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I called Lea Nee Shiff Nachshon in Israel. Here is some of what she told me;

My father Meir was born in 1888. He had a brother Chaim Shiff who was born in 1895. He had two sisters; Golda and Rashka. They were also some years younger then he. My father was forced to serve in the Russian army for many years before and during the First World War. When the war started the Russians ordered his younger brother Chaim to "enroll" in the army. My grandmother panicked, she could not let another son risk his life. The family quickly arranged for him a "trip" to Toronto where he settled and had two daughters.

My father’s sister Rashka had heart problems since her early childhood. Eventually she married Eliezer Levin and had a daughter named Lea. both of us were named for our grandmother who died shortly before I was born. When the daughter was still a very young child my aunt became very sick. The family did everything to find a cure for her, but she died Shortly after. Some years later Eliezer Levin married another woman. The family perished in the Holocaust. My cousin Lea was about fifteen years old when she perished. My grandfather died at age 81 in January 1940 shortly before we were deported by the Soviets to Kazachstan for my father being a successful businessman and owning a mill.

My father other sister Golda lived with my grandfather Avraham Moshe the first year that I lived with him in Volozhyn. I lived there because there were no schools in the village were I lived with my parents. Some times later my aunt married Mendel Alperovitz son of Shimon grandson of Meir from Kurenets. Our family visited them and I can still remember the train ride to Vileyka and the walk via the tree-lined road from Vileyka to Kurenets. They said that Catherine the great ordered to plant the trees when she spent a night there in the 1790’s. Mendel lived next to his brother Zishka and I remember that Zishka had a son named Shimon. (He was killed as a partisan while fighting the Germans). During my school years in a Vilna high school my aunt Golda came there to receive some treatments since she was unable to conceive. She perished in Volozhin with her baby Shimon.

My mother was from the Kivilovitz family. She had four sisters and one brother. Her brother was Shneor Kivilovitz, he married Rachel nee Meltzer who was a teacher in the "Tarbut" school in Volozhin, and they had a son. Shneor was very involved with the Zionist organization in Volozhin. During the Holocaust Shneor was appointed as the second head of the Jodenrat in Volozhin. Pnina nee Potashnik wrote in the Volozhin Yizkor book;…

"Sunday, May 10^th, 1942, at five in the morning Shneur Kivelevitsh appeared in our home and told us that the ghetto is surrounded. He advised every one to hide…" Shneor was not able to save himself, he perished with his family.

His sister Sonia shared the same fate. she married Mordechai Berman and perished with her family. Berman Mordhay, his wife sonia Sara, their children; Monia, Moyshe

My mother other sisters came to Ertz Israel prior to the war; first came her sister Fanya in 1925. She married and had two sons, one died as still a young man the other changed his last name from Levizki to Landers and now lives in Mexico.

My mothers’ sister Fruma made "Aliya" in 1932. Her sister Lea came in 1936 she has family in Chavazelet Israel (Hotman family). My mothers’ mother died in 1939 a heart attach after hearing the news of the start of World war II. My grandfather died shortly after. (1940) at that point I moved back to Volozhin. ( In 1939 I was in Vilna sometimes after the Russians invaded the eastern part of Poland Vilna became part of Lithuania and Volozhin was on the Soviets side so I went to high school in Molodechno, the Town of my mothers’ mother from the Shrira family.

Lea’s husband is from the Cherches family of Radoshkovichi (near Krasne). Her son is Ehud Nachshon ,a writer.

Meir Shiff wrote a chapter in the Volozhin Yizkor book. For pictures of the family look at portraits and family portraits or paste;

Golda nee Shiff Alperovitz;

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eliezer and rashka Levin with daughter Lea; http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_images/20401_4_b.gif

grandparents Avraham Moshe shiff born 1859 Lea was born 1865;

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Sima nee Shrira Kivilovitz;

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Sonia nee Kivilvitz Berman;

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Baby Monia Berman;

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Rachel nee Meltzer Kivilovitz

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baby Yigal Kivilovitz;

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Shneor Kivilovitz;

