The Old Country
Hometown in Europe
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Boguslav, Ukraine Birthplace and home of Shaia Rjawsky. |
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Odessa, Ukraine |
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Sosnowiec, Poland |
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Vilna (Vilnius), Lithuania |
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Boguslav, Ukraine
Jews lived here from the start of the 17th century, and by 1926, the
Jewish population numbered 6,432. In 1941, the community was annihilated
after the Nazi occupation.
Early History - 17th through 19th Centuries
A city in Kiev
province, Ukrainian SSR, passed to Russia from Poland
in 1793. Jews were living in Boguslav
from the beginning of the 17th century and an imposing synagogue was built
there soon after the community was founded. In 1620 they were restricted
in leasing property because the burghers complained that Jews had taken
over most of the houses and stores in the marketplace and were competing
with the local traders. The Jews in Boguslav
suffered during the Haidamack revolts in the area. During the uprising of
1768 they fled from the city; their homes were destroyed and their
property looted. Although 574 Jewish poll - tax payers in Boguslav
are recorded in 1765, only 251 remained after 1768. The community
developed after Boguslav
became part of Russia in 1793. A Hebrew printing press was established
there in 1820 - 21, and Jewish - owned enterprises included textile and
tanning factories. Jews also engaged in handicrafts and dealt in grain and
fruit. The Jewish population numbered 5,294 in 1847 and 7,445 in 1897
(650f the total).
The 20th Century
After World War I, the Jews in Boguslav
suffered severely in the civil war. On May 13, 1919, they were attacked by
gangs of marauding peasants and on August 27, Denikin's "white"
army, which occupied the city, pillaged all the houses there, and
massacred about 40 Jews. Subsequently a Jewish self - defence force was
formed in Boguslav
(under the auspices of the Soviet government) which comprised the entire
male population of abut 1,000 citizens. It fought off the gangs and also
took part in the punitive actions in the neighboring villages. Boguslav
then became an asylum for thousands of Jewish refugees from the towns and
villages of the surrounding areas. The self - defence force was disbanded
in 1923. the Jewish population numbered 6,432 in 1926 (530f the total).
The community in Boguslav
was annihilated after the Nazi occupation of the Ukraine
in 1941.
Courtesy of:
"Encyclopedia Judaica"
©1972, Keter Publishing House Jerusalem Ltd
Jerusalem, Israel
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Odessa, Ukraine
Jews are traced to the late 18th
century and numbered 180,000 by 1939. During the Holocaust,
Jews were shot, burned alive and placed in mass graves. 180,000 Jews were
estimated by 1959.
General Importance
The capital of Odessa
oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Odessa
became the industrial and commercial center for southern Russia. From the
1880's until the 1920's its Jewish community was the second largest in all
of Russia (after Warsaw,
the capital of Poland,
then within Czarist Russia). Odessa
is particularly important because of the rapid and constant growth of the
Jewish population and its economic activity, the "Western"
character of its cultural life, the social and political involvement of
the Jewish public and the Hebrew literary center which emerged there.
Growth of the Jewish Population
Jewish presence in Odessa
dates from the late 18th century, when five Jews were among those who
received plots for the erection of shops. Jews formed approximately 100f
the total population in 1795. In the 1840's they comprised 2020030054f the
population (75,000 persons); 25 0n 1887 (75,000) and 34.4(165,0000) by the
eve of World War I. By 1939, there were 180,000 Jews in Odessa,
29.84413f the population.
Economic Status
From the start, the Jews of Odessa
engaged in retail trade and crafts and their representation in these
occupations remained important. In 1910, 560f the small shops were still
owned by Jews and they constituted 6320030054f the town's craftsmen.
Jewish economy in Odessa
was distinguished by the role played by Jews in grain export, wholesale
trade, banking and industry. There were large numbers of Jews in the
liberal professions and a large Jewish proletariat (about one - third of
the total) in variegated employment. At the beginning of the 20th century,
700f the banks of Odessa
were administered by Jews and 406f the industrialists were Jews.
The October Revolution of 1917 brought a decline in the comercial status of Odessa as well as the process of socialization. While Jews' livelihoods were affected, much of their experience and many of their skills were utilized in the new economic structure, under different designations. By 1926, Jews comprised the majority of commercial clerks, 900f the tailors' union, and figured in large numbers in the printing union, timber industries, municipal workers and free professionals unions.
