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According to local tradition, Jews settled in Porozow in the
16th century; however, there are no written documents to
support this. In 1847, the census recorded 379 Jews, most of
them living off agriculture from leased lands. After the
reforms of Czar Alexander II in 1862 they purchased the land
from the farmers and estate owners. They lived on four main
streets and a few alleys that branched off from them. Their
numbers grew steadily and in 1897 they were enumerated as
931 souls -- 46% of the population -- and in addition to
farmers they were merchants, store owners, peddlers and a
few craftsmen.
Most of the farmers' sons left the family properties that
were inherited by only one son in order to prevent splitting
the fields, and they took up occupations like trading and
crafts. Jews and non-Jews in Porozow and its surroundings
lived in harmony amongst themselves and with their
neighbors, including the Belorussian farmers.
The Jews of Porozow had strong ties with the Jews of
Volkovysk. They traded amongst themselves and Porozow’s
youth continued their studies in Volkovysk. When needed,
they shared rabbis with Volkovysk. Up to World War I, we
know of Rabbi Yitzhak Hever, his son Rabbi Yosev Hever,
Rabbi Baruch Avraham Mirski (1872), Rabbi Shlomo Ha Levi
Feinzilber and Rabbi Aharon David Kosofski (1906). The
children in the community studied in a traditional
cheder.
At the end of the 19th century, two Beitei Midrash --
houses of religious study -- and one bath house were built.
With the outbreak of World War I, Jews were drafted into the
Czar's army and families were left without providers. In the
fall of 1915, Germany conquered Porozow and controlled it
until the end of 1918. The Germans drafted many citizens for
forced labor, e.g., for road and base construction
and other hard work. The dispossessed suffered from hunger
and want, since the local economy was paralyzed. All the
town’s children, without regard to nationality or religion,
were forced to study in the German school and in the German
language. For the Jewish children, two hours per week were
allotted for Hebrew and religious studies.
At the end of the war, the Jews returned and rebuilt their
businesses. Initially, life in Porozow returned to normal.
But very soon all realized that their economic status had
worsened in comparison to what it had been before the war.
Poland faced an economic crisis with the loss of important
export markets in Russia after the border with the Soviet
Union was closed. The Jews were hurt also because of the
economic policies of the Minister of the Treasury, Gravsky.
After the war, most of the tax burden was placed on the
independent business sector - i.e.,
the Jewish
mercantile sector. At the same time, Jews were sidelined
from the market at the hands of Polish cooperatives
established with government support and given favorable
financial conditions. Jewish craftsmen lost clients to these
cooperatives and to craftsmen who appeared in the villages
after the war, and those Jews who weren't conversant in
Polish had difficulties and were disadvantaged when the
government imposed many regulations on them. Due to the
economic distress and dispossession, emigration overseas
increased and the community dwindled in size.
Also, between both World Wars, as in previous years, Porozow
maintained its religious character and community life
centered around the synagogue and the Beitei Midrash,
the religious study institutions. The community rabbi in
1929 was Rabbi Eliezer Harkavy. The young generation, in
contrast to the adults, abandoned religion and embraced
Zionism. In the mid 1920s, a Halutz branch was
founded and young people left for communal training. A few
emigrated to the land of Israel.
After the start of World War II in September, 1939, the Red
Army entered Porozow and imposed Soviet rule. Life in the
town changed dramatically. Small businesses closed and
larger and medium-sized enterprises were seized by the
government. In their place, government cooperatives were
opened. Craftsmen worked under government cooperatives ("artal")
and only farmers continued as before. For the Jews and
others expelled from their businesses, new work was found
and unemployment vanished from the town. There were no rich
Jewish people in Porozow and we have no information about
expulsions to Siberia.
On the 22nd of June, 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet
Union and two days later they arrived in Porozow. The
bombardment caused a great fire that destroyed the
synagogue, two Beitei
Midrash, the community center
and many homes. On June 26, the Germans captured the town
and immediately murdered a large Jewish family and four
young Jews as revenge for losses they had suffered on the
battlefield. The German commander placed himself and his
command center in a Jewish home and from there publicized
the first anti-Jewish orders: wearing a white band with a
Star of David on the arm (later a yellow patch in the
shape of Star of David on the coat), conscripting of
manpower for forced labor, forbidding interaction between
Jews and non-Jews and imposing constraints on certain types
of movements.
