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Encyclopaedia Judaica

Jews in Belarus (BSSR) 01: 15th century to 1921
(until 1772 part of Poland-Lithuania )

Poland-Lithuania - tolerance and massacres - Pale of Settlement - economy - Zionism and Bund - Polish-Russian War 1919-1921 - partition 1921 - impoverished Jews

from: Belorussia; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 4

presented by Michael Palomino (2008 / 2023)


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<BELORUSSIA, territory located between the rivers Neman (west) [[Germ.: Memel]] and Dnjeper (east) and the rivers Pripet (south) and Dvina (north) [[also: Daugava, Germ.: Duena]].

Between the 14th and 18th centuries part of (col. 443)

*Poland-Lithuania, from the partitions of Poland (1772-95) until the 1917 revolution it was part of the "northwestern region" of Russia, and much of it was included in the three governments (provinces) of Minsk, Mogilev, and Vitebsk. Under Soviet rule Belorussia became a political entity as the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

[[Since 1991 Belorussia was renamed Belarus to forget the Soviet past]].

Up to Soviet Rule.

[Jewish immigration  to Belarus as a member of Poland-Lithuania - slow Christian tolerance - or massacres against the Jews]

In Jewish history Belorussia is part of "Lita" (Lithuania), its Jews being considered "Litvaks". Jewish merchants apparently first visited Belorussia in transit between Poland and Russia as early as the 15th century. Jews were acting as toll collectors in Nowogrodek (1445), *Minsk (1489), and *Smolensk (1489). In 1495 the Jews in Belorussia were included in the expulsion of Lithuanian Jewry, returning with it in 1503. An important role in developing Belorussia was played by Jews from *Brest-Litovsk as large-scale farmers of the customs dues and wealthy merchants. Their agents were often the pioneers of the communities of Belorussia. A community was established in *Pinsk in 1506. By 1539 there were Jews settled in *Kletsk and Nowogrodek, and subsequently in Minsk, *Polotsk, *Vitebsk, *Mogilev, and *Orsha.

The Christian citizenry consistently opposed the permanent settlement of Jews within the areas of the cities and towns under municipal jurisdiction. In Vitebsk, for instance, they were not granted permission to build a synagogue until 1630. Within the framework of the Council of Lithuania (see *Councils of the Lands), Pinsk was one of the three original principal communities; most of the communities in Belorussia came under the jurisdiction of the Brest-Litovsk community, while several were subject to that of the Pinsk community. In 1692 the *Slutsk community also achieved the status of a principal community. Smaller communities also grew up under the protection of the landowners who rented their towns, villages, taverns, or inns to Jewish contractors (see *Arenda). These made constant attempts to break away from the jurisdiction of the older communities and manage their communal affairs independently.

Down to the period of the partitions of Poland the communities in Belorussia were constantly exposed to the danger of Russian incursions, which were accompanied by wholesale massacres and forced conversions. Such occurred in 1563 in Polotsk, and in many other communities between 1648 and 1655.

[Jewish communities in the tax registers - example 1761]

The relative strength of the Belorussian communities in the middle of the 18th century is shown by the amounts levied on them as listed in the tax register of the Council of Lithuania for 1761:

-- for the communities in the eastern part of Belorussia, 16,500 zlotys;
-- Polotsk and environs, 3,000 zlotys;
-- the area around Minsk (including 40 small communicativeness), 4,260 zlotys;
-- Slutsk and its environs, 2,420 zlotys;
-- Druya and its environs, 750 zlotys;
-- Nowogrodek, 300 zlotys.

According to the government census of 1766, there were 62,800 taxpaying Jews living in Belorussia, forming 40% of Lithuanian Jewry. The largest communities were in Minsk (1,396 Jewish inhabitants) and Pinsk (1,350).

[after the partitions of Poland: Belarus becomes part of Russia - new center Shklov]

After Belorussia passed to Russia in the late 18th century *Shklov [[on the Dnieper river]] became an important commercial center on the route between Russia and Western Europe. Although a small group of Jews acquired wealth as building contractors, army suppliers, and large-scale merchants, the vast majority of Jews in the region of Belorussia were relatively destitute. Nevertheless their numbers grew.

[[Supplement: Pale of Settlement
The territory of Belarus was now part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. The Pale of Settlement was practically the ancient territory of former Poland-Lithuania. There was a harsh anti-Semitism of the Czarist regime. Jews were not allowed to leave the Pale of Settlement, and they were even not allowed to move within the Pale of Settlement]].

[Jewish population figures]

There were 225,725 Jews living in the three governments of Belorussia in 1847, and 724,548 in 1897 (13.6% of the total population) [[because of shift of territory]], forming the majority in the principal cities of the region. There were 47,561 Jews in Minsk (52.3% of the total population); 34,420 in Vitebsk (col. 444)

(52.4%); 32,369 in *Daugavpils (46.6%); 21,539 in Mogilev (50%); 21,065 in Pinsk (74.2%); 20,759 in *Bobruisk (60.5%); and 20,385 in *Gomel (54.8%).

