7.Polish
- Brzec nad Bugiem; Hebrew - Brisk), fortified town,
situated at the Bug river. From the beginning of the 14th century
to the latter half of the 17th century it was the center for Lithuanian
Jewry. There are no records of the earliest settlements of Jews in Brest
Litovsk, but they must have taken place before the 14th century. As early
as 1388 the Jews
recieved certain privileges from the town through a charter granted by
Grand Duke Vitovt of Lithuania. Brest Litovsk soon became the center of
Jewish trade and rabbinic learning, and the seat of administration of the
Jewish communities of Lithuania nad Volhynia. The Jews of the town took
part in almost all the larger trade and financial operations of the Lithuanian
state; they were lessees of tolls, taxes and other state revunes, conducted
an extensive business and some even possessed splendid estates and villages. In 1495 they were expelled, in common
with the other Jews of Lithuania, but returned in 1503. In 1511 they were
permitted to restore their synagogue, and in 1529 their privileges were
renewed and further extended. In 1531 Mendel Frank, rabbi of Brest Listovsk,
complained to King Sigizmund I that the Jews did not always respect his
decrees, but instead brought their cases before the royal starostas
( a type of official), whereupon the king issued a special decree ordering
the Jews "to submit to their "doctors (rabbis)". In 1545 there is a report
of the confiscation and burning of goods exported to Moscow by Jewish householders
in the town, and the Jewish community was comparatively prosperous, since
it paid half the total sum of taxes raised by the Jews of Lithuania. In
1580 the Jews recieved a ratification of their privilege to conduct free
commerce. Saul Wahl, a prominent contractor of customs and of great influence
at court, played a leading part in securing these privileges and in opposing
the attempts of the municipal courts to obtain jurisdictions over the Jews. With the exception of occasional incidents,
the Jews of Brest-Litovsk were on fairly good terms with the rest of the
citizens; the clergy, on the other hand, frequently caused them trouble.
In 1629 they were accused of having poisoned a nobleman, but were later
exonerated. During the Chmielnicki disturbances
(1648) the community suffered severely. Their charters were destroyed in
1660, during the Russian invasion, but were renewed in 1669. With the fall of Rech Pospolitaya (
a union of Polish kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) and the partion
of the country (1772 to 1795), the importance of Brest Litovsk declined.
Wars, plunderings and fires, particulary in 1802 and 1828, devastated the
Jewish quarter. Many historic buildings, and the ancient synagogue were
torn down in 1832, in order to make room for fortifications. Another pogrom
took place in May, 1905. In 1856 the Jews of Brest Litovsk,
numbered 8.136. Because the town was a fortress and the presence of a large
number of soldiers, stimulated business, the Jewish population steadly
increased in number, so that at the outbreak of the World War in 1914 it
was 30.608 or 65.8% of the total population. Jewish purveyors to
the army as well as Jewish artisans earned a good livehood. In 1897,
according to the official census statistics, the Jews of Brest Litovsk
were engaged in the following occupations or professions: in commerce and
trade, 35%; in industry and handicrafts, 40% ; in communications, 5%; as
employees and in domestic service, 6%; in the liberal professions, 7%;
without definite occupations, 7%. After the end of the World War, Brest
Litovsk became a part of Poland. By 1921 its jewish population had decreased
to 15.630 (53% of the general population), chiefly because during the World
War all the Jews had been evacuated by the Czarist goverment. Later the
town was almost totally destroyed by fire. After 1918 a small part of its
former Jewish inhabitants returned, and with the aid of the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee,several jewish quarters were rebuilt and a
large number of new houses was erected to be occupied by Jews. In 1931
the Jewish population of Brest Litovsk had again risen , to 21.440, or
44.3 % of the total. However the policy adopted by the Polish goverment,
restricted this increase very greatly. A large number of Polish officials,
storekeepers, and artisans settled in the town, and many Jews who had formerly
been engaged in these occupations were forced out of their trades or positions. After the pogrom of May 17, 1937, the
economic situation of the Jews of Brest Litovsk declined seriously. This
pogrom occurred after a Jewish youth, the son of a local butcher, stabbed
a Polish policeman who had entered the shop to see whether the Jewish proprietor
had slaughtered an animal in accordance with the Jewish ritual law. Early
the next morning there began an attack on the Jews of the town which lasted
and robbing of many Jews by a mob, smashing of windows of many Jewish-owned
shops, and the casting of their merchandise into the streets. Nothing was
done by the police to check the rioting or restore order; indeed , in many
istances the police prevented Jews from defending themselves. Two Jews
died as a result of their injures, and twenty others were seriously and
hundreds of others slightly injured. The property damage amounted to more
than a million zlotys (about $ 200.000). The actual purpose in this attack was
clearly described in an article published in the anti-Semitic organ Dzennik
Narodowy of May 17th: "The occurrences at Brest Litovsk will indeed give
impetus to the process of Polonizing the city, which is so strongly Judaized.
For it is clear that if before these events there were thirty-eight Jewish
bakers in Brest Litovsk and only two Christian ones, and if all the
Jewish bakeries are now in ruins, the situation will have to change. It
is probable that the majority of the Jewish enterprises will not be able
to be reestablished, and their places will be taken by Polish businesses". Two days after the pogrom, a number
of Poles from Posen, Silesia and Pommerania entered Brest Litovsk and started
to buy up Jewish-owned stores and businesses. The Jewish merchants of the
town quickly formed an organization which prevented more than a small number
of Jewish-owned business-houses from falling into the hands of the Poles.
However, a boycott against Jewihs merchants started soon aftewards which
was so severe that many Jewish stores and business-houses were forced to
close; Polish-owned shops were set up in their place. In addition, a large
number of Jewish artisans were greatly affected be the boycott, for circulars
were spread broadcast among the soldiers demanding that the soldiers and
officers refrain from buying from Jews and from giving any work to Jewish
artisans. In October, 1939, on consequence of
the German Nazi invasion of Poland at the beginning of the preceding month,
Brest Litovsk was seized by Soviet Russia. Brest Litovsk was always a center of
Jewish scholarship in past centuries. Famous Jews who lived there include
great rabbi Solomon Luria; Meir Wahl, son of Saul, one of the founders
of the Lithuanian Council (Vaad) in 1623; as such leaders as Michael Jesofovich
and Mendel Frank. The Yeshiva of the town enjoyed a high reputation.
situated at the Bug river.
Jews
recieved certain privileges from the town through a charter granted by
Grand Duke Vitovt of Lithuania. Brest Litovsk soon became the center of
Jewish trade and rabbinic learning, and the seat of administration of the
Jewish communities of Lithuania nad Volhynia. The Jews of the town took
part in almost all the larger trade and financial operations of the Lithuanian
state; they were lessees of tolls, taxes and other state revunes, conducted
an extensive business and some even possessed splendid estates and villages.
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