Holynka

The first Jews appeared in the village of Hołynka in the 16th century. Some Hołynka Jews earned their living from agriculture, while the othre Jewish breadwinners were artisans or petty tradesmen. Many Jews left Hołynka for Dereczyn, Słonim, and other nearby towns or emigrated overseas. In 1921, when the village was part of Poland, it had 224 Jews. In September 1939, World War II began, and Hołynka was occupied by the Soviets. With the beginning of the Soviet-German war the village was occupied by the Germans on June 26, 1941. On one of the first days of the occupation, the Germans assembled all local male Jews at the church square, selected 140 of them, and shot and buried them in the village, on Slonimska Street. In January 1942 the remaining Jews of Hołynka were incarcerted in the ghetto of Dereczyn, where they shared the fate of the other ghetto Jews. The Red Army liberated Hołynka on July 10, 1944.