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Dr. Yigal Shochat is related to our family. We are proud of the courage he exibited by sharing his thoughts with the Israeli public;
Ha'aretz - Article http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=118432&contrassID=2&subContrassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Tuesday, January 22, 2002 Shvat 9, 5762 Israel Time: 03:28 (GMT+2)


Red line, Green Line, black flag

Dr. Yigal Shochat, a former fighter pilot and now a physician, calls on soldiers to refuse to serve in the territories and recommends that pilots refuse to bomb Palestinian cities. Following are some remarks he made during a debate on war crimes and security in Israel

By Yigal Shochat


The truth is that I don't yet have a fully formed opinion on the subject of sweeping refusal to serve in the IDF. I am in favor of the state, in favor of preserving its security, in favor of defending the state within its borders, and also in favor of the war against the terrorism - local and international - that threatens Israel.

On the other hand, though, I cannot abide the naturalness with which the occupation is continuing; the fact that one generation after another of soldiers is serving the occupation and that these soldiers are the ones who effectively give the successive governments the power to hold onto the territories and the settlements and to suppress the Palestinian population. Therefore, I find myself on the horns of a large dilemma. In the meantime, I have resolved it, for myself, by deciding that I am in favor of refusal to serve in the territories but not refusal to serve altogether. I know that this is a somewhat hypocritical position, because sometimes the soldier who is posted at General Staff headquarters can do more injustice than a soldier at a roadblock.

Still, I think that refusing to serve in the occupied territories sends a sharper political and moral message. It says that you are ready to guard your country and fight for it, but that you are not willing to suppress another people indefinitely, when the security benefit for Israel is negative. In fact, serving in the occupied territories undermines the country's security while contributing to the security of the settlers. On that subject, I think we have across-the-board agreement by now.

In the case of pilots - pilots of warplanes, helicopter pilots, pilots in general - it makes no sense to talk about refusing to serve across the 1967 Green Line. Pilots do not serve at the place to which they are posted. In effect, they have to decide anew every day, and sometimes every hour, which operations are moral and legal and which are not. I am not naive: I am well aware that any pilot who will refuse to bomb Nablus or Ramallah once or twice will thereby bring his career to an end - and we are talking about a career. To fly is a way of life and a profession. It is never just the draft and reserve duty, which you do in order to get it over with and get back home in one piece. So, in the case of pilots, I think we need to expand the concept of the "black flag."

[Shochat is referring to the phrase used by Judge Binyamin Halevy in 1958 in the trial of the members of the Border Police who on October 29, 1956, shot dead 43 civilians - men and women - from the Arab village of Kafr Qasem in Israel, who were returning home from the fields and were unaware that their village and others in the area had been placed under curfew ahead of the Sinai War, which began that day. "A black flag flies over a flagrantly illegal order," Halevy stated.]

In my opinion, pilots need to examine closely the order they get, ask a lot of questions about the goal, and refuse to obey any order they consider immoral. I am afraid that such questions do not occupy them, rather they compete among themselves over who will be assigned the next mission to liquidate someone in the center of Nablus, on the main street, or who will get to drop a bomb on a building in Ramallah. They probably return to the squadron happy when they score a bull's-eye and are sorry, to some extent, if civilians are killed. I remember this from my own experience. People want to excel in what they do, and they want action. That's why they are pilots in the first place.

I think that F-16 pilots should refuse to bomb Palestinian cities. They have to think about what a bombing operation would be like in the city they live in. Let's say that [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat were to decide to level the police station on Dizengoff Boulevard using a warplane. (Let's say he had a warplane.) If Arafat were to conclude that this is how he could convince [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon to withdraw from the territories, would we accept a bombing operation in the center of the city as a legitimate military act? After all, we call even an operation against an IDF outpost, like the one last week at Kerem Shalom, a "terrorist" attack.

I can imagine what it was like in Ramallah when an F-16 bombed the police station there. I am not talking about the civilians who were killed there - cooks from Gaza, not troops. I am talking about bombing a densely populated city. I am talking about liquidating people on the main street, from a helicopter, with three passersby also killed. It's impossible today to say that this was "collateral damage," that we didn't intend to kill civilians, because when a plane bombs a populated city, you take into account that civilians could get killed. Even in precision bombing. So I view this as the deliberate killing of civilians - a war crime. We have seen in the past few months what smart bombs can do, both here and in Afghanistan.

