A MEMORIAL TO THE JEWS OF BIALYSTOK

To the memory of Jakob Patt, dearest of men...

We Remember Jewish Bialystok!

זכור את ביאליסטוק!

Common Memorial Project by Tomasz Wisniewski, Poland, Tilford Bartman, U.S.A., Mark Halpern U.S.A. and Ada Holtzman, Israel
Spring of 2003

This Web Page is a work in progress and many of the web pages are not completed yet and will be added soon!

I call volunteers to help me please in data entry, OCR, scanning, translations etc. Thank you, Ada Holtzman 10 July 2004

Our sincere thanks to the Bialystok Landsmanschaft ("Vaad" - Committee) for contributing material to this web site.

An Announcement

60 Years – The Ceremony in Poland

The 61^st Annual Remembrance Assembly

BIALYGen – Bialystok Region Jewish Genealogy Group

BIALYSTOK
53°08' 23°09'
174.9 kilometers NE of Warsaw

The Memorial of the Martyrs of Bialystok, Yehud, Israel
Erected by Mr. David Lubin z"l, President of Kiriat Bialystok Foundation N. Y.
Every year on Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Day in Israel and in the whole world), there is a Remembrance Assembly with Bialystokers, 2^nd and 3^rd generation and various schools and youth movements.
. This year it will be on Nisan 27, 5763, April 29^th 2003

Zeev Balglej Kiriat Bialystok Yehud, Israel 2001

Simcha Stein, director of "The Ghetto Fighters' House", near the monument

Detail of the new monument

KIRYAT BIALYSTOK, YEHUD ISRAEL

Built in the year 1950 by the Jewish former residents of Bialystok throughout the world, to perpetuate the memory of the glorious community of Bialystok, Poland that was exterminated by the Nazis in the Second World War.

Kiriat Bialystok Monument Erected by the
Organization of Former Jewish Residents of Bialystok and its Surroundings in Israel 2001

A Map

The main article was contributed by the Israeli Landsmanschaft in Israel and America
The Hall of Bialystok
17 Tennenbaum St.
Kiriat Bialystok
Yehud 56210
ISRAEL
Telephone: 00-972-3-5360037
The Organization of Former Jewish Residents of Bialystok and its Surrounding in Israel (The Israeli Landsmanschaft "Vaad")

The Bialystoker Center
228 East Broadway,
new York, N.Y. 10002
USA

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BIALYSTOK
2.8.1988

Year	Population	Jews	Share
1856	13787	9547	69%
1895	62993	47783	76%
1913	89700	61500	69%
1932	91207	46000	50%
1939	?	60000

Industrial city in the northeast Poland.

One of the principal Russian Polish Jewish centers (in Russian: Belostok), incorporated into Russia between 1807 and 1921 and administrated by the U.S.S.R. between 1939 and 1941, reverting to Poland in 1945.

Originally, the Bialystok community formed a part of the Tykocin (Tikin) community. Jewish settlement in the village of Bialystok was encountered by the manorial overlords, and the heads of the Jewish community were permitted to take part in the municipal elections in 1749.

The position of the Jews deteriorated when Bialystok passed to Prussia (1795), and subsequently to Russia. The economic situation deteriorated when there was an influx of Jews expelled from the neighboring villages in 1825-35 and 1845. There was a steep increase in the Jewish population, which in 1856 numbered 9547 out of a total population of 13787. Many of them were homeless or unemployed. Welfare institutions were established in an attempt to alleviate the situation.

The development of the large textile industry in Bialystok after the Napoleonic wars owes much to the Jewish enterprise. Textile mills were erected by two Jews in 1850. As they acquired spinning, weaving, knitting and dyeing sills. Jews replaced the German specialists. In 1860, 19 of the 44 textile mills in Bialystok were Jewish-owned. In 1898, of the 372 mills in Bialystok, 299 (83.38%) were. Jewish-owned, while 5,192 (59.5%) of the workers were Jewish.

The Jewish labor movement found strong support in Bialystok, and in 1897, many Jewish workers there became members of the Bund. The Bialystok Jewish workers issued an underground newspaper: "Der Bialystoker Arbayter". In the same year, the intensive activities of the labor movement in Bialystok during the Russian revolution of 1905-06 provoked savage acts of reprisal by the Russian authorities. The pogroms in Bialystok that occurred between June 1 and 3, 1906, were the most violent of the mob outbreaks against Russian Jewry that year. Resultinin 70 J.

The contacts with German Jewry during the period that Bialystok was governed by Prussia had introduced the spirit of enlightenment ("Haskala") into Jewish circles in Bialystok. Prominent in the movement were members of the Zamenhof family, Elazar Ludwig Zamenhof, (created the international language of Esperanto); Abraham Schapiro, author of "Toldot Yisrael ve-Sifruto (1892); Jehiel Michael Zublodowski, a contributor to Ha'Karmel and author of Ru'ach Chayy(1860); and the poet Menachem. A Chovevei Zion group was in Bialystok in .

