Widze — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Vilna district, Poland, today Belarus.

Jews probably settled in the 16^th century and formed an organized community by the late 18^th. They leased forest land and estate production facilities and traded in flax, lumber, wild berries and grain. In the 19^th century they expanded into shop keeping and crafts as their population grew to 3,480 (total 5,103) in 1897. Only 1,100 remained after the deportations of WWI. The collapse of the Polish farm sector in the 1930's along with heavy taxes and the competition of the Polish cooperatives further undermined Jewish livelihoods. Many of the young joined the Zionst youth movements. Prior to the entry of the German Wehrmacht in June 1941, the Polish and Lithuanian-Polish militia murdered 200 Jews outside the town. Random killing continued under the Germans, who set up a Judenrat to supply forced labor. All but 200 were soon expelled to Braslaw, Opsa and Glembokie. In July 1942 the ghetto population rose to 2,000 with an influx of refugees. They were sent to the Swienciany ghetto in late 1942 and executed at the Ponary extermination site near Vilna in April 1943.