Shtetl

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A shtetl (Yiddish: שטעטל, diminutive form of Yiddish shtot שטאָט, "town", pronounced very similarly to the South German diminutive"Städtle", "little town") was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in pre-Holocaust Central and Eastern Europe. Shtetls (Yiddish plural: שטעטלעך, shtetlekh) were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia, and Romania. A larger city, like Lemberg or Czernowitz, was called a shtot (Yiddish: שטאָט); a smaller village was called a dorf (Yiddish: דאָרף).

The concept of shtetl culture is used as a metaphor for the traditional way of life of 19th-century Eastern European Jews. Shtetls are portrayed as pious farming communities following Orthodox Judaism, socially stable and unchanging despite outside influence or attacks. The Holocaust resulted in the disappearance of the vast majority of shtetls, through both extermination and mass exodus to the United States and what became Israel.

Map of partitioned Lithuania & Poland.
Map of partitioned Lithuania & Poland.
Map of the Pale of Settlement
Map of the Pale of Settlement
Lyuboml'(Liuboml', Luboml) near Kovel', Russian Volhynia, around 1900. We can see the German and Yiddish letter "Volks Küche/folks-kikh".
Lyuboml'(Liuboml', Luboml) near Kovel', Russian Volhynia, around 1900. We can see the German and Yiddish letter "Volks Küche/folks-kikh".
Old Jewish cemetery in the shtetl of Medzhybizh, Ukraine.
Old Jewish cemetery in the shtetl of Medzhybizh, Ukraine.
Lakhva in 1926 (then Łachwa, Poland), ulica Lubaczyńska (Lubaczynska Street)
Lakhva in 1926 (then Łachwa, Poland), ulica Lubaczyńska (Lubaczynska Street)

Contents

History of the oldest Eastern European shtetls began about a millennium ago and saw periods of relative tolerance and prosperity as well as times of extreme poverty, hardships and pogroms.

The May Laws introduced by Tsar Alexander III of Russia in 1882 banned Jews from rural areas and towns of fewer than ten thousand people. In the 20th century revolutions, civil wars, industrialization and the Holocaust destroyed traditional shtetl existence. However, Hasidic Jews have founded new communities in the United States, such as Kiryas Joel and New Square.

There is a belief found in historical and literary writings that the shtetl disintegrated before it was destroyed during World War II; however, this alleged cultural break-up is never clearly defined.[1]

Note: Towns formerly in the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia are marked with "(G)". Towns in formerly Russian Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (Zaglembia) are marked with "(Z)".

Note: Towns formerly in the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia are marked with "(G)".

Chelm figures prominently in the Jewish humor as the legendary town of fools. Kasrilevke, the setting of many of Sholom Aleichem's stories, and Anatevka, the setting of the musical Fiddler on the Roof (based on other stories of Sholom Aleichem) are other notable fictional shtetls.

The 2002 novel Everything Is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer, tells a fictional story set in the Ukrainian shtetl Trachimbrod.( Trochenbrod )

The 1992 children's book "Something From Nothing," written and illustrated Phoebe Gilman, is an adaptation of a traditional Jewish folktale set in a fictional Shtetl.

Present-day Country City/Town Yiddish Name Romanized Form Pre-World War II

Jewish Population
Flag of Austria Austria Vienna [6] װין Vin 166,000 [1]
Flag of Belarus Belarus Bobruisk [7] באַברויסק Babruisk 21,558 [2]
Flag of Belarus Belarus Brest [8] בריסק Brisk 30,000 [3]
Flag of Belarus Belarus Minsk [9] מינסק Minsk 90,000 [4]
Flag of Belarus Belarus Pinsk [10] פינסק Pinsk 20,200 [5]
Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic Prague [11] פּראָג Prog 56,000 [6]
Flag of Hungary Hungary Budapest [12] בודאפעסט Budapest 184,000 [7]
Flag of Latvia Latvia Daugavpils [13] דענענבורג Denenburg 11,106 [8]
Flag of Latvia Latvia Riga [14] ריגע Rige 43,672 [9]
Flag of Lithuania Lithuania Kaunas [15] קאָװנע Kovne 38,000 [10]
Flag of Lithuania Lithuania Vilnius [16] װילנע Vilne 55,000 [11]
Flag of Moldova Moldova Chişinău [17] קעשענעװ Keshenev 70,000 [12]
Flag of Poland Poland Gdańsk [18] דאַנץ Dants
Flag of Poland Poland Kraków [19] קראָקע Kroke 60,000 [13]
Flag of Poland Poland Łódź [20] לאָדז Lodzh 223,000 [14]
Flag of Poland Poland Lublin [21] לובלין Lublin 40,000 [15]
Flag of Poland Poland Poznań [22] פּױזן Poyzn
Flag of Poland Poland Warsaw [23] װאַרשע Varshe 400,000 [16]
Flag of Poland Poland Wrocław [24] ברעסלאַו Breslau 10,309 [17]
Flag of Romania Romania Bucharest [25] בוקארעשט Bukaresht 100,000 [18]
Flag of Romania Romania Cluj-Napoca [26] קלויזענבורג Kloizenberg 16,763 [19]
Flag of Romania Romania Iaşi [27] יאס Yos 51,000 [20]
Flag of Russia Russia Kaliningrad קעניגסבערג Kenigsberg
Flag of Slovakia Slovakia Bratislava [28] פרעשבורג Pressburg 14,882 [21]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Chernivtsi [29] טשערנאָוויץ Cernowitz 50,000 [22]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Dnipropetrovsk קאַטערינעסלאַוו Katerineslav 100,000 [23]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Ivano-Frankivsk סטאַניסלעװ Stanislev 30,000 [24]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Kyiv [30] קיִעװ Kiev 175,000 [25]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Kharkiv כאַרקעוו Kharkev 130,200 [26]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Khmelnytskyi [31] פּראָסקערעוו Praskerev 13,500 [27]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine L'viv [32] לעמבערג Lemberg 150,000 [28]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Odessa [33] אַדעס Ades 180,000 [29]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Ternopil [34] טאַרנעפּל Tarnepl 18,000 [30]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Vinnitsa [35] וויניצע Vinitse 21,812 [31]
Flag of Ukraine Ukraine Zhytomyr [36] זשיטאָמיר Zhitomir 30,000 [32]
Flag of Germany Germany Frankfurt Frankfurt 26,158 [33]

  1. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t082/t08224.html
  2. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t009/t00933.html
  3. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t011/t01118.html
  4. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t050/t05064.html
  5. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t060/t06064.html
  6. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t062/t06241.html
  7. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t012/t01221.html
  8. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t017/t01713.html
  9. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t065/t06521.html
  10. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t037/t03796.html
  11. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t082/t08240.html
  12. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t039/t03920.html
  13. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t016/t01632.html
  14. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t045/t04592.html
  15. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t046/t04651.html
  16. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t083/t08360.html
  17. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t011/t01111.html
  18. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t011/t01192.html
  19. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t015/t01542.html
  20. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t031/t03158.html
  21. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t010/t01065.html
  22. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t014/t01419.html
  23. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t018/t01830.html
  24. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t073/t07395.html
  25. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t039/t03900.html
  26. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t038/t03854.html
  27. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t062/t06268.html
  28. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t047/t04759.html
  29. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t056/t05686.html
  30. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t076/t07685.html
  31. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t082/t08251.html
  32. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t087/t08736.html
  33. ^ http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/pages/t022/t02239.html

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