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The beginnings of the Jewish settlement in Białystok, which has traced a long and illustrious lineage across all fields, date back to ancient times, beginning shortly after the founding of the later famous city. The history of Jewish Białystok is not only very interesting but also unique. Until the horrific Second World War, Białystok played a significant role in the industrial and commercial life of Russia, Poland, and other countries. It was also renowned as a Jewish center of Torah and charity, a broad mecca of Jewish culture and social activity, a center of Jewish work, art, and enterprise.

The Jewish history of Białystok began in those distant times when a small village was located around the Biały River and belonged to Count Branicki. Jan Klemens Branicki, the count who inherited the village from his father, was a friend of the Jews. According to history, Count Branicki invited Jews from surrounding villages to settle in his village and help build the town.

The Pond near the Biala River before it was filled in and turned into the City Park

In 1742, Count Jan Branicki declared Białystok a city. Immediately afterward, in 1749, Jews settled there and began building a life for themselves and the surrounding area. By 1765, 765 Jews were living there. Just as the city was being built up, the Jewish population grew as well. By 1800, the famous “New Bes-Hamedresh” was established in the synagogue courtyard.

At that time, Białystok became a district town encompassing the following towns: Choroszcz, Horodok, Janów, Yashinovka, Knyszyn, Odelsk, Sokole, Zabłudów, and Wasilków. Shortly thereafter, in 1804, R' Aharon HaLevi Hurvits opened the first printing house in Białystok. By 1807, three years later, Białystok had 6,000 inhabitants, 4,000 of whom were Jewish.

Białystok was declared a capital in 1808. By 1897, 42,000 Jews were already living in Białystok, making up 64% of the total population. From the city's founding until the brutal Hitler era, Jews played a continuous and significant role. Like other cities, the Jews of Białystok experienced different periods. There were times when Jews earned considerable income and enjoyed a good life. However, during severe economic crises and political unrest, Jewish life there was also affected. For this reason, many Jews were forced to leave Białystok and emigrate to various parts of the world.

In the 1880s and 1890s, for example, many Białystoker Jews immigrated to the United States, Argentina, Erets Yisroel, and other places. Wherever they went, they brought with them the great heritage of their hometown, the sublime Jewish heritage, which they also lovingly implanted in their new homes and which is faithfully guarded to this day.

Before World War II broke out in September 1939, Białystok's total population was around 100,000. Jews, Poles, Russians, Belarusians, Germans, and Lithuanians lived there. Over 60% of the population was Jewish. Notably, before World War I in 1914, Jews accounted for 80% of the population.

Jews dominated the city's economic and social life at that time. Indeed, Jewish life there was wonderfully diverse. People who originated from Białystok still remember it well, wherever they live now. You can't forget such things. We remember…

Who could forget the streets and squares of Białystok? There was Novolipye and Bazarne, with the City Clock and everything around it. Count Branicki built these more than 200 years earlier. There was also Vashilkover [Wasilkowska] Street, Nay-Shtot [Nowy Świat], and the avenues around the “turme” [prison],, where young people strolled and hoped for good times. Last but not least were the “Gorodskai Sod” [City Garden] and the “Green Alley” in the forest, where Jewish students, high schoolers, working youth, merchants, vendors, and simply young people got up to mischief.

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They laughed and expressed their joy. They sang songs of freedom, love, and a beautiful world.

We remember the names of the streets that are still so familiar to us today: Surazer, Pyaskes, and Chaneykes; the shul-hoyf (synagogue courtyard); and the city's Great [Wielka] Synagogue, which the Nazis burned in 1941 along with nearly 2,000 Jews. We also remember the surrounding alleys where ordinary Jews lived, worked, and led beautiful, honest lives while constantly struggling to survive.

They worked hard but also constantly studied and led cultural lives. They immersed themselves in sublime spirituality, which helped the Jewish people make their lives more beautiful and spiritually rich.

Jewish life in Białystok in the old days was characterized by a continuous struggle and a revolutionary spirit. During the time of Tsarist Russia, Jewish Białystok played a significant role in the Jewish labor movement and the rise of the revolutionary movement. Even after World War I, when Poland was independent, Białystok remained an important working-class center. Jewish entrepreneurs, workers, merchants, salespeople, peddlers, and others made up a large part of the population.

