Divin (in Belarussian - Dzivin) -
today, a village, the center of selsovet in Kobrin region. Dzivin
is situated 35 km from Kobrin, 1 km from the lake Luban. In 1994 this village
had 4.400 inhabitants.
Dzivin is known since the 16th century,
as a small city (Belarussian - miastechka, Yiddish - shtetl) in Brest voevodstvo.
This time, Dzivin was in Pales`e kluch of Brest ekanomija. According to
the 1566 revision Dzivin had five streets and a Rynachnaya (Market) Square.
In 1629 Polish king and Lithuanian duke Sigizmund III Vaza confirmed Dzivin
inhabitants a right for a fair (once a week). The first document information about
Dzivin Jewry is 1631. But, jews lived here earlier. In 1631 Polish
king and Lithuanian duke Vladislaw IV gave Dzivin jews a credential. According
to this credential jews recieved a confirmation for a purchase of
real estate: houses, lands, bath-houses and so on, the land for synagogue
and cemetery, a right for trade and other rights, as all urban population
of Dzivin. Also, Dzivin jews .recieved a right for half of king`s
lease in shtetl. Lithuanian Vaad (Council of Lithuanian rabbies and community
leaders) decided that Dzivin jews would be under Brest kagal
(jewish community) rule. 211 jews lived in Dzivin in 1766. In 1795 Russian troops occupied Dzivin.
It became a part of Kobrin uezd in Slonim, since 1797 - Lithuanian,
1801 - Grodna gubernia. Jewish population of Dzivin in 1847 was 556
people. The results of the famous 1897 census for Dzivin were: 3.347 inhabitants
- 1.094 of them - jews. In the end of 19th century Dzivin had
two orthodox churches, synagogue and two fairs per year. After World War I and the Bolshevik
revoultion, according to the Riga treaty (1921) Dzivin become a part
of Pales`e voevodstvo. On the 17th of Semptember, 1939, Red Army invaded
Poland. Dzivin became a Soviet town (since the 15th of January - center
of the region). On 22th of June, 1941, Nazi Germany
began a war with USSR. Nazi troops occupied Dzivin on the 24th of June.
They organized a ghetto in the shtetl and killed jews of Dzivin. During the war the fascists
killed in Dzivin region 2.819 people. On the 21th of July, 1944
61th Army of the First Belarussian Front of Red Army during Lublin-Brest
operation liberated Dzivin. It was the end of jewish life in Dzivin.