Motal
| Motal Моталь / Мотоль | |
|---|---|
  Motal Location in Belarus | |
| Coordinates: 52°08′N 25°36′E / 52.133°N 25.600°E | |
| Country |
 Belarus |
| Voblast | Brest Voblast |
| Raion | Ivanava Raion |
| Selsoviet | Motal Selsoviet |
| Government | |
| Elevation | 280.4 m (919.9 ft) |
| Population (2014) | |
| • Total |
3,772  |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Postal code | 225822 |
| Area code(s) | +375 1652 |
Motol (Belarusian: Моталь, Russian: Мотоль, Polish: Motol, Yiddish: מאָטעלע) is a township in Ivanava Raion of Brest Region located about 30 kilometres west of Pinsk on the Yaselda River in Belarus.
History
Motal was in the Kobryn Uezd of Grodno Governorate until the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917. Between World War I and World War II it was in the Drahichyn county of the Polish Polesie Voivodeship. It is near the center of Polesia which constituted an irregular rectangle of roughly 110 miles from east to west and 50 miles from north to south.
Motal was a Shtetl. In 1937, Motal had 4,297 inhabitants, of whom 1,354 were Jews. (Reinharz, 1985). During the war an Einsatzgruppen perpetrated a mass execution of the local Jewish community.[1] The Destruction of Motele (Hurban Motele) was published in Hebrew by the Council of Motele Immigrants in Jerusalem in 1956. It was edited by A.L. Poliak, Ed. Dr. Dov Yarden. The book has 87 pages and contains memoirs and events leading up to the destruction of the Jews of Motele in 1942.[2]
Economics
The largest company in Motol is Agromotol.
Education
Motol has 2 secondary schools and an art school.
Notable people
- Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first President, was born here
- Saul Lieberman, rabbi and a scholar of Talmud
- Leonard Chess (Lejzor Czyz) and Phil Chess (Fiszel Czyz), founders of Chess Records
- Étienne Wasserzug, French biologist
- Serguei Palto, Russian physics
References
Sources
- Jehuda Reinharz, Chaim Weizmann: The Making of a Zionist Leader (1985).
- Itzhak Epstein, pdf Jewish Motol: Genealogical and Family History Bibliography
External links
Coordinates: 52°19′N 25°36′E / 52.317°N 25.600°E