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The House in which Napoleon was quartered in 1812, during his campaign in Russia

The story of Volkovysk is the story of unending wars that stretch out over time. During the centuries of its existence, it would pass from hand to hand, from one regime to another. A number of times it was turned into a heap of rubble, from which it rose anew. In what follows, we will tell only about part of these conflicts that took place in the Volkovysk vicinity, as they appear in the 1893 lexicon, Slownik Geograficzny Krolewstwa Polskiego.

In the year 1098, the Jadzving tribe fell upon the residents that dwelled around the previously mentioned pond, and after plundering and abusing them, they put the settlement to the torch. Several years later, a great natural disaster took place, when the when the River Nietufy, overflowed its banks, and inundated the settlement.

Towards the end of the 1200's the city was under Russian hegemony, but it was completely destroyed in 1224, when the Tatars invaded the area. It was rebuilt anew by the Lithuanians, and remained under their control until the Mongols spread all over Russia, after the death of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Ringold, and among the rest, they destroyed Volkovysk. In the year 1252, the city was in the territory ruled by the Volhynian Nobleman, Wasil, and in 1258, a treaty was signed between the Russians and the Lithuanians, in which it was agreed that Volkovysk would be under the rul of the Lithuanian Duke, Mendug, who had done a great deal to improve the city, even having put up a beautiful castle there.

After the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gedymin was murdered, in the midst of his battle with the Teutonic Knights, several cities changed hands, among them Volkovysk and Novogrudok, going over into the hands of his youngest son, Koriat, who continued to develop the city, and expand it. In 1365, Alexander, the youngest son of Koriat, attacked a cohort of crusaders, and brought back many prisoners and much booty to the city.

In the year 1385, emissaries arrived prior to an historic visit. The Lithuanian ruler Jagiello sent messengers from Volkovysk to Cracow, the capital of

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Poland, and they brought the important message that Jagiello and his court were prepared to accept the Christian religion, under condition that the queen of Poland, Jadwiga would marry him, and the Poles would recognize him as their king. Jagiello received the Polish messengers in his castle in Volkovysk, who brought him a positive response. In accordance with the agreement signed by Poland and Lithuania, Jadwiga married Jagiello in 1386, and the Lithuanians – converted to Christianity, and Jagiello was crowned “King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Ruler of the Rus.” The Poles sent priests to Volkovysk to educate the residents in the essentials of the Christian faith, and they also made sure that – any remaining idol worshipers were either driven away or wiped out. From that time on, a great transformation was wrought in the life and development of the city.

About twenty years later, Jagiello ceded Volkovysk to his brother Witold (1392-1430) in return for taking control of a large number of towns near Turkey.

In 1409, the German King Ulrich von Jungingen launched a surprise attack against Volkovysk and on March 16 of that year, put the city to the torch after his soldiers had murdered many of its residents and taken many as prisoners.

The city was rebuilt anew at the beginning of the 16^th century during the reign of the Lithuanian Duke Alexander, who granted many privileges to the city and its residents – something that was formalized in 1507. During the rule of Sigmund II, in the 16^th century, Volkovysk was considered to be among the most important Lithuanian cities, and the legislative body (the Sejm) held some of its sessions in this city. At that same time there were nine streets in the city: Slonim, Jasikov, Jesuitzka, Vilna, Piekarski, Piesk, Zamovka, and Petroshovsky, and to this day, traced of these streets can be found beside the Ros' River.

In the war between Poland and Sweden, during the reign of Jan Kazimierz, the city was again destroyed, when it was attacked (in 1656) from three sides: from the south by the Swedes, from the north and the east by the army of Poland and Lithuania, and from the North and West by the Tatars. There was heavy fighting for three days around the city, until the Swedes finally prevailed. As a memorial to those days, there remains the Schlossbarg (also called the Mount of the Swedes) which rises to a height of 50 meters.

In the year 1662, during the war with Russia, the city was once again razed to the ground from what is told in various histories, to the point where no “stone remained on another stone.” A hundred years later, in 1762, there were no more than 112 houses, but as little as thirty years afterwards, there were more than 1,000 houses. In the year 1794, Volkovysk was changed into the District City for the Slonim District. Afterwards, it became a Lithuanian provincial seat, and in 1802, went over into the Grodno Province.

