VORANAVA

Alternate names: Voranava and Воранава [Bel], Voronovo and Вороново [Rus], Woronów [Pol], Voronova and וואָראָנאָבע [Yid], Varanavas [Lith], Voranova, Voronov, Voronove, Werenów, Woronowo, Woranawa, Bolotna, Werono. 54°09' N, 25°20' E, 37 miles S of Vilnius (Vilna), 18 miles N of Lida. Jewish population was 1,432 in 1897. 1993 town population: 6,800. This village is one km from the railway station on the railway line: Lida-Vilnius, on the road: Lida - Vilnius.

and the dependent villages, hamlets, and estates of Soletchnik (Great and Small)/ Turgel/Trokele/Trokiele at 54°02' 25°25'; Meretz, Lebedi/Lopaty/Lebishok at 53°33' 245°1'?, Oran, and Rashin, Rudan Dekanat

Before WWI, Voranava was in Lida uezd of Vilna guberniya of the Russian Empire. Between WWI and WII, Woronów was in gmina of Lida povet, Novogrudok voevodstvo in Poland. After WWII, Voronovo was part of the Soviet Union and in about 2000 was Voranava in Belarus.

First found in the Chronicles of the sixteenth century as a part of Great Lithuanian Principality, Voranava’s ancient name was Bolotna (Blotna), deriving from its location on the river Balatnyanka, now a small stream. Polish sources call it Werono. Russian sources call it Voronov. On the map of T. Makovski (1613), Voronovo is mestechko (small town) belonging to Gashtold.

In 1690, Voranava had sixty-one houses, a Catholic Church, and a tavern. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, A. Masevich owned Voranava. In 1705, he began building the Catholic Church of St. Tadeush. Later, the town belonged to Stipion and then to Zaretski. In 1735, Yakov Stipion opened a secondary school. At this time, Voranava was the center of starostat (district.) In 1795, Voronovo belonged to the Russian Empire as a mestechko of Lida powet (district). In 1865, the population was 468 people (18 Orthodox, 117 Catholics, and 333 Jews.) Voronovo had forty-two houses, a Catholic church, a synagogue, a prayer house, a water mill, twelve shops, a post office, a post station, weekly fairs, and two leather factories. Close to Voronovo was an estate (or a colony with the center called Rudan Dekanat) with one hundred Catholics, eighteen Orthodox and eight Jews. In this colony was a wine factory, the wooden church of St. Zbivatselya. The 1897 population was 1574 people: 1,432 of them Jews.

In 1921, Voranava belonged to Poland as the center of gmina of Lida povet, Novogrudok voevodstvo. In 1928, Voranava was designated as a miasteczko (small town) (?in the gmina of Bieniakonie?), in the First Uchastok of Lida powiat, Nowogrodskie voevodstvo of Poland. The Justice of the Peace was in Eisiskes and the Justice Court in Wilno. The 1928 miasteczko population was 1,232. The railway station was a train stop for limited transports in Woronow II on the Lida-Wilno line. The post office and telephone were in Woronow and telegraph in Lida. Voranava had one Catholic church, one synagogue, mills, and a Merchants Association. Markets were on Tuesdays.

In 1939, Voranava belonged to Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. On January 15, 1940, Voranava became the regional center. On June 23,1941, the occupying Germans killed more than 2600 people from Voranava and those who had been brought to Voranava from Vilna. Liberation from the Germans by the Red Army was July 11, 1944. 

LOCATION AFTER 1939: Baranavichy Oblast (Belarusian: Баранавіцкая вобласць, Russian: Барановичская Область) was a territorial unit in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic created after the annexation of West Belarus into the BSSR in November 1939. The administrative centre of the province was the city of Baranavichy. The voblast was originally known as the Navahrudak Voblast but it was soon renamed to Baranavichy Voblast. The oblast was made up of 26 raions in 1944. These raions were Byten, Gorodyshche, Ivyanets, Iwye, Yuratishki, Karelichy, Kletsk, Kozlovshchina, Lyakhavichy, Lida, Lubcha, Mir, Masty, Navahrudak, Nova Mysh, Nesvizh, Radun, Slonim, Stowbtsy, Shchuchyn, Vasilishki, Valozhyn, Voranava, Dzyatlava, Zel’va and Zheludok. In 1944, the oblast was diminished after transferring raions of Lida, Radun, Schuchyn, Vasilishki, Voranava, Masty, Zel’va and Zheludok to newly founded Hrodna Voblastones of Iwye, Yuratishki and Valozhyn to Molodechno Voblast in 1944. Finally on January 8, 1954 the oblast was liquidated and the raions were divided between the Brest (Raions of Gorodyshche, Lyakhavichy and Novo Mysh), Grodno (Byten, Karelichi, Kozlovshchina, Lubcha, Mir, Navahrudak and Slonim), Molodechno (liquidated in 1960) (Raion of Ivyanets) and Minsk (Raions of Kletsk, Nesvizh and Stowbtsy) Olbasts (Modern Brest Voblast, Hrodna Voblast and Minsk Voblast). Thus, Baranavichy became part of Brest one as raion center after Nova Mysh one's center was moved to Baranavichy in 1 May 1954 and renaming it as Baranavichy one after 8 April 1957 (Founded after remaining parts of Belastok Region to Belarus in 1945) and . Today: Radun is in Voranava District, Hrodna Voblast, Belarus.

