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o 98 miles (158 km.) NNE of Minsk
o 21 miles (34 km.) NW of Lepel
o 61 miles (98 km.) W of Vitebsk
o 39 miles (62 km.) ENE of Dokshitz
Other Connections:
It was natural that emigrants from the one shtetl or region would follow each other from those same shtetls and settle together; so that in the first generation of immigration one could find that relatives from Europe would tend to settle together in the same towns. This led to some small towns with Jews from the same towns or regions in Europe. In one such case, we know that many from Ushachi settled at least in the following communities:
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
As we identify other such towns, we will list them.
History:
Many thanks to Harry Leich of the Library of Congress, European Division, for his research and translation. The following information is based upon material from "Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic Countries," published by Bronislaw Chlebowski, Volume 12, Warsaw, 1892.
For many years Ushachi was part of Poland and was known as Usazacz, It was both a town and an estate, located on the Uszacza river, in Lepelski county, of the third Polish district. During the 1890's, the town contained 128 houses, 652 inhabitants, parish church, two Jewish prayer houses, district police and community station, bridge, and water powered mill. The estate contained 7400 acres of court land, located in the northwest part of the county. It bordered the Woroniecz, Kublicze (Kublichi), Hutowo, Bielsk, Czerstwiaty districts of Lepelski county, and the Turowla district of Polotsk county.
In 1624, the estates of Uszacz belonged to Jozef Klonowski of Polotsk; in 1672 to Dawid Radziminski Frackiewicz and his wife Elzbieta from Grotkowski. The property was next owned by Kasper Frackiewicz who sold it to Konstanty Szczytt. It passed to Krzysztof Szczytt, castellan of Smolensk, whose wife Anna from Zawlsz left it in 1721 to Jan Zaba, Voyevode of Minsk. Next owned by Lipskie Zaba, from whom Tadeusz Zaba, voyevode of Polotsk, acquired it. Then his daughter, Cecylia Marcinkiewiczowa, turned the estate over to her daughter Alina countess Platerowa, after which it passed to her son Gustaw count Plater.
There were Dominicans [monks?] in Uszacz, founded in 1716 under Hieronim Zaba, under-voyevode of Polotsk, together with his wife Katarzyna from Protaszeciz. Benefactors of the monastery were Jan Zaba, voyevode of Minsk, and his daughter-in-law Cecylia z Lipskich Zabina. There was a county school attached to the monastery. After 1772 Uszacz was the chief town in the remaining part of Polotsk province. In the vicinity of the town are graves dating back to the [stoczonych] wars of 1812.
Population: 807 Jews after World War II (according to "Where Once We Walked" by Gary Mokotoff & Sallyann Amdur Sack, Avotaynu, 1991)
Economy: (under research, looking for help)
Ushachi Factoids:
· Ushachi was the birth place of the late great violinist Jasha Heifitz (according to my mother, ROSALYN (PERLSON) KAUFMAN)
· The Jews of Ushachi spoke and wrote in Yiddish, except for religious services which were conducted in Hebrew. Very few Ushachi Jews spoke Russian.
· In 1919 or 1920, Rosalyn Perlson was kidnapped by a Cossack officer who wanted to marry her. She was ransomed back to safety by her mother Riva (Furman) Perlson who owned a general store. Riva's husband Max and his brothers had already emigrated to the United States, leaving his family behind. · Chaim Zhitlowsky (1865 – 1940) Influential Socialist-Naturalist and author was born in Ushachi. He was educated in Germany and Switzerland where he studied medicine at the University of Zurich. It was there he formed a group of Socialist Revolutionaries. He later went through several phases of political beliefs and activities; at times he was a Sociality, a Territorialist, and active Zionist and an ardent Yiddishist.
· In 1919 or 1920, Rosalyn Perlson was kidnapped by a Cossack officer who wanted to marry her. She was ransomed back to safety by her mother Riva (Furman) Perlson who owned a general store. Riva's husband Max and his brothers had already emigrated to the United States, leaving his family behind.
