Lyubcha, Belarus

Alan Levitt

June 2018

Attached are some photos of Novogrudok and Lyubcha that I got from a cousin (Ruthi) in Raanana.   They are of her father in school circa 1929.   Also her grandmother who left Lyubcha in 1933 for Israel.  There is also a photo of Ruthi's father, Dov.   I have about 60 cousins in Israel, all with ancestors from Novogrudok and Lyubcha, and I will be getting other photos and stories, from my relativres thereand sending them to you, if you want.

Below is a memory, written to me in a 1976 letter from my great uncle, Ben Shapiro (Shimshelevitch) who was my surrogate grandfather, because my real grandfather - Abe Shapiro (Shimshelevitch) died before I was born.   It is about an experience he had, around 1908 or so in Lyubcha - sorta of reflects on the times.

"........About your grandfather (Abe), there isn't much that I can tell you.   He was about 9 years older than me.and we lived in different worlds (in Lyubcha - about 60 miles from Minsk).  One thing I remember is when I was 8 or 9 years old, I went up in the attic to look for something I can play with, and hidden under a lot of old sacks and straw, I found a whole treasure of - to me -- strange and wonderful things to play with.  There was a club, about the size of a police officer's club, with nails driven through every two or three inches in irregular fashion to about 15" from the end and the heads of the nails removed and sharpened.   Another  club had a hole bored into it and lead poured in with some metal bands around it.   There was a heavy piece of metal sharpened, with a handle, like a machete.   Quite an arsenal!  To me, it was a find in a million.  I took it all down and showed it to mother (Nekhama Kivelevitch Shimshelevitch)  and then the sky fell on me!  I was beaten like I was never beaten before, berated, and scared half to death and forbidden to go up to the attic again.or  breathe a word of my find to a soul.     

To understand the above, you have to know the time and place.   I will try and give you a picture of it.  Russia, at that time, was ruled by a "Tsar" as the Russian king was called.  He was an absolute ruler and the country was sprinkled with revolutionaries.   In addition, the government organized pogroms against the Jews in order to take the pressure off its own shortcomings.   So some of the young Jews in Lyubcha that didn't believe in turning the other cheek organized themselves, and formed a sort of self defense organization that called itself the "Bund.".  Well, your grandfather (Burl Shimshelevitch's and Nekhama Kivelevitch Shimshelevitch's son) was one of them , and the police were smelling at his heels.   Abe was a revolutionary, and a Jew, and that made him a dangerous character.   My find was his arsenal and my finding it put him in mortal danger, should I ever tell it to a soul.  The danger even extended to the whole family, and although I didn't know exactly why, I knew that this is one thing I must not even hint about to any of my friends.  Well, for this reason and also because he was getting to the age where he will soon be inducted into military service, he was soon shipped to America, and because your grandfather was not a letter writer, we lost contact until 1919 when I came back from the war.?  (WWI)

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The above story is from around 1908 - about when my grandfather left Lyubcha for the U.S.   Ben followed him about seven years later.

Hope this is useful

Alan

Shapiro