Motol (Belarusian: Моталь, Russian and West Polesian: Мотоль, Polish: Motol, Yiddish: מאָטעלע Motele), also Motal, is a township in Ivanava Raion of Brest Region located about 30 kilometres west of Pinsk on the Yaselda River in Belarus.
Motal
Моталь / Мотоль | |
|---|---|
  Motal Location in Belarus | |
| Coordinates: 52°08′N 25°36′E / 52.133°N 25.600°E | |
| Country |  Belarus |
| Region | Brest |
| District | Ivanava |
| Selsoviet | Motal Selsoviet |
| Government | |
| Elevation | 280.4 m (919.9 ft) |
| Population (2014) | |
| • Total | 3,772  |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Postal code | 225822 |
| Area code | +375 1652 |
History edit
Founded as a royal city of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1554 by Queen Bona Sforza. A part of the Pinsk ‘ekonomia’ or royal land, in the late 18th century it was also part of the Pińsk powiat of the Brest Litovsk Voivodeship.
After the Partitions of Poland, Motal became part of the Russian Empire. It was in the Kobrinsky Uyezd of Grodno Governorate until the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917. Between World War I and World War II it was in the Drohiczyn powiat of the Polish Polesie Voivodeship. It is near the center of Polesia which constituted an irregular rectangle of roughly 180 kilometres (110 mi) from east to west and 80 km (50 mi) from north to south.[citation needed]
Motal was a Shtetl. In 1937, Motal had 4,297 inhabitants, of whom 1,354 were Jews. (Reinharz, 1985). During the war an Einsatzgruppen perpetrated a mass execution of the local Jewish community.[1] The Destruction of Motele (Hurban Motele) was published in Hebrew by the Council of Motele Immigrants in Jerusalem in 1956. It was edited by A.L. Poliak, Ed. Dr. Dov Yarden. The book has 87 pages and contains memoirs and events leading up to the destruction of the Jews of Motele in 1942.[2]
Anshe Motele Congregation, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, was founded in Chicago on Sept. 3, 1903, by 14 immigrants who named it after Motel.[3]
Economics edit
The largest company in Motol is Agromotol.[citation needed]
Education edit
Motol has 2 secondary schools and an art school.[citation needed]
Notable people edit
- Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first President
- Saul Lieberman, rabbi and a scholar of Talmud
- Leonard Chess (Lejzor Czyż) and Phil Chess (Fiszel Czyż), founders of Chess Records
- Étienne Wasserzug, French biologist
- David Bartov, Israeli judge and the head of Nativ
- Serguei Palto, Russian physicist
Motal in literature edit
References edit
- ^ "Yahad - In Unum". Yahadmap.org. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- ^ "Destruction of Motele". jewishgen.org.
- ^ Grossman, Ron (22 August 2003). "Synagogue has 100-year-old roots in union". Chicago Tribune.
Sources edit
- Jehuda Reinharz, Chaim Weizmann: The Making of a Zionist Leader (1985).
- Itzhak Epstein, pdf Jewish Motol: Genealogical and Family History Bibliography
External links edit
52°19′N 25°36′E / 52.317°N 25.600°E
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