I think that the goal is not important enough to pay that price, especially when we are confronting not an army but civilians. And more especially when we are wrong. Very wrong. In my view, neither the larger goal of this fighting is legitimate - because the occupation is not legitimate - nor the small goal of destroying a police station in order to pressure Arafat into stopping the use of terrorism. That, too, is not legitimate.
In 1996, I did not accept the legitimacy of "Operation Grapes of Wrath," where the purpose was to force Lebanese civilians to flee by bombing them, thereby pressuring the government in Beirut to take action against Hezbollah. But it is not only pilots who are responsible for war crimes. I think that, in the final analysis, the pilots may be less responsible than other soldiers. I think that every driver of an army bulldozer has to refuse to obey an order to demolish homes with the aim of exposing an area for the convenience of the IDF.

I read this week what the head of the Civil Administration, Brigadier General Dov Tzadka, said about the authorizations he gives to demolish houses and groves, and how the army then goes hyperactive and levels the area he authorized twice. By what right does he approve such an operation in the first place? I am constantly dumbfounded at how these people get up every morning and go to work: after all, we're not talking about kids of draft age, this is a brigadier general. What does he say to himself at the end of the day? "Today I authorized the uprooting of 50 dunams [12.5 acres] of strawberry fields?" What for? To preserve the country's security?

I saw that this Brigadier General Tzadka is now worried that he may end up at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, because he knows full well what he did. But how can you both know and do? I think that to demolish civilian homes only because they are obstructing someone's field of vision constitutes a flagrantly immoral military act. I am not a legal expert and so I don't know what is legal and what isn't, but I assume that this is illegal as well as immoral. I know that the question of when the black flag flies over an order is a wholly personal one. One can't wait for the court to declare a certain operation flagrantly illegal, nor should one wait, because then it becomes a retroactive matter, as in the case of Ehud Yatom [who, according to the High Court of Justice, took part in the killing of two captured terrorists at the order of the head of the Shin Bet security service in 1984].

There are some people who never see a black flag, not even when it involves the murder of an Arab who is bound. There are people who only see a black flag when they get old, like me, because when I was a young pilot, I wasn't selective. I did what I was told to do. I am in favor of a broader use of the concept of the black flag, which means to refuse to obey an order that in your personal opinion is flagrantly illegal. But I know that draft-age soldiers, and even people in the career army, will not make much use of it. When you're inside, you see things differently.

I think also that to stand at a roadblock and make a selection as to who will be allowed to proceed to a hospital or to a maternity ward and who will not, is also flagrantly illegal. Therefore, I think that every soldier who is assigned to serve at a roadblock should refuse the order and instead go to prison. If only the legality of the selection process at roadblocks were examined in court. I think that those who refuse to serve in the territories should not make do with going to jail; they should try to reach civil courts so that these things will be reviewed and given publicity. Let them go all the way to the High Court of Justice with their refusal. Those who go to jail quietly do not exert an influence.

It is out of the question to allow the army to set up roadblocks at every corner that prevent people from going about their lives, going to work, going to the doctor, and to accept this as though it is a divine decree. That constitutes collective punishment of civilians, which is illegal according to the Geneva Convention. I think that it's a shame that so few people refuse to serve in the territories, but I can't really complain, because I didn't do it either when I should have done it.

Nearly 20 years ago, I paid a visit to the late Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz. He asked me then - this was in 1983 - how it was possible that there weren't 500 officers who would refuse to serve in the territories. He said that in his opinion, if there were 500 officers like that, the occupation would end immediately. I think he was right. Soon we will not be able to refer to an "occupation," because being present on the ground for so many years creates a new situation.

People who served in the territories in their compulsory service return as reservists, and their children are also stationed in the same places. The new generation doesn't even know the Palestinians because of the lengthy closure, and to them, the territories are like Lebanon. Apartheid against the Palestinians is practiced by one generation to the next. And not only by the settlers - by all of us. If there are no terrorist attacks, we don't even remember that the Palestinians exist.