Modern Jewish elementary schools, such as the modern Cheder (Cheder Metukkan), a girls' school and institutes for commerce and crafts were founded while Bialystok was part of Russia: the language of instruction was Russian, but Hebrew was also taught. The first Hebrew kindergarten was founded in 1910. Hebrew elementary and high schools were established after World War I.

In 1895, the Jewish population numbered 47,783 (out of 62993). Of the 3628 merchants and shopkeepers in the city in 1897, 3186 (87.8%) were Jews. In 1913, the Jewish population numbered 61,500 (out of 89,700). In 1921, 93% of the businessmen were Jewish, and 89% of the industrial plants were Jewish-owned; later the proportion of Jews in business decreased (to 78.3% in 1928). In 1932 there were over 46,000 (out of 91,207) in Bialystok.

The Holocaust

Shortly after the outbreakof World War II, the Germans enterBialystok. First occupying it from September 15 until September 22 1939, when it was transferred to the Soviets.

The seconGeowas from June 27, 1941, to July 27, 1944. At that time, some 50,000 Jews lived in Bialystok and about 350000 in the whole province. On the day following the secGerman occupation, known as "Red Friday", the Germans burned down the Jewish quarter, including the synagogue and at least 2000 Jews who had been driven inside. Other similar events followed in rapid succession: on Thursday, July 3, 300 of the Jewish intelligentsia were rounded up and tato Pietrasze, a field outside the town, and murdered there; on Saturday, July 12, over 3000 Jewish men were put to death there.

A Judenrat was established on German orders (July 26, 1941), and chaired by Rabbi Rosenmann. But his deputy, Ephraim Barash, was the actual head and served as its laison with the German authorities. On August 1, some 50,000 Jews were segregated into a closed Ghetto.

Every Jew in the 15-65 age group was forced to work and the Germans meted out physical punishment, including death sentences to anyone attempting to avoid or resist forced labour. There were private factories in the Ghetto, owned by a German industrialist, Oskal Stefen. Jews were also employed in various German enterprises outside the Ghetto. Two thousand persons were employed by the Judenrat, not including thoincharge of the Ghetto's economic enterprises. Over 200 men served in the "". TJudenrat, Ba, knew the truth about the deportations and death camps and had also read German documents containing plans to liquidate the Ghetto. Nevertheless, up to his last day, he trusted in the idea that the inmates' hard work and economic "usefulness" would delay their destruction or even save them. Most of the inhabitants of the Ghetto trusted Barash and shared his illusions. He stayed at his post until he was deported to Majdanek and murdered there.

The Germans embarked upon the liquidation of the Jews on February-12, 1943. When the first Aktion in the Ghetto took place. The Jews were dragged from their homes and hiding places. One thousand of them were killed on the spot. While 10,000 were deported to Treblinka death camp. At this time, the local German authorities who were interested in prolonging the existence of the Ghetto for economic reasons were negotiating with the liquidation of the Ghetto. The date determined for the final destruction of the Bialystok Ghetto was August 16, 1943.

An underground came into existence in November 1942. Mordechai Tenenbaum (Tamaroff) was sent by the Warsaw Jewish fighting organization to organize resistance in the Bialystok Ghetto. Its main problems were the lack of arms and disunity in the ranks. The Ghetto stood alone in its struggle, for no help could be expected from the Polish resistance. In the early stage, Barash supported the Ghetto underground and supplied it with finances and information, through Tenenbaum. His support, however, lasted as long as the Germans were unaware of its existence. When the first Aktion took place, in February 1943, the underground was not yet ready. However it stepped up its activities and attempts were made to establish contact with the Partisans in the forests. Three small groups left the Ghetto for the forests (January, March and June 1943).

It was not until July 1943, after the break with the Judenrat chairman, that the various underground movements in the Ghetto united, on the basis of Tenenbaum's views, in a united fighting organization. The united Jewish underground called upon the Jews to fight in the Ghetto rather than in the forests. The final liquidation of the Ghetto was to take place on August 16, 1943 and the Germans, aware of the existence of the underground, made careful secret preparations for the Aktion. The underground engaged in an open battle with the Germans, and after a day of fighting, 72 fighters retreated to a bunker in order to organize their escape to the forests. The Germans killed all the fighters, with a single exception. The Ghetto fighters held out for another month, and night after night the gunfire reverberated through Bialystok. The commanders of the uprising, Tenenbaum and Moszkowicz presumably committed suicide when the revolt was quashed. Other prominent leaders of the underground were Zerach Zylberberg, Hershel Rosenthal, Haika Grosman and Israel Margulies. A month later, the Germans announced the completion of the Aktion in which some 40,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka and Majdanek. The members of the Judenrat were among the last group to be deported.

