By Dr. Yosef A. Heller Translated by Mindle Crystel Gross
Translation edited by Dr. Sonia Kovitz Ponevezh lies on the
Nevyazhe River from which the town derives its name. The river
divides the town in half. On the higher and somewhat hilly
northern bank of the Nevyazhe lies the farm. This was the less
populated part of town where there were very few businesses and
only a small number of Jews. The main part of town was situated
on the flat southern bank of the river with the marketplace at
its center. From the marketplace, poor Courtyard Street
(hoyfishe gas) sloped downhill to the east, leading past
Slobodke. Slobodke was a paved area with little rundown wooden
houses, where the poor proletariat portion of the Jewish
population lived. [The poor Jewish section in Kovno and other
Lithuanian towns was also called Slobodke.] During the cholera
epidemic of the 1880s, the greatest number of deaths occured in
Slobodke. Next to Kovno, Ponevezh and Shavel were the two most
important centers of Jewish life in Kovno Dis