Most of what we know about Mlinov and Mervits, from family histories and memories, refers to people from the period between 1850s-1940s and comes from a later date; the Mlinov-Muravica memorial book, for example, which contains many recollections of Mlinov or Mervits families, [5] was published in 1970 and thus represents memories after WWII when the atrocities of the Nazis had come to light and been understood. Before the 1850s, we do not have many recorded memories or information that I have found so far about Jews who were living here and few Jews were left after the Nazi occupation. This site is a tribute to both the families and their descendants from this place.

Location

Mlinov is located today in what is now Western Ukraine and spelled "Mlyniv." In the second partition of Poland (1792–1795), Mlinov became part of Russia where it remained until WWI. Mlinov was close to the Eastern Front during WWI and switched hands multiple times in the civil war following WWI before becoming part of Poland. Mlinov remained part of Poland until WWII. You can view Mlyniv today via Google Maps or Mapquest.

Dubno is mentioned in the memoire of Clara Fram as the larger town her mother, Pesse, visited when shopping for nice things for the holiday and the place her father disembarked from the train on his trips to and from America in the 1890s. Solomon Mandelkern spent time studying in Dubno after leaving Mlinov when he was 14 in about 1860. According to the census of 1897, Dubno had a population of 13,785, including 5,608 Jews. The main sources of income for the Jewish community in Dubno were trading and industrial occupations. There were 902 artisans, 147 day-laborers, 27 factory and workshop employees, and 6 families cultivating land. The town had a Jewish hospital and several chederim (Jewish schools). [5]

Lutsk is also mentioned in the Demb family story as a place where Samuel Roskes, the husband of Mollie Demb, the youngest Demb daughter, was born and where their first son was born. We don’t know how Mollie Demb and Samuel Roskes met each other but the marriage suggests the kind of local mobility that was possible at the time. In 1802, there were 1,297 Jews in the town; by 1847, there were 5,010 (60% of the population); and in 1897, there were 9,468 (60% of the population).[6]

To the west and south about 25 miles, you can see Berestechko, which is where Gulza, the oldest daughter of David and Pesse (Demb) Rivitz, settled with her husband, Leizor Mazuryk (later Louis Mazer in Baltimore). In her memoire, Clara Fram has childhood memories visiting her older sister in Berestechko as a young girl and recalls how she passed through Brestechko with her mother, grandmother and two sisters on their immigration to the Baltimore in late 1908. The community numbered 1,927 in 1847, 2,251 in 1897 (45% of the total population), and 2,210 in 1931 (total population 6,514). [7]

Novohrad-Volynskyi (sometimes “Novograd” in immigration records) is about 100 miles to the east. Records indicate Mlinov-born Motel Demb (Max Deming), his brother Simha Gruber and Simha's two sons, Nathan and Samuel, were living here for a time and this might have been the city to which some of the Mlinov population was evacuated during WWI. At the start of the 20th century, 10,000 Jews or 50% of the population, lived in the town. In 1919, the Pogroms in Ukraine reached Novohrad-Volynskyi, and the troops of Symon Petliura murdered 1,000 Jews.[8]

Volodymyr Volynskyi, called "Ludmir" in Yiddish, is 70 miles west of Mlinov. Ludmir was the town where the well-to-do Moshe Gruber from Mlinov headed to find a suitable husband for his daughter Rivkah Gruber when she turned 11 and was of marrying age. He brought back a fifteen-year-old named Israel Jacob (“Yisrael Yaakov”) Demb.

It is possible that Moshe Gruber was drawn to Ludmir because of its reputation as a Hasidic center. When the founder of the Karliner Hasidic dynasty, Rabbi Shelomoh ha-Levi (murdered in 1792), settled in Ludmir in 1786, the town became an important Hasidic center. The “Maiden of Ludmir,” Khane-Rokhl Werbermacher (~1806–~1888), a local woman known for her righteousness and wisdom, also became a popular Hasidic leader; numerous Hasidim gathered in her bet midrash. After she moved to Jerusalem in 1861, her bet midrash was occupied by the Rakhmistrov Hasidim. The Jewish population of Ludmir grew thanks to its status as a trade and crafts center located close to the border. Some 1,849 Jews were registered in the city in 1799; rising to 3,930 in 1847; and reaching 5,869 (about 60% of the population) in 1897.[9]

Notes