Shtetl routes

SHTETL ROUTES
VESTIGES OF JEWISH CULTURAL HERITAGE IN CROSS-
BORDER TOURISM
HTTP://SHTETLROUTES.EU
PROJECT WITHIN THE PROGRAM ‘POLAND-BELARUS-UKRAINE’2007 – 2013
BELARUSIAN PART OF THE TOURIST ROUTE
T. VERSHITSKAYA|
NOVOGRUDOK MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND REGIONAL STUDIES
AND JEWISH RESISTANCE MUSEUM

LEAD PARTNER:
Museum of History and Regional Studies, Novogrudok,
Belarus (Project coordinator in Belarus)
Grodno State University named after Ya. Kupala, Belarus
Center for Marketing Research, Rovno, Ukraine
Center of Social and Economical Initiatives, Yaremcha,
Ukraine
Center ‘Brama Grodzka – Teatr NN’, Lublin, Poland
PARTNERS:

AIMS OF THE PROJECT :
A. to draw attention to Jewish cultural heritage in small
towns and settlements in the border regions of Belarus,
Poland and Ukraine and to promote them;
B. to use the potential of Jewish cultural heritage for
developing tourism, thus contributing to its development
as one of the branches of Belarusian economy;
C. to draw the attention of local residents to the remnants of
the civilization of "Lithuanian" Jews, which is a part of the
culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the
successor countries, and to promote their preservation as
part of a pan-European culture.

IDEAS OF THE PROJECT:
• How to tell about the multicultural
heritage of towns and villages of the
borderland?
• How to show Jewish cultural heritage
as a common heritage of the
descendants of Eastern European
Jews and modern inhabitants of the
borderland areas?
• How to present Jewish cultural
heritage in tourism?

BELARUSIAN TOWNS
AND VILLAGES INCLUDED
IN THE PROJECT
THE INTERNATIONAL TOURIST ROUTE
INCLUDES 20 TOWNS FROM EACH
PARTICIPATING COUNTRY. • Volozhin
• Gorodishche
• Dyatlovo
• Zheludok
• Ivye
• Indura
• Kobrin
• Lunno
• Mir
• Motol
• David-Gorodok
• Novogrudok
• Ostrino
• Osmiany
• Pinsk
• Pruzhany
• Radun
• Ruzhany
• Slonim
• Stolin
ROUTE

SHTETL
( ‫שטעטל‬yiddish)
- a small town or a small
settlement of a semi-urban type
with a predominantly Jewish
population in the Pale of
Settlement from the end of the
18th century until the Holocaust.
The Jews who lived on this
territory, the so-called. "Litvaks"
following the Ashkenazi
traditions of life and religious
education, created a special culture
in Yiddish and made a great
contribution to European culture
(music, philosophy, literature, art,
science);
as well as to the culture and
economy of their countries.

VOLOZHIN
Jews lived in Volozhin from
the middle of the 16th
century. and comprised
about 60% of the
population.
Sights:
The palace complex of
Count Tyszkiewicz (XIX c.),
two churches, the yeshiva
(1803), founded by Rabbi
Chaim Volozhiner, the best
pupil of the Vilna Gaon, a
Jewish cemetery,
monuments at the places of
3 massacres.
At different times, well-
known Jewish poets and
writers studied in the
Volozhinyeshiva, among
others. M.I. Berdichevsky
and Chaim N. Bialik.
A town in Minsk region, founded in the 15th
century. The population is about 11 thousand
people.
Volozhin Yeshiva "Etz Chaim" - "The Tree of Life"

GORODISHCHE
2631 people lived in the
town in 1897, of which
2018 were Jews. There were
760 Jews in Gorodishche
before the war.
Sights:
Partially preserved
residential buildings of the
pre-war period, the remains
of the Tatar and Jewish
cemeteries, the wooden
Orthodox (former Uniate)
church (1764).
Oral history says that a Jew
from the Gorodische saved
the head of the future
revived Polish state,
Marshal Jozef Pilsudski
from the persecution of the
Red Army men".
Urban settlement in Baranovichi district, Brest
region. The population is 2.2 thousand people.
A tombstone at the Jewish cemetery

