Bielsk Podlaski


The Bielsk Podlaski Ghetto - Eyewitness Holocaust testimony of
life and death in the Bielsk Podlaski ghetto

 

The testimonies below paint a detailed and often vivid picture of life and death in the ghetto. Several of them are from the Bielsk Podlaski yizkor book. Published in 1975, the Yiddish section of the book was translated to English between March and August of 2023.

The ghetto was established in August 1941. Local Jews and Jews from nearby towns including Bransk, Bocki, Narew, Orla, and Rutki, were confined there. In addition to those murdered in and around the ghetto, estimates of 11,000 to 15,000 people were transported from the ghetto by train to Treblinka in November 1942. Remaining Jews who could not be transported were murdered in the ghetto.

This Google map shows the approximate boundaries of the ghetto, as well as its gates, and the following Jewish locations, several of which are mentioned in the Bielsk Podlaski Yizkor Book chapter Centers of Interest in Bielsk

o   Shaarei Zion Beth Midrash (Gates of Zion House of Learning) Synagogue  

o   Ichel's Beth Midrash Synagogue (Alte Szul - Old Shul)

o   Ichel's Torah School

o   Beth Midrash Yafeh Einayim (Beautiful Eyes) Synagogue

o   Talmudic school

o   Mikveh

o   Jewish orphanage

o   Judenrat office

o   Jewish Cemetery

 

The photographs below, from Yad Vashem, show the exhumation of bodies from a mass grave in the ghetto after the war. Some of the yizkor book chapters linked to above contain related photos, but they are not nearly as clear as the ones below.

 

Exhumation of a mass grave in the former Bielsk Podlaski ghetto, May 1946

A machine translation of the Yiddish caption reads: "In a thousand years, the terrible guilt of the Germans will not be removed." (1)

A machine translation of the Yiddish caption reads: Our dear and loved ones were killed by the Nazis, "May their name and memory be blessed," but we dare and will never forget it! (2)


Photograph Citations

(1) Bielsk Podlaski, Poland, 1946, Burial in a mass grave.
Source:
https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/photos/98587
Used in accordance with Yad Vashem's Terms and Conditions.

Archival Signature 70DO3
Retrieved on: February 10, 2023

(2) Bielsk Podlaski, Poland, 1946, Burial in a mass grave.
Source:
https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/photos/98584
Used in accordance with Yad Vashem's Terms and Conditions.

Archival Signature 70DO2
Retrieved on: February 10, 2023

 

Back to Bielsk Podlaski Main Page

 

Updated August 25, 2023

 


 

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