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The town received it's Magdeburg rights in 1919.
Short Description/History
Currently situated in the Eastern part of Belarus
The town of Baranowicze, in the Nowogrodek district of
Byelorussia was founded in 1883. As a relatively new town,
Baranowicze was built according to modern planning, with wide streets crossing
at right angles. The town developed rapidly, with a population of 30,000 at the
outbreak of the Second World War.
Situated at the hub of railroad lines – the north-south from Wilno to
Lwow, and west-east from Warsaw to Moscow – Baranowicze held considerable
strategic importance. Thus it was a site of wide-ranging economic activity and
a center of commerce and light industry. The abundance of surrounding forests
contributed to the development of various branches of the lumber industry. The presence of Polish Army bases along the Russian border
stimulated commercial opportunities in supplying goods and services for the
army. The Poles were a minority among the local population of Russians and
Byelorussians, a large percentage of the population being Jews.
From an economic standpoint the Jews were relatively prosperous, with an array
of institutions typical of an established Jewish community. There were
synagogues, charity and welfare funds, an orphanage, homes for the
elderly, hostels and soup kitchens for the needy, and more.
Baranowicze was the seat of learning and culture for it's inhabitants. In the commercial realm, it offered such modern
institutions as cooperatives, mutual aid funds, craftsmen's and tradesmen's
organizations, and banks.
In the political-public sphere, there were political parties and youth
movements, an independent
system of education, gymnasia [high school]
In all, the town offered a wealth of cultural, public and political activities
across a wide spectrum.
In the period between the two World Wars (1920 – 1939), Baranowicze was
under Polish rule. In September 1939, the Red Army invaded the territory,
commencing the Soviet occupation. With the German attack on the Soviet Union on
June 22, 1941, the German army poured into
the area. Within five days, Baranowicze was conquered.
At the start of the
city's occupation by the Germans there were some 12,000 Jews living there, of
whom about three thousand were refugees from Western Poland.
Works from D.Levin titled:" The Lesser of Two Wils. Eastern
European Jewry under Soviet Rule 1939 - 1941, Philadelphia, pg. 34.
"When the Red Army was entering Baranowicze, Jews were kissing their dusty boots. Children were running to the parks and were picking flowers and were throwing them at the soldiers. Red flags were flown in the blink of an eye and the whole town was cowered in Red."
" Gdy do miasta Baranowicze wkraczala Armia Czerwona, Zydzi calowali
zakurzone buty zolnierzy. Dzieci pobiegly do parku, narwaly kwiatów i zasypaly
nimi zolnierzy. Czerwone flagi znaleziono w mgnieniu oka i cale miasto zostalo
zalane czerwienia".
Wieki matematyk polski zydowskiego pochodzenia profesor Hugon Steinhaus
zaskoczony i rozgoryczony postawa Zydów pisal:"...biedota zydowska, która
wylegla na spotkanie bolszewików ustrojona w kokardy i gwiazdy czerwone,
az budzila smiech oficerów rosyjskich.Inni rozbrajali oficerów polskich i
na wyscigi donosili rosyjskim zolnierzom z niebieskimi otokami, gdzie sa
mieszkania oficerów, adwokatów, lekarzy i ksiezy. Gdzie sie ukryli burmistrz
i rajcowie. Inni jeszcze calowali tanki sowieckie i glaskali lufy tak, jak
pewnie nigdy nie glaskali wlasnej Salci." patrz H.Steinhaus, Wspomnienia
z Polski, str 192.
Jesli taka byla postawa " sasiadów" gdy Polska od zdradzieckiego ciosu
ze wschodu ginela, to pomysl, czy rodziny tych, których " zolnierze z niebieskimi
otokami"( NKWD) zabrali a pózniej nie powrócili nie palali zadza odwetu?
Podalem Ci dwa zródla, jest ich wiecej i co dziwne jest duzo obiektywnych
opracowan historyków zydowskich zarówno tych z USA jak i tych z Izraela.
Niestety, sa teraz spychani na margines i dotyka ich ostracyzm towarzyski
i intelektualny. Ale prawda wyjdzie na jaw, tak jak wychodzi na jaw prawda
o Morelu, Wolinskiej, Stefanie Michniku, Bermanie. Teraz dla prawdy obiektywnej
" nie ma pogody".
Nie oceniaj zbyt krytycznie pozostalych wypowiedzi, bo dla tych ludzi
prawda jest takze wazna, a tu pojawiaja sie glosy aktywistó organizacji "Nigdy
wiecej", którzy na swych stronach bójke kibiców kwalifikuja jako antysemickie
wybryki. Jak widzisz, Ci mlodsi walcza tak jak " poszukiwacze antysemityzmu
bez Zydów". Tylko, ze " poszukiwacze" otrzymuja skads srodki i pytanie kto
tymi " slabymi lebkami" rzadzi i dlaczego?