Shtetl

A shtetl or shtetele (, diminutive form of Yiddish shtot, "town") was typically a small town or village with a large Jewish population in pre-Holocaust Central and Eastern Europe. Shtetls (Yiddish plural: shtetlach) 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, , .

Map of partitioned Lithuania & Poland.

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/folqs-kikh".

An early-20th century postcard depicting typical shtetl street scene in Poland

Old Jewish cemetery in the shtetl of Medzhybizh, Ukraine.

Lakhva in 1926 (then Łachwa, Poland), ulica Lubaczyńska (Lubaczynska Street)

History

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 less 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.

Shtetls (listed by present-day country)

Poland

:: 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)".
**Będzin (Bendin) (Z)
**Bełchatów
**Białobrzegi
**Białystok
**Bielsk-Podlaski (Bielsk-Podliask)
**Bircza (G)
**Brzeźnica
**Brzozów (G)
**Bukowsko (G)
**Bytom (Beuthen)
**Chełm
**Ciechanów
**Czeladź (Z)
**Częstochowa
**Czyżewo
**Dąbrowa Górnicza (Z)
**Dębica (Dembits) (G)
**Dukla (G)
**Dynów (G)
**Frysztak (G)
**Gąbin (Gombin) ([1])
**Głogów Małopolski (G)
**Głowaczów
**Głowno
**Gorlice (G)
**Gostynin
**Góra Kalwaria (Ger)
**Grębów (G)
**Grodzisk Mazowiecki
**Hrubieszów (Rubieshov)
**Iłża (Drildz)
**Inowłódz
**Iwaniska (Ivansk)
**Jabłonka
**Janów Sokolski
**Jarosław (G)
**Jasło (Yaslo) (G)
**Jedwabne
**Kamieńsk (Kaminsk)
**Kanczuga (G)
**Kielce
**Kiernozia
**Kleczew (Kletchoi)
**Knyszyn
**Kock, north of Lublin, the town of the Rabbi Menahem Mendel (1787-1859) and the site of two battles
**Kolbuszowa (G)
**Kolno
**Korczyna (G)
**Kozienice
**Kraków (Kroke) (G)
**Krasnosielc
**Krosno (G)
**Łańcut (G)
**Łask
**Leżajsk
**Łódź
**Łomża
**Łosice
**Lubaczów (G)
**Majdan Królewski (G)
**Międzyrzec Podlaski
**Mielec (G)
**Mińsk Mazowiecki
**Mława
**Niebylec (G)
**Nowy Dwór
**Nowy Korczyn
**Nowy Sącz (Tsants, Sants) (G)
**Nur
**Olkusz
**Opoczno
**Ostrołęka (Ostrolenka)
**Ostrów Mazowiecka
**Pabianice
**Pilzno (Pilsno) (G)
**Piotrków Trybunalski (Piotrykov)
**Płock
**Połaniec (Plontch)
**Przemyśl (Pshemishyl) (G)
**Przeworsk (G)
**Radom
**Radomsko
**Radomyśl Wielki (G)
**Radziłów
**Radzyń Podlaski
**Ranizów (G)
**Ropczyce (G)
**Różan
**Rozwadów (G)
**Rymanów (G)
**Rzeszów (Reisha) (G)
**Sanniki
**Sanok (G)
**Sędziszów Małopolski (G)
**Sejny (Seini)
**Sidra (Sidre)
**Sławków (Z)
**Sochocin
**Sokołów Małopolski (G)
**Sompolno
**Sosnowiec (Z)
**Staszów (Stashov/סטשוב)
**Strzyżów (G)
**Supraśl
**Suwałki (Suvalk)
**Szczuczyn
**Tarnobrzeg (G)
**Tarnów (G)
**Tomaszów Mazowiecki
**Trzcianne
**Tyczyn (G)
**Tykocin (Tyktin)
**Ulanów (G)
**Warta
**Wielkie Oczy (Vilkatch, Vilkatchi) (G)
**Wizna
**Włoszczowa
**Wysokie Mazowieckie
**Wyszogród
**Zabłudów
**Zakroczym
**Zambrów
**Zduńska Wola
**Zelów
**Zgierz (Zgerzh)
**Żmigród Nowy (G)
**Żołynia (G)

Other

**Antopol (Belarus) (Antopol)
**Bar (Ukraine)
**Belz (Ukraine)
**Berdychiv (Volhynia - today Ukraine)
**Berezhany
**Brody (Galicia - today Ukraine)
**Bratslav
**Buchach
**Budaniv
**Burshtyn
**Chortkiv
**Chavusy (Chausy or Chaussy)
**Daugavpils (Dünaburg)
**David-Horodok
**Drohobych
**Hrodna Belarus
**Gura Humorului (Romania)
**Jurbarkas
**Justingrad (Kiev, Ukraine)
**Kalush, Ukraine
**Kolomyia
**Kosiv
**Lakhva (Belarus)
**Lubavich (Belarus)
**Luniniec
**Lutsk
**Medzhybizh
**Motol (Belarus)
**Obech, Belarus
**Pinsk
**Pliskov, Ukraine
**Polotsk
**Radevits (Romania)
**Ruzhin
**Sadagóra
**Sátoraljaújhely (Hungary)
**Shklov
**Šiauliai
**Slonim
**Slutsk
**Sosnovoye (Selisht, Ludvipol)
**Starokonstantinov ([2] [3])
**Stryi
**Tarashcha
**Tarnopol
**Trakai, Karaite community (Lithuania)
**Vitebsk
**Vyzhnytsia
**Zhytomyr (Volhynia - today Ukraine)
**Zbarazh
**Zolochiv

Shtetl in fiction and folklore

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.

Shtots (larger towns with significant pre-war Jewish populations)

*Breslau (Wrocław, Poland)
*Brest, or Brisk (Belarus) [4]
*Budapest (Hungary)
*Klausenburg (now Cluj-Napoca (Romania))
*Czernowitz (Chernivtsi, Ukraine)
*Danzig (Gdańsk, Poland)
*Glogau (Głogów, Poland)
*Iaşi (Romania)
*Kyiv, Ukraine (Jews of Kyiv were subjected to the Edict of Expulsion in 1886. See May Laws)
*Kishinev (Chişinău, Moldova)
*Kovno (Kaunas, Lithuania)
*Königsberg (Kaliningrad, today in Russia)
*Krakau (now Kraków (Poland))
*Lemberg (L'viv, Ukraine)
*Minsk (Belarus)
*Odessa (Ukraine) [5]
*Pinsk (Belarus)
*Posen (Poznań, Poland)
*Prague (Czech Republic)
*Riga (Latvia) [6]
*Wien Vienna (Austria)
*Vilna (Vilnius, Lithuania) [7]
*Warsaw (Poland)

Shtetl: Encyclopedia BETA

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