3. Belorussia /
White
Russia (BSSR)
[1939-1941: White Russia under
Soviet rule (western
part / Eastern Poland)]
from: Belorussia; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 4
<In September 1939, when western Belorussia [Eastern Poland] was
annexed by the Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of Jews in whom
religious and nationalist feelings were strong augmented the numbers of
Belorussian Jewry already under Soviet rule. They also included groups
of refugees from the Nazi-occupied zone. Even though the Soviet
authorities immediately began to liquidate the practice of religion and
the Zionist movement, signs of awakening were evident among the
"older", "Soviet" Jews. In Bialystok a nucleus of Jewish writers and
intellectuals was formed. The Hebrew schools were converted to Yiddish.
The higher authorities however were prompt to give the signal to
liquidate this "reactionary evolution".
[1940 approx.: Stalin deportations]
Arrests of "bourgeois elements" and expulsions to the interior of
Russia followed, and every effort was made to press forward with
the liquidation and assimilation carried out over 20 years in eastern
Belorussia.
[1941: Big Flight from Barbarossa]
The German invasion of Belorussia in June 1941 interrupted this
activity, then at its height. The Jews in Belorussia, most of whom had
not succeeded in escaping eastward, were now caught in the trap of the
Nazi occupation.>
[The withdrawal of the Red Army and Big Flight from Barbarossa are not
mentioned in the article].
-----
Gomel (BSSR)
[1919-1941: Gomel: Communist
suppression]
from: Gomel (BSSR); In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 7
<After the consolidation of the Soviet regime [in 1919] Jewish
religious and nationalist elements struggled against the Communist
campaign to win over the masses. Nevertheless, the hadarim were closed
down, beautiful synagogues were converted to secular purposes, and
Jewish communal life came to an end. The rabbi of Gomel, R.
Borishanski, was (col. 767)
arrested for opposing the Communist suppression of the Jewish religion.
The community decreased from 47,505 in 1910 (55 %) to 37,745 in 1926
(43.7 % ).
[1941: Gomel: Big Flight from
Barbarossa - after 1945: Jews coming back]
During the Nazi occupation the Jews who did not manage to escape from
Gomel were murdered, but information on this period is sparse. The
Jewish population of the whole district numbered 45,000 in 1959.>
(col. 768)
-----
Grodno (Horodno, BSSR)
1916-1939: Grodno: Numbers of Jews
from: Grodno (BSSR); In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, Vol. 7
<The Jewish population numbered 8,422 in 1816 (85.3% of the total);
approximately 10,300 in 1856-57 (63.3%); 27,343 in 1887 (68.7%); 27,874
in 1904 (64.1%); 34,461 in 1912 (c. 60%); 15,504 in 1916 (64.4 %) (col.
924)
18,697 in 191 (53.4%); and 21,159 in 1931 (42.6%). The decrease in the
Jewish population during World War I was partly due to their expulsion
to inner Russia by the Russian military authorities in 1915. The
decrease relative to the general population after the war was due both
to Jewish emigration from Grodno and to the official encouragement
given to Poles to settle there after is conquest by the Poles in
1919.> (col. 925)
[The withdrawal of the Red Army and the Big Flight from Barbarossa are
not mentioned in the article].
since 1944: Grodno: Return of Jews -
destruction of Jewish institutions
<Groups of Grodno Jewish partisans were active in forests. Some
2,000 Jews resettled in Grodno over a period of years following its
liberation.
By the 1960s Grodno had no synagogue. The "old" synagogue was a
storehouse; the "new" one was used as a sports hall. In the mid-1950s
the Jewish cemetery was plowed up. Tombstones were taken away and used
for building a monument to Lenin. There are four mass graves of Jews
near the city, on which monuments were erected after World War II. One
of them was repeatedly desecrated and damaged and there were several
cases of graves being similarly treated.> (col. 928)
-----
Mogilev (BSSR)
[1919-1941: Mogilev with
inner Jewish struggle]
from: Mogilev (BSSR); In: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 12
<Following World War I and the establishment of the Communist
regime, the number of Jews decreased and by 1926 only 17,105 (34.1 % of
the population) remained. During the 1920s a violent struggle occurred
between the religious circles and the Zionists on the one hand, and the
*Yevsektsiya on the other, which terminated with the liquidation of
Jewish communal life in the town. Mogilev was the birthplace of
*Mordecai b. Hillel Hakohen, Nachman *Syrkin, and Jacob *Mazeh.
