“There was a section of Luninietz, near the forest, that provided freshness and light,” wrote Zehava Shocat, in her page of memoir, I’ll Not Forget You, Luninietz from The Jews of Luninietz and Kozanhorodok Yizkor Book (translated by Albert Latucha). She continues, “When you went out on a summer day to breathe fresh air and enjoy the sunlight, on the way to the forest, the sand hill, green fields and fragrant pine trees, you saw the beauty of nature in this town.” (page 80)

Asher Plothik wrote about “The Development of Luninyets” in the Memorial Book for the communities of Luninietz and Kozanhorodok Yizkor Book (pages 17-19). “At the beginning of the twentieth century Luninyets was still very young. The town was built on a large level field, surrounded by forests of pine trees. To the North-West there was an extended marshland, where many birch trees grew, as well as other trees and shrubs that served as burning-wood. In the winter, the peasants would chop the trees and bring them to town on sleighs, during the rest of the year no person would set foot in this marsh area. To the East and to the South, sands and also black fertile soil extended to the horizon, and when the town grew in size and in population these soils were transformed into cultivated fields, growing wheat and potatoes. The place was not blessed with a river or streams; therefore, a large settlement has not developed there.

At the beginning, only very few peasant families, poor and destitute, lived there. Only when the railroad tracks were constructed in the vicinity, the town became awake and an enormous movement of construction began.”

Memorial book of Luniniec and Kozanhorodok Yizkor Book Edited by Yosef Zeevi (Wilk) et al. Published by the Association of Former Residents of Luniniec / Kozhanhorodok in Israel, Tel Aviv, 1952. This chapter was translated by Lou Keller. (page 207-209)

According to Max Schneiderman My Youth account (Pages 207-209), “the old people told us that according to plans, the railroad was supposed to run through Kozanhorodok. For that to happen an officer had to be bribed. Unfortunately, the high sum demanded was beyond the means of the town. Kozanhorodok remained without a train.

The shoemakers, tailors and carpenters moved to Luninets to find income. The remaining poor folk lived off each other, the goyim and surrounding villages. Here were fairs four times a year. Two in winter and two in summer.

The population of Luninets consisted of farmers that used to travel to Kozanhorodok to sell their farm products and to purchase the necessary wares, fabrics and tools. Only in the 70’s of the 19th century, when they began to build the Homel-Brisk rail tracks near Luninets and started to erect the railroad station did the Jews from Kozanhorodok appear. They were artisans and merchants that earned money from the train workers. Jews, however, according to the laws of the Pale of Settlement could not settle in the town. They couldn’t even sleep over. 

Every evening they had to return to Kozanhorodok. Life was tough, but what doesn’t a Jew do to earn a livelihood? A greater tide of migration into Luninets occurred years later when the Baranowitsh-Sarne line passed the own, and the large train bridge, over the Pripet River began to be built. Due to the huge marshes, several thousand workers were employed and the project dragged on for several years. The laborers were good customers. Not only did Jews arrive from Kozanhorodok but also from Lachva, David Horodok and even from Pinsk. But they were prohibited from living in Luninets. 

As told by the elders of Pinsk, the engineers who built the Baranowitsh-Sarne line made an offer to the Jews of Pinsk. For a large sum of money, the engineers would run the rail line through Pinsk and not Luninets and thus make Pinsk a rail hub.

The Pinsk Jews felt that if there was a plan to run the line through Pinsk it would happen without the bribe. They could not believe that Luninets and not Pinsk would be a railroad hub. The line passed through Luninets as foretold by the engineers.

From then on Jews settled in Luninets ignoring the law [As noted before, some of the Levin moved to Luninets in the late 1880s EH]. The Jews suffered greatly at the hands of the Czarist police. They had to bribe, to remain in town. At that time, Luninets had neither a Bit Medrosh; [literally a ‘house of study ‘. It was that, but it also served as a house of prayer on weekdays LK] nor a cemetery. The dead had to be buried in Kozanhorodok.

This scene repeated itself, whenever large railroad stations were built near villages where Jews were not allowed to reside.

Unable to stop the Jews from settling near stations, the Czarist regime issued a special statute according to which 109 villages, including Luninets, residing in the domain of the Pale of Settlement, were recognized as Pasadn, where Jews were allowed to dwell. [cannot find the word Pasad – must be area – could come from the Polish word pas or pasek which means belt – a subscribed circled area LK]

The Jewish settlement was beginning to grow. Houses were being built, also three “beit midrashim” and bath [mikveh]. The cemetery was laid out.

