During ground-breaking for construction of a new apartment building in Volozhyn, a mass burial site was discovered for Jews killed during the Holocaust. About a year ago, the Volozhyn town administration granted a construction permit for construction of the new building on the site of an abandoned stadium in the town center. It is a known fact that there is…
We found an interesting file with copies of identification documents of Jews from Mogilev guberniya traveling to Palestine as pilgrims, 1826-1832. These documents provide the name of the traveler and family members, as well as physical descriptions. Poor people couldn’t afford this type of travel. We can only imagine how difficult their journey was without trains or planes. Imagine how…
We wish you and your families health, peace and prosperity in the coming years. – Staff of JHRG Belarus
In the Russian Empire of the 19th century, day schools (called cheder) were very common for Jewish boys. Students were divided into three age groups. From ages 3-5, the youngest boys learned the Hebrew alphabet and reading skills. From ages 5-8, they were already learning Torah with Rashi commentary and beginning to learn Talmud. Those ages 8-13 were learning Talmud…
For those of you who are thinking about taking an ancestral trip to Belarus, we would like to share a recent testimonial from one of our clients who just returned from their trip. Hi Yuri, We are finally back from our Poland-Belarus trip and would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for a wonderful experience that…
Our post from June 30th about Belorussian Jews which were looking for their relatives in US in 1921 got a lot of attention, and we’ve received a lot of inquiries from our readers. We’ve decided to continue publishing this list, and below is another 18 entries of people who were looking for their relatives in US in 1921. Choral Synagogue in…
In October 1921, a JOINT representative from United States came to Belarus with an inspection of Jewish life, because it was a very difficult time when Jewish institutions tried to survive. When he was meeting and talking to people in various towns and shtetls of Belarus, some of them requested to find their relative in America so they can immigrate…
On June 8, 2014, a ceremony was held on the site of the Maly Trostenets death camp, located in a Minsk, Belarus suburb, marking the commencement of construction of a memorial dedicated to the camp’s casualties. It was the fourth largest World War II death camp in Europe. According to official statistics 206, 500 civilians from Belarus, and Western and…
A Few weeks ago during construction work in Brest (Brest-Litovsk) on Minskiy Lane almost 150 whole tombstones and pieces of tombstone from pre-war Jewish cemetery were discovered. Minsky Lane is located not far from the territory of former Jewish cemetery, which in 1970s was replaced by a stadium. Tombstones were collected by representatives of local Jewish community, and now are…
According to the 1850 Census of the Russian Empire, the Jewish population had grown more than half since the previous census in 1834 to 2,350,00 people. Within the Pale of Settlement, 25 percent of the population was Jewish. Therefore, the Russian government began receiving many more inquiries for the construction of synagogues. In 1853, the Russian government conducted an inventory…
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