I don't know whether every operation I took part in when I was an active fighter pilot was legal or moral. Probably not. Today, friends from that period who bombed targets with me complain to me that I remembered too late to be a bleeding heart and that it's no big deal to talk about refusal to obey orders when I am no longer involved and I will not be the one to go to jail. They say that as long as my promotion in the army was at stake I said nothing, but now that I have nothing to lose I am suddenly a hero. That is all true. I reached political and moral maturity very late.

But I can also say, roughly, that I always bombed military targets. When I bombed civilian neighborhoods, it was during a full-scale war, when planes and tanks and soldiers from both sides were locked in combat, and it was far from sure who would win. In general, in the wars in which I took part, our feeling was that Israel was in an inferior position and that we were fighting for our lives and our home, literally. As to the territories, as to this military struggle against the Palestinians, I simply don't see armies facing off and I don't see a war. In fact, I don't even know which side of the fence I'm on, because I am certainly not on the side of the settlers. What I see is an occupied population that has a few hundred rifles and mortars, which is trying to expel us, while we refuse to go because we have invested a few cents in unnecessary settlements.

I am aware of the arguments against refusal. First of all, they say that in a democracy, it is the role of the elected political level to decide what constitutes a legitimate goal and what does not. I reject that. Precisely in a democracy, it is the right and the duty of every citizen to oppose illegitimate warfare. In totalitarian regimes, people who refuse to serve are shot, while here they are only sent to prison briefly. It is in a democracy that you have the option of not following the herd.

The second argument is that we need more humanists at the roadblocks in order to ease things for the Palestinians and that we must not leave the army to the nut cases on the right. I also deny the importance that is attributed to individual soldiers at a roadblock, because in the course of time, they all become insensitive to suffering. I think that the individual soldier carries the greatest weight when he refuses to serve.

The third argument is that if everyone were to decide which orders to obey, the time will come when the settlers will refuse to evacuate the settlements. To that I say: That's fine with me. For my part, the settlers can refuse to evacuate the settlements and we will do it for them. I, for example, would refuse to demolish the home of a Palestinian with a bulldozer, and at the same time, some soldier-settler would refuse to evacuate a settler family. That's fine with me. The important thing is for soldiers to retain their humanity and realize that they are confronting dilemmas.

In my opinion, all the IDF's operations in the territories are approaching the red line of the black flag. I cannot judge what is legal and what constitutes a war crime. At a time when the Americans kill 7,000 people in an attempt to find one person, it is difficult to talk about morality in war. Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, following the Oslo accord, we have begun to treat it as a state even though it is not. That makes it easier for us to attack it with weapons, such as planes and tanks, that are intended for use against armies in war. My feeling is that we have crossed a line, and I am afraid that the day is not far off when we will bomb the Arabs in Israel the way we opened fire on them in the demonstrations of October 2000.

The day is not far off when the Israel Air Force will bomb Umm al-Fahm, in the same way that Saddam Hussein bombed his Kurdish citizens. I don't know if the air force pilots will refuse to obey such an order. There will be someone to persuade them that the operation is logical and essential, that the bombs are smart, that the only targets are city hall and the Islamic movement, and not innocent people. I don't see any great difference between that and bombing Ramallah.



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BELARUSIAN STATE ARCHIVES-MUSEUM OF LITERATURE AND ARTS

Address: 4?, Kirilla and Mefodiya St., Minsk, 220030, Republic of Belarus
Tel: (375-17) 227-47-81, 227-25-83, 227-11-88

Director: Anna V. Zapartyko

Previous names:
State Archives of Literature and Arts (1960-1976),
Central Archives-Museum of Literature and Arts of Belarus (1976-1993)

Amount of holdings: 407 fonds (310 of which are personal collections of prominent figures of literature and arts), 77,961 items

Chronological period: from 1820 to the present

Brief holdings description: The automated retrieval systems "Name index" and "Personal archives " are working in the archives.

