History
Jewish community before 1989 – Ukraina / Волинська область (obwód wołyński)
Kowel, a city in the district of Wołyń in Ukraine (until 1795 and between the years 1921-1939 part of Poland, 1795-1921 part of Russia, 1939-91 part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.) In 1518 Sigismund I the Old granted city rights to Kowel and allowed Jewish settlement there. When Queen Bona became the town’s ruler in 1536 she confirmed the town privilege granted by her spouse to the town and obliged the Jews from Kowel to help repair city walls and bridges. In 1547 she levied a chimney tax on each Jewish household (except for rabbi’s house) and granted the Jews equal rights and obligations with gentiles. Their extensive trade connections reaching Tartar fortress of Ochakiv brought her considerable profits. As a result of the protests of town dwellers separate streets for Jews were mapped out in 1556, which left them no other alternative but to buy out gentiles’ houses located there. In 1565Sigismund II Augustus gave as a present the town of Kowel to prince Andrzej Kurbski, who came from Moscow. The latter started to extort money from Jews. In 1569 his non-commissioned officer sealed the synagogue together with all Jewish households and shops, he also threw three Jews into a prison hollow (these lawless acts were annulled by a decree issued by the king.) The city was taken away from Kurbski’s widow and became the property of the Crown in 1590. In 1614 Jews were granted settlement right that allowed them to dwell in whatever part of the town. Jewish tailors and furriers became subordinate to Christian guilds in 1618. During the Khemlnytsky Uprising the Cossacks, in collaboration with the Orthodox Kowel dwellers, drowned Jews and Catholics in a river. In 1650 a Jewish community was reborn on the basis of former privileges that were again confirmed by Polish King John II Casimir Vasa. There were 20 Jewish households in Kowel in 1651, and in 1660 a synagogue, which burned down in 1744, was erected. Szymszon, Itskhak ben Natan Shapiro and Jehuda I(Jud, Idl), a descendant of Jeguda Liwa ben Becalel, were the most prominent rabbis and yeshiva principals.
In the 18th century the Jewish population of Kowel increased. In 1765 there were 827 Jews, head tax payers (at the age of more than 1.) After Tzaddik Rabbi Mordechaj z Niesuchojeży (1752-1800) had settled down in Kowel, Hassidic movement gained more popularity in the town. Russian authorities, after 1795, made it possible for a Jew to be elected an assistant of a head of a municipal executive power. The 1857 fire destroyed almost the entire town (including a synagogue) but not long afterwards Kowel was rebuilt and once again became an important trade center. There were 8,521 Jews in Kowel in 1897, which comprised 48% of the town’s populace.) Before World War I there were several synagogues (including Wielka Synagoga [Grand Synagogue], erected between 1886 and 1907), a few Hassidic shtiebels of various religious movements, a manifold network of charity institutions, some religious and lay schools, a burial society (from the 16th c., see Chewra Kadisza [Hevra Kadisha], a cemetery (tombstones from 1550 onwards.) In 1921 there were ca. 13,000 Jews living in
Kowel (i.e. 61.2% of the entire population.) Jews occupied themselves mainly with light industry, breweries, tanneries, construction companies, handicraft workshops, wholesale and retail trade. Half of the municipal city council was comprised of Jews.
A Hovevei Zion group was established in Kowel in 1894. From 1904 the Bund (General Jewish Labor Bund of Lithuania, Poland and Russia) launched widespread propaganda and started organizational activities. The Zionist movement became stronger in the town between 1919 and 1939. The bigger part of Orthodox Jews belonged to the Agudat Israel party. Tarbut organization, which was set up at that time, a kindergarten, two primary schools and, from 1921, a middle school, “Kovler sztimie” (1927-39 and “Unzer leben” (1936-39), two Yiddish weeklies, sport clubs “Makkabi”, “Bar-Kochba” and “Kadima”, all of them reinforced national awareness. In 1923 ORT (Artisan Labor Association) opened a vocational school in Kowel. Three public libraries, a college, a drama group and I.L.Perec club considerably contributed to cultural life of Jewish people. In 1939 a Jewish community in Kowel numbered ca. 17,000 people (about 50% of the population.) Shortly afterwards, in September 1939, after the Western Ukraine was annexed to the Soviet Union, an organized Jewish social life died. In Jewish kindergartens Hebrew, which was a primary language of teaching, was replaced by Yiddish.
On June 28, 1941, the town was occupied by the German army. Only a small part of Jewish Kowel dwellers managed to flee. During the first days of occupation about 1,000 Jews were murdered. In accordance with a decree issued by occupying authorities a 12-member Judenrat was established. On May 21, 1942, two ghettos were created. The first one was for those that were eligible to work and their families and confined 8,000 people, whereas the second one, in the suburbs of the town, held about 6,000 Jews. Between 2nd and 4th July 1942 the occupying authorities commenced dissolution of the first ghetto. Some Jews tried to run away through a forest but a bigger part of the Jews were killed by Ukrainian nationalists so only few managed to join guerrilla squads. In May 1942 with the help of two representatives of the Jewish underground from Warsaw a resistance movement was established in the ghetto in Kowel. During dissolution some resistance military actions took place but they were very soon stifled by the Nazis. The last ghetto prisoners from Kowel were executed on October 6, 1942.
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