About Kozanhorodok
from "About Our Origin" in THE PECHENIK FAMILY, written and compiled by Ralph Selitzer, ©1969. Used with permission of the author.
...Kozanhorodok [is] located in an area that is
historically the crossroads between Poland, White Russia (now
Byelorussia) and the Ukraine.... The terrain around
Kozanhorodok, Luninetz and the surrounding villages...is poor and its sandy loam and light soil yielded little to
support life. The landscape is also one of spectacular contrasts
created by glaciers that had stopped their southern movement just north
of Kozanhorodok, creating the rich Black Belt to the south in the
Ukraine. The area is abundant with great forests which provided the
lumber for our ancestors to practice carpentry. Much of the region is
also bog or lake land in the drainage paths of the Dnieper and Pripet
rivers. Many of our elders remember losing their boots in the thick mud
of the Pripet Marshes. Between the swamps and in stretches within the
forests are dry sandy areas and higher land on which the rural
settlements clustered. One could walk barefoot on the sand of these
glacial lakes that had dried out centuries before.... And the area is rich with the history of the many peoples that
passed through this main crossroads between east and west. It is also
rich in the traditions and folklore of the millions of Jews who in
different centuries migrated to and settled in the region....
[For complete version of "About Our Origin," go here.]
from THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWISH LIFE
BEFORE AND DURING THE HOLOCAUST
KOZANGRODEK Polesie dist., Poland, today Belarus. The J. settlement dates from the 17th cent., numbering 1,597 in 1897 and 783 in 1921 (total 2,706). The Germans executed all the Jews outside the town on 18 Aug. 1942
from WHERE ONCE WE WALKED, REVISED EDITION
Kozhan-Gorodok, Bel.; (Kazhaneradok, Kozangrodek, Kozhangrudek, Kozhanhorodok, Kurzanhradek); pop. 783; 62 km E of Pinsk; 52°13'/27°01'....