For researches of cultural and national renaissance and liberation movement in Belarus of the end of the 19th-the beginning of the 20th century, the following fonds and collections are of the greatest interest:

the collection of documents of the manuscripts' department of the Belarusian Museum named after I. Lutskevich in Vilno (1835-1943), which contains materials of the Belarusian Association on rendering help to the victims of the war; Belarusian Socialist Gramada; Belarusian Party of socialist-revolutionaries; Belarusian Social-Democratic party; the documents of the Belarusian People's Republic, Ministry of Belarusian affairs under the Lithuanian government; materials of the Central Belarusian Council of Vilno and Grodno regions, Belarusian Army Committee, Youth League "Belarusian falcon" in Prague;
materials of the Belarusian cultural and educational organizations (Belarusian Scientific Association, etc.), publishing house ("Zaglyane sontsa i u nasha vacontsa"), journals ("Belarusky Letapis", "Kryvich", "Malanka", "Sakha"), newspapers ("Belarusky zvon", "Goman", "Nasha Niva", etc.);
personal documents of L. Dubeikovsky, K. Duzh-Dushevsky, P. Zhavrid, V. Lastowsky, I. and A. Lutskevich, A. Smolich, A. Stankevich, B. Tarashkevich, A. Tsvikevich, etc.;
the collection of photos on the history of Belarusian cultural and political movement, collected by Y.Shnarkevich (1910-1940);
documentary collection of the critic and literary scholar L.A. Bende (1953-1960). It contains creative and personal materials of the Belarusian poets, writers, scientists, who were subjected to repression;
documents of Belarusian republican department of the All-Union Administration on copyright protection (1917-1935);
documents of All-Belarusian association of poets and writers "Maladnyak" (1924-1927);
collection of materials of the Bogdanoviches family (1883-1975);
private collections of the writer Z. Veras (1908-1969), the musical critic, publicist and translator Y.N. Dreizin (1879-1942), the writer and public figure Y.L. Dyla (1899-1961), the memorialist P.V. Myadzielka (1913-1973).
Belarusian modern culture is reflected in private collections of the most prominent figures of literature and arts: the writers – A. Adamovich, V. Bykov, Y. Kolas, Y. Kupala, V. Korotkevich, I. Melezh, M. Tank, I.Shamyakin, etc.; the actors and film directors – L. Alexandrovskaya, A. Kistov, A. Klimova, P. Molchanov, E. Mirovich, B. Platonov, S. Stanyuta, V. Vladomirsky, etc; the composers – A. Bogatyrev, G. Vagner, E. Glebov, I. Tykotsky, A. Turenkov, N. Churkin; the ethnomusicologist L. Mukharinskaya, etc; the painters and sculptors – A. Kashkurevich, A. Mariks, M. Tychyna.

For researchers interested in the history of the jewish culture in Belarus in the 20th century, the interesting information is contained in the following fonds and collections:
the fonds of the Belarusian State Jewish Theatre (1924, 1941-1949);
private collections of the actors K. Kulakov (Rutshtein), Yu. Aronchik and M. Moin; the film directors L. Litvinov and M. Rafalsky; the writers L. Katsovich, M. Kulbak, I. Platner, G. Reles and L. Shapira; the art critic S. Palees, etc.

The subject "Belarusian emigration" is exemplified in collections of the writer M. Sednev (1934-1992), the singers M. Zabeida-Sumitsky (1892-1990) and Danchik (B. Andrusishyn, 1958), the writer and public figure S. Yanovich (1944-1994).

A peculiar interest will be evoked by the Bernard Show's photos collection (1929-1930), most of which are the original ones.

The collection of ethnographer and historian A.K. Elsky (1839-1885), and the collection of I.I. and N.I. Grigoroviches (the 14th-19th centuries) can be useful for researchers of Russian social, scientific and religious life of the19th century.
http://www.president.gov.by/gosarchives/EArh/E_lit_isk.htm



click here for the site
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Nancy Holdan wrote;
My Svir website is up. It is just for a preview until I get more
information.

http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Svir
nholden@interserv.com
I am pasting here some information from the site;
Our Small Town - Swir

Extracts from a book from the Yivo Institute in New York written in Yiddish. The extracts (ca. 8 pages on the description and history of the town Swir) were sent to Belarus SIG by Arnold H. Wolfe, who had them translated into English by a friend.

