Wysokie Litewskie

Jewish settlement in Wysokie Litewskie apparently began in the mid-16th century. In 1897 2,876 lived in the town, where they comprised 83 percent of the total population. In 1886 a Jewish school with Russian as the language of instruction was opened in the town. After World War I the entire area including the town was incorporated into the Polish state. In 1921 the 1,994 Jews living in Wysokie Litewskie comprised 82 percent of the total population. During the interwar period a number of the town's Jews were engaged in trade and food manufacturing, while others were unionized trade workers. Zionist parties and the Bund were active in the town. Soon after the town became the part of Poland, a Yiddish-language school was opened in Wysokie Litewskie. In September 1941, after Eastern Poland was annexed by the USSR, Wysokie Litewskie became part of Soviet Belorussia. The town was occupied by the Germans on June 22 or, according to other sources, on June 23, 1941. Soon afterward, a sealed ghetto was established, with 3,600 inmates. Some testimonies say that in January 1942 the strongest Jewish men were collected on the pretext of being sent to work in the woods but were apparently shot to death. The exact murder site is unknown. According to some sources, during August-September 1942 the unknown number of Jews were brought from Żabinka village to Wysokie Litewskie where they were shot together with local Jews. In the fall of 1942, probably around mid-November, a group of Wysokie Litewskie Jews which, according to German sources, numbered 2,500, was taken to the train station and from there sent in the direction of Białystok. Apparently they shared the fate of the Białystok ghetto inmates, who were later transported to death camps. The rest of the Jewish population was liquidated in several murder operations in the spring and fall of 1942 in the town itself and in its vicinity. Wysokie Litewskie was liberated by the Red Army on July 28, 1944.