All of this was happened at the sacrifice [on the account] of Kozanhorodok which was shrinking from year to year. The artisans and merchants moved to Luninets. Kozanhorodok emptied and remained deserted. 

Since all the land in Luninets belonged to the peasant organization, the Jews as well as the Christian non-peasants, had to lease the land on which to build their houses. The lease had to be renewed every 12 years. That was an expensive proposition. The peasant owners had to be bribed with a bottle of whiskey at every lease renewal. 

That did not faze the Jews, and the settlement continued to grow. In the First World War, in the fall of 1915, the Germans captured Pinsk. Luninets was in turmoil. The richer Jews left Luninets and rode deeper into Russia. The front however remained at the Yaselde River, 40 km from Luninets. The enemy did not reach Luninets. His planes, however, reached the town and dropped bombs. Many refugees arrived from German occupied territories. A Jewish committee was formed, that provided the refugees with food, dwelling and clothing. Even after the war Luninets had much to endure. The so-called Officer’s League, of the Russian and then Polish army, occupied the town.

Eventually, after the Riga Treaty, Luninets remained part of Poland. Normal life returned. Luninets became a district capital.” 

Most of the Jews lived in the center of town, where they had workshops and shops. Some were trading and some were craftsmen such as tailors and shoemakers. With the establishment of the Jewish community in Luninitz, many, especially builders, found their livelihood there. The town was rich in fish, and the Jews also engaged in fishing and fish trade.

[A comment on the designation by the Russians of towns and villages. Jews were not allowed to live in cities, because they would be too close to government and its secrets. Near churches, because they were anti-Christ etc. However, when they needed money, they would change a town where Jews were permitted to dwell into a village they were not or vice versa and give them (the Jews) a choice between moving out or paying an extra penalty. Shalom – Lou]

The Economic Life

The Jewish Storekeepers, artisans, small merchants and workers in Luninets drew most of their income from the peasants, railroad workers and government employees.

The latter benefited from very liberal credit arrangements.

The relations between the Jews and Christian communities were good. The Jew was the stable outlet for the products of the peasants, as well as the employer of many Christians in the forest holdings.

The Jews of Luninietz were engaged in trade and crafts. The train station was an important source of livelihood and the Jews who worked there were organized by a trade union established in 1905 and members of the Bund. Among the craftsmen were blacksmiths, tinsmiths, and rattlers; A tailor's cooperative, a butchers 'union and a merchants' organization were formed.

The economic situation worsened in the 1930s, when the Polish government declared the “owshem” (“our own”) policy – an economic boycott against the Jewish products and workers. With the help of the government, Poles penetrated all sectors of the economy and pushed the Jews away from them

The artisans and storekeepers carried on a bitter struggle against the destructive policies of the government and its institutions. In the last years, the propaganda and boycotts against the Jewish businessmen and workers broadened and became more organized. 

Christians opened private and co-operative stores, and with government guidance established clothing and footwear workshops. That, plus the import of ready-made (ready to wear) goods, forced many Jewish tailors and shoemakers to close their stores. In spite of the relief offered by the Jewish co-operative banks, the exit of the Jews from their businesses continued.

Before World War II, there were about 3000 Jews in Luninitz, which constituted about a third of the city's inhabitants and in the town of Kuzhnhorodok about 100 – 150 Jews.

The Holocaust Period

One fate was for Kozhnhorodok and Luninietz in World War II; When the war broke out in 1939, the whole area was occupied by the Soviet army. The German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Jews attempted to flee from Luninietz to Russia, were arrested by the Red Army, and forced to return, only a few managed to cross the border.

In August 1941, almost all the men from Luninietz and Kuzhenhorodok were murdered; The children and women from both places were imprisoned in the ghetto. In August 1942, all ghetto residents were shot and murdered and buried in a mass grave. Over 50 individuals of the Levin family perished.

Jewish communities and individuals, such as the 10 family members of Yitzhak and Esther Malca Levin and one cousin Malca Orion nee Palach, who immigrated to Israel before World War II survived along with those who managed to escape to the Soviet Union or China during the war.

Enclosed a PDF file of Yizkor : Kehilot Luninietz and   Koz'anhorodok