[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.>
