Smorgonie

Jews are recorded as first residing in Smorgonie in 1631. The all-Russian census of 1897 reported 6,743 Jews residing in the town; they amounted to 76 percent of the total population. World War I led to the destruction of the town and the depopulation of the area. The Smorgonie area was the site of major fighting in the fall of 1915 and also the site of one of Eastern Front's first gas attacks, which resulted in thousands of victims. The Cossacks who recaptured the town from the Germans on September 8, 1915 celebrated their victory with the most brutal pogrom of the World War I period in Russia. Three days later the military authorities decreed the expulsion of the Jews from the town and the vicinity. In 1921, when Smorgonie became part of the Polish state, its total population was 154. The town was rebuilt and repopulated almost from scratch. In 1925 Smorgonie's 2,000 Jews amounted to only one quarter of its Jewish population before World War I. From the 1920s Smorgonie was a shtetl, with most of its Jews earning their living from petty trade and crafts. 70 Jewish families worked in agriculture in the area called Karka (Heb. for "soil"). The town was the scene of several antisemitic events in the 1930s. In the 1920s and the 1930s several political parties vied for the support of the Jews in Smorgonie. These parties included Zionist parties and organizations (e.g., the General Zionists, Poalei Zion, Hechalutz, Gordonia, Dror, and Hashomer Hatzair), the Bund, and the Polish Socialist Party. In 1936 about 200 pupils studied at the Hebrew-language school of the Tarbut network, while other Jewish children studied in Polish state schools. Religious education was less popular in Smorgonie. In September 1939 World War II began, and Smorgonie was occupied by the Soviets. The Soviets suppressed all forms of non-Communist political activity, but they also suppressed antisemitism. According to Soviet statistics, prior to the Soviet-German war (which began on June 22, 1941), 2,017 Jews lived in Smorgonie out of a total population of 5,318. The German army occupied Smorgonie on June 25-26, 1941. During the first days of the occupation 12 young Jews were shot by the occupiers. Forced labor was introduced for Jews. In September 1941 two ghettos were established in the town: one of them in the Karka area and the other in the synagogue (bes-medresh) courtyard. The Jews of Karka had to work on the reconstruction of the railroad and their mortality rate was high. In October 1942 ca. 350 able-bodied Jews were sent to various labor camps, while ca. 1,600 Jews were sent from Smorgonie to the Oszmiana ghetto. In the course of this action, on October 22, about 500 elderly, sick, and crippled Jews were shot near the village of Talminowo, west of Oszmiana. In the spring 1943 the Smorgonie ghetto, in fact a labor camp, was liquidated; its last 74 Jews were transferred to the Vilna ghetto, where they shared the fate of Vilna's Jews. The Red Army liberated Smorgonie on July 5, 1944.