Антополь: История еврейской общины в Брестской области

Agrotown in Brest Region, Belarus

Antopal or Antopol (; Антополь; ; Antopol; ) is an urban type settlement in Drahichyn District, Brest Region, Belarus.

Jews were active in fattening geese, and imported sickles and scythes from Vienna. Many Jews were carters and hawkers. After Poland's return to independence between the two world wars, Antopol was assigned to Polesie Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic, remaining a part of it until the Nazi Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Bus service was introduced in 1925; connecting Antopol with Kobryn, thereby advancing further development of commerce in the town. In 1921, the town had 1,792 Jews, over 80% of the population of 2,206. In 1935, a new power station was built. A pharmacy opened. There was a dental clinic and two physicians, one of whom was a family doctor. At that time, many of the community's young people emigrated. Soon after the invasion of Poland at the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, an influx of Jews from the German occupied western part of Poland led to a rapid swelling of the number of Jews living in Antopol, their population growing to 2,300 out of a total population of 3,000. The area was controlled by the Soviet Union for two years. The Soviet administration requisitioned houses, mainly Jewish. Names of streets were changed: Zamkowa became Revolutionary Street and so on. All businesses were nationalized by the Soviet regime. The Germans captured the town during the 1941 Operation Barbarossa. Antopal was under German occupation from 25 June 1941 to 16 July 1944. The Jews were deported to a ghetto from which they were taken to a killing site at Bronna Góra. The ghetto liquidation 'Aktion' that started on October 15, 1942, lasted for four days, until all Jews living in the Antopol Ghetto were killed.