Cultural and Educational Aspects
From the cultural aspect, Odessa
was the most "Western" in character in the Pale of Settlement.
Linguistic and cultural Russian assimilation emcompassed widespread
classes and formed a social basis for the community's role in spreading
Russian education among the Jews of southern Russia. Standards of Torah
scholarship were low and Odessa
Jews were ignorant of and apathetic to Judaism. Odessa
was the first community in Russia to be directed by "maskilim, "
who retained control over its administration throughout its existance.
The cultural character of the community was reflected in its educational institutions. At the beginning of the 20th century, less than half of young Jewish children attended the "hadarim, " while most attended Jewish elementary schools, of public governmental or semi - public categories. The language of instruction in these schools was Russian, while Jewish subjects held an insignificant place or were ignored. Many Jewsih pupils studied at government secondary schools and there were hundreds as well in university, government music and arts colleges, as well as advanced private professional colleges. The educational institutions of Odessa became models for an attempt to provide general and modern Hebrew education. A prototype of this kind of school, under the direction of Bezalel Stern had much influence within the Haskalah Movement. Other influential institutions were the synagogue of the "Brodyists, " which introduced modern singing and an organ, as well as various orphanages, agricultural training farms, summer camps, and so forth.
Social and Political Activities
The political activism of Odessa's
Jews had considerable influence on the rest of Russian Jewry. Community
leaders and "maskilim" frequently petitioned for improved
conditions for the Jews and for legal equality. They publically defended
Jews in the Russian - Jewish press, which they had established. Displaying
social and political awareness, Odessa
Jews played an extensive part in all trends of the Russian liberation, as
well as the Zionist
movement.
The Pogroms
The social and political awakening of the masses resulted in five anti -
Jewish outbreaks from 1821 to 1905, as well as numerous unsuccessful
attempts to provoke them. Almost every sector of the Christian population
participated in these pogroms, including wealthy Russian merchants,
nationalist Ukrainian intellectuals and members of the liberal
professions. The government supported the pogroms as a means of punishing
the Jews for their participation in a revolutionary movement.
The severest pogroms occurred in 1905, with the collaboration of the government. Over 300 Jews were killed and thousands of families injured. Among the victims were 50 members of the Jewish self - defense movement, a group which had previously deterred other attempted pogroms.
Zionist and Literary Center
From the inception of the Hibbat Zion movement, Odessa
served as its chief center. The Benei Moshe society, which attempted to
organize the intellectuals and activists of the movement was also
establised in Odessa.
The Odessa
Committee was the only legally authorized institution of the Zionist
activists in Russia. The list of propagandists who rallied arond the
Zionist cause included many authors such as Lilienblum, Ussishkin,
Dizengoff and Tchernowitz. Literary forums edited by men such as Bialik,
Ahad Ha - Am and Rawnitzky became influential through the ideological
integrity of their publications. Noted authors, such as Mendele Mokher
Seforim, Dubnow, Ben - Davi and Ben - Ammi, were attracted to and became
active in Odessa's
stimulating "Hebrew climate, " published many works and extended
their influence far beyond Odessa.
With the advent of the Soviet regime, Odessa's
role as Jewish cultural center, came to an end. During the 20's Odessa's
Jews increasingly assimlated. By 1926 over 770f the Jewsih pupils attended
Russian schools. In the later 30's, Jewish cultural activity ceased.
Holocaust Period
When Odessa
was occupied on Oct. 16, 1941 by the Fourth Rumanian Army assisted by
German units, 80 - 90,000 Jews reamined in Odessa.
Two special commando groups assigned to the army killed 8,000 Jews the
first day of occupation. In retaliation for an explosion in Rumanian
military headquarters which killed officers and soldiers, 5,000 persons,
mostly Jews were hanged the next day. In addition, one member from every
household was taken to the square at the harbor and burned. Another 16,000
were brutally massacred the following day. 5,000 Jews were subsequently
arrested and deported to camps set up in Bogdanovka,
Domanevka
and other villages.
