Holocaust in Belorussia, 1941-1944

Translation of
Katastrofia Evreev v Belorusii 1941-1944

Written by Leonid Smilovitsky

Tel Aviv, 2000




 

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Irene Newhouse z”l

 


Our sincere appreciation to Leonid Smilovitsky for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Katastrofia Evreev v Belorusii 1941-1944
(The Holocaust in Belarus), Leonid Smilovitsky, Tel Aviv, Biblioteka Motveya Chernogo, 2000


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Translated by Clayton Simon

  Preface 7
  Author's Foreword 21
 
Chapter 1 Features of the Holocaust in Belarus
 
1. A Demographic Profile of the Jews in Belorussia, 1939-1959 27
2. The quest for rescue in occupied territory
  Life in the ghetto, trial by hunger 46
  Demoralization of the prisoners 48
  The quest for rescue 50
  Organized escapes 55
  Aid and rescue of Jews by German servicemen 58
  The rescue of Jews by Christians 62
3. The fate of children during the years of occupation 67
  The beginning of the war 68
  Children in the ghetto 69
  The saviours of children 73
  Antisemitism and children 77
  Children of mixed marriages 80
  The behavior of non-Jewish spouses 82
  The difference in status between Jewish and non-Jewish children 84
  The number of victims among children 86
  The influence of the Holocaust on the fate of children 88
4. Confiscation of Jewish Property 94
 
Chapter 2 Resistance to the Policy of Genocide
 
1. The battle in the ghetto of Minsk 102
2. Family camps and partisan units 119
3. Jews and Poles among the Belarusian partisans 129
4. Anti-Semitism in the Partisan Movement of Belorussia, 1941-1944 147
 
Chapter 3 The Ghettos of Belarus-examples of genocide
 
1. From materials of the Extraordinary Commission (Ch.G.K. USSR)
  Baranovichi 160
  Bol'shaya Berestovitsa 161
  Borisov 162
  Byten 163
  Vasilishki 164
  Vileika 164
  Vitebsk 167
  Vishnievo 168
  Volkovysk 168
  Volozhin 169
  Vorob'evichi 171
  Voronovo 171
  Gorodishche 172
  Gorodeya 173
  Grodno 174
  Derechin 175
  Drogichin 176
  Dyatlavo 176
  Zembin 177
  Ivye 178
  Ilya 179
  Kletsk 181
  Kozlovshchina 182
  Kokhanovo 183
  Kurenets 183
  Lida 185
  Lyakhovichi 186
  Molchad' 187
  Myadel 188
  Nesvizh 189
  Orsha 190
  Peski 191
  Slavnoe 191
  Surazh 192
  Tolochin 193
  Cherikov 194
  Yanovichi 194
2. Witnesses to the Holocaust
  Berezino 197
  Glusk 198
  Gorki 200
  Zheludok 203
  Klimovichi 204
  Lyady 207
  Minsk 209
  Mozhyr 212
  Novogrudok 215
  Village of Ordat' 216
  Plissa 218
  Pogost-Zagorodski 220
  Smilovichi 223
  Smorgon' 225
  Stolin 227
  Turov 228
  Uzda 230
  Khotenchitsy 232
3. Ilya Ehrenburg on the crimes of Nazism in Belarus 234
 
Chapter 4 Encroachments on Memory
 
1. Cherven' 247
2. Rechitsa 259
3. Eternal monuments to the victims of genocide 278
 
Chapter 5 Historiography of the Holocaust
 
1. Jews in Borisov 288
2. Novogrudok: A Missing Chapter in the History of the Holocaust in Belarus 295
3. New approaches to the study of the Holocaust 303
Dictionary of basic terms and names used 314
 
Bibliography 329
The Series “Pamyat'” [Memory] 339
 
Books and Articles in Hebrew 340-341
 
Appendix
  Demographic and social composition of the Jewish population in the Soviet Union up to 1941. 342
  From an order of Field Marshal General Walter von Reichenau, Commander of the 6th Army; “On the behavior of troops in the East”. 343
  Letter of P.K Ponomarenko, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, to Comrade Stalin 344
  Address by the German Command 346
  From an order of 4 November 1941 by the Field Command of Minsk on the re-naming of city streets 348
  A Reminder to the Belorussian Policeman 349
  Identifying signs for Jews 350
  Report on the interrogation of prisoner-of-war Phillip Keffer, 1st company, 118th rifle regiment, 36th infantry division 352
  From a list of names of Ch.G.K. of the USSR regarding the town of Rechitsa 353
  Victims among the civilian population and prisoners of war in Belarus between 1941 and 1944. 355
  Participation of Jews in the leadership of the Resistance in occupied territory of Belarus from 1941-1944. 356
  Memorial complexes, monuments, and memorial markers to the victims of the Holocaust in Belarus established between 1945 and 1999 366
  From the archives of the newspaper Ainikait 377
  Table of the dynamics of the change in the Jewish population of Belarus from the 18th to the 20th century 382
  “Nine Aspen Stakes” poem by Yanka Kupala 384
  To the USSR Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee by M.G. Kel'man 386
  About the book by L. Smilovitsky “The Holocaust of the Jews of Belarus” 387
Addresses of Jewish societies in Belarus 389
Addresses of Jewish societies in Israel 393
Index of names 394
Geographic index 409
Photographic documents 417
 
Russian Table of Contents


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