The history of the Jews in Belarus begins as early as the 8th century. Jews lived in all parts of the lands of modern Belarus. In 1897, the Jewish population of Belarus reached 910,900, or 14.2% of the total population.[3] Following the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1920), under the terms of the Treaty of Riga, Belarus was split into Eastern Belorussia (under Soviet occupation) and Western Belorussia (under Polish occupation), [4] and causing 350,000-450,000 of the Jews to be governed by Poland.[5] Prior to World War II, Jews were the third largest ethnic group in Belarus and comprised more than 40% of the urban population. The population of cities such as Minsk, Pinsk, Mogilev, Babruysk, Vitebsk, and Gomel was more than 50% Jewish. In 1926 and 1939 there were between 375,000 and 407,000 Jews in Belarus (Eastern Belorussia) or 6.7-8.2% of the total population. Following the Soviet annexation of Eastern Poland in 1939, including Western Belorussia, Belarus would again have 1,175,000 Jews within its borders, including 275,000 Jews from Poland, Ukraine, and elsewhere. It is estimated that up to 800,000 of 900,000 — up to 90% of the Jews of Belarus —were killed during the Holocaust.[6][7][8] According to the 2019 Belarusian census, there were 13,705 self-identifying Jews in Belarus, of which most are of Ashkenazi origin.[9][10] However, the Israeli embassy in Belarus claims to know about 30-50 thousand Belarusians with Jewish descent (as of 2017).[11]
Throughout several centuries the lands of modern-day Belarus were a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Therefore, the history of Belarusian Jews is closely related to the history of Jews in Lithuania and historically they could be seen as a subset of Lithuanian Jews.
As early as the 8th century Jews lived in parts of the lands of modern Belarus. Beginning with that period they conducted the trade between Ruthenia, Lithuania, and the Baltic, especially with Danzig, Julin (Vineta or Wollin, in Pomerania), and other cities on the Vistula, Oder, and Elbe.[citation needed]
The origin of Belarusian Jews has been the subject of much speculation. It is believed that they were made up of two distinct streams of Jewish immigration. The older and significantly smaller of the two entered the territory that would later become the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the east. These early immigrants spoke Judeo-Slavic dialects which distinguished them from the later Jewish immigrants who entered the region from the Germanic lands.[citation needed]
While the origin of these eastern Jews is not certain, historical evidence places Jewish refugees from Babylonia, Palestine, the Byzantine Empire and other Jewish refugees and settlers in the lands between the Baltic and Black Seas that would become part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The later and much larger stream of immigration originated in the 12th century and received an impetus from the persecution of the German Jews by the Crusaders. The traditional language of the vast majority of Lithuanian Jews, Yiddish, is based largely upon the Medieval German and Hebrew spoken by the western Germanic Jewish immigrants.[12]
The peculiar conditions that prevailed in Belarus compelled the first Jewish settlers to adopt a different mode of life from that followed by their western ethnic brethren. At that time there were no cities in the western sense of the word in Belarus, no Magdeburg Rights or close guilds at that time. [citation needed]
Increasing prosperity and the great charter (1320–1432)
With the campaign of Gediminas and his subjection of Kiev and Volhynia (1320–1321) the Jewish inhabitants of these territories were induced to spread throughout the northern provinces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The probable importance of the southern Jews in the development of Belarus and Lithuania is indicated by their numerical prominence in Volhynia in the 13th century. According to an annalist who describes the funeral of the grand duke Vladimir Vasilkovich in the city of Vladimir (Volhynia), "the Jews wept at his funeral as at the fall of Jerusalem, or when being led into the Babylonian captivity."[13] This sympathy and the record thereof would seem to indicate that long before the event in question the Jews had enjoyed considerable prosperity and influence, and this gave them a certain standing under the new régime. They took an active part in the development of the new cities under the tolerant rule of duke Gediminas.
