Kurzeniec

The Jewish community in Kurzeniec dates to the 18th Century. In 1897, this town was home to 1,613 Jews, who made up 91 percent of the total population. Remarkably, the community of Kurzeniec evolved as a predominantly Hassidic one (in a region where the anti-Hassidic misnagdim were the majority). In the second half of the 19th Century, it was regarded as the main stronghold of Chabad in the Vilna Province. A cell of the Zionist Tzeirei Zion movement emerged in Kurzeniec after 1900, and, during the Revolution of 1905-6, this cell helped organize a Jewish self-defense force in the town.

During World War I, the area saw heavy fighting. After the Soviet-Polish War of 1919-20 and the Polish-Lithuanian conflict of 1920-22, Kurzeniec became part of the Polish Republic. In 1925, the town was devastated by an extensive fire, which delayed its development. The Zionist youth movements Hehalutz and Hashomer Hatzair had chapters in Kurzeniec, and there was a small Hebrew-language school there.

The Jewish community of Kurzeniec did not grow numerically from the early 20th Century until 1939, since the natural population growth was "eaten up" by emigration, with people moving both overseas and to larger towns. An estimated 1,500 Jews lived in Kurzeniec in 1939, comprising about two thirds of the total population. In September 1939, following the outbreak of World War II, the town was occupied by the USSR. According to Soviet data, there were 1,131 Jews in Kurzeniec on the eve of the German invasion on June 22, 1941.

The Soviets retreated from Kurzeniec on June 25, 1941. On June 28, German tanks rolled into the town. During the interregnum, riots had broken out there; local peasants, both from Kurzeniec itself and from nearby settlements, began to loot Soviet warehouses and shops; on their way, they beat Jews. When the occupation regime in the town had been firmly established, there was a flurry of anti-Jewish decrees: Jews were ordered to wear identifying marks on their clothing; they were prohibited from using the sidewalks, switching on the light in their houses, leaving the town, etc.

Although units of Einsatzgruppe B operated in the area (e.g., in nearby Wilejka, which was a mere 7 kilometers from the town), none of them seem to have visited Kurzeniec in 1941. Therefore, the killing of Jews in the town was initiated, and largely carried out, by the Wilejka Security Police and the local military authorities. No ghetto was established in Kurzeniec.

On October 14, 1941, the Germans shot 54 Jews, including 20 children. In February 1942, a squad of policemen and prison guards from nearby Wilejka came to the town and arrested 33 Jews; these were later shot in the prison. In March 1942, the German Security Police in Wilejka demanded a "ransom" in money and valuables from the Jews of Kurzeniec. When the Jews had failed to pay the required "sum", the Germans shot 120 Jews, including children aged 10 and younger. There were other small-scale killings of Jews in March 1942. At the same time, about 200 young Jews from Kurzeniec were working in two labor camps established in Wilejka.

On September 9, 1942, the community of Kurzeniec was liquidated. Only a few Jews managed to reach the forest. During the killing operation, the Germans spared 27 Jewish "professionals," whom they transferred to Wilejka.

Kurzeniec was liberated by the Red Army on July 2, 1944. Approximately 140 of its Jews survived in the forests and in hiding.