Kozeletz, Mushkev (Yiddish), Kozielec (Hungarian), Myszkov (German), Nowy (Polish), Козелец – Kozelets (Russian), Козелець (Ukrainian)

Kozelets is a historic town located in Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, center of Kozelets district. Kozelets is located on the Oster River, a tributary of the Dnieper. The city’s estimated population is 8,305 (as of 2007).

Kozelets became a part of Russia Empire in 1667, in XIX – beginning of XX century it was center of Kozelets Yezd of Chernigov Gubernia. Since 1932 it became a town of Chernigov region.

Kozak’s arsenal in Kozelets. Building by XVIII century

In 1666, there were already several Jewish homes in Kozelet’s, of which four belonged to artisans and four were owned by merchants.
By 1766, Jews accounted for about 8% of Kozelets’ residents (a total of 2,273 people). The census of 1847 mentioned only one ‘Kozelets’ Jewish community’, comprising 658 people but according to the census in 1897, the county population was about 135,000, of whom 4,711 were Jews. In Kozelets’ itself, the population at this time was 5,141 residents, including 1,634 Jews.

By the mid-XIX century, Jews owned more than half of the business enterprises in the town, as well as the majority of the mills and factories. With a Jewish population of 1,119 in 1862,

In February 1900 official rabbi became Meer Volfovich Abramovich (1840 – ?).

On October 22, 1905 (after the announcement of the Tzarist manifesto on October 17) 69 Jewish shops and a 17 buildings were destroyed. Total damage was estimate in 117000 rubles.

From 1908, the rabbi in Kozelet’s was Yehuda-Yitzhok Reznikov (1876 -?).

In 1910, there was a Talmud Torah in Kozelets’, as well as a private Jewish school for boys, two synagogues (from another sources one synagogue and one prayer house).

These years saw a large growth in the Jewish population and by 1910, there were already more than two thousand Jews in the town, making up over 40% of the total population of Kozelets’.

In 1916 there was Jewish Savings and Loan Association (chairman – Abraham Nehemevich Kamenetskiy; members – Iosif Efroimovich Karasik, Yakov Samoilovich Gorniy, Samuel Gershevich Nohotovich, Abraham Semenovich Tseitlin, Zalman Evseevich Tseitlin, Zalman Evseevich Kyshnerskiy; treasurer – David Leibovich Rabinovich; accountant – David Markovich Abramovich).

In 1918 Jewish population suffered due to pogron when many shops were robbered.

In 1925, 44 Jewish immigrants from Kozenet’s founded a Jewish agricultural colony ‘Naye Ort’ in Kherson region (44 person).

Due to emmigration in cities and especially in Kiev Jewish popultion significantly decreased and before the WWII there lived 394 Jews.

Kozelets was occupied by German forces in September 11, 1941.
First Jews were shot dead on September 17 and 25, 1941, five Jews. On October 22-24, 1941, the Sonderkommando 4a, with the assistance of Ukrainian police, shot 385 civilians (number of Jews among them is unknown).

The remaining Jews were find and killed during next 2 years of occupation. Several Jews fought in different partisan units in the Chernihiv region. Most of them in troop “Za Batkivshinu/For Motherland” of the Soviet Union Hero Ivan Mikhailovich Bovkun.

We know names of only 61 civilian Jews killed in Kozelets and Kozelets district (except Oster) and 49 names of soldiers which were killed during WWII. You can find both lists here (in Russian).
Other names are still unknown…

After the war many Jews returned from Red Army and evacuation.

Сommunity was re-established in 1990s’. During many years it was headed by Anna Proshina (1935-2014).

Geneology

Famous Jews from Kozelets

Abraham Efremovich Karlinsky (born in 1923, Kozelets ), a famous linguist.

Yuri Davidovich Levitansky (1922, Kozelets – 1996, Moscow) – a poet and translator, master of lyric and burlesque genres. Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of art and literature in 1994.

Lazar Kalmanovitch (1883, Kozelets – 1946, Chernovtsy) – famous actor and producer. Since 1917, he was an actor and director of the Poltava Jewish Theater “Culture League”. In 1922 Lazar organized in Kiev first Jewish theater. In 1928, he joined Kiev Municipal Jewish theater where he works until his death.

Yehuda Leib Tsirelson (1859, Kozelets – 1941, Kishinev) was the Chief Rabbi of Bessarabia, a member of the Romanian parliament, and a prominent Jewish leader and Halakha scholar.

Synagogues

According to sources in Chernigov Archiv synagogue was build here in 1884, prayer house in 1893.
Now exist only one building of former Jewish religious organisation and I haven’t find a histiry of this particular building. Sport gym locates here.
In Chernigov Archiv stored documents which descibed election of Kozelets Staromolitvenniy prayer house Head in 1888 which was located in house of merchant Iosif Abramovich. I haven’t find information if this building exist (sport gym) or was destroyed. In a result of first election Head became Aaron Zalmanovich Mezhirov , rabbi – Moses Shneer, treasurer – merchant Berko Plesetskiy. First election was conducted with violation and Kozelets Jews complain to Gubernia Police. In a result of re-election Head of Staromolitvenniy prayer house became Leib Mezhirov, rabbi – Movsha Aaronov Tanklevskiy, treasurer – Haim Moiseevich Karasik.

Building of former Synagogue. Now it is a sport school

Holocaust mass grave

Southeastern outskirts of the town, urochische “Pokorschina”, near the hospital. There is a memorial at the site.

Monument on the mass grave in Kozelets

Jewish Cemetery

The cemetery is located on the western outskirts of the settlement in the area of “Kievskaia slobodka”, in Chapaeva Street, near house № 35A.

Data was taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

Schtschors (German), Snovsk (Formerly called), Snowska (Polish), Коржовка – Korzhovka (Formerly called), Щорс (Ukrainian), Щорс – Schors (Russian).

Schors is a historic town located in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine and is the center of the Schors district. Schors is located on the Snovsk River, a tributary of the Desna. The town’s estimated population is 11,471 (as of 2013).

Schors appeared after the building of the Libavo-Romen railway line in 1878. The location was convenient as the city was built around a major railyard. It was renamed to Snovsk in the end of XIX century. Snovsk get status of city in 1924. In 1935 the city was renamed to Schors in the honor of famous red army general of the Civil War, Nikolai Schors (1895 – 1919).

Beginning

Jews first appeared in the city at the end of XIX century.

The names of several Jewish individuals appear in the Gorodnaya yezhed enterpreneurs list published in 1903:
Nehlin Asriel Hertzov (drugstore), Pulner Mendel Leibovich (drugstore), Geselev Iosel Leibovich (grocery store), Golovchiner Sim.Boruh. (metal trade), Karasik Hatskel Froimovich (grocery store), Lubin Leiba Aaronov and Margolin Haya-Estra Tevel (haberdashery), Klebanov Morduh Nohimovich and Yankovskiy Akiva Samoilovich (timber store), Veinbalt Liba Avramovich and Shybich Mairim Davidovich(draper’s shop).

Before the revolution the Jewish population of Snovsk was estimated at about one thousand.

I have thus far been unsuccessful at obtaining any information related to Jewish life in Schors between the Civil War and the Holocaust…

Holocaust

Former railwayman’s club

During the Second World War, many Jewish families were able to evacuate due to the presence of the railway. Of the Jews who remained in Schors, most were the elderly and sick.
German troops entered the city on September 3, 1941. The first anti-Jew action was held on November 4, 1941. On this day thirty eight adult men were arrested and shot. Throughout December and January, the Germans continued arresting Jews. All were sent to Chernigov to be killed.
The biggest “action” was held in January 1942. The remainder of the Jewish population was taken to a forest (name of forest?) outside the city and executed. Some Jews tried to hide among the local populace. Most were found and shot by the local Ukrainian police.

The total number of Holocaust victims in Schors is still unknown. According to eyewitnesses, there were more than 100 people killed in the first action. We can assume that the Nazis killed more than 150 people.

Of those killed we know of only 112 names of civilians in Schors and Schors district and 102 names of Solider’s from the area who died in battle. You can find both lists here (in Russian). Other names are still unknown…

After WWII

After the liberation many Jews returned from Red Army and evacuation.

In 2007 a movie “Heavy sand”, based of Anatoliy Rybak’s novel was shot in Schors. For the film, the production team rebuilt a set based on the the pre-revolution shetl.

Famous Jews from Schors

Natan Grigoryevich Rakhlin (1906 – 1979)

Natan Grigoryevich Rakhlin (1906, Snovsk – 1979, Kazan) a Ukrainian conductor.

Pulner Isai Mendelevich (1900, Snovsk – 1942, Leningrad) a Russian ethnographer and bibliographer.

Mark Davidovich Maximov (real surname Lipovich, 1918, Snovsk – 1986, Moscow) was Soviet poet, playwright, essayist and translator.

Mark Davidovich Maximov (1918 – 1986)

Chaim-Shaul Bruk (1894, Snovsk – 1965, Rishon LeZion) a famous Rabbi. He studied at the yeshiva “Tomhey-Tmimim” (Lubavitch). In 1928-29 he led a illegal Lubavitch yeshiva in Novograd-Volynskiy. He was arrested and sentenced to forced labor. From 1931-1936 he was engaged in illegal Jewish education in Berdichev. In 1936 he left the Soviet Union for Palestine and spent the remainder of his days in Tel Aviv.

Samuil Davidovich Berman (1922, Snovsk – 1987, Kharkov), a Ukrainian mathematician.

Yehuda Slutsky (1915, Snovsk – 1978, Jerusalem), historian and writer.

Geneology

Synagogue

The former Synagogue is new ” The Schors District Public Library”.

Jewish Cemetery

The cemetery is located on the north-eastern Outskirts of the town in Chervonoarmiis’ka Street, on the left side of the road towards the village of Mykhailivka. The entire perimeter of the cemetery is surrounded with a low wooden fence. There is a gate, but it does not lock. No road or entrance sign mark the site.
Most of the gravestones found in the cemetery are legible. The oldest identified gravestone in the cemetery is dated 1921.  The inscription on the oldest tombstone reads: ‘Avrum Chaim Iosifovich Litvin, 1873-1921. To the dear father, from his wife and children’.

After the War the remains of the Jews killed in the various actions in Schors and Schors county were relocated to this cemetery. A monument was erected in their memory.

Cemetery still in use. Photo were taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

Holocaust mass grave

Located in the south-eastern section of the cemetery is a mass grave. It is where the victims of the various “actions” in Schors and Schors district were reburied. The site is marked by a memorial, which was erected in 2007. Funds for its construction were donated by Moscow Studio.

