budget so that many Jewish institutions — the hospital, the old age home, orphanages, trade schools, talmud torahs and public schools — received large subsidies from the city administration. Bialystok also elected sev- eral Jewish representatives to the Polish parliament in Warsaw. DOWID KLEMENTYNOWSKI THE COMMUNITY During the second Polish census, which was taken on December 19, 1932, Bialystok’s population was 91,325, of which 39,165 were Jews. According to a private cen- sus conducted April 1, 1936, the general population was 99,722, Jews constituting 43 percent, or 42,880. It was estimated in July 1939, there were 50,000 Jews; the gen- eral population, according to the local Bureau of Statis- tics, was 108,063. But in October 1939, when the city was already occupied by the Red Army, the overall population in Bialystok was estimated at 200,000, of whom about half were refugees who fled to the town from Nazi-occupied areas in Poland. At that time, the Jews constituted about 70 percent, or 140,000, since most of the refugees were Jews. The year 1939 was the twentieth anniversary of many Jewish social and cultural institutions in Bialy- stok. At the end of 1918, while still under German occupation and particularly after February 19, 1919, when the city of Bialystok was incorporated as part of the Polish Republic, the Jewish community entered a new period of creativity on all fronts. Poland, for more than one hundred years under Russian political and cultural domination, became a free nation. With independence, a new wave of nation- alism spread throughout the country, which soon dete- riorated into a narrow chauvinism. Anti-Semitism increased from day to day. Those who not long before had themselves been persecuted began immediately to oppress the Jews, particularly in the economic sphere. Jews were systematically edged out of their positions. Employers refused to hire Jewish workers. It was decided that Jewish competition would be defeated by imposing all kinds of unfair taxes. But Jews were deter- mined to resist. They formed professional associations, cooperatives and credit unions, created cultural and social institutions for self-assistance and social welfare, established a fine Jewish press and a solid educational system. Thanks to the great financial subsidies from Amer- ican Jewish organizations (‘‘Joint,”’ Bialystoker Relief Committee and private philanthropists), Jews in Bialy- stok began to recover slowly. The new democratically 38 Bialystok’s streets grew more beautiful in the years prior to World War II. Electric cables were laid under the ground, streets were widened, avenues were lined with trees, and a new sewer system was installed. Large new apartment buildings and four-family homes were constructed. BEFORE THE WAR run Kehilla gradually reduced its deficit, supporting its existing institutions and launching new ones through increased social and cultural activities. The dynamic Jewish community of Bialystok succeeded in fashioning a modern, greatly expanded cultural milieu. Thus the year 1939 became an anniversary celebra- tion of twenty years of impressive achievement. It was hoped that even greater strides would be made in the coming years; better times and more encouraging con- ditions were eagerly anticipated. Although many saw the storm clouds gathering, the Jewish community of Bialystok had during the three hundred years of its existence survived so many political crises; wars, revolu- tions, pogroms, invasions by various armies, and peri- ods of profound anxiety that it felt confident it could overcome the critical times that lay ahead. So the people continued to work and produce until the last moment. No one anticipated that at the end of the celebration year of 1939, Hitler would carry out a bloody campaign to liquidate all of East European Jewry, culminating in the extinction of Jewish life in Bialystok. The Scope of the Jewish Kehilla in Bialystok In the years before the Nazi occupation and de- struction of Bialystok, the Kehilla encompassed many agencies and committees that addressed all of the issues affecting the Jewish community. The following branches made up the Kehilla: the rabbinate; the public bath for Jews and non-Jews; Jewish ritual slaughter of chickens, the chevra kadisha, responsible for proper funerals and burial for Jews; a Relief Committee for refugees; the hundred-year-old Jewish hospital; the home for the aged; the home for incurables; and the charity foundation that distributed funds to poor couples getting married, women having babies, destitute guests of the town, etc. The Kehilla also had its representatives on the Municipal Council. It established a library used by scien- tists, teachers, authors, speakers, researchers and stu- dents. The Kehilla also sponsored a Sholem Aleichem Library, a Yehoash Reading Room that contained newspapers and periodicals from many countries, and a Zamenhof-Esperanto society. The Bialystoker Memorial Book