Rubiezewicze

The first Jews settled in Rubieżewicze in the late 18th Century. The first all-Russian census of 1897 listed 912 Jews in Rubieżewicze, who made up 61.5 percent of the total population. During the Revolution of 1905-7, the area was ravaged by pogroms; a Jewish self-defense squad emerged in the town. In 1913, Rubieżewicze was the scene of a blood libel inspired by the Beilis Affair in Kiev; the accused were eventually acquitted. After the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-20, Rubieżewicze, which had been assigned to Poland, became a frontier town, lying only a mile from the Soviet border. In the 1920s and early 1930s, its Jewish population oscillated around the figure of 900, dwindling to 700 by the end of the 1930s. The Jews of Rubieżewicze were in dire economic straits, both because of the loss of the Russian market and as a result of the influx of Polish war veterans, who had been settled in this border town as colonists (the so-called osadniki). The latter group enjoyed all the economic advantages, and the Jewish traders and entrepreneurs were unable to compete with them. Many Jewish families resorted to agriculture (mainly in the form of tending orchards and vegetable plots). Some Jewish political and cultural organizations, such as the General Zionists and Agudat Yisrael parties, were active in Rubieżewicze. Thus, Agudat Yisrael established and ran an elementary school for boys, eventually expanding it by adding a secondary school that was affiliated with the Orthodox Hoyrev network, as well as a school for girls belonging to the Bais Yaakov network. In September 1939, World War II began, and Rubieżewicze was annexed to the USSR. In June 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out, and the town was occupied by the Wehrmacht on June 30. Anti-Jewish orders followed, including the requirement to wear a yellow Star of David and a prohibition on leaving the town. Forced labor was introduced, and various "ransom" payments were extorted from the Jews. In December 1941, a ghetto was established in Rubieżewicze. Jews from the village of Wołma (20 kilometers north of Rubieżewicze), as well as from the nearby villages of Derewna, Gran, Chotów, Naliboki, and Kamien, were moved to the Rubieżewicze Ghetto. Between late January and May 1942, the Germans repeatedly transferred able-bodied Jews to the ghettos of Iwieniec and Nowogródek, and to the Dworzec labor camp. On June 8, 1942, the last 300-350 Jews of Rubieżewicze were shot by the Germans and their accomplices in the Simkowicze Forest south of the town. Rubieżewicze was liberated by the Red Army on July 9, 1944.