The town of Swir, where we saw for the first time in our lives the rays of the sun: the town that first heard our childish delight; the town where our first tears dropped: the town in which we played and joked throughout our childhood; this was the town that became a part of ourselves like our own flesh and blood.

A long street with two squares and a few small alleys actually made up the whole of Swir, and despite the description it was, in our eyes, the children of Swir, nicer than any other town. Truthfully speaking there were no brick houses in Swir. It was only one side wall and all the other parts of the house were built of wood. The roofs were covered either with shingles, metal or plain straw. Throughout our lifetime many houses grew old. There were houses which were practically sunken in the earth up to the windows. Some homes did not even have wooden floors.

It was a rarity to have plumbing in the town of Swir. Most of the water was derived from a well quite far away, and yet it seemed a wonder that no one hated this place. On the contrary, everyone was tied to this town with their very lives.

Anywhere a person of Swir was to be found, be it in New York or Los Angeles, in Buenes Aires or in Cuba, in Paris or in Brazil, in London or Tel-Aviv, in that place the one same heart was beating. All of them are bound like brothers and sisters, their lives like one, and all this because of the forlorn little town in a section of Vilna.

The town was very friendly. Even the nature around us was a witness that our grandparents knew where to build their homes. From one side a stream, and from the other side a lake, and the stream actually flows out of the lake near the houses of the town. Around and around were forests, fields and small towns. The town was not dipped in milk and honey, rather in green fields and flowers and as far as the eye could see were various fruit trees. There were apple and pear trees, plum and cherry trees, and blueberries without end.

During the summer the town was surrounded by ears of corn and stalks of wheat. In the winter is was covered with a big white blanket of snow. The Jews of Swir , therefore, lived a very contented life. In the old huts there lived good people and devoted friends. Everyone felt secure in their homes, like a bird in its nest, that is, until the wild barber came and the nest together with is birds was broken and destroyed. Woe! Woe unto the faithful and devoted birds of Swir! Woe! Woe unto their burned and destroyed nest.

Highlights of the History of Swir
Unfortunately, a lot of historical material and documentation is missing, thus making it difficult to relate the exact history of Swir. Not only was our whole city destroyed, but also our cultural and social life was uprooted. We were physically uprooted from our very origin, as well as geographically lost. The sources for further basic knowledge are lost to us today. Unfortunately, the generation that could have enriched us with its knowledge has perished. Yet we made an effort to relate the history of this town in a concise form.

It is clear that the town carries the name of the great Duke Swerski. His dynasty ruled for hundreds of years over all the surrounding areas. It is also said that on the peak of the mountain there stood a beautiful castle. In his honor not only was the town named after him, but also tens of families named themselves after the great Duke. It was extremely difficult for us to confirm with certainty if the families today named Swirski spread throughout the world originated from Swir.

According to all estimations the Jewish community was is existence for hundreds of years. The old cemetery can be a witness to this as most graves are sunken in the earth. The few monuments whose engraving was still legible dated back one hundred and fifty years. The ledger that had all the deaths recorded on it, and their place of burial was passed from one generation to the next, and was an important historical document.

Most Jews of the town wandered in from surrounding towns or close cities. It is difficult to know today whether they came of ther own free will or because of the decree from the Czarist regime that Jews must leave the towns. Therefore, many families who were forced to leave carried the name of their town. The Fuzileher, Shpialer, Dubnikirer according to the origin of their town, for example, the Kurgatkes originated from the town of Kureniaz, Miadler and Shuentzianer. The big fire that broke out at the end of the century practically wiped out the city. Therefore there are no old historical buildings or antiques left. The synagogue was rebuilt after the fire in a modern style.

The town endured many wars. Napoleon and his army reached there. There is a legend that the Swirer hills thinned out through him. Through the First World War the town practically remained unharmed because the fighting front was further away by several kilometers. Later however, by the Polish-Bolshevik War in 1920 there was a battle before the town was captured.

The stronghold of the Polish Army was on the hill of Swir, while the yet stronger Bolshevik Red Army was located at the other side of the river. During the fierce battle between the two armies which heavily destroyed many homes, the Jews escaped to the cemetery. The cemetery was in close proximity to the city. The day after the surrender of the Polish Army the Jews returned to their homes.