In the year 1812, Volkovysk served as a the principal base for the Second Russian Army, and at the time of Napoleon's retreat, a great battle took place in the Volkovysk area between the Russian Corps of Sacken and the French army of Reiner. In the process of retreating, the French destroyed Volkovysk, and only very few buildings remained there intact. The destruction was so great, that it became necessary to transfer all of the city's municipal institutions to the neighboring town of Izavelin.

Various coins, and remains of armament, that were found beside the hills to the south of the city, which served as fortresses, verify and give support to the name, 'Mount of the Swedes' that was given to these hills.

Five years afterwards, in 1817 – there were 156 houses in the city (only two of which were made of brick), and among its 602 residents there were 216 Jews. By the year 1860, the number of houses had reached 492, all of them built from wood.

Great development took place in the city in the

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ensuing four decades. And that is what we read briefly about the city that was described in the previously cited lexicon, that in 1862 there were already 492 houses, 58 stores, and the number of residents had reached 3,472, of which: Jews – 1518, Catholics – 1,503, Russian Orthodox – 452.

In 1891, the number of houses in the city was 910, and the number of stores, 334. The number of residents was 8,057, and by religion: Jews – 3332, Russian Orthodox – 1,934, Catholics – 2752, Muslims – 23. By occupation: Peasants – 5,476, Workers – 530, Merchants – 141. The total population in the general district was 129,102, and the number of Jews in the district had reached to 14,571.

In 1897, there were 12, 942 Jews in the district (excluding the city itself), who represented 9% of the population, while in the city proper, 5,528 Jews lived, who represented 53% of the population [there]. Also, in other settlements in the Volkovysk District, Jews were more than half the resident population.

In 1910, the general population of Volkovysk amounted to 14,593 residents, and the Jews represented 55% of them. There were 14 towns in the Volkovysk District, 1.031 villages, and settled estates.

The last census taken of Volkovysk was in 1932, and in accordance with the figures then obtained, the population of the city had reached 15,147, who lived in 2,006 dwellings.

According tot he formal historical record, Jews lived in Volkovysk as early as 1577. In this report (Regesta y Zapiski) it is stated that in 1577 it was decided that in light of the impending danger of war, a tax would be raised from all residents, including Jews, in the amount of 12 groschen.

The records of the Vaad Arba Aratzot [sic: Four-Lands Commission] provide details of the taxes paid by the Jews to the Lithuania Duke in the years 1680 and 1693.

In Volkovysk and its environs, 1,282 Jews resided in the year 1766. And in the entire district – 4,781 Jews.

According to the historical record, there were 5,946 Jews in the entire Volkovysk District, broken down as follows:

Volkovysk	1,429
Zelivian	856
Izavelin	297
Lopenitsa	88
Lisokovo	232
Amstibova	304
Novy Dvor	53
Porozovo	397
Piesk	662
Ros'	287
Svislucz	997
Yalovka	372

Thirteen years later, in 1860, the Jewish population in Volkovysk was 1,518 out of a total population of 3,472 residents.

It is possible to learn about the population growth from the summary of the census taken in 1891. According to these totals, the general population in that hear had reached 8,057 residents, of which the Jewish residents were 3,232. It is worth noting that in this year, there were 19 manufacturing facilities in the city (tobacco, candles, bricks, and others), most of them owned by Jews, a Jewish synagogue, six Batei Medrash, one pharmacy, three civilian hospitals, and four military hospitals.

Volkovysk is found in an area that has pine tree forests, on the rail line that connects with the cities of Grodno and Vilna to the west, and Bialystock and

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Slonim to the east. It is 85 km from Grodno, 90 km from Bialystock, and 112 km from Baranovich. To the north of the city, rise the hills of Ros', and to the south, rises the Schlossbarg – the fortress hill over which various European armies fought each other.

On its east side, the Volkova River flows, which widened and changes into a large lake at the edge of the city, and from there it streams on for the entire length of the city center – the Jewish neighborhood.

The local land is not particularly bountiful agriculturally, and is mostly sand.

There are two train stations in the city. The old one, in the center of the city, which is populated with Jews, where only local train traffic stops, and the new one, which was built in recent times, where the express trains stop as well. The area surrounding the new train station is a Christian neighborhood, and nearby are many places of work and barracks. As previously stated, the center of the city is populated only by Jews, the exception being Zamoscheh, where Christians lived as well.