During December 1941 almost all of these were killed by special troups of Sonderkommando, aided by Rumanian police soldiers and Ukrainian militia.
Approximately 30,000 Jews still lived in Odessa and were segregated into two ghettos established at Slobodka and Dalnik. As only a small number could find shelter in the few houses there, most froze within a few days in the snow and storm. Typhus accounted for hundreds more victims daily.
When Odessa became the capital of Transistria, steps were taken to make it Judenrein. After confiscating all their valuable objects, the transfer of Jews to camps in the Berezovka and Golta regions began, on Jan. 12. By Feb. 23, 19,582 Jews were dispatched, first in cattle trucks and then by train, to the camps. Most sent to the Golta region died there from starvation or disease, in the stables where they were quartered. The people sent to the Berezovka district were all killed by SS commando units consisting of local Germans. Survivors were sent to work on local Rumanian farms and those who managed to receive the aid sent from the Jewish Relief Committee in Bucharest, survived.
After the last convoy left on Feb. 23, 1942, Odessa was proclaimed "judenrein." Local inhabitants looted Jewish property, the cemetery was desecrated and tombstones sold. It is estimated that at the time of liberation, a few thousand Jews were living in Odessa, some under false documents, some having been sheltered by non - Jewish families and others having hidden in catacombs.
Contemporary Period
After the Jewish survivors returned, Odessa
became one of the largest Jewish centers of the Soviet
Union. However, there was no manifestation of Jewish communal life. As
of 1959, Odessa
Jews numbered approximately 180,000 and one synagogue remained. From 1968,
several families have been allowed to emigrate.
Courtesy of:
"Encyclopedia Judaica"
©1972, Keter Publishing House Jerusalem Ltd
Jerusalem, Israel
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Sosnowiec, Poland
Location: City in S. Poland
Jewish Presence: From late 1890's
Pre-Holocaust
Jewish Population: 28,000 in 1939
Fate of the Jews: Deported to Auschwitz
in 3 groups in 1942; others ghettoized and deported to Auschwitz
- 1943
Post-war: About 700 resettled but emigrated later.
The Start of the German Occupation
(Also Sosnowice,
Sosnovets), city in southwest Poland.
On the eve of World War II its population was 130,000, including 28,000
Jews.
On September 4, 1939, the Germans occupied Sosnowiec. On Saturday, September 9, they burned the Great Synagogue. Jewish possessions and businesses were expropriated, and in the first days of the occupation, Moshe Merin was appointed head of the Judenrat (Jewish Council). Early in 1940 the Zentrale der Judischen Altestenrate in Oberschlesien (Central Office of the Jewish Councils of Elders in Upper Silesia) was created in Sosnowiec, representing about forty - five communities and headed by Merin. In the spring of 1940 the Jews of several towns in Polish Silesia were deported to cities in which the Zentrale operated.
Forced Labor
The drafting of Jews for forced - labor was enforced by the Sonderbeauftragter
des Reichsfuhrers - SS.
fur Fremdvolkischen Arbeitseinsatz in Oberschlesien (Special
Representative of the Reichsfuhrer - SS
for the Employment of Foreign Labor in Upper Silesia), Albrecht Schmelt,
who administered Organisation
Schmelt. The Judenrat
was responsible for organizing the sending of forced
labor workers to the camps. It also helped set up German - owned
workshops. The heads of the Judenrat
regarded activity this as "rescue through work."
Zionist Youth Activities
The Zionist youth movements renewed their educational activity when the
schools failed to open. They engaged in vocational training and welfare
work. On the outskirts of the city, agricultural plots became a focus for
their activities.
The First Waves of Deportation and Jewish Response to Them
From May 10 to 12, 1942, about 1,500 Jews were sent to Auschwitz
and in June, about 2,000 more Jews were sent there. On August 12 the
remaining Jews in Sosnowiec
and towns in the area were ordered to report to the large central square.
After a Selektion lasting until August 18, 8,000 of them were
deported to the notorious extermination camp. The youth movements and
their leaders, among them Zvi Dunski, urged the Jews not to report for the
deportations. They also began to organize underground resistance cells,
but met with difficulties, since the conditions in the area were not
suitable for effective self - defense. Their efforts to make contact with
Polish underground movements also proved unsuccessful. Opinions were
divided between underground members who advocated armed defense inside the
ghetto, and those who favored escape.