· Chaim Zhitlowsky (1865 – 1940) Influential Socialist-Naturalist and author was born in Ushachi. He was educated in Germany and Switzerland where he studied medicine at the University of Zurich. It was there he formed a group of Socialist Revolutionaries. He later went through several phases of political beliefs and activities; at times he was a Sociality, a Territorialist, and active Zionist and an ardent Yiddishist.
· The following appears in “World War II Plus 55” by David H. Lippman http://usswashington.com/worldwar2plus55/index.htm : January 13, 1942... The rising tide of Nazi atrocities provokes an Allied response in London. The representatives of nine occupied countries there sign a declaration that all those guilty of "war crimes" will be punished after the war. General Sikorski signs for Poland and General Charles De Gaulle for France. Among their "principal war aims" is "the punishment, through the channels of organized justice, of those guilty of, or responsible for, these crimes, whether they have ordered them, perpetrated them, or participated in them." January 14, 1942...Nazi forces react to the Allied war crimes declaration the day before by leading 807 Byelorussian Jews to a pit near the village of Ushachi, and shooting them. As the Jews lie dying, local peasants who have witnessed the massacre climb down into the pit to pull what gold they can from the teeth of the dead and dying. At nearby Kublichi, 925 Jews are murdered, and local peasants again loot the dead. · Jews of Ushachi are known to have immigrated to Sheboygan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin
· The following appears in “World War II Plus 55” by David H. Lippman http://usswashington.com/worldwar2plus55/index.htm :
January 13, 1942... The rising tide of Nazi atrocities provokes an Allied response in London. The representatives of nine occupied countries there sign a declaration that all those guilty of "war crimes" will be punished after the war. General Sikorski signs for Poland and General Charles De Gaulle for France. Among their "principal war aims" is "the punishment, through the channels of organized justice, of those guilty of, or responsible for, these crimes, whether they have ordered them, perpetrated them, or participated in them."
January 14, 1942...Nazi forces react to the Allied war crimes declaration the day before by leading 807 Byelorussian Jews to a pit near the village of Ushachi, and shooting them. As the Jews lie dying, local peasants who have witnessed the massacre climb down into the pit to pull what gold they can from the teeth of the dead and dying. At nearby Kublichi, 925 Jews are murdered, and local peasants again loot the dead.
· Jews of Ushachi are known to have immigrated to Sheboygan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin
David Finko (Finkelstein) is the eldest grandson of Zalmon Furman. A naval architect in the Soviet Union, who emigrated to the USA to pursue his true calling as a composer, Finko wrote the following in his memoirs: “My maternal grandparents lived in Byelorussia (White Russia) in the small town of Ushatchy, which was in the Lepel district of the Vitebsk province. My maternal grandfather was Zalman Furman. He was born in 1886 in Ushatchy, and he owned a small one-story house where he also had a photographic studio….My grandfather was also a cantor in the local synagogue; he was not salaried, but was modestly paid for singing on holidays. I remember his very expressive sobbing singing which used to impress people a lot and caused their tears. I think his sobbing singing strongly influenced my own music…… My maternal grandmother was called Brusya, and she came from the family of Zeltsburg…..There were five children in the Zeltxburg family: three daughters –Livsa, Brusya and Hanna-Blumeh—and two sons—Aba-Dovid and Moyshe-Ekhiel. My grandmother Brusya was born in Ushatchy in 1892, and all her life she was a housewife. She had four children: my mother Raisa (born July 4, 1914), another daughter Yudasya (born in 1918, died of cancer is Los Angeles in 1984), sons Abraham (born in 1922, killed in WWII in 1941) and Isaak (born in 1926). In May of 1941 my mother went to Ushatchy to her parents with me and my baby sister