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Kletsk Today
In the center of
the town was a square plaza surrounded by shops. They were called "The
Salt Shops" (die Saltz Kramen) but I don't know why. Between this
square and the adjacent square of shops was the marketplace which was
thronged with people on market days twice a week. Peasants would come
with their wares and return with their purchases and at the same time
hang out in the tavern, stop by the Pravoslavian Church and equip themselves
with medications from the pharmacy. From this center the streets of the
town branched out whose official names, those on the street signs, were
not used. The inhabitants gave them their own names. Seventy percent of
the town's inhabitants were Jews and all the others were Byelorussians,
Russians, Tatars, as well as Poles; mostly policemen and clerks of the
authorities.
Today all of this
is gone. The town has been built anew. The place of the Jewish houses
is taken by new houses, the majority wood and the minority brick, which
in appearance are indistinguishable from their predecessors. Running water
and sewage pipes are not to be found. The population is peasantry that
migrated to the city. The area of the market and the shops was torn down
already in the days of the Germans, the work done by Jews. On its site
spreads a park in whose center is a statue in memory of the victims of
the war and the fighters for the liberation of the city. There is no reference
to Jews. The three-story offices of the Party, a restaurant and a hotel
have been built there along the sides of the rectangle. A cultural center
is under construction.The Pravoslavian church remained on its foundation
but shorn of crosses. It was taken over for some military project. Rumour
has it that in a little while the military will be taken out of there
and the crosses will again decorate the building.
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