A few dozen Jews succeeded in escaping from the Ghetto and joined the Partisans in the forests, formed a group called: "Kadimah" and in turn were absorbed into a general Partisan movement led by Soviet parachutists at the end of 1943.

After the war, there remained 1085 Jews in Bialystok, of whom 900 were local inhabitants and the rest from the neighboring villages.

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Survivors Lists

The Survivors List of Bialystok and Its Region, (Partial List) Published in 1946

Holocaust Survivors in Bialystok Who Settled in Melbourne Australia, after 1946

Holocaust Survivors Born in Bialystok and Died in Melbourne, Australia

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German ariel photo of June 27th, 1941 "aktion" against Bialystok Jews. On lower right the Great Synagogue can be seen starting to burn, with more than 2000 Jews locked inside and burnt alive. Upper left hand is Plonaska Synagogue and surroundings burning.
Submitted by Tilford Bartman

Jewish Bialystok, History & Heritage

Chana Kiselstein (Lyn): A Visit to Poland of Today - Ashes of Human Bones and Weeping Eyes

A Bialystok Historical Calendar

The Bialystoker Memorial Book

Tomasz Wisniewski: How Would Bialystok Look Had There Not Been the Holocaust?

That Boy from the Bialystok Ghetto...

Jakob Patt: Bialystok a Jewish City That is No More

Thomasz Wisniewski "Jewish Bialystok and Surroundings in Eastern Poland"

Jewish Bialystok and Surroundings in Eastern Poland by Tomasz Wisniewski, in Avotaynu

Build a Full Size Zabludow Synagogue Replica in the Museum of Bialystok

Piotr Trojniel: The Great Synagogue in Bialystok - the Place of Faith, Memory and Hope

The Pogrom Against The Jews 1906, By David Sohn

PILLAR OF SORROW
Stand strong and be proud, ypillar ofsorrow,
Likmarmelt notin the ,
Nor dissolve into a flood of tears.
Even as stand peoplchange, never move from your place.
Strike fear into them at night, hover over them like a curse.
A cold witness shall you be, telling what occurred
to the children who will come after us.
For the honor and the blood of our people were
defiled, - witnessed by the summer heavens.
The sun shone unabashed; the eyes of the world were not blinded.
Many fell dead, gunshots thundered, smoke plumed upward.
As many wept yet did they frivol, accepting the old p.
To be sure they also shed tears to our God,
wheternitH.
To it he also gdeath, the death of a sacrificial lamb swimming in its own blood.
A son estranged, straying from his father, tarrying in
pain among strangers.
The father beckoned to him from afar, return at once,
only to feel your rows of dead.
Your dark glance he should understand, why he is sick
of the world around him that erected these monuments.
Stand strong and be proud, you pillar of sorrow, like marble.
As states and peoples change do not move from your place.

By Zalman Szneur

The Monument to the Pogrom Victims
AWW II local Poles vandals cut the monument into three pieces and discarded it near the outskirts of Bagnowke cemetery.

Recalling our Proud Past by Pejsach Kaplan

The Great Synagogue

Jakob Samid: The Immortal Spirit - The Bialystok Hebrew Gymnasium 1919-1939, Haifa 1995

The Hebrew Gymnasium Reunion (1990) Video

The Revisionist Zionist Academic Fraternity Arnonia in Bialystok (1934-1939)

My Visit to Bialystok in 1977 By Izaak Rybal-Rybalowski

Moshe Verbin: Wooden Synagogues in the 17th and 18th Century

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Kiriat Bialystok
(A Neighborhood of Yehud, Israel)
Founded in 1949
Section Contributed by the Israeli Bialystok Landsmanschaft ("Vaad"). We extend our sincere appreciation and thanks to their initiative.

Bialystok Commemoration

Bialystok - A Town was Rebuilt in Eretz Israel from Your Ashes

The Scroll of Kiriat Bialystok

Pictures from the Commemoration Room of the Hall of Bialystok

In Memory of the Burnt Ghetto We Built Here a Life Monument that Will Never End

From Bialystok to Kiriat Bialystok

The Hall of Bialystok
17 Tennenbaum St.
Kiriat Bialystok
Yehud 56210
ISRAEL
Telephone: 00-972-3-5360037
The Organization of Former Jewish Residents of Bialystok and its Surroundings in Israel (The Israeli Landsmanschaft "Vaad")
Zeev Balglej - Chairman - Telephone: 00-972-3-5360651
Chana (Lin) Kizelstein - Archivist - Telephone: 00-972-3-5360195

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I. Shmulewitz, Izaak Rybal, Rabbi Lowell S. Kronick

The Bialystoker Memorial Book
New York 1982
English/Yiddish, 611pages

Selected Articles will be Posted in this web site andJewishGen Yizkor Book Trnslations Database, by special permission of the Bialystok Center N.Y. - July 2003.