The former “arbeiter-birzhes” [labor exchanges] on Surazer Street and at the corner of Gumiener Street played an important role in the history of Jewish Białystok. Discussions, debates, and disputes constantly raged there among Bundists, Poalei-Zionists, anarchists, “S-Ern” [S.R., or Social Revolutionaries], “ES-ES-nikes” [Social Democrats?], and others. They aspired to a new, beautiful world of honesty and justice, which unfortunately never came to pass.

Białystok was the third largest city in the textile industry, after Moscow and Lodz. Recently, it even surpassed Lodz in fabric and blanket production. Thus, Białystok acquired a large market share in sales around the world. It should be noted that the first large Jewish cloth factories existed in Białystok about 130 years earlier. These were small factories with hand looms where Jewish weavers performed hard labor for very little pay. From around 1850 onwards, Jewish manufacturers Nokhem Mints [Nachum Minc] and Sender Blokh were the first to introduce steam-powered looms. Gradually, over the course of several years, nearly the entire Białystok cloth industry converted to electro-mechanical looms. Additionally, the Jews continuously developed other industries.

Thanks to the various industries developed by the Jews in Białystok–weaving, tailoring, tanning, furriery, masonry, shoemaking, and tobacco production, among others–a large, organized labor movement also developed there. All kinds of political parties, professional associations, and other groups emerged and played an important role in the city's political, economic, social, and cultural life. During those years, Białystok experienced many stormy demonstrations, strikes, political unrest, and even armed attacks on the hated Tsarist police.

The Tsarist government had to reckon with the significant influence of the Jewish labor movement in Białystok. The movement demonstrated courage and self-respect in advocating for its legitimate demands. Even in independent Poland, the Jewish and general labor movements played an important role in the city's daily life.

The Jews of Białystok still remember the tragic events of 1905 and 1906 when Tsarist police and soldiers carried out bloody pogroms against local Jews, resulting in numerous casualties.

Jewish Białystok has long been renowned throughout Russia, Lithuania, Poland, and beyond as a city of Jewish culture, social activities, and charitable work. In the history of European Jewry, it is well known that Białystok was one of the first cities to respond to Jewish needs with warmth and financial generosity.

One should remember that Białystok was the cradle of the “Chovevei Zion” [Lovers of Zion] movement. Białystoker Jews also founded the ancient, famous colony of Petah Tikva in Erets Yisroel in 1882. They later built many important enterprises, residential buildings, cultural centers, and social centers in the Jewish homeland.

Thanks to the initiative, efforts, and financial resources of Białystoker Jews, the famous Jewish colony of Moisés Ville in Argentina, as well as the local industrial center Vizha Lintsh (Villa Lynch), among others, were built.

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Białystoker Jews in Argentina, Mexico, and other countries, especially in New York and elsewhere in the United States, established significant industrial and other enterprises.

Jews of Białystok descent occupy important places around the world thanks to their entrepreneurial and creative initiatives, as well as their significant contributions to science, medicine, cultural life, and other fields.

Clearly, Białystok Jews have not neglected to build and consolidate their own lives, particularly within their community. To this end, Białystoker Jews have always created and supported important and diverse institutions that serve as good examples for others. For example, Białystok had an extensive network of Jewish and Hebrew elementary schools, high schools, libraries, theaters, music groups, sports groups, and cultural organizations. Białystoker Jews also contributed significantly to the development of Jewish-Hebrew theater. The renowned artist Nachum Zemach, founder of “Habima,” was from Białystok. Indeed, this unique Hebrew theater group originated in Białystok.

Jewish Białystok has always had an impressive intelligentsia, which brought prestige to the Jewish community rooted there. This group included Jewish writers, scientists, artists, musicians, painters, cultural figures, educators, and political party leaders. Białystok was also famous for its rabbis, gaons, and notable Jews whose lives and leadership earned considerable respect for the entire Jewish community. Famous Jewish figures who are descendants of Białystok and who made important contributions to local life in various sectors are well remembered wherever Jews now live and work.

A large and important part of Białystok's population was deeply involved in religious life. There were over a hundred synagogues and study houses in the city.

Preserve the heritage of Jewish Białystok

The Jews of Białystok were generous and philanthropic, helping the needy in the city. Over the decades, the local Jewish hospital, Linas Hatzedek, a retirement home, orphanages, various aid organizations, loan funds, and many other institutions were very active among the Jews of Białystok.