The Srodula Ghetto and its Liquidation
In the spring of 1943 the remaining Jews in Sosnowiec
were transferred to the ghetto established in the Srodula suburb. It was
located near Kamionka, where a ghetto for the Jews of Bedzin
was established. The two sites became a single ghetto. With great effort,
the members of the youth movements and even several Jews in the ghetto
acquired a few weapons, and many others began to prepare bunkers in order
to hide and defend their lives. On August 1, 1943, the general deportation
and liquidation of the ghetto began. A Ha - Noar ha - Tsiyyoni
group began to take some of its members out of the ghetto, but met with
difficulties after the head of the group, Jozek (Azriel) Kozuch, was
killed at the beginning of the deportation. A few members of the youth
movements together with a small number of adults defended themselves with
arms. The Aktion lasted about two weeks, instead of the few days
anticipated by the Germans. About a thousand Jews remained in the
locality, and at the end of the year they too were sent to Auschwitz.
Scores of youth movement members managed to escape to Slovakia
and to Hungary,
and from there reached Palestine.
After the war dozens of Jews settled in Sosnowiec; in 1946 they numbered about four hundred, but subsequently they too left the area.
Courtesy of:
"Encyclopedia of the Holocaust"
©1990 Macmillan Publishing Company
New York, NY 10022
Links to Sosnowiec
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Sefer Sosnowiec v'hasviva b'Zaglembie Book of Sosnowiec and the Surrounding Area of Zaglembie (Yizkor Book of Sosnowiec published online by JewishGen |
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A short History of Sosnowiec (from the Sosnowiec municpal pages) |
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Vilna (Vilnius), Lithuania
Location: capital of Lithuania
"Jerusalem of Lithuania"
Jewish Presence: from mid -16th century
Jewish Population in 1931:55,000 (28111346f the total population)
Fate of the Jews during WWII: from 1941,100,000 were ghettoized, and
murdered in Aktionen
Post-war: 6,000 survived, and returned there.
Flight from Vilna.
(Lithuanian., Vilnius;
Polish., Wilno), capital of the Lithuanian SSR. From 1920 to 1939 Vilna
was under Polish rule, and on the eve of World War II it had a population
of about two hundred thousand and a Jewish population was over fifty -
five thousand. On September 19, 1939, the Soviets entered Vilna,
but a few weeks later it was handed over to the Lithuanians. Some twelve
thousand to fifteen thousand Jewish refugees from Poland
made their way there. In July 1940, Lithuania
became a Soviet republic.
In the period from September 1939 to the German invasion of the Soviet Union, sixty - five hundred Jewish refugees left Vilna for Palestine, the United States, China, Japan, and other places. On June 24, 1941, the Germans occupied Vilna. Three thousand Jews fled into the Soviet interior before the Germans took the city; the Jewish population then stood at fifty-seven thousand.
Initial Anti - Jewish Measures and the First Murder
Aktion.
A few days later, the German military authorities and the Lithuanian
administration issued a series of anti - Jewish decrees. On July 4 the
Germans ordered the establishment of a Judenrat.
In July, Einsatzkommando 9, assisted by Ypatingi Buriai ("the special
ones"; Lithuanian volunteers), rounded up five thousand Jewish men
and killed them at Ponary,
7.5 miles (12 km) from Vilna.
Between the end of July and early August, Lithuania
was transferred from military rule to the Reichskommissariat Ostland.
Continuing Murder and the Establishment of the Ghettos.
From August 31 to September 3, 1941, eight thousand more Jews were
murdered at Ponary.
From September 3 to 5, two ghettos
were set up - Ghetto No. 1 and Ghetto No. 2 - and on September 6 most of
the remaining Jews were forced to move into them. Another six thousand
were killed at Ponary.
On the following day the Germans established two Judenrate, with Anatol
Fried chairman in Ghetto No. 1 and Eisik Lejbowicz in Ghetto No. 2. A
Jewish police force was also established under Jacob Gens.