Shulamit. My mother used to stay at her parents’ house every summer since her marriage. It was great joy to visit my grandparents and Ushatchy…….On June 22 the German army invaded the Soviet Union. In the afternoon of the same day, my mother was urged to leave Ushatchy immediately….” My maternal grandparents were Orthodox Jews. They performed all religious rituals in Hebrew, but they spoke at home only in Yiddish; they knew very little Russian. They both died at the same time in 1942. They were shot by the SS Nazi soldiers together with all the Jews of Ushatchy. Before their execution, my grandparents dug their graves, which was the usual way in which the Nazis did their jobs. “ The Jews of Ushachi in 1895: Thanks to the work of Ara Morenberg and the search for her Serper family, we now have a 1895 census of the 1052 Jews of Ushachi,: Surname First/Middle Name Father Mother Age Relationship to Head of Household Surname First/Middle Name Father Mother Age Relationship to Head of Household ABESGAUZ Mendel Shliomo - Gnesia Mina 28 Head of Household LEVIN Zalman Movsha - 36 Head of Household ABESGAUZ Gnesia Mina Yitsko - 50 Mendel Shliomo's mother LEVIN Movsha Shmuila - 70 Zalman's father ABESGAUZ Khava Berka - 25 Mendel Shliomo's wife LEVIN Tsipa Yehiel Noson - 34 Zalman's wife ABESGAUZ David Leiba - 41 Head of Household LEVIN Shmuila Noson Zalman Tsipa 15 Zalman's son ABESGAUZ Leiba Rakhmiel - 80 David's father LEVIN Dveira Freida Zalman Tsipa 10 Zalman's daughter ABESGAUZ Basia Leah Peisakh - 37 David's wife LEVIN
David Finko (Finkelstein) is the eldest grandson of Zalmon Furman. A naval architect in the Soviet Union, who emigrated to the USA to pursue his true calling as a composer, Finko wrote the following in his memoirs:
“My maternal grandparents lived in Byelorussia (White Russia) in the small town of Ushatchy, which was in the Lepel district of the Vitebsk province. My maternal grandfather was Zalman Furman. He was born in 1886 in Ushatchy, and he owned a small one-story house where he also had a photographic studio….My grandfather was also a cantor in the local synagogue; he was not salaried, but was modestly paid for singing on holidays. I remember his very expressive sobbing singing which used to impress people a lot and caused their tears. I think his sobbing singing strongly influenced my own music…… My maternal grandmother was called Brusya, and she came from the family of Zeltsburg…..There were five children in the Zeltxburg family: three daughters –Livsa, Brusya and Hanna-Blumeh—and two sons—Aba-Dovid and Moyshe-Ekhiel. My grandmother Brusya was born in Ushatchy in 1892, and all her life she was a housewife. She had four children: my mother Raisa (born July 4, 1914), another daughter Yudasya (born in 1918, died of cancer is Los Angeles in 1984), sons Abraham (born in 1922, killed in WWII in 1941) and Isaak (born in 1926).
In May of 1941 my mother went to Ushatchy to her parents with me and my baby sister Shulamit. My mother used to stay at her parents’ house every summer since her marriage. It was great joy to visit my grandparents and Ushatchy…….On June 22 the German army invaded the Soviet Union. In the afternoon of the same day, my mother was urged to leave Ushatchy immediately….”
My maternal grandparents were Orthodox Jews. They performed all religious rituals in Hebrew, but they spoke at home only in Yiddish; they knew very little Russian. They both died at the same time in 1942. They were shot by the SS Nazi soldiers together with all the Jews of Ushatchy. Before their execution, my grandparents dug their graves, which was the usual way in which the Nazis did their jobs. “
The Jews of Ushachi in 1895:
Thanks to the work of Ara Morenberg and the search for her Serper family, we now have a 1895 census of the 1052 Jews of Ushachi,:
Surname
First/Middle Name
Father
Mother
Age
Relationship to Head of Household
ABESGAUZ
Mendel Shliomo
-
Gnesia Mina
28
Head of Household
LEVIN
Zalman
Movsha
36
Yitsko
50
Mendel Shliomo's mother
Shmuila
70
Zalman's father
Khava
Berka
25
Mendel Shliomo's wife
Tsipa
Yehiel Noson
34
Zalman's wife
David
Leiba
41
Shmuila Noson
15
Zalman's son
Rakhmiel
80
David's father
Dveira Freida
10
Zalman's daughter
Basia Leah
Peisakh
37
David's wife