These institutions provided help to the Jews of Białystok in various generous and meaningful ways. There were dozens of male and female fundraisers in the city who collected alms from citizens who were better off and distributed them to the needy. They helped the needy purchase wood and coal in the winter, provided food for holidays, paid rent, and gave dowries to poor Jewish girls for their weddings. But all this was done quietly. Few people who were not involved knew about the assistance or who received it. It was done quietly and modestly with Jewish heart and devotion, as was the way of the Białystoker Jews.

From the beginning and throughout the generations, the Jews of Białystok have written wonderful chapters in the history of their own deeply rooted community, as well as in the rich spiritual annals of Eastern European Jewry, and have passed them on to future generations.

The tragic fate that befell the formerly vibrant Jewish population of Eastern Europe during the Hitler era did not spare the ancient, deeply rooted, and creative Jews of Białystok. They were erased and completely destroyed by Nazi murderers and their accomplices. This ancient, beloved, sublime Jewish community must never be forgotten. Białystoker Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, will always remember and mourn Jewish Białystok.

This sentiment is also expressed in the touching poem we share here. It was written by Z. Segalovitsh [Segałowicz], a Białystok native and unforgettable poet who lived in New York during the last years of his life and died there in 1949.

Translator's notes:

1. Contents in [ ] are from the translator. Contents in ( ) are from the author. Return
2. I would like to point out that there is a chapter with similar content by what appears to be the same author on page 3 of the English section of this Yizkor book, see “Białystok – A Historical Survey”. However, it is a separate translation and considerable abridgement of the original text, made by Rabbi Shmuel A. Kronik or Rabbi Lowell S. Kronick, who is also the editor of the English section [see Yiddish part, page VI]. In general, his translation contains significant deviations from the original Yiddish text. Return

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My Białystok, the city of my dearest's names… It's like a book that's tossed into the fire, Where names of kin are caught within the flames, And all, all branches of my tribe. Our grandfathers and our great-grandfathers too, Were the first weavers in that sphere which was new. They gathered in numbers, their faith held tight, Built entire communities, worked hard with hearts burning bright. They bought from Count Branicki empty land so wide, On both banks where Biala's waters glide. They pulled thick logs from the forest alone, And raised a town from timber and stone. They built the factories…they wove, they spun, They planned, they saved, until the work was done. With rags from the end of the world they traveled far, To find out where new markets for the Białystoker “kort” are.[2] The young man speaks, with heavy breath, Words of terror, doom, extremely, extremely… His voice now echoes tales of death. All the old places remember deeply. And woe is me! Where is my city's face? My generation- gone, beyond a name. Where is my friend, my aunt, my uncle's grace? The world forgets, but I recall the flame. Where is my whole “past” in the world? The empty “now” will be passed on to the “later” - And on a foreign field some ashes are hurled... The Ghetto Streets begin to wake… It was at dawn, in our town, at five o'clock. The first disaster suddenly took place, With machine guns and full power they shocked. With hatred sharp and voices coarse, The Germans barked in their hard tongues, They tore the women from their sleep And hurled old people out to the street… A gang of manhunters, special trained, Worked quickly, planned, without restraint. Our first large group stepped into fate, Chased out into Shevat's frost, into the winds. Death waited with his black canopy at the gate For twelve thousand…men, their wives and their kids… My city of heroes and revolutionaries so brave, Who reached the fifth year through their fight. My city of weavers, hard work and faith - Always raised to be striving and upright. My generation was full of belief, Of expectation…of pride and of fire. We dreamed the future would bring relief, And somehow…man would rise up higher. We searched, we questioned, sought what's true, Justified much, but answers hid behind. A daring book with a kind of clue Bewildered Białystok and waked its mind. My city was not grand, nor ever rich, But always full of struggle, resistance- and virtue. In Russia they would say, without a glitch: “Białystok- a flame, and our country knew“… The children journeyed out to study and to grow, To Petersburg, to Lodz, to Heidelberg. My Białystok stood by the wild forests' flow, That reached the far Bialowieza, vast and dark. The songs still linger, embedded in beating hearts, The forest meetings…former comrades, friends are near. The Cossack whips that struck with hate- The scars are visible to this date. Yisgadal V'Yiskadash[3]    So many are no longer with us...    Let this hour be sacred for us!    We mourn them without “rash“-[4]    Yisgadal v'yiskadash...    What do we have left?    Except for the burning tears that have been shed...    On the graves, on the ashes -    Yisgadal v'yiskadash!...

