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF), JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR), JRI -Poland, Yizkor Book Necrologies, Belarus Names Database, Revision Lists, and much more!
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