They later found out that it was a coincidence that they were saved because they all hid behind the trees of the cemetery. The Russian Army saw that there were large groups of people hiding there and mistook them for the Polish. They were prepared to fire with their artillery when they heard the cry of a child and the sound of animals. They realized then that they were only civilians. In that war an eleven year old boy was wounded. He was Velvel, the son of the Chassid.

The people who remained alive claimed that after the Second World War the greatest majority of the town was destroyed. The synagogue became level with the earth. The whole area was virtually uprooted. The Christian neighbors made the area into gardens. No vestige of Jewish life, as it was, remained. Most tragic of all, was that from approximately 200 families who lived there, remained only 100 survivors. These people were scattered all over the world, but the majority of them are in Israel.

Geographical and Economic Situation
Even from a distance of 5 to 6 kilometers the contours of the town are visible in the blue sky and extend long and narrow. Especially visible is the hill, the Swir Everest in the middle of the market place, and the Swirer skyscraper the Yedes wall.

The German occupation of the First World War extended the railroad to Constantine.

Swir is geographically located in west White Russia. The neighboring towns and distances are as follows:

Kabilnik - 20 Kilometers
Michlisbak - 21 Kilometers
Sventzion - 37 Kilometers
Kurenetz - 49 Kilometers
Smargon - 42 Kilometers
Aside from the fact that the town was above sea level and the paths were cemented, it was still very muddy on rainy days.

In back of the town there were lots of mud puddles. The farmers used to go to town through the mud as a short cut. In a dry summer they picked up their pants to their knees and splashed through the mud. During the fall and Spring it was impossible to pass through the mud.

On the other side of town the ground was normal.

There were 1900 people in the town of Swir - 1100 Jews and 800 non Jews. Among the gentiles there were White Russians and Poles. It was difficult to differentiate who belonged to which nationality, because many rich people found it below their dignity to admit they belonged to the White Russian nationality. They broke their teeth in order to speak like Poles and claimed they belonged to the Polish nationality. They let these people have their way, in letting them think they were Polish.

The Jews lived in "The Street of the Third of May", which starts at the cloister and goes till the horse market, a length of about one kilometer. That marked the boundaries of the town. Many Jews also lived in smaller streets.

The people called Staravieren and tens of families built a village at the side of the river and called Sloboda.

Most of the Jewish people in Swir were merchants. In front of every house on the main street where goods were sold, there were many different types of stands. There were textile, dry goods, hardware, building materials, bakeries, butcher and other stands as well. For many people these stands were not their only means of sustenance. In many families it was the job of the wives and daughters to take care of these stands.

The men were the dealers, and dealt in many different trades. Some dealt with wheat in large scale production. They used to purchase the wheat at the market and exported large quantities to Vilna. Another dealt in the same manner with potatoes, with fruit, with poultry, with eggs, with leather skins, with pig hair and many others. There were many merchants who were occupied only during certain seasons of the year, like fruit gardeners. Besides this, there were many peddlers, and those who worked with their hands like shoemakers and tailors. The Jews of Swir received the main financial help from the bank and the town's Jewish Charity Organization. According to a report from Vilna, there were a total of 140 members who belonged to the Jewish Charity Organization.

The greatest majority of the Jewish congregation lived very modestly, and yet they were very satisfied and happy. Unfortunately, when the Second World War broke out this contented life was utterly destroyed.