Sosnica (Polish), Sosnitza (Yiddish), Sosnyzja (German), Сосница – Sosnitsa (Russian), Сосниця (Ukrainian)

Sosnitsa is a historic town located in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine and is the center of Sosnitsa district. Sosnitsa is located on the Ubid River, a tributary of the Desna. The city’s estimated population is 7,695 (as of 2014).

Sosnitsa became a part of Russia Empire in 1667, in XIX – beginning of XX century it was the center of Sosnitsa Yezd of Chernigov Gubernia.

In the 17th century, Sosnytsia,  one of the oldest cities in the Chernihiv region, became a district center. During Khmelnitsky’s uprising, a total expulsion of Jews from Sosnytsia took place. The Jews returned to this area in the early 19th century, when Chernihiv province was included into the Pale of Settlement.

According to the census of 1847, the county had only one Jewish community, the one in Sosnytsia itself, comprising 1,210 people.

In 1865 official Rabbi was Yankel Krichevskiy and in 1883 – 1894 Leiba Berkovich Levitskiy (1858 – ?).

In 1873, two prayer houses were founded. Later, a third prayer house was constructed named Artisan.

According to the 1897 census, the total county population consisted of 170,000 inhabitants, among them 7,600 Jews. In Sosnytsia itself, the total population stood at 7,000, including 1,842 Jews. Among the county settlements, where at least 500 people resided, the Jews comprised the highest percentage in Karyukovka – 3,502 people, of whom 381 Jews; Novi Mlyny – 3,298 and 349; Mena – 6,277 and 1,659 respectively.

In the late 19th century, Sosnytsia county numbered already 4,000 Jews and there were 30 Jewish merchants and 542 burghers in the city.

In November 15-18 1905, during a mass conscription for the army, a pogrom occurred in Sosnytsia, which destroyed 22 Jewish homes and a prayer school.

In 1919, pogroms took place led by Petlura.

After Civil War pogroms many Jewish family left Sosnitsya for bigger cities.

According to the 1939 census in Sosnytsia lived 370 Jews.

From the beginning of the war most Jews were not able to evacuate. This was due to the city’s distance from major railways and roads. Germans entered Sosnitsya on September 8, 1941. The first mass shooting happened on September 12th.

The whole Jewish population of Sosnitsya was destroyed in 3 “actions” in November 10 (66 Jews), November 16th, 1941 (100 Jews) and March 10, 1942 (100 Jews).

The Jewish community of Sosnytsia district was completely destroyed during the Holocaust. In total, over 300 Jewish residents were shot.

We know the names of only 269 Jews killed in Sosnitsya and Sosnitsya district and 38 names of soldiers who were killed during WWII. You can find both lists here (in Russian).

Other names are still unknown…

After the war some Jews returned to Sosnitsya.

The Jewish community was registered in Sosnitsya in 1996. At the time 20 Jews were living there.

In the Summer 2009 students of University of Dortmund (USA) led by Professor Alice Rollet installed metal fence around the Jewish cemetery in Sosnitsa and around Holocaust graves.

In Autumn 2009 the family of the head of the Jewish community, Yakov Zalesskiy, erected a monument in Masalaevka village to a Jewish woman who was killed there together with her 4 year old children during the war.

In 2008 6 Jews live in Sosnitsya.

Geneology

Famous Jews from Sosnitsya

Yakov Blumkin

Yakov Grigoryevich Blumkin (1898, Sosnitsya – 3 November 1929) a Leftist Socialist-Revolutionary, assassin, Bolshevik and an agent of Cheka and State Political Directorate (GPU).

Holocaust mass graves

All Nazi murders took place at a ravine near Viunishe village. At this site, four monuments have been erected in memory of the victims:

- A common monument to all civilians killed during occupation from 1941-1943 is situated on the top of the hill and includes a list of 873 people. Some of the names are Jewish.

- Three monuments on the separate sites of each “action” November 10, 1941 , November 16, 1941 and March 10, 1942.

According to photos taken by, Jewish genealogist, Miriam Weiner, at the beginning of 1990′s there was only one memorial plaque with Star of David with a small inscription dedicated to those killed in the November 16, 1941 action.

In the beginning of 2000′s Jews expats from Sosnitsya collected money and constructed first monument. The construction of the two other monuments was funded by Chernigov based Russian businessman, Viktor Mironov.

Jewish cemetery

Go along Chernihivs’ka Str., turn at the building number 76, the cemetery is located behind the house 72.

There are two fences on the three sides: a wooden and iron one. The latter bears the Stars of David.

Korop is a historic town located in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine and is the center of the Korop district. Korop is located on the Desna River. The town’s estimated population is 5,600 (as of 2005).

Korop became a part of Russia Empire in 1667, since 1796 it was a shtetl of Krolevets Yezd of Malorossia Gubernia and further Chernigov Gubernia.

In 1862, there were 218 Jews living in Korop with the community growing to over a thousand by 1920 although this figure dropped slightly in the subsequent decade with a Jewish population of 787 in 1926, accounting for some 12% of all Korop residents.

In the late 18th century, Korop was the centre of the tanning industry in the region, an industry which largely employed Jewish workers. Of the 119 trade enterprises in Korop, over half were owned by Jews.

In 1862, there was a wooden synagogue in the town and by 1886, also one made of stone. From 1894, the rabbi in Korop was Jacob-Joel Sorkin (1850 -?).

The business directory of 1903 lists few names of Jewish entrepreneurs from Korop:
Grocery stores: Korabelnikov Aaron Zalmanovich and Mitelman Motiy Shlemovich
Haberdashery: Zaitsev Mordehai Berkovich and Khotimskiy Nohim Nisonovich
Fish and kerosine: Ratner Sim. Evseevich
Leather: Rogovaya Chernya Leibovna
Household goods: Volovich Leya Pinhusovna, Polunovkiy Uda Mordkovich and Urevetskiy Vulf Abramovich

Building of the synagogue in Korop

In 1910, there were two synagogues and Jewish cemetery. In 1912, a Jewish loan and saving society operated in Korop.

On the 10th and 18th of November 1917, pogroms took place in the town.

In 1918, the retreating Austro-German troops led a pogrom in Korop, during which Jewish homes and shops were looted. Pogroms again occurred during Civil War in October-November 1919 led by Denikin’s gang.

According to the 1939 census 350 Jews lived in Korop. Small communities also existed in the villages, Ponornitsa and Vyshenka.

Holocaust

Korop was captured by Nazi troops on August 28, 1941.
A detachment of local police, led by its commandant Cmdr. Shilo, led a number of killings in the villages of the district. The first victims were the Jews of Vyshenka whom were taken to the village of Rybotin to be shot on September 5th 1941.

Memorial: Obelisk in a forest near Budenovsk village where were 2 Jewish teachers were killed (together with their children).

The first mass killing was held in late November 1941 in Ponornitse by division of Korop police. All the Jews were herded into the basement of the village’s communication. The police then proceeded to hurl grenades into the basement. A total 26 people were killed. On the second day the bodies were loaded on wagons, taken in the tract Solotopka to be buried there. At this same place local Communist party members were also killed, making the total amount of victims shot at Solotopka stand at around 127 people.
On February 9th, 1942, the local Ukrainian police shot all the remaining Jews of Korop, a total of 174 people, in the local woods. At the very same time on February 8th several people were killed in the villages of Obolonie and Gorodishe. On February 13th, Jews were also killed in the villages and Budenovka and Karilskoe.

Grave of 26 Ponortitsa Jews killed in 1941

On April 11th, 1942, the last Jew of the Korop (a dentist) was killed.
Jews of Vyshenka village have lived up to November 3, 1942 when they were shot in Zhernovskiy forest.

The location of the mass execution sites in Obolonie and Zhernovka villages has been lost to history.

Korop was liberated by Red Army in May 9, 1943.

We know names of only 230 civilian Jews killed in Korop (179 people) and Korop district (27 Jews from Ponornitsa and 24 people from another villages) and 24 names of soldiers whom were killed in the Second World War. You can find both lists here (in Russian).
Other names are still unknown…

After the war many Jews returned from Red Army and evacuation.

Famous Jews from Korop

Grigory Markovich Korabelnykov (1904 – ?), russian literary critic.

Geneology

Jewish Cemetery

The cemetery was founded in the first half of the 19th century and almost totally demolished during WWII. The only remaining pre-war gravestone is that of 1911, with the following inscription:
“Here buried is our dear son and brother, Yakov Moiseevich Ilyin, who died on April 7, 1911 at the age of 20. May your soul rest in peace”.

The cemetery is located in the north-east of the settlement in Zavods’ka Street, near an agricultural factory. There are only 35 gravestones.

Information was taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

Holocaust mass grave

At this site local police killed 174 Jews in February 9, 1942.

The mass grave is located in the north-eastern part of the settlement, along the Korop – Krolivets’ road, 300m from the road, in the woods. 200m from the road sign “Korop”.

Prior to 1989, there was a tombstone made of brick. In 1990, a concrete monument in the form of the stele was erected.
There is a rectangular granite stele with an inscription: «To the civilians, shot by the fascists in 1942. From the employees of Korop cheese factory” which was installed here in 2006.

Information was taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

Most of information obtained for this article was presented by Oksana Tolkachova from the Korukovka historical museum.

Korukovka is a historic city located in Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, and is the center of Korukovka district. It was founded in 1657. Korukovka is located on the Brech River, a tributary of the Snov. The city’s estimated population is 14,805 (as of 2005).

In XIX – beginning of XX century it belonged to Sosnitsya Yezd of Chernigov Gubernia.

Judging by what we know of Jewish settlement in Sosnitsya Yezd, we can surmise that Jews first appeared in Korukovka at the beginning of XIX century.

In 1887 the local sugar factory was bought by Lazar Brodskiy. Brodskiy was famous for his philanthropy. In 1896 he funded the construction of a school and from 1902-1904 a hospital as well as housing for the workers of his factory.

Building of Brodskiy Hospital 1902

Jews lived in different areas of Korukovka but most of them were concentrated on Sovetskaya Str. In the beginning of XX century there were approximately 22 Jewsih families (Aptermani, Haykіni, Bulavіni, Tumarkіni, Grachova, Merhelі, Ochkovskі, Radіchі and others)

The Business directory of 1903 lists the names of several Jewish enterpneurs from Korukovka:
Grocery stores: Levyant Moses Meirov., Simhovich Evsey Haim., Margolin Shlema David. from Kholmy

Progroms occurred in Korukovka between 23 and 30 of October 1905. Several Jewish businesses were vandalized.

In the 1920’s the shoyhet of Korukovka was the Lubavitcher hasid Labnovsky. Labnovsky helped in the repair of the mikvah which was given to Korukovka by Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (sixth Chabad Rebb).

At the end of the 1920’s a collective farm was established in the Korukovka region. The farm named, “Krasniy Plugar” , was headed by Moisha Khaikin.

