Pinsk

Catalogue Reference:(JML) 77.19

A photograph from the book The Alien Immigrant published in 1903 showing a busy riverside scene at Pinsk, now in Belarus but then part of the Pale of Settlement (the region where Jews were permitted to live) in Russia. The town lies on the banks of two rivers - the Pina and the Pripyat - and these rivers gave many Jews a living, either as skilled boatmen or dockworkers, or else in the shipyards and sawmills. In 1897 the Jewish community in the town stood at 21,000, approximately 74% of the total population.