About Belarus

Articles dedicated to Belarus history, Belarus politics, Belarus economy, Belarus culture and other issues and Belarus tourist destinations.

Ilia

Ilia borough – today a village - acquired a pretty interesting street system as it was expanding. Ilia was first mentioned in 1475 as a yard of Sakovich. In 1564 the written sources mention a borough along with the yard. Further on owners replace other owners: the Glebovichys, the Drutskiye-Sokolinskiyes, the Savitskys.

In 1650 the borough featured a market square, three streets, 93 houses and 10 taverns and a cathedral. In the late 19^th-early 20^th century there were about 1500 residents. Annually the place hosted 2 fairs and weekly – markets; there were now two churches and a school. From 1940 till 1957 Ilia was a center of a district in Vileika Oblast of BSSR.

There were two crossings that actually shaped the town’s geography: southern – the roads leading to Rayevka, Vileika and Logoisk, and northern – the roads to Dolginovo, Vladyky, Knyaginino. Some households are stuck between Rayevka-Dolginovo road and the Ilia river.

Basically, the village is in the lowland surrounded by elevated forest areas. The cathedral of the Heart of Jesus is just at the crossing of the roads. Opposite the church and closer to the riverbank the market square once was. Along with the cathedral one can still see the early 20^th century hotel building and a wooden Russian Orthodox Church of St. Ilia of the same era.

On the southern end of the village between late 18^th and early 19 centuries there was a glass manufactory (guta) established the landlord Y.Sologub. The enterprise produced bottles, window glass, pharmacy glassware and other articles. In 1815 the guta was relocated.

Written sources confirm that Jews had a synagogue in 1634 and although the village was not really thriving it was a prominent place to study Tora. One of the prominent rabbis was Leib Shapiro. By the early 20^th century Jews made almost one half of the town’s population and according to the surviving locals the atmosphere was quite friendly. The youths used to make friends with each other and practiced sports.

Being skillful craftsmen and merchants the Jews were definitely conducive to the economic growth of the place. Another substantial enterprise – a tar factory - was run by a Jewish gentleman Rubin. The resources needed for his operations were all around the place – coniferous trees surround the town. The scale was quite impressive – old natives recall that the tar products were supplied as far as England. At the beginning months of the Great Patriotic war one of the multiple Jewish ghettos in Belarus was in Ilia, survivors telling the horrible stories of its destruction. Amongst others the owner of the tar factory was warned about the Nazis coming to kill him and his sons but only one of them made a lucky escape into the forests. Surviving the war he went to live in Israel and his children visited Ilia in 2011 to pay respect to the Jewish community of Ilia that no longer exists…