Despite the fact that the population of the city was mostly Jewish, the Jews were never granted the privilege of representation that was due to them, and the head of the city was always a Christian. In order to redress this blatant imbalance, and give it a “democratic” cast, for purposes of elections, they would append the population of the outlying villages, populated by Christians, to the city municipal districts, and in this way they would attain a non-Jewish majority. The anti-Semitic Polish regime made itself felt in Volkovysk as well. In the late [19]30s, the prohibition against Jews by the Poles was clearly felt. Christian guards stood out in front of Jewish stores in order to chase away Christian shoppers, and to eliminate buying of goods in Jewish stores.

The markets were an important source of income for the Jews, and the row of the Jewish stores (Rad Krommen) between Szeroka (the center street of the city) and Kosciuszko, was teeming with life and activity on market days (Mondays and Thursday), and on the Major Market Day (Yerid) which was held on the 22^nd of each month.

The principal means of livelihood for the Jews was commerce, but there were no lack of working people and craftsmen in the city, who had the capacity to refute the canard of the parasitic nature of Jewish economic activity, because the majority of such workers were Jews, such as: a factory for casting iron for the agricultural machines of Sholom Barash, a factory for firing bricks, the cement and tile factory of Moshe Tchopkin, the Leather Factories of Bloch and Markus, The Factory for tiles and cement for stoves of Kushnir. The five flour mills were also in Jewish hands (Glembotsky, Khurin, Solomon, Rakhmilevich, Bitvitz) and also the three saw mills (Moshe Shapiro, Smazanovich, and Sholom Barash). Also, factories for soft drinks were owned by Jews (Novogrudsky, Rosenbloom and others). Many of the Jewish establishments did not hire salaried workers. It is necessary to say that in the factory, the labor and the commerce was in the large part in Jewish hands, but there was a small minority that made its living from working the land.

The two huge fires that took place in Volkovysk wrought tremendous destruction. The first – occurred in 1886, when practically all of the wooden houses went up in flames, and the second in 1908, burned up a specific part of the center of the town, most of the central Szeroka street, the Mitzrayim Gasse, the Schulhof, and the beautiful old synagogue, with the Bet HaMedrash adjacent to it. The city was rebuilt speedily afterwards, and its external appearance improved greatly.

In 1915, during the First World War, Volkovysk was captured by the Germans. At that time, many fled into the heart of Russia, and they returned to the city when the war ended, when the city was already under the Polish regime. A great fire broke out also during the time of the German occupation, and the

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Kholodoisker Gasse was almost entirely burned down.

A great deal of development took place in the years between the two world wars in all walks of life, the city grew and spread out, and many residents were added. Many new houses were put up in the Karczyzna neighborhood, and almost all of them were occupied by Jews. The small wooden houses vanished almost completely. The economic condition of the Jews eased the mind, until the gathering storm approached. The Germans began to press their demands on Poland for an outlet to the sea and for specific Polish territories for their benefit (Danzig, and others). Poland began to arm itself, and in order to cover the large expenses involved with this, they announced a national levy, and compulsory quotas were levied on every city and town.

The ones most affected by the mandated of the Polish government at that time, were, of course, the Jews. Many were sent to the concentration camp at Kartuz-Bereza, because they could not pay the first levy, which was immediately followed by the second levy for defense purposes. The Jews of Volkovysk, like the Jews in other cities in Poland, began to feel the strong arm of the Poles. Anti-Semitism began to grow, and it evidenced itself in all walks of life. The Jews were deprived of their licenses to engage in the tobacco business, sugar, salt, etc. Many Jewish stores were closed, and in their place, Polish stores were opened. Guards placed at the doors of Jewish businesses denied Poles the right to enter within. The heavy taxes impoverished the majority of the merchants, and were it not for the quotas placed by the British Mandate on Jewish immigration during the depression years, the merchants with greater initiative, and many more Jews would have probably made aliyah.