The English Part

	*Page*
1) Table of Contents	203-205
2) Foreword	V-IX
3) Bialystok of the Old	3-18
4) Bialystok the Modern Period	21-34
5) On the Eve of the Holocaust	37-46
6) The Tragic Beginning	49-55
7) Under Nazi Oppression	59-68
8) Agony before the End	71-105
9) Death and Resistance	109-113
10) After the Liberation	117-130
11) The Children's Fate	133-134
12) Assistance from Other Bialystokers	137-140
13) The Victims and Witnesses Accounts	143-160
14) Bialystokers All Over the World USA, Israel, Australia, Argentina, France	165-201
15) Bibliography	202

The Bialystoker Center and Home for the Aged has a small number of copies of The Bialystoker Memorial Book (1982) for sale. They are selling copies for $50 (there may also be a shipping charge). If you are interested in acquiring a copy, please call Rabbi Leonard Blank at 212-475-7755 or write to him at:
THE BIALYSTOKER CENTER AND HOME FOR THE AGED
Attention: Rabbi Blank
228 E. Broadway
New York, NY 10002-5601
USA

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The Yizkor Books of Bialystok and Other Books Related to Jewish Bialystok

Walka i zaglada Bialostockiego Ghetta, Bialystok Ghetto, CZKH, Lodz 1946

David Sohn, Album, New York, Bialystok Album Committee 1951

Abraham Herschberg, Yudl Mark, Pinkos Bialystok; grunt-materyaln tsu der geshikte fun di yidn in Bialystok biz nokh der ershter velt-milkohme, Pinkos Bialystok (the chronicle of Bialystok); Basic Material for the History of the Jews in Bialystok Until the Period after the First World War, New York, Bialystok Jewish Historical Association, New York 1949-1950

Bialystoker Stimme, New York, Bialystoker Center

Sefer Bialystok: gevidmet dem heylikn ondenk fun undzere kedoyshim, tsum 20tn yortog fun khurbn fun undzer heymshtot, Sefer Bialystok: an everlasting memorial to the heroes and martyrs of annihilated Bialystok, published upon the 20th yahrzeit, 1943-1963, Editorial committee: Mordecai W. Bernstein [et al], New Y, Book Co 1963

B. Mark, Ruch Oporu w getcie Bialystokim, Warszawa ZIH 1952

Samuel Pisar: "K'of Hakhol" - Like the Phoenix, Shoken, Jerusalem & Tel Aviv, 1979

Samuel Pisar: Of Blood and Hope, Little Brown & Co., Boston 1980

Chaika Grosman, Anshei Hamakhteret, People of the Underground, Sifriat Hapoalim, Merkhavia 1965

Chaika Grosman, The Underground Army: Fighters of the Bialystok Ghetto, Holocaust Library Place of Publication: New York 1987 (Book published in 4 languages: Hebrew, English, Spanish and German.)

Israel Beker, Stage of Life, Tel Aviv 1979

I. Shmulewitz, Der Bialystoker Yisker-Bukh, The Bialystoker Memorial book, New York, Bialystoker Center 1982 - The Yizkor Book Web Site

Abraham Vered (Warat), Living in the Shadow of the Holocaust, Kibbutz Ramot Menashe 1988

Tomasz Wisniewski, Bialystok w Starej Pocztwce, Bialystok in Old Postcards, Bialystok 1990

Tomasz Wisniewski, David Bialystok, Boznice Bialostocczyzny, Zyddzi w Europie Wschodniejdo roku 1939, Heartland of the Jewish Life, Synagogues and Jewish communities in the Bialystok Region, 1992

Tomasz Wisniewski, Jewish Bialystok and Surroundings in Eastern Poland - A Guide for Yesterday and Today, Ellen Elliott, David Elliott (Photographer), Ipswich Press 1995

Yaacov Samid, The Immortal Spirit, The Bialystok Hebrew Gymnasium Poland, 1919-1939, Haifa 1995
The Hebrew Gymnasium

Nurith Gertz with Deborah Gertz, El Ma Shenamog, Not from Here, Am Oved Tel Aviv 1997

Not Like Sheep to the Slaughter: The Story of the Bialystok Ghetto (New VHS) available at Amazon

Mira Szalmuk (Bekker), "From Tragedy to Triumph", Puma Press, Melbourne 1997

Dr. Tuvia Cytron, The History of the Bialystok Ghetto Uprising, Tel Aviv 1995

Prof. Adam Dobronski, Bialostoccy Zydzi, Bialystoker Jews, Vol I, Bialystok 1993

Prof. Adam Dobronski, Bialostoccy Zydzi, Bialystoker Jews, Vol II, Bialystok 1997

Prof. Adam Dobronski, Bialostoccy Zydzi, Bialystoker Jews, Vol III, Bialystok 2000

Prof. Adam Dobronski, Bialostoccy Zydzi, Bialystoker Jews, Vol IV, Bialystok 2002

