Svislach or Svisloch is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Grodno Region,

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. It serves as the administrative center of Svislach District. It is connected with the town

Vawkavysk Vawkavysk or Volkovysk is a town in Grodno Region, in western Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vawkavysk District. It is located on the and rivers, roughly from the city of Grodno and from Minsk, the national capital. As o ...

by a railroad branch and with

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

city by a highway. As of 2025, it has a population of 5,851.

History

Within the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, Svislach was part of Nowogródek Voivodeship. In 1795, Svislach was acquired by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the course of the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

. In 1927, Rabbi

Chaim Yaakov Mishkinsky Haim can be a first name or surname originating in Hebrew or derived from the Old German name Haimo. Etymology Hebrew Chayyim ( ', Classical Hebrew: , Israeli Hebrew: ), also transcribed ''Haim, Hayim, Chayim'', or ''Chaim'' (English pronunciati ...

, whose wife Chaya was the granddaughter of Rabbi

Naftali Hertz Halperin According to the Book of Genesis, Naphtali (; ) was the sixth son of Jacob, the second of his two sons with Bilhah. He was the founder of the Israelite tribe of Naphtali. Some biblical commentators have suggested that the name ''Naphtali'' may ...

of Bialystok, was appointed the rabbi of Svislach. He led the community until the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

entered in November 1942 murdering the entire Jewish community. Prior to the war, Rabbi Mishkinsky sent his sons and to Israel (Palestine). Rabbi Mishkinsky's great-grandson, Yochanan Chaim Ivry, serves as rabbi of Toras Emes, Staten Island, NY and his great-granddaughter, Batya Yocheved Friedman serves as one of the rebbetzins in Park East Synagogue, NYC Svislach was part of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

from 1921 until 1939. In September 1939, Svislach was occupied by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

. In 1939, there were around 3,000 Jews living in Svislach, along with refugees from western Poland who had settled there after the invasion of Poland. From June 1941 until 17 July 1944, Svislach was occupied by Nazi Germany and administered as a part of

Bezirk Bialystok Bialystok District (German language, German: ''Bezirk Bialystok'') was an administrative unit of Nazi Germany created during the World War II invasion of the Soviet Union. It was to the south-east of East Prussia, in present-day northeastern Pola ...

. In July 1941, a ghetto was established in the old Jewish neighbourhood, in the northwest of Svislach. In that area, Jews were also gathered from the village of Golobudy. It was an open ghetto, and the western border of the ghetto's territory ran near the Svislach River. On November 2, 1942, the ghetto was liquidated when the Jews were sent by train to the

transit camp where many massacres occurred. The remaining Jews, mostly elderly and sick, were killed in the Visnik Forest, just outside Svislach.

Notable people

Aharon Kotler Aharon Kotler (February 2, 1892 – November 29, 1962) was a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbi and a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Lithuania and in the United States, where he founded Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood Township, New Jersey. ...

(1892–1962), rabbi *

Samuel Belkin Samuel Belkin (December 12, 1911 – April 19, 1976) was an American rabbi and Torah scholar who was the second President of Yeshiva University. He is credited with leading Yeshiva University through a period of substantial expansion. Biograp ...

(1911–1976), rabbi * David Lewis (Losz) (1909–1981), Canadian lawyer and federal

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

History

Notable people

Notes

References

External links