Radun

The first Jews most probably settled in Raduń in the late 17th or early 18th Century. In 1897, the town was home to 896 Jews, who comprised 55 percent of its total population. The renowned Raduń Yeshiva was founded by the Chofetz Chaim (R. Yisrael Meir Kagan) in 1869, and was subsequently named after his sobriquet. Some of the proto-Zionist circles of Hovevei-Zion emerged in Raduń. After World War I, Raduń went into economic decline. Its 900 Jewish inhabitants (according to an estimate from 1925) made their living from petty trade, peddling, and crafts. The high taxes imposed by the Polish government stifled private enterprise. The Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva (in the 1920s, it had 300 students, mostly non-locals; in the 1930s, their number would occasionally exceed 400) contributed to the town's economy. In the 1920s, a Hebrew elementary school operated in Raduń. In September 1939, World War II broke out, and Raduń was occupied by the Soviets. The new authorities seized the yeshiva building; the renowned religious school moved to Vilnius, and was closed down a year later when Lithuania was Sovietized. However, in fall 1939 – summer 1940 Raduń became a frontier town on the border with the still-independent Lithuania; this strategic location attracted many refugees from occupied Poland, who hoped to cross the border there. The Jewish population of the town rose to more than 2,500 in this period. The Germans entered Raduń on June 27, 1941. Anti-Jewish decrees and orders followed: Jews were required to wear an identification mark – first an armband with the Star of David, then a yellow patch on their clothes; they were forbidden from consuming meat, butter, and eggs; forced labor was introduced, and a Jewish council was established. After the massacres in the nearby towns of Orany (present-day Varėna, Lithuania), Ejszyszki (Lith. Eišiškės), and Olkieniki (Lith. Valkininkai) in September 1941, dozens of survivors found refuge in Raduń. In November (or October) 1941, a ghetto was established in the town. In the first days of 1942, the German police from Lida uncovered approximately 40 Jewish refugees living in Raduń without official residence permits. They were killed and buried in a nearby forest. The liquidation of the Raduń Ghetto took place on May 8-10, 1942, when the Germans and policemen escorted the Jews of Raduń to the town's cemetery, and shot them there. The Germans spared the lives of 300 "specialists", including those who had dug the pits. They then announced an "amnesty" for those Jews who had fled into the forests, and part of the fugitives came back to Raduń; some of the returnees were immediately shot in the town, while others were resettled in the ghetto. In June 1942, the survivors of the May massacre in Raduń were transferred to the ghettos of Lida and Szczuczyn, where they shared the fate of the remaining local Jews. Raduń was liberated by the Red Army on July 13, 1944.