Miri Sheraton, The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread aa Lost World, Broadway Books, New York 2002

Bronia Klibanski-Winicki, "Ariadne", Tel Aviv 2002, The Revolt

Mendel Goldman, Hejmwej*, Bletlech fon a Liriyscen Tag Buch 1941-1945, 1996
* "Hejmwaj" is a word in Yiddish probably invented by the poet, expressinlamenting and longings to the destroyed home

Raphael Raizner, Der Umkum fon Bialystoker Yedentum 1939-1945, the Annihilation of Bialystok Jewry, Melbourne 1948

Arnold Jable, Eidlshteiner un Ash, Jewel and Ashes, Melbourne 1997

Miriam Yahav, Merka Shewach - A-15755 My Daughter, May be You... Beer Sheva 1994

Sara Bender, Facing Death, The Jews in Bialystok 1939-1943, Tel Aviv 1997

Ben Midler, the Life of a Child Survivor from Bialystok Poland, USA 1999

Michel Mielnicki and John Numbro, Bialystok to Birkenau, Canada 2000

Sara Sner - Nishmit, A Different Pedagogue Poem, Tel Aviv 1996 (Hebrew: Poema Pedagogit Acheret)

"Girl With Two Landscapes, The Wartime Diary of Lena Jedwab, 1941-1945" Holmes & Meier, New York 2002

Irene Shapiro (Rena Hass), Revisiting the Shadows: Memoirs from War-Torn Poland to the Statue of Liberty, Deforest Press, 2004

The book can be ordered by calling USA- telephone # 877 441 9733 and also through Amazon

The Holocaust Journey of Michel Mienicki as Told to John Murro, Vancouver B.C. Canada VGS1G7

Jakob Makowski, the Memoirs of a Partisan and a Fighter in the Bialystok Uprising 1939-1946, Private Publication, 2000

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Prominent Jewish Personalities of Virtue from Bialystok

Partial List

Alpert z"l

Israel Beker z"l (1917- May 2003)- Stage of Life

Edek Borak

Dov Chazanowicz (1844-1919)

Dr. Joseph Chazanowicz

Dr. Szymon Datner

Menachem Mendl Dolitzki

Professor Sadye Emiel (1929-1978) and His Brother Dr. Jacob Emiel (1923-1984)

Chapter 7: Roots and Memories of the Past

Rabbi David Fayans

Chajka Grossman (1919-1996)

Chajka Grossman - Life Story

Moshe Hasid

Ze'ev Wolf Hefner

A.S. Hershberg

Pesach Kaplan (? - 1943) Writer, cultural leader, editor of the BialystoUnzer Leben, kept a secret archive of Bialystok Ghetto.

Shlomo Kaplanski (?-1950)

Maxim Litvin(Meir Wallach) - Minister of Soviet Foregin Office

David Lubin

Icchak Malmed (?-1943)

Rabbi Shmuel Moholiver (1824-1898)

Daniel Moszkowicz(? -1943)

Dr. Pines

Dr. Gedalia Rosenman (Chief Rabbi of Bialystok)
In the photo, courtesy of Tomasz Wisniewski, Rabbi Gedalia Rosenman was talking with Vilna Archbishop Romuald Jalbrzykowski, ca 1920s (click to enlarge).

Adv. Dr. Samuel Pisar

Abraham Schapiro

Prof. Eliezer Lipa Sokonik (1889-1953)

Prof. Menachem Stern

Yitzhak Shamir ("Yzernitzky") born in Ruzinoy, Poland 1915 - Former Israel Prime Minister Years: 1983-1984, 1986-1992

Mordechai Tenenbaum ( Josef Tamaroff) (1916-1943)

Ludwig Zamenhof (1859-1917

Nahum Zemach

Jehiel Michael Zublodowski

The Photographs of Bialystok- a Visual Memorial
All this section will be donated by Tomasz Wisniewski and will be posted at this web site in the near future.15.3.03 A.H.

Photograph of an old Jew from Bialystok
S: Thomasz Wisniewski

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Persons & Families of Bialystok

Prof. Adler z"l & the Adler Family

Sasha Alexander(Wasilk) z"l

Shimon Bartnovski z"l - the Last Jew in Bialystok

Michael Flicker z"l

Dr. Moshe Katznelson z"l

Leibel Leon Mow a.o. z"l

Leo Melamed . "Escape to the Futures", John Wileye Sons Inc. 1996

Leo Melamed: Back to Bialystok August 2000

Zalman Yerushalmi z"l

The Family Rubinstein & Fainsod of Bialystok

The Yarmovsky Family History Web Page

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The Holocaust in Bialystok

Partial List of the Holocaust Martyrs of Bialystok

DURING THE HOLOCAUST

Yad Vashem, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, Facts on File, Inc. Jerusalem, 2000, page 146
Printed with special permission by Yad Vashem

BIALYSTOK City in northeastern Poland. Before World War II, 50,000 Jews lived in Bialystok, representing than half of the city's population.