Little is known of the fortunes of the Belarusian Jews during the troublous times that followed the death of Gediminas and the accession of his grandson Vitaut (1341). To the latter, the Jews owed a charter of privileges which was momentous in the subsequent history of the Jews of Belarus and Lithuania. The documents granting privileges first to the Jews of Brest (July 1, 1388) and later to those of Hrodna, Troki (1389), Lutsk, Vladimir, and other large towns are the earliest documents to recognize the Jews of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as possessing a distinct organization.[citation needed]
The gathering together of the scattered Jewish settlers in sufficient numbers and with enough power to form such an organization and to obtain privileges from their Lithuanian rulers implies the lapse of considerable time. The Jews who dwelt in smaller towns and villages were not in need of such privileges at this time, and the mode of life, as Abraham Harkavy suggests, "the comparative poverty, and the ignorance of Jewish learning among the Lithuanian Jews retarded their intercommunal organization." But powerful forces hastened this organization toward the close of the 14th century. The chief of these was probably the cooperation of the Jews of Poland with their brethren in the GDL. After the death of Casimir III (1370), the condition of the Polish Jews changed for the worse. The influence of the Roman Catholic clergy at the Polish court grew; Louis of Anjou was indifferent to the welfare of his subjects, and his eagerness to convert the Jews to Christianity, together with the increased Jewish immigration from Germany, caused the Polish Jews to become apprehensive for their future.[citation needed]
Jagiellon rule
In 1569 the Kingdom Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were united. It was generally a time of prosperity and relative safety for the Jews of both countries (with the exception of the Chmielnicki Uprising in the 17th century). However, a few events, such as the expulsion of the Jews from Lithuania between 1495 and 1503 occurred just within the Grand Duchy.
Jewish culture in Belarus
Items from the Responsa
The responsa shed an interesting light also on the life of the Lithuanian Jews and on their relations to their Christian neighbors. Benjamin Slonik[pl] states in his Mas'at Binyamin (end of sixteenth and beginning of 17th century) that "the Christians borrow clothes and jewelry from the Jews when they go to church." Joel Sirkis (l.c. § 79) relates that a Christian woman came to the rabbi and expressed her regret at having been unable to save the Jew Shlioma from drowning. A number of Christians had looked on indifferently while the drowning Jew was struggling in the water. They were upbraided and beaten severely by the priest, who appeared a few minutes later, for having failed to rescue the Jew.[14]
Solomon Luria gives an account (Responsa, § 20) of a quarrel that occurred in a Lithuanian community concerning a cantor whom some of the members wished to dismiss. The synagogue was closed in order to prevent him from exercising his functions, and religious services were thus discontinued for several days. The matter was thereupon carried to the local lord, who ordered the reopening of the building, saying that the house of God might not be closed, and that the cantor's claims should be decided by the learned rabbis of Lithuania. Joseph Katz mentions (She'erit Yosef, § 70) a Jewish community which was forbidden by the local authorities to kill cattle and to sell meat—an occupation which provided a livelihood for a large portion of the Lithuanian Jews. For the period of a year following this prohibition the Jewish community was on several occasions assessed at the rate of three gulden per head of cattle in order to furnish funds with which to induce the officials to grant a hearing of the case. The Jews finally reached an agreement with the town magistrates under which they were to pay forty gulden annually for the right to slaughter cattle. According to Hillel ben Naphtali Herz (Bet Hillel,Yoreh De'ah, § 157), Naphtali says the Jews of Vilna had been compelled to uncover when taking an oath in court, but later purchased from the tribunal the privilege to swear with covered head, a practise subsequently made unnecessary by a decision of one of their rabbis to the effect that an oath might be taken with uncovered head.[14]
The responsa of Meir Lublin show (§ 40) that the Lithuanian communities frequently aided the German and the Austrian Jews. On the expulsion of the Jews from Silesia, when the Jewish inhabitants of Silz had the privilege of remaining on condition that they would pay the sum of 2,000 gulden, the Lithuanian communities contributed one-fifth of the amount.[14]
Upon annexation of Belarusian lands, Russian czars included the territory into the so-called Pale of Settlement, a western border region of Imperial Russia in which the permanent residence of Jews was allowed. Though comprising only 20% of the territory of European Russia, the Pale corresponded to the historical borders of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and included much of present-day Belarus, Republic of Lithuania, Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, and parts of western Russia.
By the end of the 19th century, many Belarusian Jews were part of the general flight of Jews from Eastern Europe to the New World due to conflicts and pogroms engulfing the Russian Empire and the anti-Semitism of the Russian czars. Millions of Jews, including tens of thousands of Jews from Belarus, emigrated to the United States of America and South Africa. A small number also emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine.
Atrocities against the Jewish population in the German-conquered areas began almost immediately, with the dispatch of Einsatzgruppen (task groups) to round up Jews and shoot them. Local anti-semites were encouraged to carry out their own pogroms. By the end of 1941, there were more than 5,000 troops devoted to rounding up and killing Jews. The gradual industrialization of killing led to adoption of the Final Solution and the establishment of the Operation Reinhard extermination camps: the machinery of the Holocaust. Of the Soviet Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, 246,000 Jews were Belarusian: some 66% of the total number of Belarusian Jews.[22]
Jewish population in Belarus (official census data)Silver coin of Belarus, 10 rubles, 2010, 925, diam. 33 mm, revers, Volozhin yeshivaSilver coin of Belarus, 10 rubles, 2010, 925, diam. 33 mm, avers, "Judaism"
In 1968, several thousand Jewish youths were arrested for Zionist activity.[23] In the second half of the 20th century, there was a large wave of Belarusian Jews immigrating to Israel (see Aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1970s), as well as to the United States. In 1979, there were 135,400 Jews in Belarus; a decade later, 112,000 were left. The collapse of the Soviet Union and Belarusian independence saw most of the community, along with the majority of the former Soviet Union's Jewish population, leave for Israel (see Russian immigration to Israel in the 1990s).[22]
The 1999 census estimated that there were only 27,798 Jews left in the country, which further declined to 12,926 in 2009 and marginally rose to 13,705 in 2019, although oddly in that year, 10,269 men but only 3,436 women identified as Jewish.[24] However, local Jewish organizations put the number at 50,000 in 2006.[25] About half of the country's Jews live in Minsk. National Jewish organizations, local cultural groups, religious schools, charitable organizations, and organizations for war veterans and Holocaust survivors have been formed.[22]
Since the mass immigration of the 1990s, there has been some continuous immigration to Israel. In 2002, 974 Belarusians moved to Israel, and between 2003 and 2005, 4,854 followed suit.[22]
In October 2007, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, known for his authoritarian rule, was accused of making antisemitic comments; addressing the "miserable state of the city of Babruysk" on a live broadcast on state radio, he stated: "This is a Jewish city, and the Jews are not concerned for the place they live in. They have turned Babruysk into a pigsty. Look at Israel — I was there and saw it myself... I call on Jews who have money to come back to Babruysk."[26] Members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to the Belarusian ambassador to the US, Mikhail Khvostov, addressing Lukashenko's comments with a strong request to retract them, and the comments also caused a negative reaction from Israel. From having made up about half of the city's population in 1939, in 1999 there were only about 1,000 Jews left in Babruysk.[27]
The lands of Belarus during the Middle Ages became part of Kievan Rus' and were split between different regional principalities, including Polotsk, Turov, Vitebsk, and others. Following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, these lands were absorbed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which later was merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century.
Grodno or Hrodna is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities of Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Minsk, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the border with Poland, and 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the border with Lithuania. Grodno serves as the administrative center of Grodno Region and Grodno District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2024, the city has a population of 361,115 inhabitants.
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Byelorussia or simply Byelorussia, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and afterwards as one of fifteen constituent republics of the USSR from 1922 to 1991, with its own legislation from 1990 to 1991. The republic was ruled by the Communist Party of Byelorussia. It was also known as the White Russian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Grodno region, also known as Grodno oblast or Hrodna voblasts, is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center, Grodno, is the largest city in the region. As of 2024, it has a population of 992,556.
Babruysk or Bobruysk is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina River. Babruysk occupies an area of 66 square kilometres (25 sq mi), and comprises over 450 streets whose combined length stretches for over 430 km (267 mi). As of 2024, it has a population of 207,351.
The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked to much earlier expansionist policies of the Russian Empire conquering and ruling the eastern half of the European continent already before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. "For two centuries – wrote Zvi Gitelman – millions of Jews had lived under one entity, the Russian Empire and [its successor state] the USSR. They had now come under the jurisdiction of fifteen states, some of which had never existed and others that had passed out of existence in 1939." Before the revolutions of 1989 which resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, a number of these now sovereign countries constituted the component republics of the Soviet Union.
Slutsk is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Slutsk District, and is located on the Sluch River 105 km (65 mi) south of the capital Minsk. As of 2024, it has a population of 60,056.
Slonim is a town in Grodno Region, in western Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Slonim District. It is located at the junction of the Shchara and Isa rivers, 143 km (89 mi) southeast of Grodno. As of 2024, it has a population of 48,907.
Mir is an urban-type settlement in Karelichy District, Grodno Region, Belarus. It is situated on the banks of Miranka River, about 85 kilometres (53 mi) southwest of the capital, Minsk. As of 2024, it has a population of 2,238.
The history of the Jews in Lithuania spans the period from the 14th century to the present day. There is still a small community in the country, as well as an extensive Lithuanian Jewish diaspora in Israel, the United States, South Africa, and other countries.
Sapotskin is an urban-type settlement in Grodno District, Grodno Region, Belarus. It is located near the border with Poland and 27 km (16.8 mi) northwest from Grodno. As of 2024, it has a population of 925.
Skidzyelʹ or Skidel is a town in Grodno District, Grodno Region, Belarus. It is located 31 kilometres (19 mi) east from Grodno. As of 2024, it has a population of 9,707.
Belarus and Lithuania established diplomatic relations on 24 October 1991, shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The two countries share 680 kilometres (420 mi) of common border.
The Holocaust in Belarus refers to the systematic extermination of Jews living in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic during its occupation by Nazi Germany in World War II. It is estimated that roughly 800,000 Belarusian Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. However, other estimates place the number of Jews killed between 500,000 and 550,000.
Krupki is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Krupki District.
Dzyatlava or Dyatlovo is a town in Grodno Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Dzyatlava District. It is located about 165 kilometres (103 mi) southeast of Grodno. The population was 7,700 in 2016. As of 2024, it has a population of 7,767.
Ackerman, Tasha. "Miriam Weiner: The Genealogist with a Desire "(PDF). The Together Plan.
The architecture of Belarus spans a variety of historical periods and styles and reflects the complex history, geography, religion and identity of the country. Several buildings in Belarus have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in recognition of their cultural heritage, and others have been placed on the tentative list.
This article presents the timeline of selected events concerning the history of the Jews in Lithuania and Belarus from the fourteenth century when the region was ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Lithuanians in Belarus have a long history, as the lands of what is now Belarus was part of Lithuania for more than half a millennium from the 13th century onwards. The land of what is now Belarus was originally inhabited by Balts, while Slavs arrived in those lands during the late Early Middle Ages.
↑ "YIVO | Belarus". yivoencyclopedia.org. Archived from the original on 6 July 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
↑ "Belarus"(PDF). Yad Vashem Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies. Archived(PDF) from the original on 20 June 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
↑ Harshav, Benjamin (1999). The Meaning of Yiddish. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 6. "From the fourteenth and certainly by the sixteenth century, the center of European Jewry had shifted to Poland, then... comprising the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (including today's Byelorussia), Crown Poland, Galicia, the Ukraine and stretching, at times, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from the approaches to Berlin to a short distance from Moscow."
↑ Census data cited in: Zeltser, Arkadi (July 15, 2010). "BelarusArchived 6 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine ." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
↑ Friedman, Alexander (2009). "Jews in Belarus." In: Mark Avrum Ehrlich (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture. Volume 1: Themes and Phenomena of the Jewish Diaspora. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. p. 946-953; here: p. 952.
Batrakova, Karina P.; National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno (November 2001). National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno(PDF). Secaucus, NJ: Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation. pp.1–2.
Golubovich, Alla K.; National Historical Archives of Belarus in Minsk (2002). Sources for the Genealogy of Belorussian Jews(PDF). Secaucus, NJ: Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation. pp.1–3.
Yunina, Larisa Ivanova; Grodno Oblast State Archives (2002). Grodno Oblast State Archives(PDF). Secaucus, NJ: Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation. pp.1–2.
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