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Remembering the Jewish Community of

Baranovice, Belarus

Remembered by Rosaline Roback Granoff
Daughter of Gladys Karelitz Roback

Before the Second World War, the city of Baranovice (Ba-RAHN-a-vitch) was located in Poland 50 kilometers west of the Soviet border and 200 kilometers south of Vilna. It is now part of Belarus. Baranovice was a large city, with a thriving Jewish community. Approximately 14,000 Jews inhabited this vibrant city, which was an important part of the railroad system through to Moscow. Baranovice was also a young city. By the time the War broke out, it was only 50 years old. The Jewish community emphasized education, having in Baranovice two yeshivas, one Beis Yakov, one private Jewish gymnasium and one private Jewish elementary school. It was not uncommon for families to house young boys from neighboring towns who attended yeshiva, and other families in the community helped with meals.

Baranovice was a culturally rich city where the Jewish population included laborers, professionals and tradesmen. There were two weekly Jewish newspapers, an amateur Jewish theatre, a choir, and a Macabee sports program. There was even a Jewish bank. It was a city filled with active Zionist organizations. Within the city, the Jewish community took care of all of the financial and social needs of the poor and elderly Jews. Visitors to Baranovice included Shalom Aleichem. Menachem Begin and Vladimir Jabotinsky, who influenced many Jewish youth. There were left-wing Jewish organizations and orthodox youth groups to choose from. My mother, who tells me about her Jewish cultural and educational experiences as a youth, was a member of Betar, Jabotinsky's group.

In 1939, the Germans started to bomb the city. Baranovice remained under Soviet control until 1941, when it nationalized businesses and made families move into small living quarters. My mother's family, the Karelitz family, were affluent storekeepers, and the Russians confiscated first the family business and then their home. They lived in two rooms in an apartment building. My mother's sister was a lawyer; her husband, a judge, was sent to Siberia never to return.

After the Germans came, my mother's family moved back to Baranovice into the ghetto. The Germans chained off two streets in the city and whole families lived in one room. There were two sections in the ghetto. From there the Jews were systematically killed on three separate occasions. First on Purim 1942, the Germans had a quota to fulfill, followed by the second killing rampage that lasted for an entire week beginning on Yom Kippur and the third massacre occurred in November 1942. The 350 Jews who survived were sent to a concentration camp near Baranovice.

During the killings, my mother escaped by working as an accountant in the Ghetto. Eventually, my mother escaped to the Partisans (where she met my father), but not before she witnessed the Germans taking members of family away. My mom is the only known survivor of her family. There are no Jews left today in Baranovice.

Here is a memoir about life in Barnovichi. There does appear to be a Jewish community.