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Landmarks in the history of Kiryat Bialystok and the association

1.    1949 - Establishment of an American company "Kiryat Bialystok Foundation Inc., New York". 

       The purpose of the company was: the establishment of a settlement in Israel for immigrants from                                Bialystok and the surrounding area, with all the necessary community institutions.

2.    1950 - Signing a contract with the company "Rasco" for the construction of the Kiryat Bialystok  on the lands              of the National Fund for Israel, financed by Bialystok expatriates in the diaspora (who emigrated from Bialystok         before World War II) in New York, Mexico, Argentina, France, South Africa and Australia.

3.    1951 - Establishment of an Israeli company named "Kiryat Bialystok Foundation, New York (Israel) Ltd." The              company built 208 private houses in Kiryat Bialystok (some of them two-family) as well as: a synagogue, a                community house, kindergartens, a daycare center for children, a clinic, a weaving factory, a memorial, a                  library (inside Beit Ha'am), a high school and distributed scholarships for higher education to high school                    graduates. Over the years, Kiryat Bialystok became a part of Yehud.

4.    1955 - Establishment of Beit Ha'am (today: "Bialystok Hall") by the Rasco company in the center of Kiryat                  Bialystok, where different activities and events took place and also community activities of the residents.    

5.    1962 - Purchase of 3 dunam real estate in the Yehud industrial area, on half of which a weaving factory was              built and the other half remained empty.

6.    1969 - The sale of the children's daycare center and clinic to the local council. The daycare center became a              Music Hall and the clinic became a kindergarten.

7.    1975 - Selling the weaving factory to private industrialists from Bialystok (Zalman Yerushalmi and Levinsky)                who rented it earlier. The other half of the property was sold to the residents of Kiryat Bialystok.

8.    1983 - The dissolution of the "Bialystok Foundation" company after all its goals were achieved.

        Instead of the company, a national fund was established under the name "BAL Loyalty Company in Tel Aviv".

9.    The purpose of the fund was: the maintenance of the public institutions in Kiryat Bialystok (those that remained          in its possession) + help to the expatriates of Bialystok throughout the country (including the expatriates of the          city who immigrated in those years from the USSR).

10.  At the same time, the local committee in Kiryat Bialystok was registered as an association called "Organization         of Bialystok Expatriates and the Surroundings t in Israel (Landsmanship)".

11.  The purpose of the association (as stated in the certificate of registration in the Register of Associations): to               establish Yad Vashem for the victims of the city of Bialystok and the surrounding area who perished during the           Holocaust, and to establish connections with the expatriates of the city of Bialystok and the surrounding area             all over the world.

12.  The "Loan Fund" was established and operated in Beit Ha’am for the residents of the Kiriya as a nonprofit                 organization granting loans without charging interest

13.  1991 - The synagogue was serving all the residents.

14.  1992 -The transfer of the real estate assets from the Foundation to the Organization in Kiryat Bialystok                       (Landsmanship) included: the children's house the memorial, Beit Ha’am. It was decided to create in Beit                   Ha’am a special room which will serve as a memorial room.  

15.  1995 - Renting Beit Ha'am to the municipality of Yehud to be used as a seniors' club in the mornings. The                  seniors' club continues its activity to this day including also commemorative and heritage activities which takes          place in Beit Ha’am.

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