From the Wiszengrad Family Album
Wiszengrad Family History
Our grandparents, Mordechai and Hannah Vishengrad, lived in Motykały, a shtetl mostly populated by non-Jews. Mordechai was born in Motykały in 1880. Hannah was born 1885 or 1886 in Kamenets. Her parents: Avraham and Reila Mitelshki or Mitlevski.
The family moved to Chernavchitsy wishing to live among Jews:
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| Motykały and Chernavchitsy, no more than 10km (6mi) apart from a 1931 1:100k scale Polish military map, courtesy of mapywig.org |
In Chernavchitsy at that time there were 70 Jewish families in addition to 150 non-Jewish families.
They lived at a crossroads: the road to Brest, the road to Kamenets, the road to Kobryn, and a road leading to villages.
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| Chernavchitsy, with Wiszengrad-related landmarks. from a 1925 1:25k scale Polish military map, courtesy of mapywig.org |
Their hut was close to the Beit Midrash used also as a synagogue and a cemetery behind it. Approximately opposite, across the road to Brest, there was a church.
Five children were born to the family:
• Sonya, who died at the age of 9
• Shoshana
• A baby, who died at birth
• Dina
• Moshe, who died at the age of 1 and was buried in Chernavchitsy
Mordechai wanted to emmigrate to the States because he had 2 sisters there. They consulted Rabbi Soloveitchik of Brest and decided to stay in Chernavchitsy. Mordechai started a trading business and was successful. They owned a cow and they produced milk products. The family also opened a small restaurant. People who came to the market in Chernavchitsy used to eat there and stay to sleep in the cow’s shed. When the restaurant was closed they opened a trade shop. They would go to Brest to sell agricultural products and would buy products unavailable in the village and sell them to farmers.
Shoshana and Dina studied in a high school in Brest. Shoshana stayed with her aunt on Miesny Zaulek street No. 6. In 1977, family members visited the street and found that the house was destroyed. It was replaced by a shop of 2 stories.
Dina rented a place with a family on Peretz street, in the Jewish neighborhood.
Shoshana and Dina made Aliya to Eretz Israel before WW2.
Until 1941 correspondence with the family continued. In 1942, a survivor recounted, the Jewish inhabitants were ordered to march to a place outside of the village and there to dig a pit. Then they were shot.
– Erela Amir, Brakha Fishler, Malka Shelakh, Moti Shelef, and Hannah Raz
A map of Chernavchitsy drawn by Dina later in life:
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| Chernavchitsy, as drawn from memory by Dina Wishengrad. Redrawn for clarity and translated from the Hebrew. Courtesy of Wiszengrad Family Descendants |
Mordechai and Hannah Vishengrad lived at No. 3, Kobrinska Street:
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| Kobrinska Street, Chernavchitsy, 2014 Photo courtesy of Wiszengrad Family Descendants |
The house on that site today:
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| Site of Mordechai and Hannah Vishengrad‘s house No. 3, Kobrinska Street, Chernavchitsy, 2014 Photo courtesy of Wiszengrad Family Descendants |