Obchak

Obchak before 1917

History.

XVI century	- Obchak was a private village in the Great Lithuanian Princedom.
Since 1793	- Obchak was in Russian Empire.
Since 1801	- Obchak was a private possession in Minsk District of Minsk Province.
1855	- Obchak became a possession of Yurakh noble family. Jewish population appeared.

Vital Statistics.

Date	Number of Jews	Number of Non-Jews	Commentaries	Specific gravity in total population number
Mid. XIX century			Jewish population appeared
1885	about 170		Total population		No info
1905	530		Total population		No info
1917	21	639	Both sexes		3,2 %

Jewish Life.

In the beg. XX century in Obchak there were no praying houses or other Jewish objects.

Economical Review.

Traditional activities of local population were agriculture and trade with timber. Since early time Sluch river was the main road and trade way for local habitants. The village became to develop only in mid. XIX century after Yurakh noble family bought the estate and decided to lease. Since that time resident Jewish trading population appeared there.

During Russian principality Russian authorities did a lot to develop the region because of military and fiscal reasons mostly. First of all, old communications were reconstructed there:

- post communications road Moghilev - Minsk;

- trade road Koydanov - Smolyevichi.

In XIX, because of development of the AllRussian Market, new types of communications appeared in the region. Since 1873 the closest railway and telegraph stations were in Mikhanovichi (15 km).

Those events provoked new development of the village. Here is the table of development of Obchak in the 2nd half of XIX - early XX century:

Date of record	Number of houses
1885	22
1905	81
1917	92

It seems, that there were no any significant Jewish businesses in Obchak before 1917.

General cultural information.

By the end XIX - early XX century in Obchak there were small Orthodox church and Catholic chapel. The closest doctor was in Minsk (18 km), and closest post office and synagogue were in Smilovichi (15 km).