| "According to historical sources, the town of Svir has been on the world map
for about 700 years. The settlement was established by Duvmont in the 13th
century. The government in those days was not stable and it was not uncustomary
for it to pass from hand to hand, from prince to prince. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Svir was given over to the rule of the
Svirskim. In another period, it was under the domain of the Radzvillim. And
finally, the town returned to the Svirskim who ruled for such a long time that
it gave the town its name, Svir. Also, many Jewish families in this period took
the name Sversky, and people with these names are spread all over the world.
There is no knowledge whether the names were chosen under pressure or they were
chosen voluntarily.
One of the families, Harozen John, established in Svir a church* built from
wood, and only in 1653 was a brick church built. Only after that when the
nobility exceeded to the Swedish church was the church neglected and its
property confiscated. To this day certain remnants are still to be found on the
mountain upon which Svir is built. This mountain later served as a strategic
military position in later wars. The famous Polish king, Steven Vatari, who went
out to war in 1573 against the Baltic States, organized his army on this
mountain. Even during the first world war, in 1920, the mountain was a military
position for the Polish in its war against the Red Army which finally conquered
the town.
We are lacking other historical facts about the Jewish settlement there. It
is known that in 1847 the Jewish population of Svir was 431 people, and by 1890
it already grew to 1,114 people..."
* The Hebrew word used here is "knaisiyah" which is usually translated as
church. The context here, however, would seem to indicate a synagogue, which
should read "beit knesset".
Translator's comments: This article continues on page 8, which was not made
available to me. Page 6 is an introduction indicating that the author was
writing this in memory of Jews of his town and expressing gratitude to those who
made publication possible
Barry Dov Schwartz, Rabbi
Temple B'nai Sholom
Addition notes from Shtetl Finder by Cohen:
Swir, is a village (or shtetl) East of Vilna, located south of Sventzion. It is
the birthplace of Rueben Leon Kahn, born 1887, who was brought to the United
States at age 12 and became a bacteriologist and developer of a blood test for
detecting syphilis.
Sources for additional information include Irtanu Svir, 1959 and
Geven Amol a Shtetele svir, 1975; Kagan 5688.
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