Voronovo Today courtesy of Judy Baston
List of Archival information and SIG interest groups
A village, 123 kilometers from Grodno, 1 kilometer from the railways station. Voronovo of the railway line: Lida-Vilnius, on the road: Lida - Vilnius. The 1993 population was 6800 people.
First found in the chronicles of the sixteenth century as a part of Great Lithuanian
Principality: The ancient name was Bolotna (Blotna) because it was situated on the river
Balatnyanka that is now a small stream. Polish sources call it Werono. Russian sources
call it Voronov. On the map of T. Makovski (1613) Voronovo is mestechko (small town. ) It
belonged to Gashtold.
In 1690, Voronovo had sixty-one houses, a Catholic Church, and a tavern. In the beginning
of the eighteenth century, A. Masevich owned Voronovo. In 1705, he started building the
Catholic Church of St. Tadeush. Later, the town belonged to Stipion and then to Zaretski.
In 1735, Yakov Stipion opened a secondary school. At this time it was the center of
starostat (district. ) In 1795, Voronovo belongs to the Russian Empire as a mestechko of
Lida powet (district. ) In 1865, the population was 468 people (eighteen orthodox, 117
Catholics, and 333 Jews. ) Forty-two houses, a Catholic church, a synagogue, a prayer
house, a water mill, twelve shops, a post office, a post station, weekly fairs, and two
leather factories completed the town. Close to Voronov was an estate (or a colony) with
one hundred Catholics, eighteen Orthodox and eight Jews. In this colony was a wine
factory, the wooden church of St. Zbivatselya. This colony was the center of local
community of Rudan Dekanat.
The 1897 population was 1574 people: 1,432 of Jews. In 1921, Voronov belonged to Poland as
the center of gmina of Lida povet, Novogrudok voevodstvo. In 1939, it belonged to
Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic; and in January 15 1940 was the center of a region.
In June 23,1941 the occupying Germans killed more than 2600 people from Voronov and those
who was brought to Voronov from Vilna. Liberation from the Germans was July 11,1944.
The 1970 population was 3,600 people. 1992: milk factory, bakery, and wine factory. Civic
facilities: professional training school, secondary school, musical school, sports school,
two kindergartens, school student center, House of Culture, two libraries, hospital,
cinema, Monument to the Victims of Fascism.
Sources:
Sachenka B. I [editor], Encyclopedia of the History of Belarus. Volume 2, Minsk:
1994, p. 358. Ksiega Adresowa Handlowa, Warszawa Bydgoszcz 1929
Shtetl History
According to reliable sources, the Jewish town of Woronow, which was about 60 kilometers from Wilno and 30 kilometers from Lida, came into being in the middle of the 17th century. From 1650-1690, in the estate called "Woronowka", half a kilometer from Woronowa, there lived a Polish lord called Woronowski. He owned the estate, the river, the lawns and fields, including the land of Woronowa. The stream, which flows through Woronowa, is called "Balatnai" or "Balatienke." The lord leased his lawns and fields to Jews. He was an avid card player and gambler, who was always late in paying his debts. He borrowed money from Jews, with his estates as collateral. When he had no money to buy the land back, it remained in Jewish hands.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Jewish community of Woronow numbered 70 souls. Some of the families lived in Woronow since the 17th century: OLKENITSKI, LEVINE, PUPKO, SHELUBSKY, ORKIN, KAPLAN, KAMENITSKI. It was from their descendants that Woronow's Jewish Kehilla flourished and expanded. The synagogue was supplied with about forty Torah scrolls. Day and night the synagogue was filled with scholars, worshippers. It had a treasure trove of sacred books by __ , the Babylonian Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud, about ten sets of the Mishnah (collection of post-Biblical laws of the 2nd century BC, forming part of the Talmud). Various treatises, books on the Kabbalah, on Hasidism, Kabbalah, philosophical works, commentaries by Gaonim, (genius-scholars), encyclopedias of holy sources, popular editions of the Shulkhan Arukh (laws), dozens of Bibles, books on general topics, commentaries, manuscripts by Gaonim, Rabbis, famous people. It is not possible to estimate this treasure trove.
