Astryna ( be, Астрына) or Ostrino (in ; in ; in

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

: אַסטרין) is a town in

Grodno Region Grodno Region ( pl, Grodzieńszczyzna) or Grodno Oblast or Hrodna Voblasts ( be, Гродзенская вобласць, ''Hrodzienskaja vobłasć'', , ''Haradzienščyna''; russian: Гродненская область, ''Grodnenskaya oblast' ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. In 2015, its population was 1,847 inhabitants. The village is located 19km north-east of

Shchuchyn Shchuchyn and Ščučyn ( be, Шчучын, Ščučyn, ; russian: Щýчин, ; pl, Szczuczyn Litewski; lt, Šukynas; Yiddish: שטשוטשין, Shtshutshin) is a city in the Grodno Region of Belarus. It is the center of Shchuchyn District. Th ...

and 47km east of Grodno.

History

Astryna was first mentioned in 1450. In 1921, its population of 1,572 included 1,067 Jews.
During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the city was occupied by German troops from June 1941 unil July 1944. An open

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

was established in October 1941. There were also Jews from others villages, including

Vasilishki Vasilishki ( be, Васілішкі, russian: Василишки, pl, Wasiliszki, yi, װאַסילישאָק ''Vasilishok'', lt, Vosyliškės) is an urban settlement in Shchuchyn District, Grodno Region, Belarus, the administrative center of V ...

or Dembrovo. Shortly after October 12, 1941, about 80 Jews from the ghetto were executed at the Jewish cemetery. There were also frequent, isolated shootings of Jews in the Jewish cemetery. At the end of October 1942, the ghetto was liquidated and the Jews transported to a transit camp in Kolbassino, south of Grodno. Initially jailed in the Kolbassino camp for about a month, with about 22,000 to 28,000 Jews from nearby communities, the Ostrino Jews were sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp at the end of November 1942. Remains at the Jewish cemetery were exhumed during the recent construction of a gas pipe.

Notable People

Harry Austryn Wolfson Harry Austryn Wolfson (November 2, 1887 – September 19, 1974) was an American scholar, philosopher, and historian at Harvard University, and the first chairman of a Judaic Studies Center in the United States. He is known for his seminal work on ...

(1887-1974), historian and professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

References

External links

* (ru)''
topographic maps
{{coord, 53, 44, N, 24, 32, E, display=title, region:BY_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Urban-type settlements in Belarus Populated places in Grodno Region Vilnius Voivodeship Lidsky Uyezd Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–1939) Jewish Belarusian history Holocaust locations in Belarus Mass murder in 1941 Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust