Prużana

Jews appear to have begun to settle in Prużana in the mid-15th Century, and the first reference to a Jewish presence in the village dates to 1463. In 1897, the town was home to 5,080 Jews, who made up approximately 67 percent of its total population. Most of the local industrial enterprises — a tobacco processing plant, two breweries, two match factories, a candle factory, and a steam mill — were owned by Jews. In the aftermath of World War I, Prużana was incorporated into the newly independent Polish Republic. In 1921, approximately 4,200 Jews lived in the town, making up about 65 percent of its population. Most of them were petty traders, artisans, sawmill workers, and lumber merchants. Their economic activities were supported by a free-loan society, a Jewish savings-and-loan association, the JDC, and Jewish trade unions. There were numerous Jewish educational institutions in Prużana: several schools (including a Tarbut Hebrew-language school), a Hebrew-language kindergarten, as well as a traditional Talmud Torah, cheders, and a Yeshiva. Zionist parties and youth movements, as well as the Bund, were active in the town. The Soviets occupied Prużana in September 1939. Private commerce was banned; the Jewish schools were Sovietized, and the hospital and orphanage were nationalized. Five families of Bundist and Zionist activists were deported into the Soviet interior. The Germans occupied Prużana on June 23, 1941. A Judenrat was appointed shortly afterwards. On July 20, 1941, the Jews were ordered to pay a ransom of gold, silver, clothing, grain, and other commodities. On August 10, 1941, the Jews of the town were forced to establish a ghetto. From mid-September 1941 until March 1942, a large number of Jews from Bialystok, Bluden, Malecz, Szereszów, Bereza Kartuska, Slonim, Iwacewicze, Stolbtsy, Sielez, Linowo, and other nearby localities were brought to the Prużana Ghetto, swelling its population to about 18,000 people. Over the subsequent months, many of the Jews returned to their hometowns in secret. The ghetto inmates performed forced labor in the town and in the surrounding forests. Skilled workers plied their trades. The Judenrat smuggled food and medicine into the ghetto, where a hospital had been set up. In January 1942, another ransom was imposed on the community. By spring that year, resistance cells were being organized in the ghetto and in the Bialowieza labor camp, and contacts with Soviet partisans in the area were being established. On November 1, 1942, the ghetto was locked down for a census, which recorded the presence of 9,976 people there. While the Judenrat was officially opposed to people fleeing into the woods, out of fear that the entire population would be held accountable for those actions, in practice they agreed that individuals should escape, and assisted in procuring weapons and equipment for the groups of fighters. Several dozen Jews managed to flee into the forests. We know of at least two massacres of Jews prior to the liquidation of the ghetto. The first of these occurred in mid-July 1941, shortly after the onset of the occupation. The second massacre took place on the way to the village of Linowo following the establishment of the ghetto, but its exact date is unknown. On January 27–28, 1943, the ghetto was surrounded and besieged. The Judenrat alerted the inmates of the imminent liquidation and advised that each person act as he or she sees fit. By February 2, 1943, the Jews of the ghetto had been deported to Auschwitz in four transports from the Linowo station. Most of the Jews who attempted to escape or hide in bunkers were found and shot, and only about 20 of them survived until the liberation. Several days after the deportation, a group of Jewish fighters blew up the SD building in Prużana, killing all who were inside at the time. Many of those who reached the forests and joined the fighting groups fell in battle while serving in Soviet partisan units. Prużana was liberated by the Red Army on July 17, 1944.