LIOZNO

LIOZNO (Pol. Lozniany), town in Vitebsk district, Belarus; under czarist rule it was included in the province (gubernia) of Mogilev. Jewish settlement in Liozno dates from the 18th century. The founder of Chabad Hasidism, R. Shneur Zalman\>\> of Lyady, was born there in 1745. There were 82 Jewish poll-tax payers in the town in 1766. The community increased in the 19th century; in 1897 the community of Liozno numbered 1,665 (67.3% of the total population). In 1910 there were private Jewish schools for boys and girls. During the Soviet period the number of Jews dropped to 1,204 (46.3%) in 1926, and again to 711 (17.3%) in 1939. A Yiddish school functioned there. The Germans occupied Liozno on July 16, 1941. To the remaining 600 Jews were added refugees from Vitebsk, Minsk, Bobruisk, and Warsaw. On February 23, 1942, they were herded to the village of Adamenki and, over a period of three days, were murdered together with Jews from the environs, all together nearly 1,500 persons. No information is available on Jewish life in Liozno after World War II. (Yehuda Slutsky / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)