Berezhnytsya

Sarny district, Rivne region

Sources:
- Russian Jewish encyclopedia. Translated from Russian by Eugene Snaider
- Jewish encyclopedia of Brockhaus & Efron
- The All South-Western Territory: reference and address book of the Kyiv, Podolsk and Volyn provinces. Printing house L.M. Fish and P.E. Wolfson, 1913
- Yad Vashem. Bereznica

Photo:
- David Shay. A monument to the memory of Berezhnytsya's Jews in Holon cemetery
- Yad Vashem Photo Collection. Bereznica - Commemoration of Jewish Victims

Berezhnytsya in the 1913 reference book


A mass grave of Jews from Bereżnica and from other localities of the Sarny County	Memorial in Holon, Israel

Berezhnytsya known since 1629. In 17-18 centuries - in the Lutsk powiat of the Volyn Voivodeship as part of the Commonwealth. Since 1793 - as part of the Russian Empire. In the 19th - beginning of the 20th century - a township of Berezhnytsya (other name Bereznitsa) of Lutsk district of the Volyn province. In 1919–39 - as part of Poland, in 1939–91 - the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1765, 286 Jews lived in Berezhnytsya,
in 1778 - 87,
in 1784 - 155,
in 1787 - 206,
in 1847 - 1157,
in 1897 - 2160 (72.9%),
in 1921 - 1327 (54.5%),
In 1946 - 45 Jews.

Jews began to settle in Berezhnytsya at the beginning of the 17th century. The main earnings are logging, mushroom harvesting and agriculture.

In 1648, the Jewish population of Berezhnytsya suffered from raids by B. Khmelnitsky detachments, about 1,100 Jews died. There are 5 Jewish houses in Berezhnytsya.

In 1765, Berezhnytsya had 64 Jewish houses, in 1784 - 65, in 1787 - 68.

At the end of the 19th century, 4 synagogues operated in the town; Jews of Berezhnytsya were mostly Stolin and Trisk Hasids.

In 1896, Joel Shurin founded at yeshiva in Berezhnytsya, in which 70 people studied.

In 1913, Jews owned 20 shops and only tavern in the township.

On September 1, 1915, all Jews were evicted from Berezhnytsya. The eviction was accompanied by a pogrom arranged by local residents. During the pogrom, 23 people died.

In February 1919, a pogrom occurred in the town, during which the property of the Jewish population was looted.

In the 1920-30s rabbis of Berezhnytsya were Moishe Bakun and Moishe Naydich.

In the early 1920s A school was opened with teaching in Hebrew.
In the 1920-30s there were branches of various Jewish parties and organizations.

The Germans occupied Berezhnytsya in early July 1941. Immediately upon the arrival of the German forces, local Ukrainians staged a pogrom in the town. Many Jews were robbed and assaulted, and a number of people were seriously wounded. In summer 1941, a Jewish Council (Judenrat) was established in Berezhnytsya.

In the summer and fall of 1941, the Germans introduced a series of anti-Jewish decrees in Berezhnytsya. The Jews were ordered to wear distinctive markings in the form of a Star of David (later replaced with a yellow circle); they had to mark their houses with a six-pointed blue star; they were prohibited from leaving the town; all Jews above the age of 14 were required to perform heavy manual labor.

In early May 1942, an open ghetto was established in Berezhnytsya, and it housed about 1,000 inmates. On August 26, 1942, the Germans and the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police liquidated the Bereżnica Ghetto, relocating all of its inmates to the Poleska camp in Sarny, and shooting many of them on the way.

On August 27-28, 1942, after several of the new arrivals had participated in the mass escape from the Poleska camp, the remaining Jews of Berezhnytsya were murdered – along with the Jews of Sarny, Rokitno, Dąbrowica, Klesуw, and Tomaszgorod – in the Tutowicze Forest outside Sarny.

Rivne region - list of settlements and location of objects

Berezhnytsya, 2024