Uncategorized | June 15, 2015

Shklov: Facts about Jewish religious life in Shklov from the late 1890s-early 1900s

By 1897, the Jewish population of Shklov was 5,122, or 78% of its total population. There were 11 registered synagogues and a yeshiva, a branch of the famous yeshiva in Slobodka. Former main synagogue of shtetl Shklov  Before 1906, Shklov’s chief Rabbi was Meir Shwartz, a member of the Orthodox Misnagdim movement. Following Rabbi Shwartz was Rabbi Yehuda-Leib Don-Yah’ya, who was…

Uncategorized | May 15, 2015

1946 JDC List of Jewish Residents of Belarus Who Survived WWII

In early 1946, after the end of WWII, the International Red Cross Committee was sent to the Soviet Union to estimate the magnitude of destruction and how to help survivors. While touring many places around the Soviet Union, the committee stopped in a few towns and shtetls in Belarus. Among the committee members was the Joint Distribution Committee’s representative, who…

Uncategorized | May 5, 2015

The Mezhirech agricultural colony, founded in 1846 by Jews from Mogilev guberniya

In the mid-19th-century, one goal of the Russian government was to encourage Jews to work the land. The government provided land in six guberniyas (provinces) of the Russian Empire for this purpose, including Yekaterinoslavskaya guberniya (today Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozh’ye region in Ukraine). One of these was the agricultural colony of Mezhirech. The Tzar provided many benefits for Jews who moved…

Uncategorized | April 16, 2015

1901 List of major donors for Jewish cemetery in Minsk

In the first half of the 19th century, Minsk had two Jewish cemeteries. One was closed to burials in 1851. In the 1920s, it was destroyed by the Communists and the campus of the Belorussian State University was built on its grounds. The other Jewish cemetery was closed to burials in 1898. In 1934, this cemetery was also destroyed and…