The old historic shul in Zabludove rises in flames, ascending into eternity... (Drawing by Benn)

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In the distant past, the Białystok region was occupied by the fierce “Matvagn”^[2] tribe, one of the Baltic-Latvian tribes known in Russian history as late as the 10^th century. Both Vladimir the Saint in 983 and [his son] Yaroslav in 1038-1044 drove the “Yatvagn”^[2] out of Russian regions, actually pushing them back to the Narew River.

In 1279, they [the “Yatvagn”] sent messengers to the city of Ludmir [Ludmirz] with a request to save them from famine by selling them bread. In return, the messengers offered wax, fine furs, or silver. They gradually converted to Christianity and mixed with the population in the vicinity of the Neman River and in Prussia. Many geographical names in the area date back to that time.

In 1320, Herimin^[3] expelled the “Altvign”^[2] from our region and founded the settlement of “Białystok.” In 1426, Witold, Herimin's grandson, gifted his “family estate, Białystok” to Mateush Gashtold [Maciej Gasztołd], the military governor of Trake [Trakai] and Smolensk, as a great military honor.

The Gasztołd family ruled Białystok for about a hundred years and held the voivodeship in Tiktin [Tykocin]. In 1542, Stanislav, the last of the Gasztołds, died. He had no children, and his widow, Varvara [Barbara], married the Polish king, Zigmund [Sigismund] Augustus. As a result of this marriage, Białystok became the king's private property.

A wooden Catholic church has stood in Białystok since ancient times. At the end of the 16^th century, the “apikorsishe” [heretical] sect of the “Arians”^[4] -who did not believe in part of the Catholic dogma- spread throughout Lithuania and Poland. In Białystok, the “Arians” took possession of the church and desecrated it.

The “starosta” [administrator of the royal estate with military power] of Tykocin, Veselovski [Piotr Wiesiołowski], drove the “Arians” out of the desecrated temple, burned it down, and built a new temple out of fired bricks.

King Sigismund donated 16 “włóka”^[5] acres for the church. Construction of the church took 37 years, from 1580 to 1617.

The great deeds of the “Starosta” Wiesiołowski were recorded on two commemorative plaques, which are still in the old church building today, so that the world would remember them.

One plaque from ancient times hangs on the right side of the entrance. The other was found under the old altar more than 30 years ago during the construction of the large new church. The plaque is made of rusted silver and is wrapped in bark.

Both plaques have nearly identical Latin inscriptions:

”In honor of the Most High–(and so on)–this temple, which was previously built of wood, is now built from the foundation up of fired bricks by the Grand Marshal of the Lithuanian Principality, the Starosta of Kovno, Tykocin, and Rumburg, Peter Wiesiołowski, in 1617.”

Toward the end of the 16^th century and into the 17^th century, Peter Wiesiołowski's property included the Białystok settlement. In 1634, he merged his Białystok estate with the “starostvo” [royal administrative district] of Tykocin.

Apparently, King Sigismund gave Białystok to his meritorious “Starosta” Wiesiołowski, and it became his property.

I came into possession of eleven historical documents comprising thirty-nine pages by chance. Some are written in Latin, and the final pages are in Polish.

These extremely important documents were stamped with the seal of the hetman [a very high-ranking military commander], confirmed with the royal seal, and confirmed again in 1810 by the Russian court, which did not doubt their historical authenticity.

The documents cover a period from 1638 to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Through these documents, I learned about the various phases Białystok experienced.

In 1638, the Great Marshal and Hetman Kristofer Wiesiołowski (Peter Wiesiołowski's successor) renounced his income from Białystok in favor of Tykocin Castle, a first-class fortress. Documents also show that Wiesiołowski's heirs fought a long legal battle with Tykocin's “starosta”, Astronski, who had taken possession of Białystok.

Later, Białystok was considered royal property, and [King] Jan Kazimierz gave it to Hetman Stefan Czarniecki for life in 1659.