According the 1939 census 475 Jews lived in Korukovka. Small communities were preserved in the villages of Kholmy and Kozilovka. Single family lived in some villages of the district.

Holocaust

Monument in the forest near village Kholmy of Korukovka district. At this place 132 civilians of former Holminsk district were shot. Here in November 29, 1941 and in January 12, 1942 more than 50 jews of Holmy village were shot. The monument was re erected in 2005.

On September 7th, 1941 Korukovka was occupied by the Wehrmacht. For the town’s residents evacuation was impossible due to lack of road and rail links. Most Jews stayed in the occupied territory.

The first mass execution of Jews was held in the Kholmy village on November 29th, 1941. Later on January 12th, 1941 Jews from different localities were executed at Kholmy. The total number of dead exceeded 50.

In Koryukovka the sequential destruction of the Jews began in November 1941. It was during this time that the Germans started to experiment with new forms of killing, most notably through the use gas vans. The victims were promised safe passage and resettlement in Chernigov city. On the way the detainees would die from poisoning by exhaust fumes of the vehicle. The bodies were not transported to Chernigov but instead buried somewhere in the woods. The location of the mass grave from this particular killing remains unknown.

In December, on the shore of the lake in the center of Korukovka 250 people were executed among them 90 Jews.

 In January 1942, 130 Jews were shot in nearby forest. Those who managed to escape, were spotted and killed in different parts of the city.

At this place in January and February 1942 300 Communist party members and partisan family members were shot. Among them were 130 Jews. Monument was rebuilt in 2005.

All population of Korukovka was eliminated during Korukovka massacre on March 1–2, 1943. During these days the city was completely burned, and its inhabitants killed. Among the dead were 50 remaining Jews.

Monument to the victims of Korukovka massacre in the city center

On the basis of archival documents and other sources, it can be assumed that in Koryukovskaya area for the period of occupation shot, drowned, strangled and burned at least 350 Jews.

We know names of only 229 civilian Jews killed in Korukovka and Korukovka district and 41 names of soldiers who were killed during WWII. You can find both lists here (in Russian).

Other names are still unknown…

In November 2012 local authorities exhumed  one of the mass graves in Koriukivka. Eight Jews were found among the 250 bodies, (5 men and 3 women).

Among the residents of Korukova were several people whom would later be awarded the Righteous Among the Nations award for saving Jews: Mikhail Yurchenko and his wife (posthumously), Ananenko Anna and her daughter Theodosia Tovstonoh, Kyril and Dariya Opanasenko.

Monument in the Korukovka center on the bank of wetland pond. At this place in December 1941, were shot 250 civilians, among them were 90 Jews.

We also know the names of several Jews who fought in partisan detachments around Korukovka district: Aaron and Evdokia Tumarkiny, Matvey Krichevsky, Sofia Yakubovich, Vera Ostynenko, Gregory Byhovsky, Boris Hyskin, Abraham Ohman, Yakov Pavlovsky, Goldin and others.

Korykovka was liberated by Red Army in September 19, 1943.

After the war many Jews returned from Red Army and evacuation.

Famous Jews from Korukovka

Zinoviy Vilenskiy (1899-1984)

Zinovy (Zalman) Moiseevich Vilensky (1899-1984) was a Russian sculptor worked and lived in Moscow. Famous for his monumental portraits exhibited at landmarks of Russia such as Moscow, Tretyakov Gallery and many others. He was awarded Stalin Prize in 1948, Became a corresponding member of USSR Academy of Arts and got two People’s Artist of USSR awards in 1969 and 1980.

Geneology

Synagogue

The synagogue in Korukovka was constructed in second half of the XIX century.

In Soviet times building was converted into a library, during the German occupation it was a creamery. Now it is the building for the  “Society for the Defense of Ukraine”.

Korukovka synagogue building

The synagogue was damaged very badly during the Russian civil war. Because of this Jews began to hold their religious services at a home on Bukhanov street (the street does exist). The building was burned to the ground on March 1, 1943.

Репки – Repki (Russian), Ріпки (Ukrainian)

Repki is a historic town located in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine and the center of Repki district. The city’s estimated population is 7,458 (as of 2011).

Before the Revolution Repky was a mestechko of Gorodnta Uezd, Chernigov guberniya.

In 1873, there was a synagogue in Ripky. According to the 1897 census, the total population stood at 3,336, including 3,049 Jews.

The business directory of 1903 lists few names of Jewish entrepreneurs in Repky:
Grocery stores: Aleksandrov Hatsk. Gersh., Glukhovskiy Israil Avram.
Haberdashery: Zhezmer Mih. Zalm.

In 1905, pogroms took place in the town following the Manifesto of October 18.

The town Rabbi  in the beginning of XX century was Shneur-Zalman Schneerson (? – 1928).

In 1912, a Jewish loans and savings society operated. In 1914, Jews owned both groceries, all three specialist stores and four drapery shops in Ripky.

There were a number of pogroms during the Civil War.

In 1919, 150 Jews were killed and in February 1921, there was a wave of pogroms and organized by Ataman Galaka’s gangs when most of the Jewish population was eliminated.

Atrocities of these tragic events described in book of local historian Anatoliy Zhiglovskiy “Galakovshina:Myths and Reality”. You can download it here or here(in Russian).

Another pogrom took place after units of S.N.Bulak-Balakhovich’s troops entered Ripky, during which 102 Jews were killed.

As a result of the pogroms, the Jewish population – once the majority of the town – had been reduced to just 26% of the total population by 1923.

Metal obelisk on the railway station Gornostaevka. There were killed Jews of Dobryanka.

Before the war, according to the 1939 census, 450 Jews lived in Repky district, mostly in Dobryanka, Radulov and Repki (79 persons).

Till August 30, 1941 the whole district’s territory was occupied by German troops. Establishing a new order, the occupants began to exterminate the Jewish population. The first mass killing happened in October 23, 1941 on railway station Gornostaevka, where 20 people were killed. Next massacre was here in November 13, 1941 when 20 Jews were killed.

In November 1941 15 Jews from Radul village of Repky district were murdered.

Through November and December the Germans carried out the systematic extremination of individual Jewish families living in the outskirts of Repky. In November 1941 and January 1942, there were mass killings of Poddobryanka Jews.

Grave in the center of Repki. Rremains of killed Jews were reburied here after the war.

According to eyewitnesses in 15 Jews were killed in Radulov, 30 in Repky, 40 in Gornostaevka and 204 in Dobryanka. The death toll for all of Repky district amounted to 295 Jews.

In total we know the names of 285 Jews: 177 from Dobryanka, 34 from Gornostaevka and 46 Jews from other settlements. Included in this number are Jewish Soldiers of the Red Army. All 4 lists you can find here (in Russian).

Monuments were erected at the mass killing sites in Gornostaevka and Poddobryanka. We are still unsure of the location of the Radulov site.

Repky was liberated by Red Army in September 26, 1943.

As of 2014, only 1 Jew resides in Repky district.

Famous Jews from Repki

Arkady Yakovlevich Leikin (1936-2005), soviet historian.

Geneology

In Chernigov State Archiv store next Repky’s records:
Fond/Opis/Delo: 679/10/1244,1252 – birth records for 1875-1876;1879-1883
Fond/Opis/Delo: 679/10/1246 – death records for 1875

Holocaust victims grave

Jews of Repky were killed in January 1942. After the war their remains were reburied in the central city.

Monument in the center of Repki

Mena (Polish), Myena (German), Мена (Ukrainian), Мена – Mena (Russian)

Mena is a historic town located in Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, center of Mena district. The city’s estimated population is 12,900 (as of 2005).

Mena became a part of Russia Empire in 1667, in XIX – beginning of XX century it was center of Mena Yezd of Chernigov Gubernia.

Records from the early 19th century describe the general population in Mena at around 6,000 people. The Jewish population of this time is not mentioned but reference is made to the existence of a synagogue and another Jewish house of worship. According to the 1897 census, 6,277 people lived in Mena, more than a quarter of whom were Jews.

The main activities of the Jewish population in the 19th and early 20th centuries were in trade and crafts. In 1902, the rabbi in Mena was Itshok- Isaac Lurvin (1865 -?) and in 1904-06, Shneur-Zalman Ginzburg (1876 -?).

The business directory of 1903 lists few names of Jewish entrepreneurs from Mena:
Bank: Elyashberg Evsey Vulf.
Factory: Zak Mordehai Girsh.
Drugstore: Lihterman Yacob Mordk.
Grocery stores: Gelberg Yankel Kalm., Levyant Nahim Leib.,
Tin: Gordinova Minya Zalm., Rahmilevich Simha Hatzk.,
Haberdashery: Narinskiy Manya Mois.,
Fish and kerosine: Ratnet Sim. Evs.
Tobacco: Ufa Moses Leib., Futer Mord. Dav.,Shtein Isaak Shloim., Goldshtein Ezra Aaron., Elyashberg Evsey Vulf.
Grain: Faitelson Lipm. Yank.

In 1914, the Jews owned a pharmaceutical warehouse, an inn, 31 stores, including all four of the town’s groceries, all five of the manufacturing shops and both tanneries.

In 1925, natives of Mena founded Jewish agricultural collectives in the Kherson region; “Put’ Ilyicha” (the Path of Lenin) with 87 colonists, and “Arbeth” with 73. In the 1920’s, the rabbi in the town was Yisroel Medvedev.

There were 1,321 Jews (18,2%) living in Mena in 1926.

According to the 1939 census 586 Jews lived in Mena and the surrounding region. Small communities were existed in villages Berezna , Blistova and Makoshino.

Before WWII the gabay was Oges Yakov Aronovich , Rabbi – Shmul(was killed by the Nazis).

Holocaust

Monument on the territory of the monastery in village Dominitsy of Menskiy district where were shot 34 children from the local orphanage.

At the war’s outbreak, many Jewish families found a way to evacuate to the east of the country. The main evacuation routes were railroads and water transport by the river Desna towards Bryansk. Those who remained in the city either had not been able to take a long journey or had been convinced of the “civilized” behavior of German soldiers. Nazi occupied Mena in Septembber 8, 1941.

On October 15, 1941, the Nazi units and local policemen shot 124 Jews (according to other sources, 31 Jews) at the local Jewish cemetery. The mass killing continued throughout November and December.

On November 29, 1941 near railway bridge on the Desna River in Makoshino  50 local Jews were killed.

On December 15, 1941 on the territory of the monastery in village Dominitsy of Menskiy district The Germans shot and killed 34 children from the local orphanage. Among the dead were five Jewish boys and girls.

On December 20, 1941 in Mena all  Jews of the village of Blistavy were executed.

The last mass shooting that occurred in Mena was held February 2, 1942 in an open field near the road to the village, Kukuvichi.