[Economy]

The Jews in the cities and townships of Belorussia had associations with the village and rural economy in a variety of ways. Both the wealthy and poorer Jews engaged in the development and trade of forest industries, and established small or medium-sized timber enterprises. They also developed leather and allied industries on a similar scale.

Another Belorussian Jewish occupation was peddling combined with the buying up of village produce, such as flax, hemp, and bristles, which the Jewish peddler sold to Jewish merchants who exported these commodities to the West. Because of the prevailing conditions of poverty large numbers of Jews emigrated from Belorussia to the Ukraine or southern Russia and, from the 1880s, to the United States.

[[The governmental program allowed some Jewish families the shift to southern Russia for agricultural settlement]].

[Cultural activities]

In the cultural sphere, the Jews of Belorussia were influenced by the centers in Vilna, Volhynia, and Podolia. In general the *Mitnaggedim [[also: Mitnagdim, Engl.: "opponents"]] trend predominated in the north and west of the region. Most of the celebrated Lithuanian yeshivot [[religious Torah schools]] were in Belorussia, those of *Volozhin and *Mir, among others. Hasidism penetrated Belorussia from the south.

Two of the fathers of Hasidism, *Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk and *Shneur Zalman of Lyady, were active there. Belorussia was the cradle of *Habad Hasidism. In southern Belorussia the influence of the hasidic rabbis of the *Karlin and *Stolin dynasties was strong.

By the mid-19th century Haskalah penetrated the larger towns from Vilna. The pogroms in Russia of 1881 to 1883 did not spread to Belorussia. The Hovevei Zion found adherents mainly in the larger and average-size communities.

[19th century: Zionism and Bund movements]

Toward the end of the 19th century Zionism and the Bund movement began to spread among Belorussian Jewry. Zionism found its main adherents among the middle-class professionals and white-collar workers or working men from the ranks of traditional Judaism. It was in Belorussia that Labour Zionism originated, its centers being Minsk, Bobruisk, Gomel, and Vitebsk. The second convention of Russian Zionists was held in Minsk in 1902. The Bund won converts mainly among Jewish artisans and workers, but also among radicals of the intelligentsia.

[1905 revolution: self-defense units - only few communities harmed]

During the revolution of 1905 the Bund headed the revolutionary movement in Belorussia. Self-defense organizations to protect the Jews during the wave of pogroms in this period were established by the Bund and the Labour Zionists at this time in every town in the region. The first move toward organized Jewish self-defense there was made to combat a gang of rioters in Gomel in the fall of 1903. As a result only a few communities in Belorussia were harmed.

The revolution precipitated far-reaching changes in the internal life of the Jews of Belorussia which contributed to the breakup of the traditional Jewish social and spiritual patterns and loyalties. Zionism resulted in the development of modernized hadarim [[also chadarim, sg. cheder, heder, Engl.: "room", small Jewish school]] and Hebrew schools.

[since 1918: streams of Jewish refugees]

After the outbreak of World War I a stream of refugees and émigrés from Poland and Lithuania passed through Belorussia, and were warmly received by the Jews there. The 1917 February Revolution aroused great expectations among the Jewish public, and the Jewish political parties emerged from underground.

[Cultural life]

[Jewish newspapers]

A number of Jewish journals were issued in Minsk, including the Zionist Der Yid [[Yidd.: "The Jews"]] and the Bundist Der Veker [[Yidd.: "The alarm clock"]].

[Elections and Zionism]

[[In 1917?]] In the Minsk district the Zionists received 65,400 votes in the elections to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly as against 16,2790 votes for the Bund and the Mensheviks.

[Polish-Russian war 1918-1921 - partition of BSSR in Treaty of Riga March 1921]

After the October Revolution [[1917, with the following German occupation and installation of a big Belarus and Ukraine]] and the Peace of Brest-Litovsk [[3 March 1918]], Belorussia became a battlefield between the Red Army and the Polish army. The Jewish communities suffered severely both from the general wartime conditions and from attacks by the Polish Army when Jews were killed (col. 445)

indiscriminately on the charge of spying and helping the Red forces.

[[The Soviet regime were mostly communists, so all Jews were blamed to be communists]].

The victims of these atrocities included 35 Jews in Pinsk in April 1919. Russian volunteers under the command of General Bulak-Balakhovich terrorized the Jews in the small towns and villages. After the Treaty of Riga in March 1921, Belorussia was divided between the Soviet Union and Poland (col. 446).

[[Poland was occupying half of Ukraine and celebrated the occupation of Kiev. When the Red army stroke back all territory was won back and only French help could stop the Red army before Warsaw. The territory of Belarus in 1921 was about one third of the origin territory. A big part of it was given to Poland (Eastern Poland) and another big part to Russia. Jews had to remove and leave their property. Jewish organizations were founded and helping there, see American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee]].

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Sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: BSSR, vol. 4,
                        col. 443-444
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: BSSR, vol. 4, col. 443-444
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: BSSR, vol. 4,
                        col. 445-446
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: BSSR, vol. 4, col. 445-446

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