This site is a collation of my great-grandfather, Lohie Reznik from Hancewicz, Russia.

The information comes from various Reznick/Resnick descendants, both in my line and others.

In the early 20th century, the town of Hancewicz was located in Russia or Poland. During the Polish-Soviet War, this area traded hands back and forth and the designation was uncertain, though most immigrants named Russia as their origin. After World War II, the town became part of the Soviet Union. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, it became Hancavičy, Belarus.

Rita (Fish) Stein was a daughter of immigrant Mary Reznick. I have a manuscript of an autobiography in which Rita said the following about the family's origin:

During the occupation I made it my business to go to Poland to look up my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on my mother's side (if they were still alive)...The town of Hancewicz became Poland after the war. It was formerly part of Russia. I had a German driver and jeep and went to Warsaw to locate the ghetto. When I came to that ghetto I found no visible town, just a mass of rubble where houses used to be.

I've found little reference to Hancewicz' role in World War II except for a mention in The Jews of Bielorussia During World War II: "Escape committees were formed in the Vilejka, Dworec, Hancevicz and Koldiczevo work camps." Shortly thereafter it says, "Three hundred men from Lenin, Lachwa, Mikashevicz, Pohost and Luniniec had been imprisoned in the Hancewicz [variation in spelling is as written] camp in the spring of 1941."

Assuming that the Hancewicz Rita references is the same as that mentioned in the latter, and assuming the war she references is World War II, it's uncertain how Warsaw comes into the picture. Lenin (Lunin), Lachwa (Lakva), Mikashevicz (Mikaševičy), Pohost (Pahost) and Luniniec (Luninets) are located close together east of Pinsk. Vilejka (Viliejka) is northwest of Minsk. Dworec (Dvarec) and Koldiczevo (Koldichevo near Baranavichy) were located southwest of Minsk, about halfway toward Pinsk. Unless there was another Hancewicz located in Poland closer to Warsaw — of which we've found no evidence — the family appears to be from Belarus.

Shalom Cholawski, The Jews of Bielorussia During World War II (Amsterdam: Overseas Publishers Association, 1998), p. 109