Dyatlovo

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DYATLOVO

DYATLOVO (Pol. Zdzięciol ; Yid. Zhetl ), town in Grodno district, Belarus. Jews first settled there around 1580, and by 1670 a community was formed. Rabbi Ḥayyim ha-Kohen Rapoport served there in 1720–29, and then moved to Lvov, where he was an important participant in the dispute with the Frankists in 1759. The number of Jews in the town steadily increased; of the total population of 3,979 in 1897, 3,033 (75%) were Jews. Personalities associated with Dyatlovo include Aryeh Leib ha-Levi Horowitz and Ḥayyim ha-Kohen *Rapoport. Dyatlovo was the birthplace of Jacob of Dubno (the "Dubner Maggid") and Israel Meir ha-Kohen (the "Ḥafeẓ Ḥayyim"). Zalman *Sorotzkin was rabbi of the community from 1912 to 1929. There were 3,450 Jews (75% of the total) in 1926, comprising 621 Jewish families. Of these, 303 earned their livelihoods from crafts, mainly as tailors and shoemakers, while 210 lived from trade. The community had a hospital and an old age home. Two schools were in operation: a Hebrew Tarbut school and a Yiddish cysho school. Communal and Zionist activities continued until the outbreak of World War ii. The Germans occupied the town on June 30, 1941. A hundred and twenty prominent Jews were executed on July 25 and 400 were sent to the Dworzec labor camp on December 15. On February 22, 1941, a ghetto was created, housing together with refugees 4,000 Jews. On April 30 around 1,200 were murdered and on August 6, 1942 another 1,500–2,000. About 800 succeeded in escaping into the forests and joined the Soviet partisans or later the Red Army. A hundred of them died in the battles.