This was the case with grodno castle zamek grodno in the tiny village of zagorze slaskie in the walbrzych mountains of silesia in poland. East slavs settled on the territory of presentday belarus, russia and. Russia acquired the territory of grodno province after the third partition of poland in 1795. Grodno castle a medieval treasure hiding in the mountains. The last owner of grodno, was the zedlitz family, which had continued renovation works and strengthened the castle. The first signs of settlements in ancient belarus date back approximately 100,00035,000 years. Grodno is a city in belarus, on the neman river, close to the borders of poland and lithuania. I read this book before my first trip to poland recently because i wanted to know a thing or two about polish history before 1939. The history of poland results from the migrations of slavs who established permanent settlements on the polish lands during the early middle ages. In 91, the king of poland and the grand duke of lithuania wladyslaw ii jagiello chartered grodno under the magdeburg law. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that. History and holocaust of the jewish community of the town of grodno, in belarus in poland until world war 2, verdicts and other documents of two german courts of justice concerning the murder by nazis of 29000 jews of grodno.
The most significant stone age settlements have been discovered in the gomel region. There are rich archeological collections, documents and oldprinted periodicals in the museum. Representatives of state archives in gomel region took part in the presentation of the book the museum stories. The grodno sejm, held in fall of 1793 in grodno, grand duchy of lithuania now hrodna, belarus is infamous because its deputies, bribed or coerced by the russian empire, passed the act of second partition of poland. Lida was founded at the same time as vilna, about 20. After wwii, the western areas of belarus were joined with the soviet republic of belarus, which achieved independence in 1991.
Towns in the former suwalki voivodeship are listed under suwalki. Originally in lithuanialitwalitvalita, grodno guberniya was part of the grand duchy of lithuania, connected with. Grodno or hrodna is a city in the west of belarus, europe. Within months after the nazis occupied grodno, my entire family except for my father, were gassed, burned and vaporized without leaving a trace of their existence. Languages of instruction were polish and russian, with one hour for instruction in hebrew language and jewish history. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Found by solomon zukowski, post wwii, grodno, poland. Grodno horodno is a city in belarus, formerly polandlithuania. The archives in grodno and brest contain most of the documents covering the period of 19201930, since during that time these areas belonged to poland. Situated 278km west of minsk and just 294km east of warsaw, it is only 20km from poland and 40km from lithuania. Today, grodno is 15 km from the polish border and 30 km from the lithuanian border. A second hebrew press, established in grodno in 1793, formed the kernel of the celebrated publishing and printing house owned by the romm family, whose early publications were in vilna and grodno subsequently in vilna. It contains about a thousand years of detailed history written in a way that captivates the reader and makes the book hard to put down. Hrodna probably was in russia poland in the late 1800s and is near bialystock.
Home yizkor books libguides at new york public library. Grodno castle formerly kynsburg is a castle located in the southern parts of the walbrzych mountains, on the choina mountain 450 metres, standing to the left of the river bystrzyca. The user through its access, retrieval andor use of the data acknowledges the existence of one or more intellectual property rights including one or more s in the content, arrangement andor presentation of the data and the user further acknowledges the ownership of said intellectual property rights by jewish records indexing poland jripoland. The significance of and focus on this specific gubernya province, located in northeastern poland, is that from c. Tourists can visit without a visa grodno city, brest, bialowieza forest, augustow canal, and part of belarus near poland and lithuania. The belarusian ethnos is traced at least as far in time as other east slavs after an initial period of independent feudal consolidation, belarusian lands were incorporated into the kingdom of lithuania, grand duchy of lithuania, and later in the polishlithuanian commonwealth, and the russian empire and eventually the soviet union. When the region fell to poland in 1945, the castle was initially renamed as zamek chojny, only later called zamek grodno. Petersburg was 990 versts, and from grodno to moscow, 1,033. Common knowledge places grodno, polishlithuanian commonwealth.
In the early part of the nineteenth century bialystok had a hebrew printingoffice, from which the first book known to have been printed was. Across the border to the east, the soviet system offered young vitebsk jews opportunities for advancement not possible in poland, but only if they integrated into the predominantly slavic society. There are maps on the poland genealogy main page comparing those jurisdictions with the modern jurisdictions. Grodno, one of the oldest cities in former lithuania, began as a village founded by a russian price. The sejm started on 17 june and ended on 23 november 1793.
