Historical Background and Interviews
I. Ludvipol: A Modem Shtetl Ludvipol: A Modern Shtetl
Several survivors from Ludvipol, including Mordechai Velman and Pesach Kachenstern, indicated that there were pogroms in the vicinity during the early 1930s. 12 Nevertheless, it was a decade of relative stability in Ludvipol, which now had a population of about two thousand Jews and one hundred non-Jews. A new school opened under the sponsorship of the Tarbut network, followed by a trade school. A public library held well-attended lectures and dis- cussions, and numerous cultural groups flourished. The town regu - larly sent delegates to international Zionist congresses, and Zionist youth movements prepared young people for immigration to Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel), then a British mandate. In addition, a Polish army base near the town created a market for many ser- vices, including photography for personal use and for identification documents. In 1939, with German invasion imminent, there was a brief pe- riod of feverish growth in Volhynia, as thousands of Jews fled east from the cities of western Poland. For several months, the refugees fed business and enriched culture in the region, but the short-lived bubble of excitement burst when Volhynia was invaded by Russia and found itself trapped. Fiercely loved by diverse peoples, fiercely coveted by great pow - ers, Volhynia had seen many wars over the centuries, but had sur- vived them all. Each time, peace had brought population growth, industry, and culture. At the time of Hitler’s attack on Poland in September 1939, many families who had lived there for genera- tions remained optimistic. They could not imagine the genocide to come. They could not foresee that when this war ended, nearly all these families would have been murdered and the cradle of their memories would be irrecoverable.
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