Almost two years later, the Germans found the local school teacher, Halyavko Seraphima, and shot her in the village of Berezna with her three children, aged 3 to 8.

Monument in the Makoshino school’s yard where in February 7, 1943 were killed 28 people, among them were 9 last local Jews

Of the dead we know the names of only 198 Jewish civilians who were killed in Mena’s Jewish cemetery, 45 of the names of Jews killed in Makoshino, 36 of Berezna, and 25 names of Jews which were killed in other locations. Altogether this accounts for only 30% of the total victims. 106 Jewish soldiers from Mena were killed at the front.

You can find these lists here (in Russian). In Mena Jews compose 88% of all killed civilians during WWII, Makoshino – 40%.

After the war many Jews returned from Red Army and evacuation. Old Jews continue to follow religious rules. Gabay was Aaron Gilyevich Lifshitz, shochet was Mones Tzaddik Dershteyn.

. Jewish Community was officialy registered in 1995-1996 in only. First chairman was Vladimir Berman. Now Head of cCommunity is Ludmila Pavlovna Berman.

Geneology

Famous Jews from Mena

Hava Vladimirovna Volovich (1916–2000), was a Russian writer, actress, director and a Gulag survivor. Hava Volovich is known for her Memoirs, that are extremely valuable both historically and literary. Her notes from the prison-camp are being compared to Shalamov’s stories and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anna Frank.

Abram Davidovich Agranovskii (1896-1951), journalist.

Gersh Ezrovich Goldstein (1886-1938, Kazan), statesman, one of the OZET leader,

Moses Zevi (1909-?), ophthalmologist, MD, from 1921 – in Finland, author of scientific researches in ophthalmology.

Holocaust mass grave

In Mena located 2 Holocaust burial:

– on the local Jewish cemetery

– near the road to village Kukovichi

On this place in December 20, 1941 were killed Jews of village Blistava (20 persons). Also on this place in February 2, 1942 were killed last Jews of Mena (about 50 people)

Cemetery

The cemetery is located along Shevchenko Street, near house № 47, there is a turn towards 8th of March Street. Half of the fence is made of iron, the rest is wooden. There is located one grave of Civil war pogrom victim.

Horodna (Polish), Городня (Ukrainian), Городня – Gorodnia (Russian)

Gorodnya is a historic town (since 1957) located in Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, center of Gorodnya district. Gorodnya is located on the Chibrizh River. The city’s estimated population is 12,766 (as of 2011).

Gorodnya became a part of Russia Empire in 1667, in XIX – beginning of XX century it was center of Gorodnya Yezd of Chernigov Gubernia.

In 1764, more than 300 Jews lived in Horodnia, mostly artisans and merchants.

A Jewish burial society existed in Horodnia in 1845. According archival documents a synagogue was erected in the city in 1863.

From 1878-1900 the spiritual Rabbi was Shmuel Lerner.

Official Rabbi:
1861 – Simon Rabinovich
02.1883 – ? Ruvim Gilelevich Tartakovskiy
1885 – 1887 Ruvim Gilelevich Tartakovskiy
1888 – 07.1890 Moses Markovich Sokolovskiy
08.1890-1894 Aaron Shmerkovich Lisicyn (1840-?)
03.1894 09.1894 Aizik Moiseevich Dimentman
09.1894-1897 Dashoshevskiy Iosel Abramovich
10.1897 – ? Morduh Borisovich Feigin (1871 – ?)
06.1911 – 1907 Itzhak Zalmanovich Shneerson (1879, Kamenets-Podolskiy – 1969, Paris)
07.1911 – 1917 Nahim-Gershon Yankelevich Berlin

In February 15, 1905 members of the Bund participated in the anti-tsarist revolt. In October 1905, attempts at pogroms took place but were stopped by Jewish self-defence units.

In the beginning of XX century David Bukhdruker was appointed chairman of the burial society – Nevelev, shochet – Abram Runin.

Pre-Revolution photo:

There were 2 synagogues in 1910, one wooden and one stone (these were built in the end of XVIII – beginning of XIX century), 2 Jewish cemeteries also existed.

In 1912 there was a Jewish savings and loan association.

In 1918 soldiers from the directorate (Petlura) carried out a pogrom that killed two Jews in Gorodnya. Between 1918 and 1920 several additional waves of pogroms staged by various armed groups forced Jews to leave the town.

In the 1920s, the gangs of ataman Galaka committed pogroms in the villages of the district.

In 1921, due to activity of temporary Jewish self-defence units local Jews managed to prevent pogroms in Gorodnya.

Most Jews in Gorodnya were artisans or merchants (until private commerce was forbidden by the Soviet authorities at the beginning of the 1930s); others worked at Gorodnya’s porcelain factory.

The number of Jews in the town was 731 in 1939, when they comprised 8 percent of the town’s total population.  Small communities existed in villages Solonovka, Ivashkovka and Makishin.

Holocaust

Gorodnya was occupied by German troops on August 28, 1941. By this time many Jewish families had already managed to leave. The remaining Jews were required to register with the German authorities, who ordered the Jews to wear a white arm band with a yellow star and recruited them for forced labor. In September 1941 21 Jews were shot by Sonderkommando 7b in the Gorodnya area and in October 24 there was a mass shooting of Jews near the village of Aleshinskoye when 49 people were killed. Some Jews from Gorodnya were shot by Germans in early November 1941; the location  unknown.

Monument on the Holocaust mass grave near khutor Aleshkinskoe

In November 25, 1941 the last Jews of the village of Solonovka were killed.

In mid-December 1941 Jews in Gorodnya were forced to live on a single street in the town. A few days later they were arrested and imprisoned by Ukrainian police and Hungarian soldiers. On December 20, 1941 at least 82 Jewish women and children were murdered in the yard of Gorodnya Prison No. 4 by a German murder squad with the assistance of Hungarian soldiers and Ukrainian policemen. First the women, then the children were shot in small groups in a particularly brutal manner.

In the beginning of 1941 Jews of village Makishin were deported to Chernigov and killed.

According to different sources (Archivs and local historian’s research) on the territory of Gorodnya district 203 Jews were killed, we know names of only 150 persons. Also we know of 73 names of soldiers which were killed during WWII. Both lists you can find here.

Gorodnya was liberated by the Red Army on September 24, 1943.

After the war Jews returned in Gorodnya. In 1948 were was an illegal minyan.

Jewish community was registered in middle of 1990’s. First Community Chairman was Azbel Iosef Davidovich (deceased), second – Matvei Leonovich Tsadikovich (deceased), third – Lubov Borisovna Krutik (immigrated).

As of 2014 only 10 Jews live in Horodya.

Famous Jew from Gorodnya

Serebryaniy Joseph Aleksandrovich (1907, Gorodnia – 1979, Leningrad) – Soviet painter, member of the Leningrad Union of Artists.

Yufa Joseph Semenovich  (1915, Gorodnia-1974, Moscow) – Chief of Army Operations Group Guards mortar units of the 38th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, Guards colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union.

Holocaust mass graves

- Old prison

Monument located at Lenin Steet, near the old prison building. There is a marble plate on the stone memorial about 50 cm high. “Here lie buried 78 residents of the town of Horodnia, who were killed by the German fascist invaders in the years 1941-1945”.

- khutor Aleshkinskoe

Monument is located on the northern outskirts of khutor Aleshkinskoe, 5 km to the centre of Horodnia. At this place in October 24, 1941 were killed 49 Jews.

Information was taken from pages Lo-Tishkah web site here and here.

Jewish cemetery

Cemetery was established in first half of the 19th century. It is located on the southern outskirts of the town in Chernousa Street, on the right of the Horodnia – Chernihiv road.

The cemetery is partly surrounded with an old wooden fence. The rest of the territory is separated with trees and bushes.

Date of the oldest known gravestone is 1932. Current Size & Measurement Unit:  21,600 meters

At the cemetery there is a mass grave of pogrom victims from the nearby villages of Ivashkovka, Tupichev and Khripovka killed by White soldiers in 1920. The Whites were prevented from entering Horodnia itself by self-defense units of Jewish and Russian youth.

Iosef Davidovich Asbel (1924-2000) cleaned up and took care of this cemetery. After his death Nelya Havko performed same duty.

Information taken from Lo-Tishkach web-site and gorodnya.net

Oster (German), Ostor (Yiddish), Ostr (Polish), Остер (Ukrainian), Остер – Oster (Russian), Старогородка – Starogorodka (Old Name)

Oster is a historic town located in Kozelets district of Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine. Kozelets is located on the Desna River. The city’s estimated population is 6335 (as of 2011).

Oster became a part of the Russian Empire in 1667, in XIX – beginning of XX century it was center of Oster Yezd of Chernigov Gubernia.

Jews have lived in Oster since the 18th century.

In 1862, there was a wooden synagogue in Oster; in 1867 – two synagogues; in 1886 – four synagogues, of which two were of stone and two of wood.

The business directory of 1903 lists few names of Jewish entrepreneurs in Oster:
Grocery stores: Kopelev Mordko Moiseevich
Haberdashery: Lipnitskiy Berko Abramovich, Galperin Pinhus Yank., Galperin Risa Boris., Galperin Sam. Udk., Galperin Shlema Udk.
Tin: Brusilovskiy Nison Gersh., Mirenskiy Avr. Boruh., Hizhnaya A. Abr.
Timber store: Zabolotniy Moses Nikit.
Flour: Levin Ios. Yank.
Tableware: Freidin Shapsh. Leiz.

Pogrom happened in Oster in 1905.

From 1910, a Jewish cemetery operated. In 1913, Jews owned a warehouse of pharmacy products, the only hotel, the only inn, over 50 shops and stores in Oster (including 11 selling manufactured goods, all six specialist stores, and all nine grain suppliers). Most Jews lived in North-Western part of city.

In 1923, the towns spiritual leader, Rabbi Girzel was arrested.
A notable decrease in the number of Jews took place within the 20 years between the Civil War and World War II, for various reasons, but mainly because of the impoverishment of the Jewish population after the pogroms of 1919-1920. Thus many Jews had to move to larger cities and many assimilated.

Holocaust

On September 9, 1941, the Red Army retreated from Oster and on October 29, a detachment of Sonderkommando 4a shot 215 Jews, partisans and communists in the town. On November 7, 1941 another took place with 30 Jews and partisans killed. Both massacres took place on abandoned airfield.
During the war, 17% of the district population were killed. 83% of the total number of victims were Jews.

We know names of only 274 civilian Jews killed in Oster and 40 names of soldiers which were killed during WWII. You can find both lists here (in Russian).
Other names are still unknown…

The remains of Holocaust victims were reburied in March 1946 to a common grave in Jewish cemetery. The airfield overgrown forest and no mark on this tragedy exist there.

Airfield nowadays

After the war many Jews returned to city.