In the period from September 15 to October 21, families in which neither parent was employed were transferred into Ghetto No. 2. The other Jews were put into Ghetto No. 1. It was during this period that the "Yom Kippur Aktion" (October 1, 1941) took place. In three more Aktionen, on October 3 - 4, 15 - 16, and 21, Ghetto No. 2 was liquidated and its inhabitants murdered at Ponary. The Germans distributed 3,000 yellow colored "Schein" among the Jews in Ghetto No. 1. A "yellow Schein" enabled its bearer to register on it the other parent and two children. On October 24 and November 35 the "yellow Schein Aktionen" took place, followed in December by further smaller Aktionen. By the end of 1941, the Germans had killed 33,500 Jews. Another 3,500 had fled to Belorussian cities and towns, or had hidden outside the ghetto.
A Year of Quiet - Life in the Ghetto.
For about a year there were no mass
Aktionen. The Judenrat's
policy, of rescue through work, was based on the assumption that if the
ghetto were productive, it would be worthwhile for economic reasons for
the Germans to keep it going. The dominant figure in the ghetto leadership
was the Jacob Gens,
who in July 1942 replaced Anatol Fried as Judenrat
chairman. The ghetto had schools; a rich cultural life; social - welfare
institutions; and a medical care system. In the spring and summer of 1943,
the situation of the Jews in the Vilna
area deteriorated; nearby small ghettos
and labor camps were liquidated.
The Underground.
At the beginning of 1942, the underground Fareynegte
Partizaner Organizatsye (United
Partisan Organization; FPO) had been established. Its first open clash
with Gens
occurred when he tried to remove several underground leaders from the
ghetto. Another confrontation took place in mid - July 1943, when Yitzhak Wittenberg,
the commander of the FPO, was freed by FPO members while under arrest. The
Nazis demanded his return, threatening the ghetto population. After
further threats by Gens,
the FPO command agreed to surrender Wittenberg.
The Vilna Ghetto Uprising.
In Aktionen on August 4 and 24 and September 1 and 4, over seven
thousand men and women capable of working were sent to concentration
camps in Estonia.
During these Aktionen, the FPO called on the ghetto to revolt. The
inhabitants did not heed this call. In the late afternoon of September 1,
a clash broke out between the underground and the German forces. In order
to forestall more violence, Gens,
who believed that armed revolt would lead to the total liquidation of the
ghetto, offered to provide the German authorities with the required quota
for deportation. The Germans agreed, and the clashes in the ghetto came to
an end. Following the expulsions to Estonia,
twelve thousand people were left in Vilna.
On September 14, Gens
was shot by the Gestapo.
The Liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto.
The final liquidation of the Vilna
ghetto took place on September 23 and 24, 1943. Thirty - seven hundred
Jews were sent to camps in Estonia
and Latvia;
over four thousand children, women, and old men were sent to Sobibor
and several hundred children, women and old men were killed at Ponary.
About twenty - five hundred Jews were left in Vilna
labor camps. Over one thousand Jews had gone into hiding inside the
ghetto, but in the ensuing months, most of them were caught. A few hundred
members of the FPO established themselves in two partisan groups in the
Rudninkai and Naroch forests. Eighty Jewish prisoners were kept in Ponary
to open up the mass graves and burn the bodies of the victims who had been
buried there. On July 2 and 3, 1944, ten days before Vilna
was liberated, the Jews in the local labor camps were taken to Ponary
to be killed, though between one hundred fifty and two hundred were able
to flee before the final liquidation.
Liberation and Aftermath.
On July 13, 1944, Vilna
was liberated; afterward, several hundred survivors gathered in the city;
all told between two thousand and three thousand out of the original fifty
- seven thousand survived. About a third of them had taken refuge in the
forests. The rest survived in concentration
camps in Estonia
and Germany,
in hiding places, or by having had "Aryan" documents in their
possession.
Courtesy of:
"Encyclopedia of the Holocaust"
©1990 Macmillan Publishing Company
New York, NY 10022
From: Multimedia Learning Center
of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
in Los Angeles.
Copyright © 1997, The Simon
Wiesenthal Center
9760 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90035
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suggestions are appreciated.
Please write to: Lewis P. Orans
lporans@eaglegap.net
The Orans Family Web
Copyright © Lewis P. Orans, 2001
Last Modified: 2:00 PM on February 19, 2001