Welcome
This
web site is dedicated to the study of the town of
Shklov and to the memory of its former Jewish
population. For further information, click
on the links below:
HISTORY OF SHKLOV
WHEN SHKLOV WAS
JEWISH
WORLD WAR
II
VESTIGES
OF JEWISH LIFE
JEWISH CEMETERY
SHKLOV TODAY
JEWISH
FAMILIES OF SHKLOV
MAPS,
LINKS and MORE
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Location,
Demography, Summary
Shklov
is located on the banks of the Dnieper River in the
Mogiliev District (oblast) of Belarus, some 20 miles
north of the town of Mogiliev, and 113 miles
east-northeast of Minsk. This Shklov website also includes Zarecha, the
contiguous shtetl just across the Dnieper River, as well
as the Rizhkevich area, which was formerly a separate
village on the Shklov side of the river, but which is
now a part of Shklov.
According to the 1897 Census, at the
end of the 19th century, 5,422 Jews lived in Shklov,
comprising 78% of the total population. At that
time there were more than ten synagogues and prayer
houses functioning. The Jewish Encyclopedia
published in 1905, reported that at that time the
Jewish population of Shklov had grown to about 12,000,
which was nearly 88% of the total population.
However, during the early 20th century many of
Shklov's Jews then left the town, either for the big
towns and cities, or to emigrate, and by 1939 only
2,132 Jews remained, comprising 26.2% of the
population. The majority of the Jews who
remained in Shklov, along with thousands of Jews from
nearby towns who had taken refuge in Shklov, were
mercilessly murdered during World War II in a series
of hideous mass shooting actions carried out by the
Nazi forces in 1941. Today the population of Shklov
numbers some 16,000, but only a mere handful of Jews
remain in the town. According to one of
those last remaining Jews, "there is no one left who
knows how to pray or keep Jewish
tradition." The era of Shklov as a center
of Jewish life has passed.
During its "Golden Era" in the late 18th century,
Shklov was a center of Jewish learning and the largest
Hebrew publisher in Eastern Europe. Shklov was in the forefront of the
conflict in currents of Jewish practice between the
"Hasidim" and the "Mitnagdim" in the late 18th
century. Followers of the Vilna Gaon from
Shklov led a wave of emigration to Israel in the early
19th century and played a key role in the
establishment of the early settlement "Yishuv" in
Jerusalem and Sefad. Because of the town's role as an
intellectual and cultural center, the Jews of Shklov
have been termed "Russia's First Modern Jews."
Other Names:
Shklov: Shklow [Bel], Shklov [Rus, Yid], Szkłów
[Pol], Škłoŭ, Shkloŭ, Schklou
Zarecha: Zarech'ye, Zarechnyy Shklov [Rus]
Rizhkevich: Ryzhkovichi
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