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Explore our digital collection, bringing together artifacts scattered across the globe and research that sheds light on Belarusian Jewish culture and history.

Photo of three women. They are the sisters of Harvey Sohnen’s grandmother. Rezia was a teacher, Nechama a housewife, and Lea owned a grocery. They were all murdered during the Holocaust. They stand near their mother’s grave in the Jewish graveyard of Ashmyany. Rivka Aryewitz, daughter of Dov Tsvi Oriavitsh, died in May 1929. She was likely the great-aunt of Harvey’s grandmother Hannah. The photo was taken between May 1929 and the Second World War. On the back of the photo, a text written in Yiddish says:
Photograph

Photograph of three sisters near their grandmother’s grave

Excerpt of the list of passengers of the ship SS Finland from Antwerp, mentioning Harvey Sohnen’s grandfather Beniamin Strashunski (Benjamin Strauss) (1913). Excerpt of the list of passengers of the ship SS Carmania, mentioning Harvey Sohnen’s grandmother Henja Straschunska and her children Fiszel, Faiwel, Sara and Ettel , as well as her younger brother Efroim Owseizik (1921). (Note: Sara’s name was written as Lora by a clerical error. Also, Efroim was identified as a friend although he was Henja’s brother
Legal document

Strauss family's migration documents

Photo of three women standing in a field, probably not far from the Jewish cemetery of Ashmyany. They are the sisters of Harvey Sohnen’s grandmother. Rezia was a teacher, Nechama a housewife, and Lea owned a grocery. They were all murdered during the Holocaust. The photo was taken between May 1929 and the Second World War. On the back, the handwritten text in Yiddish says says: ‘in memory of the sisters Leya, Nekhome and Reyzele’
Photograph

Photograph of three sisters near the Ashmyany Jewish cemetery

Ashmyany memorial book
Book

Ashmyany memorial book

Photo of three women. They are the sisters of Harvey Sohnen’s grandmother. Rezia was a teacher, Nechama a housewife, and Lea owned a grocery. They were all murdered during the Holocaust. They stand near their father’s grave in the Jewish graveyard of Oshmyany. The photo was been taken between May 1929 and the Second World War. The inscription in Yiddish on the back of the photograph says: “Remember Father's yortsayt”.
Photograph

Photograph of three sisters near their father’s grave

Passport issued by the Rzeczpospolita Polska to Harvey Sohnen’s grandmather, Henia Straszunska (born 1884) for her to travel with her daughters Sora (9 years old) and Etel (6 years old) to America. It had 22 pages but only the front and back cover and pages that have printing and/or writing on both sides are scanned. It includes a photograph of Henia and Etel. Henia signed in Yiddish (Hene Shtrashunske). The stamps in Henia’s passport shows that during her journey from Oshmyany to New York, she stopped in W
Passport

Polish passport of H. Straszunska

Passport issued by the Russian imperial state to Beniamin David Fishelev Strashunskii (Беніаминъ Довидъ Фишелевъ Страшунскій) on the 15 May 1913. It had originally 18 pages, but only the 6 pages with text are scanned. The passport belonged to Harvey Sohnen’s grandfather, Benjamin Strashunski. It also mentions his wife Henja and son Fishel but they didn’t emigrate to America until 1921.
Passport

International passport of B. D. F. Strashunskii

Photo of three women. They are the sisters of Harvey Sohnen’s grandmother. Rezia was a teacher, Nechama a housewife, and Lea owned a grocery. They were all murdered during the Holocaust. They stand near their mother’s grave in the Jewish graveyard of Ashmyany. Rivka Aryewitz, daughter of Dov Tsvi Oriavitsh, died in May 1929. She was likely the great-aunt of Harvey’s grandmother Hannah. The photo was taken between May 1929 and the Second World War. On the back of the photo, a text written in Yiddish says:
Photograph

Photograph of three sisters near their grandmother’s grave #2

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Testimony

Testimony of Cyla (Perski) Pisman

Shachariya' Bloc. Ashmina Platoon. For Chana-Leah.
Photograph

'Shachariya' Bloc. Ashmina Platoon. For Chana-Leah.

[Two actors in the play "The Journeys of Benjamin the Third"]
Photograph

Two actors in the play "The Journeys of Benjamin the Third"

[Exhumation of corpses of Jews murdered by the Germans in Oshmiany]
Photograph

[Exhumation of corpses of Jews murdered by the Germans in Oshmiany]

[Pessah Avrahami working as a lumberjack]
Photograph

[Pessah Avrahami working as a lumberjack]

[Oszmiana synagogue]
Photograph

[Oszmiana synagogue]

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Video recording / film

[Osmiany. 1937 footage]

Ashmyany, folk types
Photograph

[Ashmyany, folk types]

Ashmyany, synagogue, ground floor plan, 1:200
Map / plan

Ashmyany, synagogue, ground floor plan, 1:200

Synagogue in Ashmyany. Cross-section. 1:50
Drawing

Synagogue in Ashmyany. Cross-section. 1:50

Synagogue in Ashmyany. Lower plan. 1:100
Drawing

Synagogue in Ashmyany. Lower plan. 1:100

Photograph of the Cramer family
Photograph

Photograph of the Cramer family

Polish Pasport
Legal document

Polish Passport of Boris Cremer

Fathers, mothers!!! In which school are you sending your child?
Archival Document

Fathers, mothers!!! In which school are you sending your child?

To the Jewish community in Ashmyany
Archival Document

To the Jewish community in Ashmyany

Manuscript of the autobiography of Ben Israel (pseudonym of Pejsach Kozłowski) from Ashmyany. 70 pages. Part of the YIVO project “Autobiographies of Jewish Youth in Poland”.
Memoir / autobiography

"Ben-Israel", Oszmiana, Yugfor #5, 1932