The town of David-Horodok is currently in the south of Belarus in the Polesye region. It is located 87 miles west of Mozyr, 47 miles east of Pinsk, and 19 miles northeast of Stolin at coordinates 52°03′ N, 27°13′ E. The town is crossed by a branch of the Horyn River that splits from the long Pripyat River that crosses the south of Belarus from east to west. The two rivers served and still serve as an important transportation artery. The Polesye region is plagued by swamps and mud, especially at the end of winter. The surrounding land is generally flat and contains many forests.
David-Horodok is known for numerous political upheavals in its history. The town was founded in the 11th century by a group of Tatars. In the 14th century, it belonged to the Pinsk duchy, which passed from Lithuanian to Polish control and again to Lithuanian and again to Polish control. In 1793, when Poland was partitioned (the second partition), David-Horodok found itself in the Russian Empire. From 1920 to 1939, the town belonged to Poland again. On September 19, 1939, the Red Army entered David-Horodok and held it until July 1941, when the town was occupied by Hitler’s troops. In 1944, Russia captured the town from the Germans and controlled it until the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the independent state of Belarus.
The town has been known by a number of names: Davyd-Haradok in Belarusian, David-Gorodok in Russian, Dawidgródek in Polish, and David-Horodok in Yiddish and Hebrew. There are numerous legends about where the name David-Horodok came from. The word Gorodok or Horodok means ‘small town’ in Russian. “One [legend] says that it is the name of a duke’s child, David. The second legend, a Polish one – that the Roman Ovidius was exiled to the region of the Black Sea and the town where he died was named after him. A third legend says that the name David is widespread among the Tatars and that they gave it the name David-Horodok.”
The above quote was written by Yosef Lifshitz, one of the editors of the Memorial Book of David-Horodok. It is from the article “The History of David-Horodok,” his informative overview of the history of the town. Lifshitz also describes the economic structure of Jewish David-Horodok as well as the political, cultural, and organizational institutions in the town. The complete article is repeated on pages 7-59 in the Hebrew section of the book and on pages 329-401 in the Yiddish section of the book. The text referenced below was translated into English from the Yiddish.
In the foreword to “The History of David-Horodok,” Yosef Lifshitz wrote the following poignant words:
“I have written this work with reverence and a trembling heart. I consider it my holy duty to perpetuate on paper the history of our town; how our ancestors lived for hundreds of years, built their homes, raised their families, practiced their customs and habits, experienced times of joy and sorrow, and finally, tragically perished along with the great majority of European Jewry at the blood-soaked hands of the murderous Nazis.
I believe that I would not commit the sin of local patriotism if I venture to say that David-Horodok was an unusual town, distinct from surrounding cities and towns. It was a town in which the Jews were pious but not fanatic and were concerned with both Jewish and general education. The Jews were not ashamed to do any sort of work but they considered it a disgrace to be ignorant. It was a town that was Zionistic throughout, with an organized and productive youth who studied and aspired to education and knowledge. It was the only town in the entire Diaspora where, in the pre-war years, the youth spoke Hebrew exclusively between themselves, with adults and even with the gentile servants. It was a town that possessed one of the best Tarbut [culture] Schools in Poland, many cultural institutions and organizations and libraries with avid readers. All public readings and lectures were presented at fully packed halls.
It is painful to write of all this in the past tense knowing that it has all disappeared and perished in such a tragic manner. Therefore, my dear compatriots let me offer you this work as a small and modest memorial to our martyrs.”
To read the text online in English, please see the following links on the JewishGen website:
https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/David-Gorodek/dav327.html#Page329
https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/David-Gorodek/dav363.html
https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/David-Gorodek/dav375.html
https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/David-Gorodek/dav389.html
To read the text online in Hebrew, please see:
Street map of David-Horodok, drawn by Yaakov Slomiansky.
The houses are labeled with family names and the map is believed to have been originally drawn in the 1930’s.
Street map of David-Horodok
with places of interest indicated.
A map of the towns on the Polish border pre-WWII.
A map of the towns on the Polish border pre-WWII.
A map showing the location of the town of David-Horodok.
A current map of the town area.
