Alternate names: Ivenets [Rus], Iwieniec [Pol], Ivanitz [Yid], Ivianiec [Bel], Ivienic, Iwienjec, Ivjanec, Ivenits, Russian: Ивенец. Belarusian: Івянец. איוועניץ-Yiddish. 53°53' N, 26°45' E, in Minsk uezd, Minsk guberniya-Minsk Oblast, 16 miles SE of Valozhyn (Volozhin), 33.3 miles W of Minsk. Ivenets was in the Ivenetsko-Starinskaya volost'.1900 Jewish population: 1,343.
- Yizkor: Sefer Iwieniec, Kamien ve-ha-seviva; sefer zikaron. (Tel Aviv, 1973). These We Remember. Yizkor translator.
- Photos. Yizkor. Town images and links. [March 2009]
JOWBR burial list [August 2010]
CEMETERY:
- Ivenets memorial was erected by my parents, Mordechai (Motl) and Shula Morduchowicz, from Netania, Israel. The Israeli government did not take any part of the rehabilitation of the site. I keep the list of the people who donated money for the project that was my parents' initiative. The road sign says that 600 of the 800 murdered Jews were children under 12 years of age. Source:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Cemetery: Although the Ivenets Yizkor book refers to an old and new cemetery, we found no traces of the old or anyone who knew anything about it. The new cemetery can be found by taking the "road to Kamen" up a small hill, past the remains of a pottery factory on the left. The, take the first left and go about 50 meters down a dirt road. The unmarked cemetery is just past the first houses on the left. The cemetery contains about 100 stones, some of which are readable, but many of which are in varying stages of disrepair or overturned and partially buried. The cemetery now is used as a grazing field for 3 or 4 goats. There is a row of newer homes across the street from the cemetery. Children play on that street, but don't seem to know that it is a Jewish cemetery. We took Polaroid pictures of the children. The Polaroid process fascinated them; and I think they will remember us. At least one of the children spoke some English, which he had learned in school. They retained the pictures. I think much of the cemetery is intact, but I suspect that the houses that separate the "road to Kamen" from the cemetery were built, in part, on the cemetery grounds. The oldest stone we found was (at the far end away from the "road to Kamen) from the year 5588 (1828). The newest stone at the opposite end was from 1931. There might be older and newer stones, but we had no time or equipment to survey everything. Since Jews first settled in Ivenets in the 18th century, there must be, or must have been, an older cemetery. Our guide and interpreter was Oleg Perzashkevich, Director, Minsk Genealogy Group, Minsk-Zhukouskogo 9-2-190, Belarus 22000 Z, .by Telephone: 017-2240560 In Ivenets, Iosef Lestshinsky, Belarus, Minsk Oblast, Volozhin Rayon, Ivenets, Belarusskaya St. 10 was very friendly and helpful. Ivenets looked very much the way it must have looked 100 years ago. The main streets are paved, but many side streets are not. Some people have automobiles, but horse-drawn carts are common. Milk is delivered in large tin cans by horse-drawn carts. Mr. Lestshinsky had the keys to the building that used to be the synagogue. There is no indication that it ever functioned as a synagogue. Holocaust Memorial: Just outside the town limits on the road to Volozhin is a memorial to the Jews who were killed by the Nazis in 1942. The Israeli government erected the memorial with help from the Ivenetser societies in Israel and New York. A large Belarussian sign on the right side of the road (leaving Ivenets) points to a path in the woods that leads to the memorial. The memorial consists of a mass grave in a rectangular, gated area about 15 feet by 50 feet, at the end of which is a memorial stone. The grass on the grave is overgrown with no care. Two artificial wreaths were recently placed in front of the memorial stone. The stone is engraved with a message in Hebrew and Belorussian. In paraphrase, it says that 800 Jews from Ivenets. Derevna (Daled resh, vais, nun, heh), Glebokoye (gimmel, lamed, yud, vais, vov, kupf), Rubezhevichi, Volma, and Kamen were murdered at the hands of the German Nazis on June 9, 1942. (Note: Derevna refers to a town south of Ivenets and just southeast of Naliboki. Rubezhevichi, Volma and Kamen are on most good maps.) Pamyat, a memorial book about the partisan movement in the Volozhin District (which includes Ivenets) was published in 1996 in Minsk. The 450-page book is written entirely in Belorussian using the Cyrillic alphabet. It has many pictures of people and lists of names, including many Jewish names. I purchased several copies at the Ivenets Post Office for about $2.00 each. The book should be of interest to anybody doing research about this area. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Hartsville SC and Judith Rubinstein Prigal, Teaneck, NJ - July12 and 14, 1997 visit to the cemetery. Also see the Ivenets ShtetLink at JewishGen
- A group of German and Dutch students spent several days cataloguing the cemetery last summer. They were able to finish about one quarter of the project, but have no plans to return. Also, they were able to locate the remnants of the "old" cemetery that is largely destroyed. When I was in Ivenets, I could not find anybody who would tell me about it. I put Gary Mokotoff in touch with these people; and I think there will be a forthcoming story in Avotaynu. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.[5 March 2000].
- Story and cemetery description with photo. photo of massacre site of 800 Jews of Ivenets, Volma, Kamen and Naliboki. a 1912 synagogue, mass grave of 800 Jews of city, a 1712 Jewish cemetery. photo of Holocaust memorial. "Just outside the town limits on the road to Volozhin is a memorial to the Jews who were killed by the Nazis in 1942. The memorial information was provided courtesy of Joseph Rubinstein who visited Ivenets in 1997. The memorial was erected by the Israeli government with the help of the Ivenetser societies in Israel and New York. The stone is engraved with a message in both Hebrew and Byelorussian. In paraphrase it says that 800 Jews from Ivenets, Derevna, Glubokoye, Rubezhevichi, Volma and Kamen were murdered by the hands of German Nazis on June 9, 1942." [March 2009]
- photos. [February 2010]