to look ast beautiful pictures from Svir click here
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The "Melamed from Krasne" had his heder in a room in Reb Yehoshua Avraham Itche's house. It was a lopsided house built on a slope, supported by beams set on an angle. His students couldn't resist these beams; they loved to climb, hang from them and do all kinds of simple exercises on them. The melamed suffered from these beams when his students sneaked out of heder to enjoy some physical exercisehttp://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/radoshkovichi/rad025.html
to read the rest click here;
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The "Melamed from Krasne" had his heder in a room in Reb Yehoshua Avraham Itche's house. It was a lopsided house built on a slope, supported by beams set on an angle. His students couldn't resist these beams; they loved to climb, hang from them and do all kinds of simple exercises on them. The melamed suffered from these beams when his students sneaked out of heder to enjoy some physical exercisehttp://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/radoshkovichi/rad025.html
to read the rest click here;
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The "Melamed from Krasne" had his heder in a room in Reb Yehoshua Avraham Itche's house. It was a lopsided house built on a slope, supported by beams set on an angle. His students couldn't resist these beams; they loved to climb, hang from them and do all kinds of simple exercises on them. The melamed suffered from these beams when his students sneaked out of heder to enjoy some physical exercisehttp://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/radoshkovichi/rad025.html
to read the rest click here;
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The "Melamed from Krasne" had his heder in a room in Reb Yehoshua Avraham Itche's house. It was a lopsided house built on a slope, supported by beams set on an angle. His students couldn't resist these beams; they loved to climb, hang from them and do all kinds of simple exercises on them. The melamed suffered from these beams when his students sneaked out of heder to enjoy some physical exercisehttp://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/radoshkovichi/rad025.html
to read the rest click here;
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USA -

I called SIMON CHEVLIN in New Jersey. Simon was born in Dolhinov (near Krasne) in 1930, the third child to his parents. Simons' mother was from the katz family (her mother was Briena Katz who was known as the "Grandma of the partisans")
Simon and his family were hiding with the Belorussian family of Haranin who lived in the woods near Dolhinov during the three acts of the ANNIHILATION of the Jews of dolhinov. In the summer of 1942 they left their hiding place and joined other survivors from Dolhinov who (with the help of some partisans) were going to walk hundreds of kilometers in enemy territory to cross the front line to Russia.
A month passed and they were in the vicinity of Pleshntziz when the German surrounded them and starter shooting. Simon's grandmother; Breina Katz, was badly wounded, the rest of the family was able to escape with many other Jews.
The next day a group of Russian partisans found the badly wounded 74 years old Breina Katz. The leader of the partisans; Gregory Stephanos of Siberia ordered the troop the bring Breina with them to the camp. one of the partisans said "what do you need an old wounded "Yide" for?" Gregory Stephanos said; "for such disrespect you will carry her on your back all the way to our camp. Breina survived and was with the partisan troop for the entire war, She would clean and cook for them and was known as "Our Grandmother". On July 3 1944 Breina Katz riding a horse at head of her partisan troops was the very first person to enter liberated Dolhinov. Breina Katz died years later in Kibbutz dafna , Israel she lived there with her children , grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.
Back to 1942- the group from Dolhinov was able to reach the front with Russia- the were divided to smaller groups Simon with his sister Shifra and his youngst brother Jacob were amongst the first group. They were shot at and some of their group was killed - but they survived and were taken deep into Russia. Their older borther was with the second group. they crossed into Russia safely but when they arrived into Russia the brother was mistakenly told that the entire family was killed. He joined the red army and was killed in action.
when the family heard in 1944 that Dolhinov was liberated they sent a letter to the Haranin family and found out that Breina survived. Teenage Simon immediately left Siberia for Dolhinov to see is beloved grandmother and to look for his oldest brother.
In 1990 Simon went to Belarus and found the daughters of the Haranin family who saved his life. Since then he goes to the area about every six weeks for a week. He opened a branch of his business in Molodechno (he stays with the sisters Haranin)
on Most visits to the area Simon also goes to the Dolhinow cemetery and cleans the graves and he put the fallen grave stones all up with his on hands. (once he was even yelled at by a jewish woman for disrespect for the dead by putting up the fallen grave stones, The Jewish woman , a native of Dolhinov, came to visit the graves with her family from Oshmieni)
Simon's information; MONROE TWP, NJ USA (305)725-2899
JACK CHEVLIN FOR SIMON CHEVLIN jackjc1931


. <jackjc1931>
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MOLODECHNO (the nearest city to Krasne) Jewish Religious Community " Hevra Tegilim" Head of the community: Gennady BASKIN Total number of Jews: 1,000 . The community was formed in September 1998, registered in March 1999. Activities:"Kabbalat Shabbat". There is 1 synagogue.
http://eejhp.tripod.ca/map.htm#write


click here to write to the community
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