Click on the map or photo for a larger version
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Map of the Jewish Pale of Settlement |
Where Kholmich is Located |
Map of Kholmich/ Where the Pictures
Were Taken
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In July 2001, researchers from the Greencastle group were hired to travel to Kholmich, Belarus, the ancestral shtetl of my family. There my grandmother Bessie Rapoport Schechter, was born and raised before emigrating to America in 1913. We asked the researchers to take photographs, to inquire about the current state of the the town and its Jewish community, and to try to find out what happened to my relatives and their neighbors during World War II. To read a copy of their report, click on the link below: |
11. Back door of the store. |
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23. View of the Dnepr, from the old center. |
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12. War monument: "In memory of people who fought here." |
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24. A ferry across the Dnepr. It is broken now, but there is a plan to fix it. |
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1. A general picture approaching the town. |
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13. Part of the holdings of the aristocratic Rochitsky family. |
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25. The old center. A house on Yaprouskaya St. |
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2. A roadside sign. |
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14. The modern center: bank, post office, and town hall. |
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26. Another old building. Someone might still live in it. |
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3. Witnesses of the Jewish massacre, Nikolai and Tatyana Stolyachuki. They helped to guide the photographers. |
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15. The new marketplace: a big store. |
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27. The old man is his yard. |
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4. Place where one synagogue stood. |
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16. Inside the store. |
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28. The site of the Jewish cemetery. |
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5. Foundation of synagogue. |
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17. The clothing department of the store. |
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29. A more general view of the Jewish cemetery site. |
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6. A residence in the old center. |
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18. The site of the new outdoor market. |
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30. The memorial site. The massacre was nearer the river |
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7. Old school building. It now is a storage space for beekeepers. |
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19. The old hospital. (Note the cross). |
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31. .A close-up of the plaque. See the enlarged photo for details. |
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8. Furnace room for old school. |
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20. What is left of the old drug store. |
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32. A close-up of the massacre marker. Apparently, it represents a tree with limbs cut off.
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9. Site of old market place. |
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21. Location of one-time Christian seminary. |
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33. Wreath near the massacre site. The ribbon reads: "From the AME Club-in memory of those killed in World War II." |
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10. Old store, though probably not 19th-century in construction. |
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22. View of the Dnepr, leaving Kholmich. |
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34. In Rechtisa's Jewish cemetery. For the inscription see the enlarged photo. |
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