Iwieniec, Poland

Modern-day Belarus became part of the Russian Empire as it expanded westwards. Catherine the Great (1762–96) decreed that Jews could live and work only in the so-called Pale of Settlement in western Russia of which Iwieniec was a part. Here, Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews lived in small towns and villages that were often majority Jewish, known as shtetls. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there were a number of pogroms against Jews, which prompted many Jews to emigrate or join radical political parties.

Interwar Years

Iwiniec became part of the new Polish state after World War I after the signing of the Treaty of Riga. Under Polish rule secular education in Hebrew and religious education in Yiddish, as well as all kinds of Jewish political parties and cultural institutions, were active, and Jews were part of the Polish administration of most cities and shtetls.

In 1939, as part of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, eastern Poland and the Baltic states were occupied by Soviet forces.

Holocaust

Iwieniec was occupied by Germany between 25 June 1941 to 6 July 1944. In November 1941, the Germans established an enclosed Jewish ghetto, which also received Jews from the surrounding villages. The ghetto was liquidated on 9 June 1942.

On 19 June the Polish Partisan Unit from the AK Stolpce District captured Iwieniec and destroyed the local German garrison. The city was free for a dozen or so hours. In revenge for the defeat, the Germans murdered about 150 inhabitants of Iwieniec, and many others were deported for forced labour.

After the war the city was incorporated into the USSR. It is now part of Belarus and known as Ivyanets.

Few if any Jews live in Ivanyets today.