Wiszniew

Jews first settled in Wiszniew in the late 18th century, after being invited to come there by a local nobleman from nearby Bohdanowo. Their first occupations were mainly in the lumber trade and woodworking. In 1897 1,463 Jews lived in Wiszniew, where they comprised 55 percent of the total population. In the early 20th century a branch of the leftist Bund party existed in Wiszniew. After World War I Wiszniew became part of the newly independent state of Poland. Its population, both Jewish and non-Jewish, dropped. In the 1930s the town suffered a period of economic decline. In the interwar period several Zionist groups were active in Wiszniew: Hechalutz, the leftist Hashomer Hatzair and Poalei Zion-Left (1928), as well as the rightist Beitar (1929). There was a significant aliya (immigration to the Land of Israel) from Wiszniew in the 1920s and 1930s. A Hebrew-language Tarbut school operated in the town. A small underground Communist group also existed there. About 570 Jews lived in Wiszniew prior to World War II. Wiszniew was the birthplace of the ninth President of Israel, Shimon Peres, who also served as Prime Minister. In September 1939 World War II began, and the town was occupied by the Soviets. The influx of refugees from the western, German-occupied part of Poland swelled the town's population to almost 2,000. With the beginning of the Soviet-German war in June 1941, the town was bombed. On June 27 the Wehrmacht entered Wiszniew. The Germans ordered the Jews to wear a yellow patch with a blue Star of David on their chests and backs and to form a Jewish council. Among their other measures was the introduction of forced labor for Jews. In August 1941, the Nazis shot 38 young Jewish men (according to another source – 36 men and a woman) at the Jewish cemetery. Thereafter, a ghetto was established, which included the courtyard of the synagogue and the adjacent street. The ghetto was liquidated on August 30, 1942. On that day between 1,300 and 2,000 Jews (according to different sources) were shot near the village of Galianova, located northeast of Wiszniew. Wiszniew was liberated by the Red Army at the beginning of July 1944.