The Germans invaded Bialystok on September 15, 1939. A week later, they transferred the city to the Soviets, as promised in the Nazi-Soviet Pact. However, when the Germans attacked the Soviets in June 1941, they retook control of Bialystok. June 27 was named "Red Friday" because on that day Nazi Einsatzgruppen murdered 2,000 Jews there. Over the next two weeks, another 4,000 Jews were killed in an open field near Pietrasz.

On June the Nazis ordered the Jews to establish a Judenrat; Efraim Barasz eventually became its chairman. On August 1, 50,000 Bialystok Jews were restricted to a Ghetto. Within three months, the Judenrat was to transfer 4,500 of the ghetto's inhabitants to the town of Pruzhany. Most of them were killed when the Pruzhany Ghetto was destroyed in January 1943.

The Bialystok Ghetto was divided into two parts, on the east and west sides of the Biala River. It quickly became an industrial center where textiles and weapons were manufactured for the Germans. Most of the Jews worked in these industries; a handful worked in German factories outside the ghetto. Within this setup, the Jews also managed to secretly manufacture products for their own use. The Germans gave the Jews very little food, so they grew their own food in "Judenrat gardens." The Judenrat instituted aid organizations in the ghetto. This included soup kitchens, two hospitals, an outpatient clinic, pharmacies, a gynecological clinic, a first aid organization, two schools, and a court. They also established a Jewish police force.

There were several Jewish youth movements in the ghetto that split into two undergrounds. These eventually united in July 1943 under the command of Mordechal Tenenbaum and Daniel Moskowicz. Tenenbaum also established a secret archive in the ghetto that functioned until April 1943. The archive's documents, which included many from the Judenrat, were hidden on the Polish side of Bialystok.

From February 5-12, 1943 the Germans carried out a massacre in the ghetto. Two thousand Jews were shot and 10,000 were deported to Treblinka. One of the two resistance movements tried to fight the Nazis and lost many of its members. Judenrat chairman Barasz believed that the Nazis would be satisfied with those Jews they deported, and would therefore leave the rest of the ghetto alone. However, in August 1943, the Nazis ordered the final liquidation the ghetto. At that point, the ghetto had 30,000 inhabitants. On the night of August 15, German troops and Ukrainian collaborators surrounded the ghetto. The next morning, the Jews were ordered to gather for evacuation. At 10:00 a.m. the underground revolted. The main goal of the uprising was to create an opening in the German lines, allowing the fighters to escape to the forest. However, they only had a few weapons and over 300 died per day. At one point, German troops even entered the ghetto with tanks and armored cars. The fighting lasted until August 20, when the resistance fighters' last defenses fell. The resistance leaders, Tenenbaum and Moszkowicz, fell back to the last stronghold where they committed suicide.

Deportations began on August 18 and lasted three days. Most of the Jews of the ghetto were deported to Treblinka, Majdanek, Poniatowa, Blizyn and Auschwitz, while 1,200 children were sent to Theresienstadt, and later to Auschwitz. About 150 fighters from Bialystok joined the Partisans. Only 2,000 Jews were left in the ghetto; they were deported to Majdanek three weeks later. In all, about 200 Jews from Bialystok survived the camps and several dozen survived by hiding on the Polish side of the city; 60 Jews who had joined the Partisans also survived. Bialystok was liberated by Soviet troops in August 1944.

The last "Action" (Akcja), the Jews herded to the square near the Poleski train station, before deportation in cattle cars to death in Treblinka.
Photographed a Pole from the roof of his house, August 16th 1943.

Partial List of the Holocaust Martyrs of Bialystok

Dates to Remember!

The Children of Bialystok | Hana Greenfield Research

Judi Langer Surnamer Caplan: Deportation of Bialystok Children from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz Abtransport Dn/a on October 5, 1943, of 53 Adults and 1196 Children from the Bialystok Ghetto (JewishGen)

Chana Kizelstein: the Children of Druskeniki Lena Jedwab | Fania & Berta Pavlowna

Bronia Klibanski Winicki: ARIADNE, Tel Aviv 2002, The Revolt

A Bialystoker Survivor and a Fighter Speaks...There Was a Revolt! by Ewa Kracowska

Pejsach Bursztejn: Bialystok Ghetto Uprising

15 August 1943 - A Message from Daniel Moszkowicz, One of the Commanders of the Bialystok Ghetto Underground and the Uprising
(Distributed in the Ghetto by leaflets)

Jewish brethren! It is important that you know that those who are to be transferred to work are not going to work, they are going to die. Do not believe the German murderers who claim that they are taking you to work. That work ends in the gas chambers and the crematoria. Jewish brethren! We have nothing to lose - because we are being led to our death.