DAVID-GORODOK
It was founded at the turn of
the XI-XII centuries.
The Jews settled in David-
Gorodok as early as the XVI
century, when the town
belonged to Queen Bona
Sforza. There were two
synagogues and Jewish
schools in the town.
Sights:
Partially preserved pre-war
residential houses.
A town in Stolin district of the Brest region on the
Goryn river. The population is about 7,000 people.
The Goryn River. Around1930

ДАВИД-ГОРОДОК
DAVID-GORODOK

DYATLOVO
The town is known since 1498.
There lived 2376 Jews before
the war in Dyatlovo - about
60% of the total population. In
1941, the number of Jews
increased up to 4,500 because
of refugees from Poland.
During the occupation, 3,500
people were killed.
Sights:
There is a baroque Catholic
church (17th century), an
Othodox church, the Palace of
the Radziwills, (1751). The
reconstructed building of the
synagogue from the end of the
XIX c., brick buildings in the
former market square (now the
September 17th square),
wooden architecture of the first
half of the XX ., a Jewish
cemetery, two places of
massacre.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Cohen
(Pupko), the spiritual leader of
the Jews of Belarus, was born
in Dyatlovo in 1838, . He was a
zaddik, widely known as Hafetz
Cheim,
A district center in Grodno region. In 2009
the population was 7800 people.
Jewish houses in the former Market

ZHELUDOK
The settlement was
mentioned in 1385 for the
first time.
The Jewish community
existed from the XVII c. In
the late XIX c. there lived
1500 Jews in Zheludok. In
1940 the Jewish population
was 70% (1,708 out of a
total of 2,436 residents).
Sights:
The synagogue built in the
early 1890s, a Jewish
cemetery, a building of a
Jewish bakery, and some
residential houses.
An urban settlement in Shchuchin district, Grodno
region. The population according to the 2006 census
was 1,500 people.
The building of the former Jewish bakery

Guides training. A group of guides near the synagogue in
Zheludok

IVYE
A historical brand of Ivye is
a Tatar "capital" of Belarus.
Sights:
There is a mosque (1884),
in service, a church (built
around 1495), a Bernardine
monastery (XVII c.), a
Catholic chapel of St.
Barbara (first half of the XIX
c.), an Orthodox church
(early XX c.), a synagogue
(the end of XIX- the first
third of the XX c.), a water
mill (XIX - the beginning of
the XX c.), a park (XIX c.),
Tatar and Jewish
cemeteries, a memorial on
the site of the mass
execution of Jews in
Stonyevichy.
A district center in Grodno region, known from the
first half of the XV c. , also as one of the centers of
Arianism in the XVI c. In 2008 there were about 8
thousand people living in the town.

INDURA
Sights:
There are 2 Catholic churches:
Trinity Church(1815) and an
ossuary (late XIX - early XX c.),
Alexander Nevsky Church
(1881), a synagogue (1885), a
kahal bath-house (1883), a
manor house built in the XIX
c., pre-war residential houses,
a Jewish cemetery from the
XVIII c.
Agricultural town in Grodno district,
Grodno region.
Synagogue

KOBRIN
The town is known since
1287. In the late XIX c. Jews
comprised 67% of the total
population.
Sights:
There are 4 Orthodox
churches (the oldest of
them was built in 1465), a
Catholic church (1843), the
building of the synagogue
from the XVIII c., a manor
house (1790), in which the
Suvorov house-museum is
situated, residential houses
from the first half of the XX
c..
Oscar Zariski was born in
Kobrin - an American
mathematician, one of the
most famous algebraic
geometers of the XX c., the
author of the textbook
"Communicative Algebra".
Synagogue
A district center in Brest region. In 2014 the
population of the town was over 52
thousand people.

LUNNO
There are well preserved
brick Jewish houses from
1930-ies in the center of the
village and a Jewish cemetery
in Lunno.
The history of Lunno,
including the history of the
Jewish community and of the
well-known Jews born in
Lunno is presented in the
school museum.
Zalman Gradovsky, one of the
leaders of the uprising in
Auschwitz on October 7,
1944 and the author of the
diary written in the
concentration camp comes
from Lunno. .
A Jewish house
A village in Mosty district, Grodno region. In 1938
of the 2,522 inhabitants of Lunno 60% were Jews
(1,671).