By the end of the 19th century the Jewish population of Voronow increased to 250 families, or 1200 people. In the third decade of the 20th century the town expanded, and built many new houses in the direction of Lida. At the end of 1940's, there were 350 families and 1,600 people. We were connected to the outside world by a railroad, brought into town in 1882. Our chief source of livelihood was agriculture for 35% of the population. The rest earned their living from crafts: 25% from handicraft; 20% were carters, peddlers, and 20% were merchants, storekeepers, and free professions.
A vast network of various Societies was established in addition to those already in existence: Society to Visit the Sick; Help the Sick; Help the Poor; Donate Charity Secretly, and other charitable institutions. Our synagogue was filled with scholars, men of renown, students of the Torah, sages and other authorities.
During the first decade of the twentieth century, after the abortive Revolution of 1905, modern ideologies began to penetrate our town; the newly-formed BUND on the one hand, and the POALE ZION on the other, dominated Jewish circles of Lithuania. The Bund tempted the young with its Socialist ideas of justice, equality, freedom, brotherhood, equal rights for all citizens of all countries throughout the world. The Poale Zion attracted them with its "Zion-Territorialism" on Socialist foundations; promised an end to exploitation of the worker, and an end to domination of Jew over Jew and man over man. The Russian Police Commissioner kept a sharp eye on Jewish youth, suspecting them of disloyalty, imminent treason and Revolution against "holy" Czarism. The Gentile authorities made constant searches of Jewish homes, persecuted the innocent young people.
Sources: Berkowitz, Moshe,
Voronovo, Voronovo. Unpublished Manuscript, 1944
Lida Records at Grodno Archive: (
Courtesy of Ellen Renck)
Following are materials relevant for Jewish genealogical research; the abbreviations are
b: birth records, m: marriage records, v: divorce records and d: death records. From the
collection of registry books of the Jewish religious communities of Lida district, we
find:
· RG 286 Voronovo synagogue, 12 files (m: 1897-1900; v: 1897-1900; d: 1897-1900)
Grodno Archives:
Fond 288 Voronovo, Lida yezd, Vilna, gub. 12 chronicles, 1897-1900 Inventory 1 2 items
153: Voronovskaja synagogue in Lidski yezd., #286, 12 chronicles, 1897-1900
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-2 Metrical Book-marriage-Voronovo Synagogue 1898
6 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inventory 1 Voronovo Synagogue, Voronovo, Lida yezd, Vilna g.
1897-1900 12 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-9 Metrical Book-divorce-Voronovo Synagogue 1897
20 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-1 Metrical Book-marriage-Voronovo Synagogue 1897
30 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-4 Metrical Book-marriage-Voronovo Synagogue 1900
30 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-10 Metrical Book-divorce-Voronovo Synagogue 1898
30 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-11 Metrical Book-divorce-Voronovo Synagogue 1899
30 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-12 Metrical Book-divorce-Voronovo Synagogue 1900
30 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-3 Metrical Book-marriage-Voronovo Synagogue 1899
40 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-5 Metrical Book-deaths-Voronovo Synagogue 1897
70 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-6 Metrical Book-deaths-Voronovo Synagogue 1897
70 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-7 Metrical Book-deaths-Voronovo Synagogue 1899
70 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
286 Fond 12 chronicles 1897-1900 Vilna Guberniya
Inv#1-8 Metrical Book-deaths-Voronovo Synagogue 1900
70 Voronovo Lida yezd, Vilna Gub
Address: Grodno Region Department, Director: Miss Karina Botrakova, National
Belorussian Historical Archives of Grodno
and
National Belorussian Historical Archives, Grodno Region Department,
Director: Miss Karina Brotrakova
Teizengauz Ploschad 2, Grodno 230001 Belarus
Updated by JG 17 March, 1999 Copyright © 1999 Jack Gottlieb |
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