Chavusy

Chaussy, Chavusy or Chausy (Belarusian: Чавусы; Polish: Czausy; Russian: Чаусы; Łacinka: Čavusy) is a town in the eastern Belarusian voblast of Mogilev. Chavusy serves as an administrative center of Chavusy Raion. As of 2009, its population was 10,692.

Map of Chavusy, Belarus

It once was a substantial Jewish shtetl, which dated from the 17th century, as appears from a charter granted to the Jews January 11, 1667, by Michał Kazimierz Pac, castellan of Wilno, and confirmed by King Augustus III of Poland. March 9, 1739. In 1780, at the time of a visit of Catherine II, there was a Jewish population of 355, in 1,057; and the town possessed one synagogue. In 1803 the Jewish population was 453, in 1,185; in 1870 it was 2,433, in 4,167; and in 1897, 2,775, in about 6,000. Some of the Jewish artisans were employed in the tanneries and in silk and woolen factories. The Jewish population in the district of Chaussy (including the town) in 1897 was 7,444, or 8.42 per cent of the total population. Chaussy was occupied during World War II by the Germans beginning in July 1941. Though a section of the Jewish population was able to escape before the Germans arrived, the remaining Jews were registered, marked and subjected to forced labor under the German occupation. The first 2 Aktions occurred in August 1941, in which approximately 50 Jews were killed. Overall, approximately 675 Jews were executed in Chaussy.