The Gestapo uses various ploys to trick the Jews and make it easier for them to carry out the extermination of the Jewish population

Jews, know that they are leading us to Treblinka in order to poison us with gas, and then burn our bodies in crematoria or on stakes. We are tooweak tprotect our lives, but we are strong enough to defend our Jewish pride and our human values. Do not go freely to your death, fight for your life with knives, axes and steel pipes! The enemy must pay for the blood it sheds. Let us be heroes and not die without a fight!

Go to the forests, to the partisans! Go with arms, without surrendering! Take the arms from every dead German. Go into battle without fear! Only if you fight - will you survive to breathe the air of freedom!

The Resistance Fighters (Partial List - Photographs & Short Biographies)
Mordechai Tenenbaum - Tamaroff, Berl Szacman, Rivka Madeiskar, Renia and Srulek Wiernik, Itzhak Margolis, Yitzhak Fleischer, Yitzhak Jung, Zipora Birmann, Zvi Mersik, Zvi Rozental, Yakov Jakubowic, Israel Jung, Arnold Goldstein, Lola Lerman, Daniel Moszkowicz, Tema Schneiderman, Chaika Grosman, Bronka Winicka - Klibanski, Chaim Kuhn, Shimon Datner

A Partial List of the Martyrs of the Bialystok Ghetto Uprising

The Holocaust Testimony of Moniek Sieradzki of Lodz, Poland, Written by Halina Birenbaum

The Paltiel Lopata Dossier - Holocaust Survivors & Polish Rescuers Killed by Poles after the War

The Testimony of Meduchowicz Lipa

Series of Testimonies about the Last Aktion August 1943

Jozefina Szaper Modzelewska: "My Ordeal During the German Occupation"

Jewish Athletes who Were Murdered in 11 "Aktions" in Bialystok Ghetto

"Paths of Fate" by Shamay Kizelstein, Auschwitz Birkenau No. B-1968 (Available from the Author in 6 Languages: Hebrew, Polish, Russian, French, English and Yiddish)

Testimony of Israel Bramson

Treblinka

Tilford Bartman: On the Fifty-Seventh Anniversary of the Bialystok Ghetto Rebellion April 16th, 2000

From the Museum of Tolerance Multimedia Learning Center

Chaika Grossman: The Partisans

Fighters of Bialystok (February 27, 1943), (Yad Vashem Archive nr. M-11/7)

The Liquidation of the Bialystok Ghetto

Bialystok (March of the Living)

The Liquidation of the Bialystok Ghetto

Bialystok Ghetto Uprising - in the USHMM

List of the Jews Deported from the Bialystok Prison to Concentration Camp Stutthof on November 21^st 1943

Abraham Vered (Warat), To Live in the Shadow of the Holocaust (Chapters about the Liquidation of ghetto Bialystok)

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The Cemeteries

Photograph of the old cemetery, Bialystok 1917, courtesy of Tomasz Wisniewski
(click to enlarge)

Tomasz Wisniewski: the Cemeteries of Bialystok

International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies IAJGS International Jewish Cemetery Project: Bialystok I, Bialystok II, Bialystok III

JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry JOWBR

The Golden Mazeva' Project of Polish Students

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Jewish Genealogy - Roots from Bialystok

BIALYGen – Bialystok Region Jewish Genealogy Group

The State Archives in Bialystok
ul. Rynek K4
15426 Bialystok
Poland
phone no. +48 85 743 56 03
e-mail: sekretariat_ap at bialystok.ap.gov.pl (replace "at" by @ to avoid spam)
website in English: http://www.bialystok.ap.gov.pl/english/index.html

Holdings of Bialystok State Archives:
Births: 1835, 39, 46, 48, 55-66, 69, 71-72, 74-75, 77-84, 86, 1888-1902
Deaths: 1835, 46, 52, 54-77, 79-81, 84-86, 88-90, 92-94, 1897-1902
Marriages: 1835, 46, 54, 1856
Divorces: 1879-82, 84-86

Bialystok Urzad Stanu Cywilnego (USC)
ul. Branickiego 9
15426 Bialystok
Poland
phone no. +48 85 7411-437

Births: 1903-12, 14-15, 17-36, 38, 41-42
Deaths: 1903-39, 42
Marriages: 1903-42

Mormons Microfilms

Type	Year(s)	LDS Film #	Location
BMD	1835/1860	747,735	LA, DO, NY
BMD	1861-1863	747,736	LA, DO, N
BMD	1864-1865	747,737	LA,DO, NY
BM	1866	1,191,933	LA, LN
MD	1866-68	1,191,934	LA, NY, LN
BMD	1869	1,191,934	LA, NY, LN
M	1870	1,191,934	LA, NY, LN
BMD	1870-1872	1,191,935	LA, NY, L
BMD	1873-1878	1,191,936	, N, LN
BM	1878	1,191,937	LA, NY, LN
BMD	1878-1880	1,191,364	LA, NY
MD	1927-1939	1,186,442	LA, NY
BMD	1881-1882	1,618,509	LA, NY
BMD	1882-1886	1,618,510	LA, NY

