Do You Know a Shtetl Named Turisk?

トゥリスクという名のユダヤ人の町を知っていますか？




The Yiddish word “shtetl” means “town.” Turisk (טריסק) was a shtetl in southeastern Poland, as it then was called, now northwestern Ukraine. The shtetl has gone away since the summer of 1942. True, the town Turisk (Turiis'k) still exists with some thousands population of Ukrainian; but the old town Turisk no longer exists in terms of a shtetl where Jews were major residents. In fact, Turisk had been a Jewish shtetl since 1097, according to a historical document of Russia.

I found this shtetl named Turisk in one of Isaac Singer’s novels. As is often indicated, Sholem Aleichem used fictitious names in his works; in contrast, Singer tended to use real names. In his novel “The Old Man,” Turisk was a center of Hasidic Judaism, where the hero of the novel Moshe Ber studied when he was young. I was interested in this shtetl because I had no knowledge of the town so that I tried to find it out on online maps but I couldn’t reach any plausible town “Turisk” by name.

No such town on the map, only I arrived at a Website instead after an hour struggle. It is an Israeli Website entitled “Turisk” (www.turisk.org) run by Mr. Ben Zion Wainer, who had been a resident of the shtetl, technically assisted by his grandson (Ben-Ami Yassour). The site is great! It contains Turisk’s history, pictures, testimonies, maps, etc. I’m sure you will find something in it, whoever you are—a Jew or a non-Jew.

Mr. Wainer was born in Turisk in 1921. He left Turisk in December 1940, when the Soviet Union took over the land for Hitler’s sake as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union. That’s how he survived. (Personal communication; not published in the site.) Now I’m wondering if a lady named Reisele Wainer who was killed on a day of the last days of the shtetl was a close relative of Mr. Wainer’s. A testimony of the site makes mention of her name (written by Sam Boymel, Cincinnati, Ohio).

Looking at the map above, we can find the Ukrainian town is now named “Turiis'k” (“Triysk” is another variation.) This is a map from Google. Click on the Google icon at lower left corner of the map so that you may find the details of the vicinity, if you like to do so. One of big cities near Turisk is Kovel or Kowel, located to the north of Turisk (a 20 km away). You can also see the historical maps prepared by Mr. Wainer and his grandson Mr. Yassour on the site “Turisk” (I myself requested Mr. Wainer to upload the historical maps(www.turisk.org/en_maps.php).)

This beautiful old shtetl by the River Turia was invaded, looted, and burned by the Nazis in the summer of 1942. All the Jews who then stayed in Turisk perished together with the shtetl, except for a few survivors, if any. I wrote this article of Japanese version in my Japanese language only blog site for the Japanese readers who do not want to read English. To the Japanese article, therefore, I added some expanding contents translated from the testimonies in the site of “Turisk.” You English readers, however, do not need such redundant information.

Now, suffice to say, visit the site “Turisk” (www.turisk.org) and, if you think we should do so, re-tell the story and history, please. Thank you.