Berezhany
BEREZHANY
BEREZHANY (Pol. Brzeźany ), town in Ukrainian S.S.R. and Republic (formerly in E. Galicia). Jews had settled there by the 18th century. Jewish representatives from different communities met at the fairs held in Berezhany, e.g., in September 1740. There were 90 Jews living in Berezhany in 1765, in 1900, 4,305 (over 40% of the total population), and 3,580 in 1921. Of the 825 pupils attending the German high school in Berezhany in 1908, 186 were Jews. Before World War i the flour trade was mainly in Jewish hands. The community had a hospital and old-age home. Among the rabbis of Berezhany was Shalom Shvadron.
During the Holocaust, on Oct. 1, 1941, 500–700 Jews were executed by the Germans in the nearby quarries. On Dec. 18, another 1,200, listed as poor by the Judenrat, were shot in the forest. On Yom Kippur 1942 (Sept. 21), 1,000–1,500 were deported to Belzec and hundreds murdered in the streets and in their homes. On Hanukkah (Dec. 4–5) hundreds more were sent to Belzec and on June 12, 1943, the last 1,700 Jews of the ghetto and labor camp were liquidated. Few survived the war.
bibliography:
J. Kermisz, "Akcje" i "Wysiedlenie" (1946), index; Bleter far Geshikhte, 4 no. 3 (1953), 104; Bauer, in: Midstream, 4 (1968), 51–56. add. bibliography: M. Katz (ed.), Brzeźany Narayov ve-ha-Sevivah (1978); S. Redlich, Together and Apart in Brzezany: Poles, Jews and Ukrainians, 1919–1945 (2002); pk.