At the beginning of 1939, you could already smell the smoke of the fire, but very few thought that the dispute between Poland and Germany would end in a real war. In the city, life went on as usual, and even in the community life of the Jews, there were no serious changes. Moshe Rabinovich, at that time, served as the head of the community, who was also active in the Zionist movement, and in the organization of Hebrew education; Sioma Gallin was head of the Jewish Hospital; Melekh Khantov was the Head of the Jewish Fire-fighters, L. Schlossberg and Markus were the Heads of the Bund, which at that time had not altered its anti-Zionist policy; the Zionists began their preparations for the elections at the Zionist Congress; all of the charitable local public institutions continued with their work as usual, including the Germilut Hasadim, which had held its annual meeting that year already. Many meetings were held on behalf of Keren HaYesod, but donations fell short because of the poor economic conditions. In the elections for the advisory council of the city, six Jews were chosen: 3 from the general Jewish bloc (Khantov, Dr. David Tropp, and S[ioma]. Gallin), and 3 from the side of the Bund; large numbers of Jews participated in protesting the “White Paper” of the British Mandate that was distributed that year, in short – everything as it always was. It was only in August that we began to feel a change that is palpable and imminent, and a depressing air pervaded the Jewish street, especially after it was found out that a committee of anti-Semites had been formed, headed by the pharmacist Timinsky, who even went so far as to prepare a list of the Jews, in order to kill them at the first available opportunity. Even before the war broke out, there were incidents of plunder and murder perpetrated against the Jews. The terror grew from day to day.

The period of Soviet occupation, which is covered in a separate section of this book, was from several vantage points, a period of relative calm, but as is known, it didn't last very long. In the course of seven days, from June 22-29, 1941, the city was bombed by the Germans, and almost 90% of the Jewish homes went up in flames. On November 2, 1942, under Nazi rule, all the Jews of Volkovysk and its environs were concentrated in bunkers that were adjacent to the barracks, and from there, the transports went out [with them] to the death camps in Treblinka. The final transport was sent to Auschwitz on January 26, 1943. The Jewish city of Volkovysk was left without any Jews.

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The first ones to return to Volkovysk at the end of the war, were the partisans who during the entire war years were in the neighboring forests, and who fought against the Nazis. Among these were Bom Zuckerman, Mot'eleh Shifran, Izzy Gallin, Eliyahu Kovensky, Katriel Lashowitz and others. At the same time, those who had managed to escape from the bunkers, and hide out under the protection of Christians, returned, such as Dr. Noah Kaplinsky, and Dr. Yitzhak Resnick. Even the handful of people who went through all of the cauldrons of the hell in the camps, and remained alive, they too returned, and among them, Moshe Shereshevsky. Among those who returned were also families that had been exiled to Siberia in 1940 by the Russians during the period when they ruled the city, because they were suspected of being capitalists. All of these had hoped to find some remnant of their families in the city. However, they found a destroyed city without any Jews. Only very few of these remained in the city for a variety of personal reasons, but all the rest left the city, because they could not walk about or live amid its ruins. And they took an oath that they would never again return to this heap of destruction. Before they retreated, the Germans managed to burn down the Jewish hospital and its adjacent buildings. Dr. Kaplinsky and Dr. Resnick, who came to Volkovysk after the liberation, found around the bunkers, where they were kept imprisoned from November 2, 1942 - January 26, 1943, all sorts of old an broken utensils and dishes. In Bunker #3, which served as a hospital for the sick among all the prisoners, they found the remains of a disinfection ward. The Russians had ordered Dr. Kaplinsky to run a government hospital, and Dr. Resnick to run a ward in that hospital.

Translator's footnotes:

1. M. Einhorn refers to this individual as Max Pusto. Return
2. A possibl e transcription error from the Einhorn book, where the name is given as Dingold. Return
3. Only eight a re given. The Biskupier street from M. Einhorn's book is omitted. Return
4. The direction of Bialystock is incorrect. It, too, should be to the west. Return

Eliyahu Shykevich

It was hard for us to believe that we had finally arrived home, after a journey filled with danger, and with much blood that was spilled like water. We couldn't quite get used to the idea that we were once again free to do what we want, the many nightmares that had robbed us of any hope and even will to continue living had ended.