In 2014 Head of community was Dosya Abramovna Mihno. Only ~ 10 Jews lives in Oster.

Geneology

Famous Jews from Oster

Mikhail Borisovich Partashnikov (1897-1952), a physician.

Jewish cemetery

Cemetery situated near the bus station.

Notable Natives Of The Local Jewish Community: David Chaimovich Shapiro, a tzaddik.
Date of the oldest known gravestone is 1926.
The cemetery is under the care of the deputy director of the Oster construction and design college, Viktor Emilyanovich Kulik, Mikhno Yevdokiya Abramovna and the students of the college.

Information taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

Holocaust mass grave

The mass grave is located in front of the entrance to the Jewish cemetery on Lenina St. There is a memorial at the site.

The rectangular memorial is made of stone, it bears a marble plate: “Here lie buried are the soldiers of the Soviet Army and the citizens of Oster, brutally killed by the German t invaders in 1941.”

Information taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

Varshilovka (Yiddish), Vorosilovka (Dutch), Woroszylowka (Polish), Ворошилівка (Ukrainian), Ворошиловка – Voroshilovka (Russian)

Voroshilovka is a village located in Tivrov district of Vinnitsya region. It is located on the South Bug River. The village’s estimated population is 1247 (as of 2001). Voroshilovka is approx. 32 km from Vinnitsya and in 280 km from Kiev.

Before the Revolution it was a shtetl of Tivrov volost, Vinnitsky yezd, Podol guberniya.

This article was insipred by the writings of Michael Charnofsky who emigrated from Voroshilovka before World War I and wrote this charming book in 1960s.

Michael Charnofsky book

The hard economic and political condition of this small Podolian Jewish shtetl in the beginning of XX century are described here very thoroughly. You can download it by this link.

Beginning

Taking in account Jewish history of Podolia we can assume that Jews appeared in Voroshilovka at the end of XVI – beginning of XVII century.

During Khmelnitskiy uprising the region became a fierce battleground of between the armies the Polish Commonwealth and The Cossack Hetmanate. Jews in the Podolia region suffered heavily during this period.

The first statistics regarding the Jewish population of Voroshilovka appear in 1765. The records indicated that Voroshilovka’s Jewish population numbered at 116.

Сhevra kadisha appeared in Voroshilovka at the begining of XIX century. The local synagogue housed the old Pinkas but it is unknown what happened to this valuable book in XX century.

Michael Charnofsky described Voroshilovka in his book:

Also Michael’s were placed short description of next families (for some families used street’s nicknames instead of real surnames):

The Jewish Encyclopedia published by Brockhaus and Efron in Saint Petersburg, mentions a legend about the 200-year-old wooden synagogue in Voroshilovka. According to the legend the synagogue was visited by the Baal Shem Tov who asked G-d to guard the building from water and fire. When Voroshilovka was later nearly completely destroyed by fire didn’t the synagogue remained standing because crows and pigeons surrounded the building and protect it.

Ruins of Jewish inn in the center of Voroshilovka

Quotation from Michael Charnofsky’s book about Jewish emmigration to USA:

On the eve of the Revolution, Voroshilovka had up to 150 Jewish children enrolled in its cheders.

At the beginning of XX century the Jewish community collected 2300 rubles of local taxes per year but could use only small part of it.

Voroshilovka enterpreneurs list from Russian Empire Business Directories by 1913 :

According to the list over 95% of shops and enterprises in Voroshilovka belonged to Jews. The only doctor in shtetl was Mordko Ioselevich Kendel. Jews owned most shops, a drugstore and three inns.

Before the Revolution Voroshiloka had two synagogues.

Michael Charnofsky described these small episodes of Jewish life in Voroshilovka in first years of XX century:

During the Russian civil war Voroshilovka’s Jewish population heavily suffer from pogroms perpetrated by various roaming bands. I have found one reference to an incident in 1919 when Petlura troops killed several Jews.

Most Jews left Voroshilovka due to the end of NEP (New Economic Policy) and start of collectivization in the end of 1920’s. During the course of this time the shtetl demographics started to change becoming more and more a Ukrainian village.

Holocaust

Voroshilovka was occupied on June 17, 1941 and was split into two parts with the border on the South Bug river. Left-bank of the village belonged to German “Reichskommissariat Ukraine” and right-bank belonged to the Romanians “Transnistria” where the ghetto was created.

According to memoirs of Fira Stukelman from Brooklyn who survived in Voroshilovka ghetto, in 1942 part of the Jewish population was transfered to Bershad. In the Bershad ghetto about 10.000 Jews survived and 13,000 perished.

In 1942-44 Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina were resettled in Voroshilovka.

Due to the grueling conditions many Jews would die of starvation. In local Jewish cometary there is a  mass grave which was created in the winter 1942.

Synagogue in the center of Voroshilovka

According statistics from the Vinnitza State Archives, by September 1^st, 1943 in the Voroshilovka ghetto housed 278 Jews.

Unfortunately I haven’t found any more details in regards to the Holocaust period. Yad-Vashem database stores up to 100 names of Jews who perished in Voroshilovka.

Voroshilovka was liberated by the Red Army for the first on January 10th, 1944 however the Soviets were pushed back by a German counter-offensive. The village was liberated again for the final time on March 15^th, 1944.

I haven’t found any information about the Jewish population after WWII. The Last gravestone in local jewish cemetery was dated from the 1990s. It can be assumed that last Jews of Voroshilovka emigrated or died around this time.

Geneology

The Vinnitsa State archives store numerous documents related to Jewish life in Voroshilovka. I have compiled a list with detailed information below (from Miriam Wainer website).

Unfortunately some valuable documents were destroyed by a fire at the Kamenets-Podolskiy Archive in 2003. Among them were several files related to Voroshilovka: birth records for 1850 and 1863, census for 1811, 1834 and 1896, death lists for 1863-1864, shop owners for 1867, marriages for 1864-1866 and voter lists for 1898.

Syangogue

Building of one synagogue still exist in Voroshilovka. It is using as a private building.

Synagogue in Voroshilovka

Jewish cemetery

Cemetery locates on south-west outskirts of the settlement. According to dates on gravestones it was founded in XIX century.

Ruins of Сhevra kadisha building still standing in the cememtery. Memorial table with inscription on Hebrew locates on one of the wall. It can be translated as:
“This building was build for the cost of Aizik Granavsky in the memory of his wife Ester-Lea, daughter of Eliahu. Build in 5675 (1915-1916)”.

The mass grave is located at the Jewish cemetery. According to my assumption it as a grave of Jews who died or were killed in ghetto during terrable winter 1942.

Location: Schorsa Street

Шепетівка (Ukrainian), Шепетовка – Shepetovka (Russian), שעפּעטיווקע (Yiddish), Szepetówka (Polish), Schepetowka (German),  another pronunciations – Shchepetovka, Schepetiwka, Szepietowka, Sepitivka, Shepetifke

Shepetovka is a city located in the Khmelnitskiy region. It is located on the Rivers Guska and Kosetska. The city’s estimated population is 43 661 (as of 2010). Shepetovka is approx. 100 km from Khmelnitskiy and in 270 km from Kiev.

The first mention of Shepetivka appears in Polish sources dating from 1594. It was given Magdeburg Rights at the end of the XVI century. We can assume that the first Jewish community of Shepetivka, was destroyed along with Polish population during The Khmelnitskiy Uprising of 1649.

Following the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the city became a part of the Russian Empire.

Before the Revolution it was a shtetl of Izyaslav yezd, Volyn guberniya.

View of Shepetovka on postcard, 1902. Synagogue is a tall white building.

Beginning

We can assume that Jews appeared in Shepetovka at the end of the XV century. The town was taken by Cossacks during Khmelnytsky uprising  in June 1648. We can suppose that the Jewish community was exterminated by Cossaks at this time. (you already mentioned this earlier)

Jews appear in Shepetovka again in the XVIII century.ation in the U.S. fund

A cheder in Shepetovka. Picture courtesy of The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries Shepetovka was a Hasidic center, particularly in the time of Rabbi Pinhas Shapiro of Korets (1726-1791).  Rabbi Pinkhas was a successor of the founder of Chassidism, Israel Ba’al Shem Tov.

According to revision by 1846 in Shepetovka lived 1042 Jews.

In 1897 its 3,880 Jews comprised approximately 48 percent of the total population.

A private Jewish secondary school and a relief society “Misgov Le-Doh” were mentioned in historical sources dating from 1910.

Before the revolution Shepetovka housed 7 synagogues and 4 cheders for children.

Shepetovka enterpreneurs list from Russian Empire Business Directories by 1903 (16 Jewish names) and 1913 (104 Jewish names):

In 1912 An-sky etnographic expedition visited Shepetovka andtook next photos:

Yacob Kryzhak was official rabbi here in 1913.

After Revolution

Under Soviet rule a number of Jews in the town continued to work in their professions as artisans while others formed trade cooperatives or worked at state-owned enterprises, such as the local sugar and bread factories. A 7-year Yiddish school operated in the town.

This report I find on JDC website where was descibed a total state of Jewish population after Revolution:

REPORT ON SHEPETOVKA VOLYN GUBERNIA

Shepetovka is a large town on the Polish Border. Before the war the inhabitants totalled 15,000 persons, but now there are 20,000.

Like most of the towns in the Gubernia of Volhyn, Shepsbovka did not escape from any pogroms. These were as follows: Spring, 1919 (Petlura’s Troops) 5 wounded, 6 killed, 4 violated; May, 1919 (Disorganized Insurgents) 15 wounded, 6 women violated.

During the first pogrom the entire Jewish population, without exception, was robbed, all movable property in Jewish houses being sent to other districts. About 100 families suffered from the pogroms. There are about 30 widows, 40 full orphans, 70 half orphans and 20 invalids.

A group of Zionist from Shepetovka who came to Lvov on their way to Palestine 1920

Shepetovka has about 100 families of refugees from surrounding villages and from the towns of Podolsk, Kiev, Ekaterinoslav and Kherson Gubemias, who fled from pogroms, hunger and disease. The majority of the refugees who are workers are unemployed handicraftsmen.

At one time Shepetovka, was an important commercial center. It had a sugar refinery which gave earnings to 20 Jewish families of workmen and other employees, as well as to a group of contractors, who, in turn, enabled a large number of laborers to earn a livelihood by carrying raw materials to the factory and sugar from the factory to the railway station. The closing of this refinery has deprived all of these people of their means of existence. The town now has one steam flour mill and two saw mills, one of which is functioning. Most of the workmen employed in these mills are Jews.

