About Brest
The city of Brest is a historic site of many cultures. Here were concluded such important historical documents as the Union of Brest and Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The city fortress was recognized by the Soviet Union as the Hero Fortress, a unique award. The city, during medieval times, was part of the Kingdom of Poland from the tenth century until 1319 when it was taken by Grand Duchy of Lithuania until the Polish Partitions, when it became part of the Russian Empire in 1795. After World War I, the city again returned to sovereign Poland. During World War II the city was first taken by the Soviets and in 1941 by the Nazis. After the war, with the new boundaries of the Soviet Union with Poland, the city became part of the Soviet BSSR until the breakup of the country in 1991, placing the city in the custody of Belarus, where it remains today. Brest lies astride the Mukhavets River, that is known to Bresters as "the river". The river flows west through the city, dividing it into north and south, and meets the Bug River in the Brest Fortress. Winter temperatures mostly hover around the freezing point. Summers are warm and influenced by its inland position compared to areas nearer the Baltic sea.
Jewish History, POI & Kosher Establishments in Brest
The Jews in Belarus were the third largest ethnic group in the country in the first half of the 20th century. Before World War II, Jews were the third among the ethnic groups in Belarus and comprised more than 40% of the population in cities and towns. In 1897 there were 72,454 Jews in Belarus, i.e. 1/36% of the total population. Some 800,000 Jews—90% of the Jewish population—were killed in Belarus during the Holocaust. According to the 2009 census, there were 12,926 Jews in Belarus (0.1% of the population). The Jewish Agency estimates the community of Jews in Belarus at 20,000. The founding of the yeshivas in Belarus was due to the Lithuanian-Polish Jews who studied in the west, and to the German Jews who migrated about that time to Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. Very little is known of these early yeshivas. No mention is made of them or of prominent Lithuanian rabbis in Jewish writings until the 16th century. Today there is a Chabad in Brest which is part of the Federation of the Jewish Communities of the CIS.
