Krasne — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Krasne, Wilejski County, Wilno District, Poland (today Krasnaje) , Belarus )

The first Jewish presence in Krasne dates to the late 19th century.

In 1922 Krasne had 319 Jewish residents, who comprised 31.45 percent of the total population. By 1937 the Jewish population had risen to 480.
In September 1939, with the arrival of the Red Army in the city following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Krasne became part of Soviet Belarus.
The Germans occupied Krasne in late June 1941. They immediately established an open ghetto. The Jews were required to wear a yellow star, their movements were restricted, and they had to perform forced labor.
The German administration also established a Judenrat. In 1942 the Germans forced the Jews of the surrounding rural areas to move into the ghetto.
Since the ghetto was an open one, the inmates of the ghetto were able to engaged in trade with local non-Jews.
However, the former could only leave the ghetto at night, in secret.
The Jews had to work on construction sites and at the German military vehicle pool near Krasne. In March 1943 2,340 Jews were shot to death in a shed and their bodies were burned.
Only a few Jewish specialists who had worked for the Germans and a few other Jews succeeded in escaping to join the partisans.
The Red Army liberated Krasne late in the summer of 1944.

From: Yad Vashem