The railway station, which is about two versts from Shepetovka, played a great part in the economic development of the town. It was the central station for three Uyezds and about 1,000 carts came to the station daily with products which were shipped to other points by rail. The presence of this activity naturally enabled many commission merchants to earn a good living. Shepetovka, however, has lost half of it’s trade and its importance as a commercial center. The Jewish population, which, before the pogroms, stood at 4,000, remains the same. The number of shops owned by Jews, however, has decreased from 100 to about 20. The Heads of about 150 Jewish families are artisans, there are many small merchants and shopkeepers, and about 30% of the Jewish population consists of persons with undefinite occupations, and unemployed.

Center of Shepetovka, 1920s.

Relief Rendered: In 1920, during the occupation of Shepetovka by the Poles, relief was administered to the pogromized refugees by the JDC. A kitchen was organized for 250 children, a Jewish school for 250 children was opened, and medical and individual relief were given to the poorest population in the form of clothing, shoes and foodstuffs.

Children’s Institutions: Although there are about 100 needy children, Shepetovka has no children»s home. It is essential that such a home be organized for 50 children who are full and half orphans, and to reconstruct the public school for 200 children which existed at one time. The equipment of this school is still intact and premises are available.

Hospital: The town has a Soviet Hospilsl (formerly the Zemskaya Hospital) for 50 beds, which is supervised by the Uyezd Zdravotel. In conjunction with the hospital there is a dispensary which takes care of from 15 to 20 patients daily. The hospital and dispensary are badly equipped and have no medicaments to speak of. This deprives the poor from getting free medical attention. It is our recommendation that the hospital be equipped with medicaments which are urgently required and with medical equipment.

Bazarnaya Str., 1920’s.

Bathhouse: The bathhouse is in disrepair and should be put into working order.

Old Age Home: A home should be organized to accomodate 40 people who are either aged or unable to care for themselves. The premises of the former Home for Aged still exist.

Credit: Before the revolution, Shepetovka had four kassas of Mutual Relief, together with a Society of Mutual Credit, which have gone out of existence. An acutual need is felt for the organization of a Credit Institution. Former members of the above organizations have taken steps to organize a Loan and Savings Society.

Pre-Revolution photo of Shepetovka. From photohunt.org.ua

Cooperatives: The town has a Joiners Cooperative with 10 members. It cannot develop its activities because of lack of funds required for the purchase, of raw materials so as to enable it to work for the market. At present it must limit itself to insignificant private orders. The presence of a Loan and Savings Society would be a blessing for the cooperatives. FUTURE BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS …

Abother information regarding the pogroms was acquired through the Kiev Oblast Archive (Fond 3050). Reports written in the summer 1921:

In 1923 Shepetova became a center of Shepetovka region.

Pre-Revolution photo of Shepetovka. From photohunt.org.ua

All synagogues and cheders were closed in 1920’s-1930’s.

In 1939 the town’s 4,844 Jews comprised 20 percent of the total population.

Holocaust

Most information about the Holocaust in Shepetovka was collected by members of Yad-Vashem’s project “The Untold Stories”.

The Germans occupied Shepetovka on July 5, 1941. In the ensuing days Jewish refugees from Poland, Western Ukraine, and other areas in the vicinity fled to the town. Some Jewish families evacuated and many men were drafted in Red Army but more than 3000 Jews remained in town. The head of the local Ukrainian police unit was Stanislav Kashperyk but in the end of 1941 he was fired because his wife was Jewish. The Germans then appointed a new police chief, the ethnic German, Eduard Miller. In 1942 a new Ukrainian criminal police unit was established, headed by German Konstantin Neiman.

On July 28, 1941, on the pretext that they would be relocated (or sent to work),a large group of young men and several young women, were taken away and shot to death by a German unit outside the town, in the forest near the village of Tsvetukha. Over 800 Jews were killed during this action. On August 23^rd, a small-scale murder operation was carried out. After their valuables were seized, another group of Jews were shot to death outside the town. On September 1^st, 45  Jewish men were probably shot to death outside the town as well. According to one testimony, during the summer of 1941 some Jews from Carpatho-Rus, deported by the Hungarian occupation authorities, were living in the former military barracks in the town. They were, apparently, murdered in Kamenets-Podolsk, along with other Jews from Carpatho-Rus, at the end of August 1941.

Monument on grave of Holocaust victims in Shepetovka

In December 20, 1941 a ghetto consisting of three streets surrounded with barbed wire and guarded by Ukrainian policemen, was set up in the central part of the town near the synagogue.  Inmates of the ghetto were forced to wear the yellow star of david patches. The ghetto was overcrowded. Between 6-8 families lived in any given housing unit. (35-45 person). About 600 Jews from Sudilkov were resettled Shepetovka ghetto in January 1942. The adults performed forced labor outside the ghetto. Philip Svoyachenko, the ghetto commandant, imposed a number of taxes on the Jews, threatening those who didn’t pay with death. Due to the overcrowding in the ghetto an epidemic of typhus broke out, leading to many deaths. According to one testimony, those who were ill, as well as those who had recovered but were still weak, were taken from the ghetto and shot to death.

Members of Zilberman family in Shepetovka, 1930. Most of them were killed in 1941-1942

Dr. O. Stetsyuk, a Ukrainian physician, was appointed as head of sanitation for the ghetto. Though he was forbidden to treat patients, he defied that order, filling out prescriptions and delivering medication to the ghetto. Also paramedic, N.Ivanets, helped ghetto prisoners in the same way.

According to Stetsyuk’s testimony, during the period of the ghetto’s existence, children and old people were frequently shot to death.

In March 1942, a group of young Jewish women from the ghetto was shot to death outside the town.

On June 25, 1942 most of the ghetto’s inmates, mainly women, children, and the elderly, were shot to death outside the town in the Tsvetukha Forest. One this day more than 2500 Jews were killed.

From the 6^th-10^th of September 1942, the remaining skilled workers and artisans and their families, who until then had been kept in the ghetto, along with those caught in hiding were shot to death, apparently at the same murder site.

On September 10, 1942 the buildings that once constituted the ghetto, were requisitioned to people who had served the Germans. At this point no Jews left in the area…

Among local policemen, the most cruel was Boleslav Kovalevskiy who personally killed dozens of Jews.

The Germans also established within the territory of Shepetovka two camps for Soviet POWs:
– Stalag 301, existed from September 1942 till July 1944, now it is military area #5  (12,000 prisoners perished within the camp)
– Stalag 357, existed from January 1942 till November 1942 and was located on Sydilkovskaya Str., now it is military area #12 ( 9,000 prisoners died)

Soviet POWs in Shepetovka camp

Shepetovka was liberated by the Red Army on February 11, 19

I found only one list of Shepetovka Holocaust victims on Yad Vashem web-site which contain names of 272 Jewish families.

Total number of killed is unknown but not less than 4000 person.

Schema of POW’s mass grave in Shepetovka, 1992

After the war

Many Jewish families returned from evacuation. Synagogue was opened for short time but was closed by authorities again.

Local Jewish community was registered in 1990’s.

Geneology

Famous Jews from Shepetovka

Yakov Ingerman

Jacob Ingerman (1922, Shepetovka – 2007, Israel) was a young Jewish communist, a mathematics teacher, when WWII broke out. After being wounded in a battle against the Nazi invaders, he was recruited by the Red Army Intelligence and sent on an assignment behind enemy lines.
In 1945 he emmigrated to Israel where he was on service in intelligence service for 30 years.

He described his qnique story in book “A Jew in the “service” of the Reich“.

Iosef Ostrovskiy (1935, Shepetovka – 1993 , Sderot), was a famous painter. His main work was more than 200 pictures of Jewish elderly.

David Kirzhner (1877, Shepetovka – 1962, Moscow), was a mining specialist. He was an organisator of Donbass restoration plan after WWII.

Aizek Vayman

Moses Goldshtein (1868, Shepetovka – 1932, Paris), was a famous Russian lawyer. He emmigrated to Paris in 1918.

Tzvi-Girsh Preygerzon (1900, Shepetovka – 1969, Moscow), was a writer and mining engineer.

Yuriy Hamretskiy (born in 1930, Shepetovka) is a historian.

Aizek Vaiman (born in 1933, Shepetovka) is a specialist in Sumerian-Babylonian writing and math.

Theodor Teplits (1875, Shepetovka – 1937, Warsaw), was a specialist in civil constructing in Warsaw.

Arkadiy Anin (born in 1925, Shepetovka) is a doctor and poet, member of “Union of Israel Russian-speaking poets”.

Old and New Jewish Cemeteries

The old cemetery was founded in ХVIII century and destroyed by communists in the beginning of 1920’s. Some tombstones were not destroyed but instead moved to the New Jewish cemetery.

After the war local unofficial gabai Pugach and Bunim Kleiner kept maintenance on symbolic tzadikim grave on New Jewish cemetery.

The head of the Jewish community stands at the entrance New Jewish cemetery in Shepetovka, 2001

Detailed information was taken from asimplejew.blogspot.co.uk:

Rebbe Pinchas was buried in the old cemetery. After the Russian Revolution, that cemetery was destroyed. A landsmanschaft organization in the U.S. funded the construction of a new cemetery in 1928. The tombstones were transferred to the new cemetery, where they were photographed by ASJ during his visit a few years ago.

 

The Jewish community of Shepetovka poses in front of the new cemetery gare funded by the Shepetovka landsmanshaftn society in New York, 1928

However, the actual tomb of R’ Pinchas was not moved. As the town of Shepetovka grew, the site of the old cemetery was now near the center of the town and was used for a police station and a house. When Rabbi Gabai began his restoration, he first confirmed that the tomb was not located near the tombstone. His organization purchased the property where the old cemetery had been, and he confirmed that the grave was still there. He then constructed the ohel, as well as a small guest house to accommodate visitors.

Ohel on original grave of Rabbi Pinchas (photo ):

In 2001 New Jewish Cemetery was reconstructed for the cost of local maecenas  Mikhail Shyster. Cemetery was vandalised in the same year.

Old cemetery address: Kotika St. 9

New cemetery address: Shevchenko St. 44

Synagogue

I haven’t find the date of construction but can suppose that it was build in XIX century.

An-sky make a few photos of synagogue during his visit in 1912.

Shepetovka Synagogue from XIX century, 1912. Photo by An-sky expedition in 1912

According to the testimony of O. Stetsyuk, a Ukrainian doctor who took care of the ghetto inmates of Shepetovka, Gendarmerie men used to come daily to the ghetto, randomly select several children and old people and shoot them to death at the square near the synagogue. The bodies of the victims were buried at the site.

Next photos were taken from photohunt.org.ua and jewishgen.org:

Synagogue was opened after liberation but closed by authorities in 1960’s and used as a gym.

Building of the synagogue was returned to community in 1991.

Rededication ceremony celebrating the return of one room of the synagogue to the Jewish community, 1991. Photograph by Miriam Wainer.

