Alternate names: Druya [Rus], Druja [Pol, Bel], Droye [Yid], Druha, Sapiezyn, Russian/Belarusian: Друя. Yiddish: דרויע . Located at 55°47' N, 27°27' E in Vitebsk Oblast, 130.1 miles N of Minsk. (formerly Disna uyezd, Vitebsk gubernia), on the Belarus-Latvia border, 36 miles E of Daugavpils (Dvinsk), 19 miles ENE of Braslaw. .Yizkors: Sefer Druja ve-kehilot Miory, Drujsk, ve-Leonpol (Tel Aviv, 1973) and Khurbn Glubok, Sharkoystsene, Dunilovitsh, Postov, Droye, Kazan: dos lebn un umkum fun Yidishe shtetlekh in Vaysrusland-Lite (Vilner gegnt) (Buenos Aires, 1956) 1900 Jewish population: 3,006. Jewish Population in 1939: 1,500. In June 1942, the ghetto was destroyed. Some escaped to the forests with 50-60 surviving. Town images and links. [March 2009]
CEMETERY: Thanks to the support of Druja descendents in Israel and the United States, we have been able to clear all undergrowth and bushes and reset the nearly five hundred stones which had fallen over during the last 57 years. Incredibly these stones are painted in bright hues of white, red, yellow and blue to accentuate the carvings. The surrounding soil had preserved both the stone ornamentation and pigmentation. Now that the stones are upright once more we are very concerned that exposure to the atmosphere will cause the paint to flake and fade. These stones are the only painted stones I have encountered here. If anyone has any experience in the conservation of this type of artifact I will be grateful for advice. Source: Belarus SIG Archives and Franklin J. Swartz This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [date?]
The massacre site of more than 700 Jews of the town on the 16th of June, 1942. photo and map Holocaust memorial photo [March 2009]
Photos. "The only Jewish cemetery in Belarus with preserved color murals on the monuments.about 250 sites. Closed in 1959, restored in 2000". [February 2010]