MIR
Mir has been known since
1395. In the XVIIIc . it was
famous as the capital of the
Roma. In the XIX c. there
was a Tatar community (87
people) and a mosque in
Mir.
The world famous yeshiva
was founded in Mir in1815.
It continues to exist in
Israel and the United States
today.
Zalman Shazar (1889-
1974), the third president
of Israel, was born not far
from Mir.
Yeshiva
An urban settlement in Korelichi district, Grodno
region. At the end of 1860-ies the population of Mir
was 4,273 people, of which 2,782 were Jews, i.е.
65.1%.

MOTOL
Motol was first mentioned in
1422, the first mention of the
Jews refers to 1562.
According to the census of
the population in 1897, the
total number of inhabitants
was 4,297 people; 1,354 Jews
among them. In the XX c.
there were 2 synagogues in
Motol.
There is a Jewish cemetery,
some wooden houses of pre-
war construction, incl. the
house of Chaim Weizmann.
Chaim Weizmann, the first
President of the State of
Israel, was born in Motol in
1874.
A Jewish house
Agro-town in Ivanovo district, Brest region. 4079
people lived in Motol in 2009.

NOVOGRUDOK
The Jewish community of
Novogrudok was one of the
oldest in Lithuania. It was
mentioned in 1484. In 1648 a
brick synagogue was built.
In 1896, Josef (Yuzl) Hurwitz
founded a yeshiva, the
traditions of which continue in
Israel, England and the USA.
During the occupation, Jews
from Novogrudok organized an
escape from the ghetto through
a tunnel to join the Jewish
partisan detachment organized
by the Bielsky brothers.
Since 2007 the Museum of
Jewish Resistance operates on
the territory of the former
ghetto.
Sights:
The ruins of the Novogrudok
Castle, residential houses from
the end of XIX – the first half of
XX c,, a Jewish cemetery.
Three places of mass
executions of Jews.
Orthodox, Catholic churches
and a mosque.
Three Museums and an Art
gallery.
A district center in Grodno region. The population is about 28
thousand people. The first time when the town was mentioned in
chronicles was in 1044. In 1897 5015 Jews (63.6%) lived in the
town, in 1931 - 6309. (47.6%). On the eve of WWII Jews
comprised half of the population of Novogrudok.

НОВОГРУДОК
, Abraham Harkavy (1839-1919), an orientalist and a Hebraist, and Alexander Harkavy (1863-
1939), a linguist, lexicographer, writer and translator into Yiddish. were born In Novogrudok.

НОВОГРУДОК NOVOGRUDOK

OSTRINO
In 1940 the Jewish
population was about 2
thousand people (73%).
Sights:
The building of the
synagogue, pre-war houses,
an Orthodox Church (1875)
Синагога
An urban settlement in Shchuchin district,
Grodno region. Population - 2, 2 thousand
people (2009)

OSHMIANY
The first mention goes back to
1341. In 1897 there were 7,214
people living in the town, among
them: 3,832 Jews (53.1%), 1 981
Belarusians, 812 Russians, 525
Poles. In 1857 the construction
of a brick synagogue began, it
ended in the 1990-ies.
Sights:
A Catholic church (1900-10), an
Orthodox church (1875). a
synagogue, the ruins of the
Franciscan church (1822), a
prison, and pre-war residential
houses in the center.
The yeast plant, founded by LD.
Strugach in 1884, continues to
successfully produce yeast in
the XXI century.
There is a Jewish cemetery
where a Rabbi and Gaon, the
head of the rabbinical court in
Oshmyany, Menashe Shmuelson
(1937) is buried
A district center in Grodno region. The
population is 14.8 thousand people.
Синагога

PINSK From the beginning of the XVII c. the
Jewish community of Pinsk was one of
the three main communities of the
Lithuanian Va'ad. In 1914 there lived
28 063 Jews (72.5%) in Pinsk , in
1939 - 20 200.
In the second half of the XVIII c, there
was a struggle between Mitnagdim
and the supporters of Hasidism .in
Pinsk.
The suburb of Pinsk – Karlin - became
the residence of a Hasidic zaddik from
the dynasty of Karlin (the founder of
the dynasty - Aharon ben Yaakov /
Aharon the Great / 1736-72).
Pinsk is the second city in Belarus in
terms of preserved architectural
monuments: the Jesuit collegium
(1631), churches, incl. Charles
Borromeo (XVIII c.), a Franciscan
monastery, Orthodox churches, incl.
St. Barbara’s Church (1786), the
Butrimovich Palace, buildings from
the late XIX - early XX c., former
Jewish hotels, shops.
The Jewish community of Pinsk has
about 1000 people.
A district center in Brest region was founded in 1097.
Population - 136,508 people. The Jews settled in Pinsk
after having been expelled from Lithuania in 1495.
A prayer house of the Perlov Rabbis, 1901.
Now - a synagogue in service