Shepetovka Synagogue, 2013. Photograph by photohunt.org.ua

Address: Linnika Str., 2

Holocaust mass grave

On July 27, 1941 the Jews of Shepetovka were ordered by the commandant of the town to appear the next day at the town’s square near the local clinic. On July 28^th  the Jews who had been collected at the square were surrounded by Ukrainian auxiliary policemen and a selection was carried out. The artisans and craftsmen, along with their families, as well as some other Jews, were allowed to return to their homes. On the pretext of them being taken to work or being relocated a large group of young men and women (and apparently some teenagers) were loaded onto trucks and, under the guard of Ukrainian policemen and members of the 45th Reserve Police Battalion, were taken to a pine forest about 2 kilometers northwest of the town, near the village of Tsvetukha at the junction of roads leading to the towns of Novograd-Volynsk and Slavuta. On their arrival at the pits (or anti-tank trenches), the Jews were made to get out of the trucks and stripped naked. Then they were taken in groups of 4-6 to the edge of the pit. The victims were shot to death in the back of the head by members of the Order Police 45th battalion. According to testimony given in a German court in the 1970s, at least 70 Jews were killed in this murder operation. However, this figure appears to be much too low.

Soviet schema of mass grave, 1992

On the evening of June 24, 1942 Ukrainian auxiliary policemen surrounded the ghetto (according to one source, the Jews were locked into the synagogue in the ghetto). The next day, in the morning, Ukrainian policemen drove the inmates of the ghetto onto the street. After being deprived of their valuables and other possessions, the Jews (mainly women, little children, and the elderly) were loaded in groups of 30 onto several trucks and taken to the same murder site. According to one testimony, some were taken on foot. Those who tried to escape were shot to death on the spot by the Ukrainian policemen. Upon their arrival at the forest, the Jews were made to strip naked and, in groups of 3-4, were taken to the edge of pits that had been prepared beforehand. The victims were forced to their knees with their faces towards the pit and shot to death with machine-guns at close or point-blank range by members of the SD and of the Gendarmerie, and some Ukrainian policemen. According to one eyewitness, nursing infants were killed before their mother’s eyes. The murder lasted until evening. Graf, the head of the local security police and the SD, and Eduard Miller, head of Shepetovka’s Ukrainian auxiliary police, were present at the site during the killing. After the murder operation Ukrainian auxiliary policemen covered the pits with earth and lime. The clothes of the victims were loaded onto trucks and taken away. Gebietskommissar (regional commissar) Dr. Worbs was in charge of this murder operation, during which at least several hundred Jews were shot to death. In early September 1942 the remaining Jews in the Shepetovka ghetto – craftsmen and other specialists, with their families, apparently along with several Jews who had been caught in hiding, as well as some Jews from the surrounding localities, were taken from the ghetto and shot to death, apparently at the same location.

Holocaust mass grave, 1998. Photograph by Miriam Wainer.

During this period and until the liberation of the region by the Red Army, local partisans and other civilians were murdered and buried at this site as well.

After the war the Jews who returned to Shepetovka tried to obtain permission from the local authorities to fence off the murder site of the Jews from Shepetovka, Sudilkov, and the surrounding area and to erect a monument at the site. Since there was no response on the part of the authorities, the Jews themselves collected money, fenced off the site, and on May 9, 1966 erected a monument that indicated that Soviet civilians were murdered at the site.

In 2004, a monument was erected at the site in a shape of a lit menorah, the symbol of the Jewish people, thus clearly indicating the Jewish identity of the victims. On the left side of the monument there is a black marble plaque with an inscription in Ukrainian that reads as follows:

“At this place during the years of World War Two over 9 thousand civilians of the Jewish nationality from the town of Shepetovka and nearby localities were shot to death by the Fascists.”

Menorah monument, 2013. Photograph by photohunt.org.ua

Near the monument there is also an obelisk commemorating all those who fell in the struggle against the Germans.

Location: Grave locates in 3 km from the city, on the right off the road to Novohrad – Volynskyi. There is a memorial sign at the site. Grave size is 50m x 30m.

סודילקאוו (Hebrew), Судилків (Ukrainian), Судилков (Russian), Sudyłków (Polish)

Much of information for this article was taken from Max Grossman’s personal website.

Sudilkov is a village located in the Shepetovka district of Khmelnitski (former Kamenets-Podolski) region. The village’s population is estimated at 5,277 (as of 2007). Sudilkov is approx. 34 km from Polonne and in 280 km from Kiev.

In the beginning of the XX century Sudilkov was located about 6 km from Shepetovka but is now a suburb of Shepetovka.

The population of Sudilkov has not changed in the XX century due to the extermination of the Jewish population and natural growth within Ukrainian population.

The town became a part of the Russia Empire in 1793 after the third Partition of Poland.

Before the Revolution it was a shtetl of the Zaslav yezd, Volyn guberniya.

Beginning

Sudilkov was first mentioned in Polish documents in 1543, as a village.

The army of Bogdan Khmelnitsky passed through Sudilkov in 1654. It can be assumed that the first Jewish community was destroyed during this year.

In the second part of XVIII century Sudilkov became a center of the Hassidic movement. The village was known for  manufacturing talleisim (prayer shawls) and printing Jewish books. Also, it was known for being the residence of the Besht’s (The Baal Shem Tov) grandson.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov (1748 – 1800) was born in Medzhybizh. He was best known as the Baal Shem Tov’s grandson (he was one of two sons of Udl, the beloved daughter of Besht) and for the work Degel Machaneh Ephraim, first published in Korets, 1810.

He settled in Sudilkov in 1780 where he served as Maggid until 1785. In 1785, he returned to Medzhybizh and served as rebbe there until 1800 when he died. He is buried next to his grandfather, the Baal Shem Tov.

Tomb of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov in Medzhibozh

A man by the name of Reuven Schlenkev actually compiled a list of some of the books that were printed in Jewish printhouse in Sudilkov during 1795-1899.

The following information about Sudilkov’s Jewish life in XIX century was taken from the memoirs of Shprintza Rokhel, 1948:

However, the main claim to fame of Sudilkov was its Talis (prayer shawl) manufacturing.  Talitot of Sudilkov were known internationally and their production was the main source of income for the townspeople.  The people of Sudilkov believed that anyone who bore the family name Talisman or Talismacher certainly could trace their origin to Sudilkov. The silk and wool threads were brought from Lodz, and in the local workshops skilled craftsmen wove the Talitot.  Traveling salesmen sold their product in all the Jewish communities both near and far.

The abundant surrounding forests were the reason that many wealthy lumber merchants lived in the town.  Among them was the renowned many-branched Buchman family that controlled the lion’s share of the industry.  Many of the townspeople, who for whatever reasons were not involved in Talis manufacturing, were employed as clerks and loyal workers in the lumber trade.

Jewish population of Sudilkov: 1765 – 397 jews 1847 – 1207 jews 1897 – 2712 (48%) 1939 – 1311 (20%) 1994 – 0

Especially noteworthy was the wealthy and philanthropic lumber merchant R. Hanokh Henekh Buchman who merited two tables [professions] and Torah and greatness were concentrated in his very being.  In 1875 he transferred all of his extensive possessions, both in cash and in timber, to his sons and he himself, went on aliyah to Eretz Yisrael.  All the clerks, his many employees who earned their livings with great dignity from his enterprises, along with thousands of other residents of the town and the surrounding areas came to take leave of him and to witness a rare event—how a Jew departs to go on aliyah to Eretz Yisrael in a horse-drawn wagon (as far as the port of Odessa)…

…In the beginning of our century, R. Ya’akov Leib Buchman lived in the town.  He was also a very prominent lumber merchant, very devout, generous and his house was always open to strangers.  His children who lived in town and in the surrounding area followed in their father’s footsteps and were well known for their many good deeds.  That lasted until the Russian Revolution when life changed.

Sudilkov synagogue

Besides Talis manufacturing, printing and the lumber industry for which Sudilkov was famous, the town had several tanneries, a factory for low-priced furs for farmers and some workshops that produced wooden barrels for the sugar factories of Count Potozki in nearby Shepetovka.  From those days, the name of the owner of the fur factory, R. Nisan Handler, is engraved in memory.  The factory supported many people in town who worked there as clerks and laborers.  He was well known in the area for his good heartedness and his unrestrained philanthropy.  The day of his death made a sad impression on all the town’s residents.  No infant remained in his cradle as everyone joined together to pay their last respects and to speak the praises of the deceased on his final journey.

Shmuel Handler who was a very learned scholar continued in the production of furs for the farmers.  He eventually left the business to become the rabbi of an important community.

In 1910 Sudilkov’s Jewish community established a Talmud Torah and private secondary school.

The business directory of 1913 lists many names of Jewish entrepreneurs in Sudilkov:

Also mentioned in this list is the Jewish Hospital which belonged to the community.

Miriam Weiner found such information regarding Jewish life in the beginning of XX century:

Civil War pogroms

The following information about the pogroms was taken from the memoirs of Shprintza Rokhel, 1948:

In the spring of 1919, the Sitchovik Ukrainian soldiers carried out a pogrom on the Jews of Sudilkov.  It began on the eve of Passover and continued on the days of the holiday.  As usual, the stores and homes of the Jews were looted and their residents beaten, leaving dozens injured and several dead.  Practically all the Jews fled for their lives and found refuge in nearby Gritzev.

Sudilkov synagogue and pisant’s market. PreRevolution photo.

More than sixty years ago, the spirit of Zionism consistent with the principles of Hibbat Zion of the time was felt in Sudilkov. This pre-dated the start of the organized Zionist Movement.  Here we remember the shohet R.Ya’akov.  As a Trisker Hasid, he discussed the principles of Hibbat Zion at every opportunity.  The people of the Beit Midrash said, “R. Ya’akov looked and was hooked.” Along with dynamic intellectual Zionist communal workers (the intellectuals who were also Torah scholars were many in the town), they were in contact with Rabbi Reines from 5663 [1903] and were activists in the national movement.  Thus, the Zionists began to coalesce in the beginning of this century.  In 1917-19, when Russia was freed from Tsarist rule, the town boasted various Zionist organizations.  The most prominent group was Tz’eirei Tzion [Young Zionists] that included in its ranks most of the local youth.  The Hehalutz [Pioneers] was also formed and many of them settled in Eretz Yisrael. But, as in all the Volhynian towns that remained in Soviet territory, all Zionist pursuits and community activity was quickly curbed.

After Revolution

On JDC website located report which show state of Sudilkov Jewish community in 1920’s:

Sudilkov is a small town four versts from Shepetovka and about 6 versts from a railroad station. Before the pogroms it was a thriving town as it had numerous industrial establishments and primitive workshops which gave employment to all the people. The table given below is self-explanatory:

Before the war the population of Sudlikov totalled 6,200, of whom 1,700 were Jews. Now there are 6,500 with 1,300 Jews, 20 houses were destroyed during the pogroms and the number of Jewish shops has been reduced from 100 to 6.

