Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus

January, 1932. A voucher for the purchase of goods in a special store of USSR ( TORGSIN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torgsin ) in Minsk for $5 sent from the USA by Celea Nakhmkin / Nakhamkin from Cleveland, Ohio to Aron son of David Khurgel from town of Minsk, 14-2 Zamkovaya street.

On May 30, 1928, an exchange of Aron HaKodesh ("kivots") took place between the Belarusian State Museum and the Jewish community of shtetl Uzlyany of Minsk region. During the exchange the museum received an ancient Aron HaKodesh of the mid-18th century from the synagogue of Uzlyany, which was made by a famous wood carver Dov-Ber son of Israel. Jewish community of Uzlyany received Aron HaKodesh from Minsk Choral synagogue, which was closed in 1923 by communist regime. The deal was signed on behalf of the Jewish community of shtetl Uzlyany by Yosel son of Berka Relis, and Aron son of Shevel Feldman. Only doors of ancient Aron HaKodesh, which was originally from Uzlyany synagogue, have survived to this day, and now it stored in the Belarusian Historical Museum in Minsk. Synagogue in shtetl Uzlyany burned down during WWII, building of the Choral Synagogue in Minsk is used as a Russian drama theater today.

The ruins of a stone synagogue of the late 19th century in the shtetl of Lyskovo, Pruzhany district. In 1897, 876 people lived in the shtetl of Lyskovo, of which 658 were Jews. There are two ancient Jewish cemeteries preserved in the village, which, as you might guess, are in an abandoned state.

During the 1880s in town of Grodno, on Bolshaya Troitskaya Street, a local merchant named Chaim-Itsko Levinson built a two-story house. Some time later, he provided part of this house to house a synagogue called "Klauze". In the mid-1920s, the Talmud Torah and Bregman Trade School were established in the building. After the war, the building was first used as a technical school and then as a dormitory. Three years ago, the building was sold at auction by the city authorities. A small hotel for 55 people will soon open here. It should be noted that the building is located in close proximity to a operating synagogue. You can see a view of the backyard of the synagogue building in the first photo.

Starting in 1928, some of the Jews of Belarus believed the communist propaganda and went to build a town for Jews in Siberia , on the border with China called Birobidzhan.
About 30 files with family lists of Jews and other documents of Jews who moving to Birobidzhan from Belarus have been preserved in the archives of Belarus.
You can find one of these lists on our website https://jhrgbelarus.org/1929-jewish-families-from.../
In the photo: Schoolgirl in Birobidzhan, 1937.

1914. Students of the Alekseevskaya women's gymnasium in the city of Vitebsk- Rachel Katsenelenbaum, 19 years old, daughter of a merchant and Pesya Mints, 17 years old. The gymnasium operated from 1905 to 1917. The gymnasium building has not survived.

Religious Jew from the shtetl of Chechersk, Mogilev Guberniya. Photo of the beginning of the 20th century.

Portrait of a Jewish girl from the town of Chausy, 1904. The photo was taken in a photo studio owned by M. Fishman in the city of Mogilev.

1901. Town of Lepel, Vitebsk guberniya. Unknown Jewish family. On the back of the photo there is an inscription: "To my dear son for eternal memory 1901 March 15." Photo studio of B.L. Fidelman.

1890s. Ester Papish. Photo from the town of Pinsk by photographer Wolf son of Shimon Rendel.

This is how the building of the former synagogue in the former shtetl of Krevo of Oshmyany uezd has changed over the past 20 years (2002-2022). Another 20 years will pass and only the foundation will probably remain of the building.
According to the 1897 census, the local Jewish community numbered 809 out of a total population of 2,201. The building of the synagogue that has been preserved in Krevo - a low, red brick building with traces of the "Star of David" in the masonry of the front - is located on one of the abandoned streets leading to the ruins of an ancient castle. These different, at first glance, monuments are united by a common fate: they fell into disrepair, having lost their owners.