The Shraibmans of Pinsk

Mon 23 May

This afternoon I have seen the house where my grandfather Moshe Shraibman's brother Dovid was living with his wife Braina between 1912 and 1932. We were told the house was well-known as the 'Shraibman house', and served as a house of prayer as well as a home - it was probably a 'shtibl', an informal synagogue in a private house.  We know that Moshe's father Nevach (Noah) was a teacher of some sort - did he teach here? Did he live here? Did Moshe live here?

The 'Shraibman House' in Pinsk

We also went to a couple of other streets with family connections, including where Moshe's brother Menachem was living in 1912 - we don't know exactly where in the street the house was, but it seems to have been known as 'the coppersmith's house'. Was he a coppersmith?

We then went to see the site of the old Jewish Cemetery, where my Great-grandmother - Moshe's mother Shprintza - and at least two other family members are buried. The cemetery alas is no longer to be seen. It has been re-purposed, according to a local law that allows the authorities to re-designate burial land that has not been in use for a certain number of years. As our guide Bella so delicately put it, "they've built a kindergarten on the bones of Jews". Including those of Shprintza, Chaim, and Chana-Braina Shraibman.

The kindergarten in Pinsk - formerly the Jewish cemetery, where my great-grandmother and other Shraibmans are buried

I should point out that none of us knew of the existence of any of the people mentioned here until a week ago, when we received the research report from the Belarus Jewish Heritage Research Group. Now some of them are beginning to take on form and substance for us as we learn more about them and their lives.

We were met by Yosef Liberman, the President of the Pinsk Jewish Community, who took us round the Jewish area of Pinsk, showing us amongst other things a study group in a synagogue (very informal!) and the community's mikvah (ritual baths), which are apparently still in regular use.

Yosif also gave us a chilling document, listing the names of 16 Pinsk Shraibmans known to have been victims of the Holocaust. Up to 4 of the names may correspond to family members who appear in our research report - in other words, they could be our Shraibmans. However the reports are necessarily incomplete, and my feeling is that there may well be many more.

Yosif asked if we could help one of his projects by providing photographs of Shraibmans in emigration for an exhibition he is planning. I think I could probably find one or two for him.

See photos: Pinsk

Where were they from?

Sun 22 May

Yesterday and today we have been in Lida, where my Grandmother Zlata (Sarah) was born in 1886, and Novogrudok, where her father Shlema-Dovid was born in 1858. His father, Leizer Iliatovitch, obtained permission from the authorities to move his family to Lida in 1863. Both towns had flourishing Jewish populations in the mid-19th century.

The records we have found show that Shmuil, the son of Shlema-Dovid and Mikhlya Levin, was born in Lida in 1881, and their last son known to us, Hirsch (Harry), was also born there, in 1891. In between came Zlata and Myer, though we have not found the records for them.

Granny was born in Lida, not Gomel

Shlema-Dovid must have died at some time between 1891 and 1906, as in that year Mikhlya re-married. Her new husband was Abram-Lieb Shushan, aged 60, and they married in Gomel; she was 48. Presumably he died within a few years of the wedding, as by 1911 we know she was living in London with her sons Myer and Harry.

Mikhlya's family, meanwhile, were from a small shtetl near Gomel called Streshin. Her father Berka got permission to move his family to Gomel in 1867, by which time he had 6 children, of whom Mikhlya was the third. At some point Mikhlya from Gomel met Shlema-Dovid from Lida, but there is no information about their marriage. As suggested above, it appears that all their children were born in Lida. We will be in Gomel on Tuesday and Wednesday, and hope to visit Streshin on Thursday.

Tomorrow (Monday) we go to Pinsk, to chase up my grandfather, Moshe Shraibman.

See photos: Lida - Novogrudok

So Movsha Shraibman *did* have a family

Until today no-one in my generation knew a thing about our grandfather Movsha (Moshe) Shraibman ('Shreibman' in Yiddish). We knew he came to England on his own, in a hurry, in 1905, but had no idea whether he had any brothers or sisters, who his parents were, or whether he managed to maintain contact with them after he came to London.

Moshe Shreibman - before or after he came to London?

The researchers in Belarus have now managed to locate records - in Pinsk - which show that he was from a family of (at least) 6 siblings, and that his father was from a family of four. See the resulting family tree. Information about individuals is scant but at least a general picture of the family is beginning to emerge. We have learned more through two months research than the collective wisdom of the family has managed to pass on over a hundred years.


One of the things we have learned is the names of the streets where his uncle and two of his brothers were living in 1912. We shall be visiting Pinsk next week, and our guide is trying to locate the streets for us. My forefinger is already poised over the shutter button.


Are any of our Shraibmans still living in Pinsk? Maybe we'll find that out next week as well . . .