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Pinsk Jewish community

Jews settled in Pinsk after the eviction of 1495 - about a dozen families established Pinsk Jewish community which was yet to become the third largest in Belarus. The Jews obtained a permit to build a synagogue and establish a cemetery.

In 1560 the community reached 275 people which accounted to only 7 per cent of the population while in 1648 - about a thousand (20 per cent). The Jews of Pinsk rented estates, tax and customs collection rights, operated in wholesale timber, wheat and potash sales.

Starting from the 1600s the Pinsk Jewish community became one out of three largest communities of Lithuanian Vaad. When kahals in some minor communities grew smaller they were taken over by Pinsk kahal. In 1569 it becomes a part of Rech Pospolita.

In the uprising of Bogdan Khmelnitsky of 1648 most Jews of Pinsk were forcibly converted into Christianity and those who refused - killed. The survivors returned to the faith of the ancestors once the city was liberated.  The community was also affected by the Russian-Polish wars that followed - in 1654 Pinsk was almost flattened by fire.

Although the Jews quickly regained their positions, their welfare in general dropped by the 1690s. In view of the adverse disposition of Jews Polish kings replaced some monetary taxes with the army accommodation duty. The privileges granted to Pinsk Jews in the past were reconfirmed: a right to practice crafts without joining a workshop, free trade, etc. New disasters followed in 1706 with the arrival of the Swedish army. The devastation was so enormous that the Jews of Pinsk had to borrow money from the Polish gentry to pay taxes.

In the 1750s many Jewish communities including the one in Pinsk were pronounced bankrupt and the smaller kahals opted for their independence after the abolition of Vaad in 1764.

At the turn of the 18 and 19 centuries Pinsk was a residence of many prominent Jewish scientists and rabbis. Naftali Gintsburg, Yahuda Leib Perhovitzer and many others. In the late 1700s mitnagem and chasids were struggling over the influence in Pinsk. Karlin, the wealthy suburb of Pinsk became the residence of the tsaddiks from Karlin dynasty. As a result, Pinsk rabbi Levi Itshak ben Meir - the admirer of chasidism - was forced to settle outside Pinsk which turned the nearby towns into chasidic centers.

1793 saw the inclusion of Polesye - another term for Southern Belarus - into the Russian Empire. In 1847 Pinsk Jewish population numbered over 5 000, in 1871 - over 13 500 (77 per cent of the total city population), in 1896 - almost 22 000 (77 per cent), in 1914 - around 28 000 (72 per cent).

Since the 1820s the economic significance of Pinsk increased. It became a major trade center for salt, timber and agricultural merchandise. The Lurie and Levins were the key players in the market.

In the 1860s there were about 800 Jewish craftsmen and artisans in Pinsk. Quite a few larger and smaller factories were built in Pinsk; in 1914 the Jews owned 49 out of 54 industrial enterprises in Pinsk which also mostly employed Jews. Not far from Pinsk an agricultural colony was established.

1901 Gubernia Memorial Book lists Iosiph Galpern, Wulf Rendel, Alexander and Samuil Lurie, Wulf Feldman and Mordukh Glauberzon as doctors of the first Pinsk District.

Since the late 19th century Bund and Zionist groups operated in Pinsk. Chaim Weizman was the Zionist congress delegate from Pinsk. In 1853 the Russian government opened a school for the children of the Jewish merchants and a school for girls. Modern kheders were established soon after that. During WWI many Pinsk Jews were evicted by the retreating Russian army or fled on their own.

Between 1921 and 1939 Pinsk belonged to Rech Pospolita II. 34 prominent Jews were executed by the authorities next to the Jesuit collegium walls. The son of the 35th would-be-shot man is in the picture below in the effort to reproduce the historic photograph of his father.

In 1921 17 500 Jews made up 74 per cent of the city population, in 1939 their number grew to 20 000. Different Jewish parties and streams were represented in Pinsk. There were two schools of Poalei Zion, two of Tarbut movement and a Jewish gymnasium. Newspapers and magazines were issued in Yiddish.

The Red Army took over Pinsk on 20 September 1939 to abolish all Jewish establishments. The schools that were not closed were sovietized. Some Zionist leaders were arrested and deported to Siberia. The prewar population grew to 22 000 shortly before the Great Patriotic War because of the refugees from Eastern Poland.

The Nazi stepped into Pinsk on 4 July 1941 by which time only a few Jews managed to evacuate to the east. Pinsk was the destination point for many Western Belarus Jews. The first Aktion took place in August and it is estimated that around 7000 male Jews aged between 16 and 60 were eliminated in the course of it.

Multiple occupation bans were introduced for Jews very soon - yellow patches were to be worn, jewelry and valuables confiscated.

A ghetto was established in May 1942 to imprison 18 644 people. European Jews were deported to Pinsk as well. Jewish prisoners were used in hard labor assignments - shifting ruins and rebuilding railroad tracks; multiple workshops were established by Judenrat. In September 1942 many workshops were closed and the craftsmen surrendered their permits.

The personnel of the ghetto hospital did its best to cut on the death toll. Resistance groups were gathering weapons, clothing and medicines so as to leave for the partisans when the chance turns up.

In June 1942 the next Aktion claimed about 3 500 lives which also included Kobrin prisoners. Victims were extracted to Bronnaya Gora station and shot. In October 1942 the ghetto was permanently closed down. The report of the German commander in charge of the operations says estimates the number of casualties at 26 000. Other sources quote 17 000 people.

Although the Jewish survivors returned to Pinsk the authorities turned down their request to open a synagogue. The building of the old one in the main square was demolished in the early 1950s. In 1966 the last prayer house was closed down. Several hundred Jews migrated to Palestine in the 1970s and 1980s. Today the Jewish community in Pinsk numbers over 300 people.

If you would like to tour Pinsk to trace your Jewish ancestry please do not hesitate to contact me.

Pinsk in summer