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