Our wagons drew near to the commercial center of the city. Even here – silent and abandoned. All the stores closed. There is no one going in, and no one coming out. The heart began to beat at a more rapid pace, a fear of meeting with relatives and friends from days gone by. Who knows which of them are still alive. We were emotionally overwrought about that dramatic moment, when we would embrace our relatives in our arms, and wash away all the

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bitterness that had accumulated during the cruel war years in a wave of tears.
We arrived. Our wagons halted at the home of our brother-in-law, Meir Shiff, who had received the news of our anticipated arrival in advance. A pale light breaks through the windows of his house. The rear entrance doorway is opened, and we cross the threshold of the house with our hearts fluttering and full. My beloved brother-in-law and sister-in-law receive us with enormous feeling, and hug us in their embrace. It is hard to hold back the tears. The cried erupt from our throats: “Meir! Fradeleh! Eliyahu! “ The enormous change that had taken place in this house is very apparent. The deprivation chirps at us from every corner. There is not a trace of the plenty and wealth of bygone days, before the Deluge. The mark of the wealthy merchant, Meir Shiff has decidedly declined. He looks like a may on whom old age has descended prematurely. Even his good humor – had changed, and is gone. I cast an eye about, and the memories of the good days that we spent here rise up in me and move me deeply. My relatives look at me and stand dumbfounded.

– Elyeh, what are you looking for? They ask, and I reply: I am looking for the past, but I don't see it....

My first night was a sleepless one. Many thoughts concerning the magnitude of what lay ahead of us intruded on rest. On the following day, after breakfast, I received information from my brother-in-law regarding the condition and of what might be expected. It was revealed to me, that my house had been seized by a local carpenter, and he had been living there for three years. The house was very run down, and whoever was living there doesn't think much about cleaning it up. It is probably imminent that it will be necessary to resort to legal means in this instance. Even temporary housing is hard to come by now. All the merchandise, that I had left in storage before my departure, had been divided up among relatives and friends: a sewing machine, record players, ans assorted other items. The attempts by my brother-in-law to retrieve them, produced junk. When he notified a number of friends, who at my request had received machines on loan, that they need to return that which was lent to them – they laughed. The possibility of replacing my belongings here – even those are few. The government had nationalized the insurance sector. There was a serious doubt as to whether I could renew my dealings in Singer sewing machines. My commercial relationships outside of the country are not in order, and to the extent that there is business, it is erratic. It is still possible to buy some things with dollars, which cannot be bought for other currencies. The markets are full of German Marks, Austrian Krone, and Rubles, and are also replete in the homes of the citizenry, and they aren't worth the peelings off of a clove of garlic.

After hearing this depressing report from my brother-in-law, that this was not the only reason I would not be able to help prop up my brother-in-law's family as I had planned, but rather that I will also have difficulty maintaining myself in the coming days. I has lost my assets, everything that I had accumulated and earned in the past – was lost.
From whence would come my deliverance? Without ideas, and because of the thoughts on my mind, tears began to roll down from my eyes. My sister-in-law noticed this, and so she came near to me, and began to offer me encouragement: “What's the matter with you, Eliyahu? Are you the only one to have been disrupted and had all of his assets taken away in the wake of the war? There are tens of thousands just like you. Don't let your spirits fall, and don't lose your hope in a better tomorrow! Conditions will change soon, and the chaos that reigns through all aspects of living will be transformed into an orderly and normal scheme of things. You, with your experience, will establish yourself more quickly than others. Just don't give up!”

Her words were encouraging to me, and we agreed that I should rest for a couple of days, after which I would begin to meet with relatives and friends, in order to take stock of everything that affects the current situation, and the possibilities to set up my businesses once again. After the picture becomes clear, we will decide with what to start in order to build our lives anew.

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“Delegates” from America

When I was pepped up a little after hearing the sorrowful report that I received, my brother-in-law told me that aid had begun to arrive from relatives and friends in the United States. Several emissaries had already arrived in Volkovysk, and they brought sums of money with them to be allocated among [various] necessities. At this time, the “delegates” from the Unite States receive an entreaty for their relatives in America to help them with financial contributions. Precisely at this time, a cousin of ours, Hona Nakhumovsky is expected here, and he is supposed to visit us.

For the sake of truth, the news of this impending visit didn't make me happy at all. I was not inclined to be a solicitor of donations. For my entire life, I avoided doing things of this nature. I never, ever sent letters to America, begging for them to send us a few dollars, as many did, who would pour out their hearts to their relatives, describing their circumstances in the blackest of hues (even if, in fact, that was not the case), especially to arouse the sympathies of their well-heeled relatives. I built myself up solely on the basis of my own work, and even for the future, I thought to rebuild myself on the basis of work, and not on the basis of relatives in America.