In 1661, the Warsaw Sejm [regular session of the parliament of the Polish-Lithuanian aristocratic republic] confirmed that Czarniecki owned the entire Tykocin and Białystok “starostva” [royal administrative districts] in perpetuity.

This great hero, Stefan Czarniecki, whose monument stands in Tykocin (it is unclear whether the monument is still there), left a sad memory in the annals of Jewish history.

During the war with Sweden, he acted brutally and murderously towards the Jews of Kazmizh [Kazimierz]. In Greater Poland, he committed similar acts to those committed by Khmelnytsky in Ukraine. Later, when he became the military governor of Lemberg, he lived in harmony with the Jews and did not persecute them.

Stefan Czarniecki died without leaving a son. He left Białystok to his daughter, Aleksandra Yekaterina, who married Jan Klemens Branicki. His son, Stefan Branicki, the military governor of Podlasie and “starosta” of Bryansk,

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transformed the village of Białystok into a “shtetl” and settled in a palace he built himself. In 1723, Stefan Klemens Branicki's son enforced the “Mandenburg Rights”^[6] for Białystok towards King Augustus II.

The palace of the wealthy man (at the corner of Vashlikover and Bazarne Street)

In 1717, Tereza Vidzhinska lent the Jewish “shul” [synagogue] 1,000 gildn [30,000 kopecks] on the condition that a candle be kept lit in the Catholic church in exchange for interest on the loan. This unusual contract is recorded on a plaque that still hangs in the old church to the left of the entrance.

Tereza Vidzhinska is indeed buried in the Catholic church, beneath the plaque and next to Izabela Branicka, the sister of the last Polish king, Poniatowski. She was the second wife of Count Jan Klemens Branicki of Białystok, whose heart was buried in the same church in a small box next to the countess.

To get an idea of how much Count Branicki strove to develop his city of Białystok, consider this episode recounted by the late Yuli Zabludovski on behalf of his wealthy grandfather, Yitskhok Zabludovski.

Two hundred years ago, Count Branicki sold for 30 guildn [900 kopkes] the empty plot of land that now includes the area around Koœciuszki, Sienkiewicza, and Zamenhof Streets, up to the yatkes [butcher stalls] opposite the charity hospital. The buyer, a Jew named Khayim, paid 2 guildn [60 kopeks] as a deposit but later withdrew from the purchase. The count then issued an order that the Jew be tracked down anywhere in the entire voivodeship and flogged with rods.

According to Count Branicki's will, in 1771, Białystok was transferred to his wife, Countess Izabela. After her death in 1805, Białystok and the palace were to be given to the countess's nephews, Feliks and Jan Potocki, and their sister, Marya Mastovska.

However, due to political upheavals and the so-called “partition” of Poland, the Białystok region was already in the grasp of Prussian soldiers at that time. Three years before her death in 1802, the countess and the other heirs sold Białystok to the Prussian king for $270,290, on the condition that she, the widow Branicka, remain the owner of Białystok until her death.

Following the Peace of Tilsit, Russian Tsar Alexander I purchased Białystok from the Prussian king. Białystok remained in Russian hands for over a hundred years until it returned to the ownership of the flourishing Polish Republic after World War I.

Jews had lived in Białystok for a very long time. They had even lived there long before the city hall tower was constructed.The Jewish settlement was concentrated around the courtyard of the “shul.” Białystok did not have its own Jewish cemetery. During the reign of the last count, Jan Klemens Branicki, Jewish Białystok began to spread beyond the boundaries of the old settlement due to the construction of the city hall tower and shops.

The royal court needed money, so it systematically permitted foreign Jews to settle in Białystok. When Białystok fell under Prussian rule, the Jews felt the king's yoke.

Before us is a letter of protection issued in 1799 by the Prussian king to Leyb Nathan and his wife, Kayle. The letter allows them to live in Białystok and work as innkeepers. The document states that Jews must behave in accordance with the “General Regulations of 1797”^[7].

After Napoleon's army withdrew, some Saxons remained and established the hand weaving industry here^[8]. Soon after, Jews also began producing “plashtshinke kort”^[9] and cloth goods. The first to do so were Sender and Malka Reyzl Blokh, Nokhem (Nachum) Mints, Yoel Barash, Eliezer Halbershtam, and Halpern.

Let us work together to ensure the survival of the destroyed Jewish Białystok

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