Radun, Belarus

Coat of Arms of Raduń.

Radun' (Belarusian and Russian: Радунь; Polish: Raduń, Yiddish: ראַדין Radin) is a township in Belarus, in the Voranava district, Hrodna Voblast.

History

Before the second war, around 1,000 Jews lived in town. It is famous for being the home of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, known as the Chofetz Chaim, and his Raduń Yeshiva founded in 1869. In 1940, most of the yeshiva students were transferred to United States via Japan.

The village was occupied by German forces at the end of June 1941. On November 16, 1941, a fenced ghetto was established on Zhydovska Street, previously a Jewish street. There were also Jews from neighboring villages gathered in the ghetto: Dovguielishki, Zabolote, Zhyrmuny and Nacha. More than 2,000 Jews were confined inside the ghetto. On May 10, 1942, 100 young Jews were requisitioned to dig pits in the Jewish cemetery. As the working Jews attempted a mass-escape, many of them were shot. When the ghetto was liquidated, more than 1,500 Jews were killed by the Germans and the local police. Nearly 300 skilled artisans were kept alive, and later sent to Shchuchin ghetto and from there, after a while, to their deaths in an unknown location.