Many Jews worked on paving the road to Volkovysk and were
tortured by their taskmasters. A new Polish municipal center
was established and the new mayor, Radjivinsky, was placed
in command of the Jews, among his other duties.
In July of 1941, the Jews were commanded to establish a
Judenrat. No one volunteered for this position, but
under German pressure, those chosen were forced to rule
[over the Jewish community]. The baker Lev was appointed
head of the Judenrat and his deputy was Avigdor Tropp.
In October 1941, a German gendarmerie post was established
in Porozow and the gendarmes immediately started gathering
intelligence on the Jews with the help of collaborators. On
November 1, 1941, a new civilian governor was appointed, a
senior S.S. officer who usurped the authority of the Polish
mayor and took on jurisdiction over the Jewish community.
Through bribes given to the gendarmerie and the new
governor, the Judenrat was able to forestall decrees
against, and egregious persecution of, the Jewish community,
and this silent agreement
guaranteed relative quiet.
Things took a turn for the worse in the summer of 1942 when
the civilian governor of Porozow was replaced by another
S.S. officer. The new officer, like his predecessor, also
took bribes, but this didn't stop him from harming the Jews.
For example, with the help of the Polish police, he
instigated surprise searches of the homes of Jews, and
during these raids the homes were pillaged and individuals
beaten up. Two weeks after he was appointed, the new
governor summoned the Jews to the city's market square in
the middle of the night and, under the pretext of looking
for partisans, he sent his people to search their homes for
valuables. The Jews were held the entire night; they were
beaten, humiliated and two of them were murdered by the
gendarmes. In the morning, after a night without sleep, the
Jewish day laborers were forced to work as usual. Several
days later, the governor commanded the arrest of all Jewish
youth. For an entire week they were confined under heavy
guard, and only with a large bribe and tremendous effort on
the part of the head of the Judenrat
were they
released.
In the autumn of 1942, the Jews were evacuated from their
houses in the center of Porozow to a ghetto in two small
alleys that had tiny, run-down houses. They were joined by
other Jews from the surrounding communities. The crowded
conditions, the hunger and the cessation of trade with the
farmers caused disease and an outbreak of typhus. The
Judenrat opened a small hospital, which employed the
only Jewish doctor in Porozow.
On October 30, 1942, the Germans drafted farmers from
adjacent villages and commandeered their their wagons and on
November 2 the order was given: the head of the
Judenrat,
the community rabbi and the doctor were called to the German
headquarters and told that the Jews of Porozow would be sent
to a labor camp in the east. There they were to work in
improved conditions. The head of the Judenrat
was
given an hour to gather all the inhabitants of the ghetto
into the market square with all their belongings, enough
food for two days, a change of clothes, two blankets and all
their valuables. In the freezing November cold, 600 souls
from the ghetto -- from Porozow and neighboring communities
-- were driven out to the infamous bunker camp near
Volkovysk. There they were joined by members of other Jewish
communities from the region before being sent to the death
camps. Mothers and young children traveled in wagons, and
the rest walked. After a long, hard 28-kilometer trek, they
arrived at the camp at 10 p.m. Together with other women and
children who had arrived earlier, they were placed in one
bunker. Approximately 220 elderly and ill individuals did
not join them, but were shot by the gendarmes outside the
city. Another approximately 50 elderly and infirm people
were allowed to stay in the ghetto for a few more days and
then 30 of them were sent to the bunker camp and the rest
were murdered. On November 6, the Jews of Porozow and
neighboring towns were expelled from the bunker camp and
sent to the Treblinka death camp.
Two youngsters from Porozow hid when transports to
Auschwitz departed and they were safe for a time. However,
on January 26, 1943 they were placed on the last transport
to Auschwitz. A few other youngsters from Porozow escaped
into the forest while en route to the bunker camp and later
joined the partisans. Most of those who escaped survived
until the liberation of the region in the summer of 1944. |
