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Welcome to Jewish Research in Lida Uezd in Vilna Guberniya

 Today in Belarus and Lithuania

     Grodno Guberniya 1801-1842, Vilna Guberniya 1842-1917, part of the Russian Empire prior to the World War I, and part of Poland (1920-1939)


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Ellen Sadove Renck

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Documentary Research: Judy Baston
Updated: September 2020
BELITSA


Alternate names: Belitsa and Белица [Rus], Bielica [Pol, Беліца - Bel], Bilitza and בעליצע [Yid], Bielyčia [Lith], Belitze, Belitza, Belitzah, Belica, and בייליצע [Hebr]. Six places named 'Belitsa' exist in Belarus. Belitsa in Lida uezd is at 53°39' N, 25°19' E, 21 miles W of Navahrudak (Nowogródek) and 16 miles S of Lida.Lida uezd map from yizkor

with dependent villages of Bucile, Baczepicze, Mociewicze, Nahorodowicze, Nieciecz, Krasna, Poniemunce, Tobola

and estates and hamlets of Czertok, Jelna, Jeremiewicze, Klukowicze-Pustki, Puszcza, Sidorowce, Stoki, Turowa Gora, Wreczyszno, Zblany and ***Badary, Czaplewszczyzna, *Zarzeczany, **Liniany, Czaplewszczyzna,

In the fifteenth century, Grand Duke owned Belitsa during which time (1431-1500) a Catholic church was built. In 1486 documents dating , Belitsa was designated as a mestechko [small town]. At the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of sixteenth centuries, Belitsa was center of the pavet [like a county or German kreis].Wwners of Belitsa included Y. Ilinich and Y. Radzivil. Grand Duke of the Great Lithuanian Principality and King of Poland Zhigimont II August presented Belitsa to M. Radzivil Rudoi. In 1553, Radzivil established the Calvinist Church there. In 1627, the mestechko had a fair, six streets, and seventeen houses. In the second half of the seventeenth century, Calvinist synods took place there. In 1795 when Vitenshtein and Trubetski owned the town, Belitsa reverted to the Russian Empire withinLida povet. In 1886, Belitsa was the volostj center with one hundred houses and 883 residents, a school, an Orthodox church, a Catholic church, and a synagogue. Four annual fairs took place.

The rabbi in 1912 was Yosef ben Meshulam Feish Rudnik (1875-?). During World War I, Germans occupied the town. In 1921, Belitsa belonged to Lida powiat, Wilno voevodstvo of Poland. In 1929, Belitsa was the seat of the community council, gmina wiejska [rural village] and miastezko (town) of Lida powiat with Justice of the Peace in Lida and Justice Court in Wilno, Nowogrodskie woj. The 1921 population was 506. In 1928, Bielica was designated as a miastechzko (small city) and gmina wiejska (parish town), seat of community office, in the Second [?] Uchastok, Lida powiat, Nowogrodskie voevodstvo of Poland. The Justice of the Peace was in Lida and the Justice Court in Wilno. 1928 population was 506 with one Catholic church, one Orthodox church, one synagogue, and mills. Markets were Wednesdays. The railroad was nine km away in Niemen. The post office and telephone were in Bielica (Belitsa) with the telegraph in Lida. Markets were Wednesdays. In 1939, Belitsa was part of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1941, Germans occupied Belitsa and liberated by Red Army troops in 1944. In 1970, 913 people lived 285 buildings and had a bakery, cinema, school, post office, hospital, and a Monument to the War Heroes. As of 1991, Belitsa was a village in Lida district situated on the river Neman and center of a collective farm named after Yuri Gagarin, thirty km from Lida and six km from the Neman railway station and on the Slonim Lida Road. The 1991 population was 852 with 356 buildings.

Bucile: country- circle {district} in commune Bielica in administrative district (powiat) Lida - includes the villages: Bucile, Bielowce, Piaskowce, Krasoczki, Maciewicze and the settlement Czechowsczczyzna. [translation from by Jan Sekta]

Mociewicze/Makhovichi/Mocevicy at 5349 2510: In 1928, Mociewicze was designated as a wies (village) of Bielica in the Second Uchastok, Lida powiat, Nowogrodskie pow., Poland. The Justice of the Peace was in Lida and the Justice Court in Wilno. The 1928 population was 512. The railway station was eighteen kilometers away in Skrzybowce. The post office, telephone, and telegraph were in Zaludok.

Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), I, pp. 211-212: "Bielica" #1 translation:

Bielica. 1.) mko w 1-ym okr. administr. pow. Lidzkiego, na prawym brzegu Niemna. przy ujsciu Molczadki i Niemenka, od Wilna 116 wiorst, od Lidy 28 w. Mieszka?cow ob. p?ci 877. Niegdy? starostwo z zamkiem bardzo dawnym. Zygmunt August darowa? B. Miko?ajowi Radziwi??owi Rudemu, kt?ry w. r. 1553 koscio? parafialny kalwinom odda?. Synody kalwi?skie w XVII w. Cerkiew prawos?. Przeprawa przez Niemen, stacya obserwacyjna i port. Po Radziwi? ?ach dziedziczy B. obecnie ks. Piotr Wittenstein. Balinski (Staro?. Polska, t. III, str. 263) myli si?, pisz?c, ?e tu by? koscio? dominikownow, fund. Sapiehy: by? i jest koscio? (dzi? podominika?ski) w Jelnej, 0 3 w. od Bielicy, przy go?ci?cu do Lidy. W B. jest tylko kaplica parafi Jelna. Gmina wiejska B. pow. lidzkiego ma 5489 ludn., t.j. 2624 me?. 2865 kob. W?oscianie mka B. maj? 2962 dz. gruntu. Gmina B. liczy 674 dym., i sklada si? z 6 okr?gow wiejskich a 28 wsi. Okr?gi te sa: 1) Bielica, 2) Baczepicze, 3) Krasna, 4) Poniemunce, 5) Bucile, 6) Tobola. Okr?g wiejski B. liczy w swoim obr?bie: mko B.; wsie: ***Badary, Czaplewszczyzna, *Zarzeczany, **Liniany.

Bielica. 1.) Small town in first administrative district of Lida, on right bank [shore] of the Nieman near the confluence of Molczadka and Niemenek Rivers, 116 wiorsts from Wilna, 28 wiorsts from Lida.Inhabitants of both sexes 877. At one time regional administration (starosty), with a very old castle. Zygmunt August presented Bielica to Mikolajowi Radziwil Rudy who returned the parish church to the Calvinists in 1553. Calvinist synods took place here in the seventeenth century. Formerly, there were here also an Orthodox Church, a ford across the Niemen, observation station and port. After Radziwil, Bielica was inherited by the present [1888] Count Piotr Wittenstein. Balinsky (Staroz. Polska, volume III, page 263) erred, writing that there was a Dominican church here, founded by Prince Sapieha: this church is actually in Jelna, 3 wiorsts from Bielica, on the road to Lida. In Bielica there is only a chapel of Jelna parish. Rural commune Bielica, powiat (administrative district) Lida has 5,489 population, i. e. 2,624 males, 2,865 females. Inhabitants of the small town Podsol have 2,962 dz. [measurement of area=2400 sq. saz., 1.9508 new Polish morgs, 109.252 ars.] under cultivation. Rural administrative district Bielica counts 674 homesteads, and consists of 6 rural districts and 28 villages. Districts are: 1) Bielica, 2 ) Baczepicze, 3) Krasna, 4) Poniemunce, 5) Bucile, 6) Tobola. Rural district Bielica has these precincts: small city Bielica: villages Badary, Czaplewszczyzna, Zarzeczany, Liniany . [Translation by Jan Sekta for Ellen Sadove Renck].

  • Grodno Archives: Fond 145, Belitskaja synagogue in Lidski uezd in Belitzy, #292, 8 chronicles, 1897-1900. Address: Grodno Region Department, National Belorussian Historical Archives of Grodno and National Belorussian Historical Archives, Grodno Region Department, Teizengauz Ploschad 2, Grodno 230001
  • Cemetery
  • Evreiskaya Entsiklopediya: V: 163-164 [10 lines]. ("Jewish Encyclopedia" in Russian) (1913): Just 3 lines in Russian. The link went stale, and was not archived by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. 
  • Sachenka B.I. [editor], Encyclopedia of the History of Belarus, Minsk: 1993. Volume 1, p. 494.
  • Shtetl Finder (1989), p. 7: "Bilitza, Belitza".
  • Pinkas HaKehilot, Poland, Vol. 8 (2005), pp. 168-170: "Bielica".
  • Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), p. 145: "Bielica".
  • Holocaust in Belitsa at Yahad in Unum
  • Holocaust Museum
  • Yizkor: Pinkas Bielica (Tel Aviv, 1968)
  • Satellite map and street map
If you have Lida uezd materials to share, please considering donating it. If you read Yiddish or Hebrew, please contact us.

Records are held both in Grodno and Vilna archives.For Lida records translation, your tax deductible contribution by credit card via the secure server at either group or by mail will grow our knowledge. For a $100 donation, you receive all these records translated two years ahead of their posting on JewishGen. Every penny collected is used for Lida uezd projects only. Records include censuses; family lists; marriages, births, death records; prenumeraten lists; and more. Please contact Judy Baston with any questions.For current translations, please see the ALD: All Lithuanian Database and Belarus SIG Database.
Lida District genealogical records translation is a joint effort of Lida District Researchers of Belarus SIG and Lida District Research Group (DRG) of LitvakSIG. Record translations cover all shtetls (towns) in the Lida Uyezd (district) of Vilnius Guberniya (region) of Lithuania including the town of Lida itself. This page is hosted at no cost to the public by JewishGen, Inc., a non-profit corporation. If useful or if you are moved by this effort to preserve the memory of our lost communities, your JewishGen-erosity will be appreciated.