Legend: B: Birth, M: Marriage, D: Death / LDS Film #: Mormons Microfilm number / Location: LA: Los Angeles, NY: New York, DO: Dorot Tel Aviv, LN: London

BIALYgen Second Annual Meeting at the Jerusalem Conference 08 July 2004

JewishGen Family Finder

JRI-Poland Jewish Records Indexing Poland

JRI-Poland Jewish Records Indexing Poland - Bialystok PSA Project

JRI-Poland Jewish Records Indexing Poland - Bialystok Shtetl CO-OP Project

List of Films of Jewish Interest at LDS Family History Library, South Kensington (Including Bialystok)

Business Directory 1929 - the Project of JRI-Poland Jewish Records IIndexing Poland & JewishGen

Bialystok in the Business Directory 1929

A Map with the Streets of Bialystok 1938

Bialystok Telephone Book 1938 - Courtesy of Tomasz Wisniewski (download the Excel file )

SPIS ABONENTÓW SIECI TELEFONICZNYCH DYREOKRĘGU I TELEGRAFÓW W WARSZAWIE (Z WYJĄTKIM.ST. WARSZAWY) I POLSKIEJ AKCYJNEJ SPÓŁKI TELEFONICZNEJ W MIASTACH: BIAŁYMSTOKU I ŁODZI Z OKOLICĄ NA 1938 R., WARSZAWA 1938

Book with List of Telephone Numbers: Post District Warsaw (with Warsaw Exception) in Bialystok and Lodz with their Region in Year 1938, Warszawa 1938

Contributed by Tomasz Wisniewski
The Telephone Book

A B C D EF G HIJ K L MN O P R S TU W Z

Send a Message and/or an Inquiry

Read the Messages and/or Inquiries of Survivors and/or Descendants of Bialystok

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Towns of the Bialystok Region - Voivodship

Andrzejewo	Augustow	Bakalarzewo	Bialystok
Bielsk Podlaski	Bocki	Bransk	Branszczyk
Brok	Brzostwica Wielka	Choroszcz	Ciechanowiec
Czerwin	Czyzewo	Dabrowa	Dlugosiodlo
Drohiczyn	Druskieniki	Filipow	Gac
Goniadz	Goworowo	Grajewo	Grodek
Grodno	Holobudy	Indura	Izabelin
Izablonka Koscielna	Jaleniowo	Jalowka	Jedwabne
Janow Sokolski	Kadzidlo	Kamionka	Kleszczele
Knyszyn	Kolno	Kolonja Izaaka	Korycin
Kossewo	Kryn	Kulesze Koscielne	Kuznica
Lapy	Lomza	Lunna	Lyskow
Malkinia Gorna	Michalowo	Mielnik	Milejczyce
Modzele Wygoda	Mosty	Mscibow	Myszniec
Narew	Narewka Mala	Niemirow	Nowogrod
Nowy Dwor	Nur	Odelsk	Orla
Ostroleka	Ostrow	Piaski	Piatnica
Pieniazki (Village)	Poreba - Koceby	Poreba - Srednia	Porozo
Porzecze	Przerosl	Punsk	Raczki
Radzilow	Rajgrod	Ros	Rutki-Kossaki
Sejny	Sidra	Siemiatycze	Skidel
Sniadowo	Sokolka	Sokoly	Sopockinie
Stawiski	Stoczek	Stwiski	Suchowola
Suprasl	Suraz	Suwalki	Swislocz
Szczuczyn	Szumowo Nowe	Trzciane	Trzcianka
Tykocin	Wasewo	Wasilkow	Wasosz
Wizajny	Wizna	Wolkowysk	Wolpa
Wysokie Mazowieckie	Wyszonki Koscielne	Zabludow	Zalewa
Zambrow	Zareby Koscielne	Zawisty Dzikie	Zbujna
Jeleniewo	Zawady	-	-

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A Message

Dear Bialykstoker Friends;
We shall post here various types of documents, such as old photographs, documents, articles, books, Holocaust testimonies, family trees, various genealogical databases etc.
We encourage you to do every effort and send us copies of this precious evidence of lost Jewish world, and thus with your cooperation we shall erect a virtual memorial to the grand lost Jewish community of Bialystok.

Shalom Bialystok!

CONTACT:

Tomasz Wisniewski, Poland at tomy at ld.euro-net.pl | Tilford Bartman, U.S.A. bartmant at ear.net | Mark Halpern U.S.A Willie46 at aol.com | Ada Holtzman ada01 at netvision.net.il
(to avoid spam. Replace "at" by @)

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Update Nr. 63 – October 10^th, 2004

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