Grodno castle a medieval treasure hiding in the mountains of poland there is nothing better than finding a truly offthebeatenpath castle, where you feel like you have it all to yourself. Dec, 2019 antisemitism in polish grodno encouraged jewish adolescents to seek the support of their peers in youth groups. Great lithuanian principality th to first half of the 14 century. Sep 5, 20 grodno, poland, jews, wearing jewish badges, being deported. An industrial city 52 miles southwest of grodno, bialystok also known as byelostok prospered from its two major productscloth and tobacco. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and. History of the jews in russia and poland, volume i of 3 from the earliest. Belarus is a country in europe bordered by russia, ukraine, poland, lithuania, and latvia.
History of grodno goes back to the 12th century, this is a fairy tale city, where at various times lived and worked, lithuanian, polish, russian famous people. Check out our country profile, full of essential information about belaruss geography, history, government, economy, population, culture, religion and languages. It is located on the neman close to the borders of poland and lithuania. Holocaust survivor poland a peoples and survivor history. The german campaign in poland 1939 center of military history. The city of grodno is rightly called one of the most beautiful belarusian cities. Grodno ghetto project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. The modern city of grodno originated as a small fortress and a fortified trading outpost maintained by the rurikid princes on the border with the lands. The region of grodno is situated in the northwest of belarus and has borders with both poland and lithuania. Many files from that period of time are also located in the central archive of the republic of lithuania in the capitol of wilno wilno also belonged to poland. This 1820 map of grodno province and the belostok region is from a larger work, geograficheskii atlas rossiiskoi imperii, tsarstva polskogo i velikogo kniazhestva finliandskogo geographical atlas of the russian empire, the kingdom of poland, and the grand duchy of finland, containing 60 maps of the russian empire. Like other gubernias roughly the equivalent of a u. The grodno gubernya poland imaging project seeks to create a digital photographic record of jewish tombstones dated c. The valley of this river, formerly known as the silesian valley slaska dolina, polish, creates a natural boundary between the owl mountains and to the west of it the walbrzych mountains.
Annually, over 150,000 people visit the museum, more than 2,000 excursions are arranged. Group portrait of students of the first jewish real gymnasium, grodno, poland now hrodna, belarus, 1925. Pawel jasienica 19091970, a polish historian and author, started his career as a history teacher in grodno in the 1920s and 1930s vasil bykaw 19242003, a famous belarusian author solomon perel born 1925, a german jew who survived world war ii by masquerading as an ethnic german. The area of belarus was part of the polishlithuanian commonwealth and with most of poland was annexed to russia in late 1700s. Grodno horodno, city in belarus, formerly poland lithuania. Bialygen cemeteries grodno guberniya poland imaging project. B1b3, includes a listing of jewish survivors from grodno living in the west at the time the book was published. Ghetto and deportations to death camps cologne and bielefeld trails, gathering point before transportation to concentration camps of kelbasin, treblinka and auschwitz. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. Grodno gubernia 1912 voters list names of over 26,000 men of grodno gubernia who were eligible to vote in the russian parliamentary elections in 1912 hrodna online telephone directory in russian jewish genealogy links belarus here at has many online databases for belarusian jewish genealogy research. The awardwinning searchable database of indexes to jewish records of poland jri poland is an independent nonprofit taxexempt organization under section 501c3 of the u. A river port and an important railway center, it has industries producing fertilizer, synthetic fibers, processed foods, and tobacco. Grodno gubernia was one of over 60 gubernias in czarist russia at that time.
The history of belarus dates back to the stone age. Grodno horodno is a city in belarus, formerly poland lithuania. The familysearch catalog is organized by the voivodeships as they existed in 1967. A history of bialystok, poland the bialystoker synagogue. Grodno, 4 march belta a unique book on the history and tourism of the augustow canal has been published in grodno, belta learned from deputy head of the sport and tourism department at the. Grodno hrodna, in belarusian, the administrative center, is situated on the neman nyoman, in belarusian river. For the study of towns in grodno guberniya jewishgen. After grodno was annexed by the russian empire in 1795 the jewish population continued to grow and in 1907 there were 25,000 jews out of total population of 47,000.
My greatgrandmother, agnieszka sawa, came from grodno. The torah pointer and breast plate are the last surviving artifacts from the synagogues of grodno. General map of grodno province and the belostok region. Grodno is located at the most north eastern corner of poland, on the niemen river bordering lithuania. Grodno has many historic buildings of great interest. This place is situated in wloclawek i, kujawskopomorskie, poland, its geographical coordinates are 52 29 0 north, 19 0 east and its original name with diacritics is grodno. A part of poland between 1921 and 1939, and from 1944 to 1991 included in the soviet socialist republic of byelorussia, the city is today situated in the republic of belarus. Books of the belarussian literary classics in the library minsk belarus belarusian literature. Saved from the synagogue of grodno, poland now hrodna, belarus. Bielsk, and sokolka uyezds there are a total of 1,800 unique surnames included in this database and you can see if your surnames are included by clicking here. Home archives and records authorities and the state archives network grodno region state archives of grodno region. Grodno, polishlithuanian commonwealth places librarything. The administrative and cultural centre of the region is the city of grodno itself, with a population of 365,610. The traveler must buy a visafree tour allowing him to come to belarus without visa.
