Elimelech Benari's Kletsk Memoir

Table of Contents (?)

Site Page Counts
Public: 229
Restricted: 51

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.

Page Last Updated: 22-Jun-2011