PRUZHANY
Jews settled here in 1644. In
1897 they were 5080 (66.5%),
in 1921 - 4152 (65.6%), in
1931 - 4208 (55.2%), in 2000 -
10 Jews.
The first synagogue was built
in 1463. From 1860-ies until
1874 there was a state school
for the Jews. In 1929 a yeshiva
was opened.
Sights:
Residential pre-war houses.
The building of the synagogue
is used for an industrial
enterprise.
A district center in Brest region. The population
is 19,032 people. (2009). It was founded in 1433.
Synagogue

RADUN
The Jews lived in Radun since
the beginning of the XVII
century. In 1897 there were
896 people (55.2%).
In 1869 a yeshiva, headed by
Hafetz Chaim who was a great
authority in religious ethics
was founded.
Rabbi and Zaddik Hafetz
Chaim is buried in the Jewish
cemetery in Radun.
The grave of Hafetz Chaim
An urban settlement in Voronovo district, Grodno
region. The population is approx. 1000 inhabitants.

RUZHANY
There were 3599 Jews
(71.7%) in 1897, in 1928 -
3110 (56.9%), in 1939 -
about 3500 Jews.
The Jewish community was
first mentioned in 1623. In
1850 two Jewish
agricultural enterprises
were founded near
Rouzhany(the natives of
these settlements founded
the settlement of Ekron in
Eretz-Israel in 1884, now
Mazkeret-Batya). Since
1840-ies a yeshiva was
founded.
Yitzhak Shamir
(Yezernitsky), a political
leader, was born in Ruzhany
in 1915. He was a Prime
Minister of the State of
Israel in 1983-84 and in
1986-92. -
An urban settlement in Pruzhany district, Brest region.
The population is 3 100 people. (2008)
Synagogue

SLONIM In 1642 a large stone baroque
synagogue was built - the only one in
Belarus that has partially preserved
the interior from the XIX c.
The development of the city in the 2-
nd half of the XVIII c. is connected
with hetman Mikhail Oginsky, who
built a palace, a theater, a printing
house and a canal.
In the XIX c. Avraham ben Yitzhak
Weinberg (1804-83), the founder of
the yeshiva of a new direction in
Hasidism, the founder of the dynasty
of the Slonim Zaddiks, lived here. He
was buried in the Jewish cemetery in
Slonim.
Ephrael Ben-Artzi, an Israeli
commander, and Moshe Yitzhak,
known as Darshan Preacher were
born here.
Sights:
Residential houses from the XVIII-XIX
c., a synagogue, a Jewish cemetery,
Orthodox and Catholic churches., the
Oginski canal
A district center in Grodno region. Population - 48 977 people.
(2013) The city is known since 1252.
Jews are mentioned in Slonim in the XVI c, In the XVIII c. there were
1360 Jews and Karaites, 7 synagogues and many prayer houses in
the town. In 1897 the population of Slonim was 15,893 people,
10,588 Jews, i.e. 66% among them.
The Great Synagogue

STOLIN
The Jewish community was
first mentioned in the XVIII c.
According to the census of
1897 there lived3342 people in
Stolin, 489 Jews (74.4%)
among them. By the end of the
XIX century. Stolin became a
place inhabited mainly by Jews.
The White Stone Synagogue
(1792), three (4) prayer houses
(Beit-ha-midrash schools),
mikvahs, Jewish schools, mills,
shops, pharmacies, new
residential houses were built.
In the XIX c. Stolin became a
major center of the Hasidic
movement.
In the interwar period there
were a Jewish kindergarten, a
cheder, a Tarbut school, a
Talmud Torah, a Yavne religious
school, a Jewish orphanage in
the town.
There’s only one grave of
Rabbi Mordechai Lehovicher, a
pupil of Rabbi Shlomo from
Karlin (1810) left at the Jewish
cemetery.
A district center in Brest region. The population is 12
395 people. (2013)
The first mention goes back to 1555.
Synagogue

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