It was transferred to poland in 1920 and was incorporated into the belorussian republic in 1939. The awardwinning searchable database of indexes to jewish records of poland jri poland is an independent nonprofit taxexempt organization under section 501c3 of. State archives of grodno region archives of belarus. It is on the neman river, close to the borders of poland and lithuania. Soviet and polish jews under hitler modern jewish history jeffrey koerber. Discover its history in the belarus travel official blog. This timeline of belarus shows how belarusian historical events have shaped the country today.
Entries include city of residence, date of the individuals testimony for a trial related to grodno and pages in which excerpts from the individuals testimony appears. Grodno grodno is a city in belarus, on the neman river, close to the borders of poland and lithuania. East slavs settled on the territory of presentday belarus, russia and ukraine, assimilating local baltic yotvingians. Most 85% of the 700 yizkor books at the new york public library are online. The card indicates that the distance from grodno to st. The history of belarus, or more precisely of the belarusian ethnicity, begins with the migration and expansion of the slavic peoples throughout eastern europe between the 6th and 8th centuries. The holocaust history a peoples and survivors history. Holocaust survivors and victims database documents. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the polishrussian war of 1792 and the targowica confederation of 1792, and was approved by its territorial beneficiaries, the russian empire and the kingdom of prussia. Grodno passed to russia in 1795 and was the capital of grodno province from 1801 to 1914. Whos who in polish america index polish biographies published in 1943. After wwi, belarus was split between poland and the soviet union. Encyclopedia of jewish and israeli history, politics and culture, with.
Jewish family history research guide brief history the grand duchy of lithuania, which united with the kingdom of poland in 1569, ruled most of byelorussia white russia until the reign of catherine the great in russia r. This guide lists the yizkor book collection alphabetically by town or city name. While many history books focus on a limited area, such as the vietnam war, other texts examine far broader subjects, and there are plenty of volumes narrating europes past from prehistory until today. Torah pointer recovered postwar from the site of the. A shtetl is defined by yohanan petrovskyshtern as an east european market town in private possession of a polish magnate, inhabited mostly but not exclusively by jews and from the 1790s onward and until 1915 shtetls were also subject to russian bureaucracy, as the russian empire had annexed eastern part of poland, and was administering the area of jewish settlement. In 1967 podlaskie voivodeship was known as bialystok voivodeship. Priests are obliged to make an annotation about the marriage in the original metric books, and send them to the metryczny metropii metropolitan archives. The most important event in its recent history is the disastrous conflagration of 1885, when about half of the city was destroyed. Grodno simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. If thats not enough, click over to our collection of world maps and flags.
Grodno, poland, jews, wearing jewish badges, being. One of the oldest jewish communities in the former grand duchy of lithuania see poland lithuania, the grodno community received a charter from grand duke witold in 89. Microreproduction of original manuscripts at the national historical archives of. Grodno region project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Infoplease has everything you need to know about belarus. Documents concerning the murder of 29,000 jews of grodno by the germans. Felix zandman who brought them to israel and gave them to the grodno survivors association. The user through its access, retrieval andor use of the data acknowledges the existence of one or more intellectual property rights including one or more s in the content, arrangement andor presentation of the data and the user further acknowledges the ownership of said intellectual property rights by jewish records indexing poland jri poland. The first hebrew book to be published in lithuania was printed in grodno in 1788 in the royal press. Research directory polish genealogical society of america. A complete list of the jewish inhabitants of grodno in 1560 is reproduced in the abovementioned arkhiv ii. Jewish residency was restricted to the 15 gubernias of the pale of settlement, and the 10 gubernias of the kingdom of poland. The museum of gorodnitsa history is dedicated to the reformative activities of mayor antony tyzengauz in grodno. In addition to areas now in belarus, the grodno gubernia portion of the 1897 census includes areas now in poland bialystok.
English translations for many are found on jewishgen and in print. The 1793 second partition of poland was the second of three partitions or partial annexations that ended the existence of the polishlithuanian commonwealth by 1795. Many files from that period of time are also located in the central archive of the republic of lithuania in the capitol of wilno wilno also belonged to poland in 19201930. As a border region between poles, lithuanians, russians and ukrainians, it was often. The bialystok district, of which grodno became part, experienced a turbulent history. The village is first mentioned in the chronicles of 1128.
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