This cousin came to visit us on one evening. His first question was – what are my circumstances. I told him plainly that the war had ruined me, I had gone through tribulations in Russia, and a communist court had sentenced me to death, which forced me to flee the place with every possible speed. My escape lasted three months. When I reached Minsk, I saw large trials of tens of people who were taken out for execution because they had hidden Czarist currency. I had 42,000 rubles in my possession, which I succeeded in bringing back to Volkovysk, in the hopes that this money would help me support my dear brother-in-law from an economic standpoint. I put my life in danger in order to take this money along, but to my great chagrin, I discovered upon my arrival, that this money no longer had any value. Despite this, I am not despondent. I expect that the Good Lord who has helped me up till now – will also help me in the future.

In short, we spent several hours with this cousin, from whom we asked for no assistance, and on the following day, he returned to the United States.
Even my sister-in-law, who was a witness within earshot of the dialogue, summarized that I didn't really behave correctly, and that it would have been appropriate to hint to our relative, or even to explicitly ask for assistance needed to help the family, yet I stood my ground, because it is no plan to try and rebuild oneself on the basis of handouts, and I even reminded her of her own words of encouragement, that there is reason to hope for better times and not to let one's spirits fall.

I want to take the measure of the city's morale, and I go for a walk in the streets. At the precise time that the stores open. I enter the few stores that are open. There is little merchandise, and as you can understand, there is little business. One does not see the type of merchant with the generous hand of the bygone days before the war. The lively and loud banter among the butchers, during the time they are cutting and dressing the fresh meats for their regular customers, is not to be heard, and the intensity of the fishmongers is faded and gone, and one no longer hears their fawning cries of: “Shayn'dehleh, Breindeh'leh, Pes'sheleh...” Here and there one sees the worried countenances of several sorrowful walking by the wagons of merchandise with lightning speed, because the have nothing with which to buy, on their way to the bakers, in order to buy a piece of simple coarse bread to satisfy the hunger of their children. Very few people are seen in the streets. I think to myself that perhaps the Jews are occupied reciting the Selikhot prayers. After all, at what time did the Jews have greater need for the mercy of the Holy One, Blessed Be He? ... What a transformation had taken place on the street of the Jews! Everything had been destroyed and laid waste, and who knows when we would see the fulfilment of the prayer “renew our days as of old?”

Amidst such sorrowful thoughts, I reach the Schulhof. The Great Synagogue stand out it its full glory. It appears that its Gabbaim and regular

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worshipers have been spread throughout the length and breadth of Russia. They fled to wherever the wind would blow them, running to get beyond the occupation, to escape siege and destruction, from confiscation decrees... from impoverishment, etc. Only a few succeeded in this respect. Most of them are streaming back to their former dwelling places, tired, worn out, poor and downtrodden. On all the roads, Jews are streaming back to their destroyed homes, to the synagogues where at least they will be able to offer up their prayers, to pour out their hearts about all that had occurred to them in their sojourn in the Vale of Tears, and in front of other Jews, whose fate was not particularly better. Even I am attracted to the Great Synagogue. Even I have a desire to pour out my heart to the Creator of the Universe, my heart also aches, but to my great sadness, the Synagogue is closed. Beside the smaller synagogues, I see small clutches of Jews standing, trying to recruit the coming and going Jews for a minyan.

The words of Lamentations burst forth from my heart. Oh, how can this city be so desolate? The familiar Schulhof with the seven large synagogues that were full of worshipers at all hours of the morning – How far have they fallen that they must recruit people for a minyan? In standing by the steps of the Great Synagogue, my ears picked up the sound of groans, and weeping that came from the Old Age Home, that was nearby. The miserable residents of this place had completed their praying and beseeching for some time now, and they are waiting for their meal after prayers, But the Gabbai of this institution, Eliezer Shaliota has just arrived. He is the director in the institution, and he does not depend on anyone but himself. He is quietly sitting in his office right now. His meal is set in front of him. The pleading of the elderly men and women does not reach him here. I strike up a conversation with the old folks, who complain bitterly about their fate, on the stingy portions of their food. They too, long for the bygone days, when their entreaties of “Cast us not into old age,” fell upon cocked ears.

Translator's footnote:

1. E. Shykevich, who for a long period of time was the Chairman of the Organization of Volkovysk Émigrés in Israel, came to Volkovysk in 1913. He is especially well known for his work on behalf of the orphanage. He left many diaries and writings, and this article is based on them. Return

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