LOCATION:

50°39' N, 30°53' E
47 Miles SE of Vitebsk
21 miles ENE of Orsha


MAPS:

DESCRIPTION:
Rossasna is a very tiny shtetl in the Vitebsk district. The Dnieper river and one of its tributaries, the Rossassenka, flows near or through the town.
The section of the Dnieper river between Dubrowna and Rossasna used to be known as a fisherman's paradise, but today that is questionable due to polluted runoff from local farms.


HISTORY:
          1795-1860: part of Kopys district, Mogilev province
          1861-1922: part of Gorki district, Mogilev province
          1923 on: part of Dubrowna district, Vitebsk province

In August 1813, it was along the path of Napoleon's army as he advanced towards Russian forces located in Smolensk. According to the 1897 Russian census, the total population was 1060, of whom 327 were Jews.
In the 1920s, 28 Jewish families lived there.  During WWII, the Germans captured the town in July 1941.  There is a mass grave just outside of Rossasna, where almost 200 local Jews were killed.  The few remaining
Jews were taken to the nearby town of Lyady on 2 Apr 1942, where they were murdered along with the local Jews.


MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS FROM JEWISHGEN:
Jewish Religious Personnel in the Russian Empire 1853-1854 lists Movsha BESKIN, Izrael GUREVICH and Abram GUREVICH.
The JewishGen Belarus Deaths Database lists one entry for Movsha Aron BIELKIN, son of Esel, died 16 May 1893, age 55, of consumption.


OTHER RECORDS:
The Yad VaShem Database has 147 entries for the town of Rossasna.

Surnames include:

• ARONOV
• BELKIN
• DUBROVSKY
• GABAY
• GORBOCHEV
• KISEL

• KISELIER
• MAGANET/MOGANET
• MENDELEV/MENDILEV
• MOZES

• MUDRYKAMER
• POLINA
• RYVKIN
• SHALYUTIN
• SIRKIN

• SMOTKIN
• SOKOLINSKI
• SYRKIN
• VAISMAN

LIFE IN ROSSASNA & BELARUS
(late 19^th and early 20^th centuries)

ROSSASNA CEMETERY

HOLOCAUST IN ROSSASNA


FAMILIES:

USVYATSKY FAMILY

USVYATSKY FAMILY TREE

THE KUZNETSOFF AND LAPATUCHIN FAMILIES:

Please contact Terri Friedman if you have any information
about anyone with these surnames. They were her
grandparents, and were from Rossasna and Lyady.

RECORD TYPES FOUND IN USVYATSKY FAMILY RESEARCH:
There are many misconceptions about researching in Belarus. People may think “the records were all destroyed” or “no records exist for my shtetl”. While no metrical records were found for Rossasna, alternative means were used to research my family.
These include:
Police records: In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, Jews weren’t allowed to keep passports. They had to register with the local police station and request written permission to move. Copies of these records survive to this day. It’s possible to track
people’s movements by examining local mayoral and police records. Police records may also include complaints about residents and other information.
School records: Until 1922, only 4 years of school were required. After 1922, 7 years of school were required. The education could have been either in a Jewish school or in a secular school. The USVYATSKY children all attended the Jewish school.
Property records: List the address, a description of the buildings on the property, the value of the buildings and how much tax was paid per year.
Draft records: Including draft applications and lists of discharged soldiers.
Hospital records
Miscellaneous lists:
revision lists
lists of BUND representatives
lists of various kinds of committees and their Board members
lists of traders and people who apply for various kinds of licenses
lists of town residents who joined collective farms
lists of Jewish families who moved to Birobidjan
etc.

SOURCES

• Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust edited by Shmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder
• Napoleon: A History of the Art of War: From the Beginning of the Peninsular War to the End of the Russian Campaign with a Detailed Account of the Napoleonic Wars by Theodore Ayrault Dodge in 4 volumes, 1907
• JewishGen Databases
• Katya Makarevich
• Yuri Dorn
• Jewish Heritage Research Group
• Anna R.
• Nadezhda B.
• Mariya S.

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