Luniniec

In the aftermath of World War I, Łuniniec was incorporated into the Second Polish Republic. In the period between the two World Wars, Łuniniec was home to about 2,000 Jews, who made up roughly a quarter of the town's population. Most of them were shopkeepers and artisans, specializing mostly in the clothing, lumber, and transport industries. The local Jews were assisted by two Jewish savings-and-loan associations and a free-loan fund, and they received support from the JDC. Local educational establishments included a Hebrew-language Tarbut school, as well as a religious school and a Yiddish-language school that operated for brief periods. The town was also home to a Yeshiva founded by Rabbi Elimelech Perlov, head of the Karlin-Stolin Hasidic dynasty. The Jewish community had its own library, sports association, and drama group. A Hebrew-Yiddish newspaper was briefly published in Łuniniec. The town had branches of Zionist youth movements and parties, and of the Bund. The Soviets took control of the area in September 1939. Under their rule, several Jewish families and individuals were deported into the Soviet interior. Only a few dozen Jews managed to escape from the town following the German invasion of the USSR. Łuniniec was occupied by German troops on July 10, 1941. Apparently, several Jewish physicians were shot in the town shortly after the beginning of the occupation, but the exact date and location of the shooting are unknown. The local Jews were forced to wear Star-of-David armbands, set up a Judenrat, and perform forced labor. Their valuables were confiscated. The majority of the Jewish men of Łuniniec were shot in its vicinity in August 1941. In early 1942, the able-bodied Jewish men and women were sent to a labor camp in Hancewicze. In early March 1942, a ghetto was established in Łuniniec, and it housed some 3,000 Jewish inmates, mostly women and children. Sometime later, Jews from neighboring villages were resettled in the ghetto, and a new Judenrat was appointed to replace the first one. Many of the inmates starved to death, or were shot by Belarusian policemen who kept a tight watch over food smuggling. In August 1942, almost all the ghetto inmates were shot in the vicinity of Łuniniec. Some 100 artisans who had been spared during this operation were shot shortly thereafter, in mid-October 1942. Łuniniec was liberated by the Red Army on July 10, 1944.