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Editor: Fran Bock

The following Appendices are part of Esther Rechtschafner’s comprehensive history of the Jews of Vitebsk. For the text of her article, please click on the link below:

Click here for “My Vitebsk” article

© This article is copyrighted by Esther Rechtschafner.

Reprinting or copying of this article is not allowed without prior permission from the copyrightholders.

Appendices

 Map of Grand Duchy of Lithuania (WIKI)

Map of Belarus Today (LS)

Map of Vitebsk Area (Minsk Gubernia Map of 1834, JGM)

map_minsk.jpg (405957 bytes)

Table 1: The Jewish Population of Vitebsk

                 Year                          Jewish Population                          Percentage of Total Population

                  1772                                1227                                             25 % (1)

                  1811                                 5490 (2)

                  1847                                 9417 (3)                                      About 50% (4)

                  1861                                14,774 (5)

                  1897                                34,420 (6)                                    52.4 % (7)

                  1923                               39,714                                          43.7 % (8)

                  1926                               37,013 (43,180) [9]                      37.5 % (10)

                  1937                               37,000 (11)

                  9/1939                            41,000 (12)

1939                                                            between 45-52,000 (13) or 50-60,000 (14)

1940                                                            50,000 (before WW2) [15]

1941                                                            16,000 (in ghetto) [16]

1944                                                            0 (after WW2) [17]

1946                              500 (18)                                         148,000 (19)

1960+                            20,000 (20)

2007                              5000 (21) or 3500 (22)                   15 % (23)

Table 2: Jewish Merchants of Vitebsk (24)

Product                                                           Merchants

Flour                                                                  Gregory Gerschman (25), Zalman Markovitz

Sugar                                                                  Meir Gerschman (26)

Food                                                                   Israel Meckler

Paper                                                                  Shamaria Meckler, Katzelbogen

Kerosene and oils                                             David Yachnin, Gregory Glazer

Iron and leather                                                Vitenberg, Moshe Pesrovsky, Nachman Parnes, Setronsky

Manufactured goods                                         Trinan

Dried fruits                                                         Nutkin

Salted fish                                                           Yachnin, Mindlin

Table 3: Jews of Vitebsk at the turn of the century (27)

•         Total population of Vitebsk gubernia: 1,489,246 (of those, 215,919 living in cities)

•         Jews and Karaims: 175,635 (113,848 in cities)

•         Yiddish as mother tongue: 174,240 (112,455 in cities)

•         Total population of Vitebsk: 33,345 men; 32,374 women

•         Jews in Vitebsk: 15,897 men; 17,555 women

•         Religious affiliation among Jews: Judaism 99.94%, Russian Orthodox 0.03%, Catholics 0.01%, Protestants 0.01%, others 0.01%

•         Age distribution of Jews of Vitebsk guberniya:

                                     Age            Male             Female

                                     <1              2,558            2,474

                                    1-10           20,647         20,910

                                   10-20          19,656         23,552

                                   20-30          13,800         16,465

                                   30-40            8,637           9,777

                                   40-50            7,328           8,370

                                   50-60            4,972           5,492

                                   60-70            3,173           3,140

                                   70-80            1,361           1,161

                                   80-90              316                256

                                   90-100             35                   46

Consecration Speech

Photo Album

A Sketch of Old Vitebsk in 19th century (29)

Old Vitebsk (30)

Modern Vitebsk — The City Center (31)

City view

The Bridge Today (32)

Appendix Footnotes

1. BH, p. 1; EH, V.16, p. 76; EJ, V. 16, p. 191.

2. EH, V.16, p. 76.

3. VT, p. 4.

4. EH, V.16, p. 76.

5. VT, p. 4.

6. BH, p. 1; VT, p. 4.

7. BH, p. 1; EH, V. 1, p. 76; EJ, V. 16, p. 191, SV.

8. BH, p. 2; EJ, V. 16, p. 191.

9. VT.p.444.

10. BH, p. 2; EH, V.16, p. 76; EJ, V. 16, p. 191.

11. YV, p. 1.

12. YV, p. 1

13. VT, p. 444.

14. This is according to Nazi sources, and may not be correct. VT, p. 444.

15. HO, p. 403.

16. EH, V.16, p 76; EJ, V. 16, p. 192. This was according to the list made by The Jewish council. VT, p. 447.

17. HO, p. 403.

18. HO, p. 403; VT, p. 452.

19. EH, V. 16, p. 75.

20. EH, V.16, p. 76; HO, p. 403.

21. TCA, TCV.  The population may be 10-15,000. Some don’t list themselves as Jews. RF

22. FJC

23. RF

24. VT, p. 134.

25. My Grandfather (Z’L)

26. My Great-Uncle (Z’L)

27. This data comes from the data of The First All-Russia Census of 1897 for the Vitebsk gubernia. VS,

LDS microfilm 1732226 SV

28. WUPJ

29. VWIK

30. The Jewish quarter was located at the right of the bridge. SV

31. Moscow Ave. This avenue stretches for nearly 4km in the southern part of Vitebsk. It ends at the entrance of the road to Moscow. The Vitebsk State University and the Vitebsk Technological University are situated here. W3

32. VC