[1941: Mogilev: Big Flight
from Barbarossa]
When Mogilev was occupied by the Germans during World War II (1941),
those Jews who did not escape were massacred.
[1959: Mogilev Jews]
It was estimated that there were about 7,000 to 10,000 Jews in Mogilev
in 1959. The last synagogue was closed down by the authorities in 1959
and turned into a sports gymnasium. There was a Jewish cemetery.>
(col. 216)
-----
Pinsk (BSSR)
[1939-1941: Pinsk:
Sovietization - discriminations - refugee town for Polish Jews for
Vilna - Stalin deportation]
from: Pinks (BSSR); In: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 13
<Holocaust and Postwar Periods.
When Pinsk was under Soviet rule from 1939 to 1941, the Jewish
institutions, including political parties and schools, were closed
down. Some of the Zionist and Bund leaders were arrested and many
Jewish businessmen and members of the free professions were expelled
from the city. A large number of Jewish refugees from western Poland
found shelter in Pinsk, but were deported to the Soviet interior in
1940. Pinsk served as a stopover for many refugees trying illegally to
reach Vilna.>
[The withdrawal of the Red Army and Big Flight from Barbarossa are not
mentioned in the article].
[since 1945: Pinsk: Jewish
families
settle
in Pinsk again]
<After the war, under the Soviet regime, community life was not
renewed in Pinsk, although Jewish families settled there.>
-----
Novogrudok [also: Novogrodek] (BSSR)
1939-1941: Novogrudok:
Sovietization - discriminations - refugee town for Polish Jews
from: Novogrudok (BSSR); In: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 12
<In 1939 there were about 6,000 Jews in Novogrudok, and after the
outbreak of the war (September 1939) refugees from western Poland
joined them. During the period of Soviet rule (1939-141), the
institutions of the Jewish community were destroyed, enterprises were
nationalized, small trade was drastically reduced, and artisans were
organized in cooperatives. There were arrests among the "bourgeois"
Jews.
[Stalin deportations are not mentioned].
[1941: Novogrudok: Arbitrary Flight from Barbarossa is blocked]
With the outbreak of the war between Germany and the U.S.S.R. on June
22, 1941, groups of Jews attempted to reach Soviet territory but (col.
1237)
the Soviet guards prevented them from crossing the border and they
returned to the city.
[The withdrawal of the Red Army and Big Flight from Barbarossa are not
mentioned in the article].
[since 1945: Novogrudok: Jews coming back]
<After the war about 1,200 Jews returned to Novogrudok from hiding
in the forests.> (col. 1238)
-----
Vitebsk (BSSR)
1923-1941: Vitebsk: Numbers of Jews
from: Vitebsk (BSSR); In: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 16
<Vitebsk had a semi-legal Habad yeshivah until 1930. In 1923 there
were 39,714 Jews (43.7 % of the total population). In 1926 there were
37,013 (37.5 %).
[There must have been some emigration which is not mentioned].
1941: Vitebsk: Big Flight from
Barbarossa
With the Nazi conquest of the city in July 1941 part of the Jewish
population fled into the interior of Russia. The city was destroyed in
a fire started by the retreating Red Army. The 16,000 Jews who remained
behind were imprisoned in a ghetto. On October 8, 1941, their
systematic liquidation began.
since 1945: Vitebsk: Return of Jews to Vitebsk
After the liberation of the city from the (col. 192)
Germans Jews began to return. In the later 1960s the Jewish population
was estimated at about 20,000 but there was no synagogue.>
-----
Volkovysk (BSSR)
[1941: Volkovysk: Many Jews
dead by bombings - Flight from Barbarossa - denunciation by Poles]
from: Volkovysk (BSSR); In: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 16
<With the outbreak of the German-Soviet war (June 22, 1941),
Volkovysk was heavily bombed by the Germans. Several hundred Jews were
among those killed. A few escaped with the retreating Soviet army. From
the start of the Nazi occupation many Jews were massacred, some of them
denounced by Poles.>