The 1970 population was 3,600 people. 1992: milk factory, bakery, and wine factory. Civic facilities: professional training school, secondary school, musical school, sports school, two kindergartens, school student center, House of Culture, two libraries, hospital, cinema, Monument to the Victims of Fascism (Nazis).

Wikipedia entry for Voronava

Yaffa Eliach, There Once was a World, (Little Brown, 1998) has a picture of cows coming home to the village of “Warinova” on page 267. She also says that the town soccer team called Vulcan had some of the better Eisiskes players. On page 530 is a photo taken May 26, 1924and dedicated to the Eisiskes player, Velvke Saltz.

HAMELITZ DONORS: In 1885 the following donated money for the relief of fire victims in Grodno: Tomtov Divanitzki, Hillel Peisachov, Michal Zilberman, Khanukh Zilberman.

FAMOUS SONS:

•  Eliezer Elijah b. Solomon Ẓebi Hirsch Deiches (1797-1881) was rabbi in Voronovo and Eisiskes at one time. He was born and died in Vilnius. See Jewish Encyclopedia online under Deiches
• Zalman Sorotzkin, also known as the Lutzker Rav

HOLOCAUST:

• Summary of the testimony of Nathan Ballon, a man from Eisiskes, who was in Voronovo during WWII, from records at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
•  US Holocaust Museum search - click on the link & put Voronovo into the search field 
• The Holocaust in Belarus: Voronovo
• Holocaust survivors around the mass grave in Voronovo

• Voronova; sefer zikaron le-kedoshei Voronova she-nispu be-shoat ha-natsim (Israel, 1971)
• Woronow, Voronova (, 1943+)

• Laura Levy is looking for relatives of her Tzigelnitski /Cegelnicka /Sigel family from Lida and Voronovo by way of Smorgon & Minsk.

CEMETERY

• IAJGS International Jewish Cemetery Project page for Voranava.
• Landsmanshaftn cemetery plots in the New York area according to the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York Home Page, go to the pull down bar across the top, select "databases". From there, select "JGS Burial Society Project". Enter "Voranva" into the search box. The database now uses town names as listed in  the JewishGen Townfinder/Communities  Database.

SOURCES

• Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), XIII, p. 955: "Woronów" #1. has not even been saved on the WayBack machine. Good thing we also have:
• Barbara Proko's translation of the Slownik entry.
• Shtetl Finder (1980), p. 116: "Voronova".
• Pinkas HaKehilot, Poland, Vol. 8 (2005), pp. 305-307: "Woronów".
• Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), p. 1466: "Woronowo".
• 1929 Polish business directory "Woronow" is on p 1056; pdf page 1060. Enter 1060 manually into box - there's no pulldown - & click to left of it.  Terms translated here
• Sachenka B. I [editor], Encyclopedia of the History of Belarus. Volume 2, Minsk: 1994, p. 358.
• Kagan Haprenumerantn 2649; 1885: Hamelitz lists donors to aid fire victims in Grodno: Yomtov Divanitzki Lillel Peisachov Michal Zilberman and Chanokh Zilberman;
• EVREISKAYA ENCY.: V: 789 [4 lines].
• Documentary Sources on Jewish History in the Archives of the CIS and the Baltic States: Preliminary List of collections, Compiled by Dmitri A. Elyashevich, Acropolis, St. Petersburg: 1994, St. Peterburg Jewish University, Diaspora Research Institute, Russian State University for the Humanities, Historical Archival Institute, Center for Archival research. Grodno (Belarus), Belorussian Historical Archive in Grodno
• Holocaust in Voronovo on Yahad in Unum site.
• Yad Vashem sources:
• Yad Vashem: TR.10-646 68650, German, 15 Dec 1966, written accusation against Leopold Windich and Rudof Werner in the synagogue in Mainz; description of pursuit of Jews in the LIDA area; establishment of ghettos in the cities and expulsion of the Jews from the towns into the ghettos; description of 3 ghettos in LIDA city and the projects in them in which Jews worked; review of the Judenrat; forced labor; description of "Actions" in SZCZUCZN, ZALUDOK, WASILISHKI at beginning of 1942; murder of 300 Jews in VORONOVO in Nov 1941; description of murder of Jews in the LIDA area in the fall of 1941 and winter of 1941-42; murder of 86 prisoners in LIDA city in the winter of 1942; "actions" in 1942 in the LIDA region; in LIDA city August 1942; in ZALOUDEK 5 Jan 1942; in WASILISZKI 10 May 1942; in WORONOW 19 May 1942; in IWJE 12 May 1942; notes on the number of Jews that were murdered by him. The files also accuse the occupied governments of LIDA city and their leaders Dienst, Stellen of Himmler in the occupied eastern territories
• Yad Vashem: 7310, Hebrew, 1 Mar 1973, KAPLAN, Yosef: Jews of Lida under Soviet rule; members of the Judenrat (with names); German workers Werner, Windisch an Hannweg; residents of the neighborhood, WASILISKI, IWJE, WORONOW in the Lida ghetto; failed escapes; escape of the couple Kaplan and their joining the Soviet partisan group Iskra; sabotage and battles
• Yad Vashem: 0.3-4010 12562, Russian, 30 Oct 1978, SINALEVITZ, Felix: Transfer of WERENOW Jews to WASILISZKI; their stay in the ghetto; description of the murder of Jews in the cemetery and their escape from that place of murder, their conditions in the cities around Grodno and Bialystok; their joining the partisans with the name NEVSKIJ and their joining the partisans of the Red Army.