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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

Photograph of Harvey Shonen’s maternal grandparents and of their five children, taken in 1923 according to Harvey. They changed their surname to Strauss in the US. Front row from left: Ethel Strauss, approximately 10 years old (married named Ethel Roifer); Bessie Strauss, a few months old (married name Bessie Bernstein; she is  the only one of the five children born in the US); Benjamin Strauss, 50 years old.
Photograph

Photograph of the Strashunski family

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

Druja, general view
Postcard

Druya, general view

Ashmyany memorial book
Book

Ashmyany memorial book

Etz Chaim (Tree of Life) [Title page]
Religious text

Etz Chaim (Tree of Life) [Title page]

Old Jewish Cemetery in Slonim
Postcard

Old Jewish Cemetery in Slonim

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Oral history interview

Bíkhev: Bráyne Irlin

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

Empty marketplace, shut down by Soviet restrictions against private trade, Shklov, USSR (now in Belarus), 1920s. YIVO.
Photograph

[Empty market place in Shklov]

Black
Periodical

Slonimer vokh

Light_G
Periodical

Slonimer vort

Jerusalem Talmud [Title page]
Religious text

Jerusalem Talmud [Title page]

Menachem Mendel of Liubavits
Postcard

Menachem Mendel of Liubavits

Bykhaw, synagogue, cross-section_3
Drawing

Bykhaw, synagogue, cross-section 1:100

Bykhaw, synagogue, plan
Drawing

Bykhaw, synagogue, plan 1:200

Bykhaw, synagogue, cross-section_2
Drawing

Bykhaw, synagogue, cross-section 1:100

Bykhaw, synagogue (reconstruction), cross-section, 1:100
Drawing

Bykhaw, synagogue (reconstruction), cross-section, 1:100

With open mouths. Stories from the past. [Book cover]
Book cover

With open mouths. Stories from the past. [Book cover]

Novy Bykhaw, synagogue, cross-section
Drawing

Novy Bykhaw, synagogue, cross-section

[View of the synagogue in Shklov]
Photograph

[View of the synagogue in Shklov]

Shklov, synagogue, plan
Drawing

Shklov, synagogue, plan

Old Holocaust Monument at the Killing Site in Lenin
Monument / gravestone

[Old Holocaust Monument at the Killing Site in Lenin]

My Forty-Five Years in Vawkavysk
Memoir / autobiography

My Forty-Five Years in Vawkavysk

Memorial book of Vawkavysk
Book

Memorial Book of Vawkavysk

Black
Testimony

Execution of Jews in Lenin

Lida. Yeshiva
Postcard

Lida. Yeshiva

Shabbes candelsticks. Slonim, Belarus, 19th c.
Ritual object

Shabbes candlesticks. Slonim, Belarus, 19th c.