The pogroms of 1918-1920 dealt a.heavy blow to the Jewish population, which suffered untold butchery at the hands of Denikin’s troops and other pogromchicks. The most cruel of these pogroms are as follows:

April, 1918 – Petlura’s Troops – 34 murdered, 9 wounded and 17 women violated April, 1919 – Demoralized Bands – Entire population pillaged and violated August, 1920 – Demoralized Insurgents – 5 murdered

Thus, about 40 persons were murdered and 60 families robbed of all their property. Sudilkov has now 30 widows, 16 full and 60 half orphans. In addition there are 13 refugee families in Sudilikov, in all about 60 persons, with 6 widows, 6 orphans and 15 half orphans and 3 invalids.

Waldheim Jewish Cemeteries Sudilkov Shepetovker Society in USA

Relief was administered to the pogromized population and to refugees by the following organizations: EVOBKOM: By distribution of clothing and foodstuffs amongst the poorest of the population ARA: By the organization of a Child Feeding Station for 250 child ren, and by the distribution of foodstuffs amongst the poor.

At present there are no Jewish Children’ s Institutions in Sudlikov. The Children’ s Home for 32 children (one half of whom were orphans) which formerly existed, had to be closed in September, 1920 because of lack of funds. Some of the children were transferred to the home in Isiaslavl. At present there are 30 children who are not being taken care of and it would be highly desirable to reconstruct the former children’ s home, or to organize a school and home for 100 ohildren. Part of the equipment of the former children’ s home is still intact. There is a dispensary in the town, which is visited daily by 5 to 10 persons. This institution is supervised by the Ouzdrav. It has almost no medicaments and must be supplied with equipment and supplies in order to enable it to give free medical aid.

Synagogue was here, 2010’s

A home for aged should be organized for 25 inmates. Suitable premises should be secured. There were no Credit Institutions in Sudilkov for the reason that the Shepetovka Society of Mutual Credit took care of this town. A Loan and Savings Society should be organized in Shepetovka, which would also handle Sudlikov as formerly.

Miriam Weiner claims that in the 1920’s the Jews occupied the approximately 1,450 square meters in the very center of town.  This may be an indication that Sudilkov was originally founded by Jews, since the historical center—the oldest part of the settlement—was where they were concentrated.

Zinaida Sendler gives Miriam Wainer a book of memoirs about Sudilkov’s Jews, 1991. Photo taken from JewishGen

The ethnic Ukrainians, on the other hand, lived in the area around the center.  Weiner claims that in 1925-1927 the Jewish quarter consisted of “Market Square”, which lay in the middle of town, nine streets and seven side streets.

Jewish school existed here in 1920’s. It regulary recieve help from JDC.

Before the WWII Jewish collective farm existed in Sudilkov.

Holocaust

The Germans occupied Sudilkov on July 5, 1941.

On August 20th, 1941 a detachment of the 45th reserve police battalion killed 471 Jews in a nearby forest.

Sudilkov Jews were resettled in the Shepetovka ghetto during Autumn 1941 – Winter 1942. Those who were not able to be moved were buried alive in territory of the private yard.

Mass grave in private yard

More details on the Holocaust in Shepotovka can be found here.

Sudilkov was liberated by the Red Army on February 11, 1944.

After WWII

Some Jewish families returned from evacuation.

Expedition of Pereburg’s Judaica visited Sudilkov in 1988 and filmed this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W18niVYnyg

Miriam Weiner visited Sudilkov in 1994 and did not find any remaining Jews here.

Rabbi Israel Meir Gabbay visits Sudilkov in 2007

Genealogy

Holocaust mass graves

– near Martynenko’s house

In 1941 eldelry Jews were burried alive in this yard. After the war local Jews erected a small monument with an inscription in Yiddish:

To Remember the Casualties or Hitler’s Murderers
Chaim MASTER
Zvi MENDEL
Ze’ev MILMAN
Tudeas the shochet [butcher]
Shalom Yosef YAROVITCH
Leizer LEMBERG
Shimon the tailor and his wife

Inscription on Holocaust memorial

– forest

On this site 471 Jews were killed in August 20, 1941.

The site is located in “Kolonia (colony)” district, on the road to Berezdov, in a forest.

The approximate location of the burial ground is in a field behind the last houses of the village. There is no memorial at the site.

Jewish cemetery

Cemetery located on the bank of the river. Part of the tombstones were wooden and were not preserved.

One of the oldest gravestone dated by 1741. Last burial  here was in 1948.

Famous Jews from Sudilkov

Hava Lusternik (1904, Sudilkov – 1991, St.Peterburg), was historian and orientalist.

Isaak Landman (1880, Sudilkov – 1946) was public figure in different Jewish USA organisations.

Abraham-Moishe Shvarts (1888, Sudilkov – 1960, Tel-Aviv) was famous USA actor, director and playwrighter.

Asher Vilcher (1915, Sudilkov – ?) was a historian of literature in Hebrew, Slavic in Jerusalem University.

Famous American film director, Steven Spielberg has roots in Sudilkov.

Steven’s grandfather Shmuel Spielberg, who in America would change his name to Samuel, was born in 1873 in Kamnetz-Podolsk, Russia. Samuel (Shmuel) Spielberg’s wife Rebbeca Chechik “Grandma Becky” to Steven’s generation was the daughter of Nachman Morduhovich Chechik and Reitzl Nigonovna Hendler, who had eight other children. The Chechiks had a brewery in Sudilkov, a shtetl that no longer exists. Sudilkov was in the Kamnetz area, near the larger town of Shepetovka, where some other family members lived.

Arnold Spielberg relates that his grandfather Nachman Chechik “prayed and studied the Torah. His wife ran the brewery business. She was a shrewd woman. She and the children ran the business. My uncle Herschel, the oldest son, was the brewmaster. In those days, the old Jewish men, if they could get out of business and study the Torah, that’s what they did.”

זאשקאוו (Yiddish), Zaszkow (Polish), Жашків (Ukrainian), Жашков (Russian)

Zhashkov is a historic city (since 1954) located in the Cherkassy region of central Ukraine and the center of Zhashkov district. The city’s estimated population is 14,116 (as of 2014). Zhashkov is approx. 64 km from Uman, 160 km from Kiev and about 78 km from Talne.

The town became a part of the Russia Empire in 1793 after the third Partition of Poland.

Before the Revolution it was a shtetl of the Tarasha yezd, Kiev Guberniya.

Beginning

The Jewish community of Zhashkiv appeared in the 17th century. Archival documents mention Jewish innkeepers, distilleries, and mills.

In 1863, there were 556 Jews, 1,533 Orthodox Christians and 52 Roman Catholics. In 1897, the Jewish population of Zhashkiv grew to 2,445 residents (47,2%).

In the late 19th century, Joel Kelmanovich Tilchinskiy installed a sugar mill and opperated a brewery and a distillery. By 1865, a Jewish prayer house was already operating in the city, and by the early 20th century three synagogues had been constructed.

From 1899, the rabbi in Zhashkiv was Simcha Kagan (1875 – ?).

Zhaskov map (beginning of XX century) was taken from Jewishgen :

Zhashkov map from beginning of XX century

In 1912, a Jewish savings and loan association was opened.

The main occupations of Zhashkov’s Jewish inhabitants were trading and crafts. Among them were the foremen of the sugar factories, Gorshtein and Mindin, as well as the landlord Yacob Etinger.

Here is Zhashkov’s enterpreneurs list from the Russian Imperial Business Directories of 1913:

Zhashkov’s enterpreneurs list

I find names translation in English here.

Also in this document next Jewish institutions:
– 3 synagogues
– hospital

Civil War

In the summer of 1918, a pogrom was arranged by peasant rebel troops, and a few Jews were killed. The following pogrom was organized by troops of the Red Army and about 10 Jews were killed. The Jewish population also suffered from the pogroms of the Volunteer Army and as a result, it had declined to 393 people by 1923.

At the beginning of August, Zeleny arrived in Zhashkov with a large camp. They herded all the Jews into the synagogue, took 80 hostages, and demanded 1 million rubles from the town’s population. If they did not deliver the ransom, the hostages would be shot. The Jews managed to pay 100,000 rubles; some Jews were killed and some Jewish women were raped. The Jewish community was happy to have gotten off [relatively] easy. An eyewitness from Zhashkov recounted: “Zeleny’s men did not bother the Jews.”

Another information was taken from book “Sokolievka/Justingrad: A Century of Struggle and Suffering in a Ukrainian Shtetl”, New York 1983:

To escape the atrocities committed during Denikin’s retreat, some of the survivors from Justingrad (Sokolovka) fled to Zashkov, where the nearby Ukrainians demanded the banishment of these refugees as a price of continued “toleration” of the Jews of Zashkov, a “toleration” which had been bought by paying them off. No sooner had these refugees scattered to Odessa and elsewhere, than pogroms followed, inflicting ruin on Zashkov itself. On May 6, 1920, thirty were killed by the forces of Hetman Stepanyuk. On May 14 a Friday deadline was set for all Jews to depart. On Saturday, twenty who had not managed to get away were seized and buried alive.

Between the wars

In 1920’s local Jewish communty asked Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (sixth Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch) to help repair the mikva.

In the 1920-30s, a Jewish elementary school operated in the town.

Head of local collective farm was Huna Rubashevskiy.

Holocaust

Following the outbreak of WWII, many Jews went to the front or were evacuated but the majority stayed in Zhashkiv.

On July 19, 1941 the town was occupied by the Nazis. At the end of July or in early August 1941, an open ghetto was set up in one of the central streets.

Because the Jews were prohibited to leave the ghetto and purchase food many died of hunger.

In the summer, about 300 Jews were shot near Bavyazhskaya mill, not far from the brick factory. One Jewish girl, Olga Rudaya, was only injured and climbed from the pit. She survived the war and later wrote about her experience.

In the spring of 1942, all able-bodied Jews were sent to a labour camp (possibly in Buky), and the rest – about 100 people – were shot in a quarry about 1km east of the village. According to other data, in 1942, in the wooded area of Berestov, between the villages of Petrovka and Ohmatov, about 150 Jews were shot.

Dubina Skibinskaya: one of the numerous execution site of Zhaskov Jews

According to a local resident interviewed during Lo-Tishkah survey in 2000, Riva Davidovna Potashnik, a teacher at the school in Horodysche, was among the 60 people from Zhashkiv shot in the square in the center of town (where a monument to Taras Shevchenko now stands).

In total, around 500 Jews from Zhashkiv were murdered during the Holocaust.

Of the more than five hundred Jews who were killed Zhashkiv we know the names of only 204 civilians and 45 names of soldiers. You can find both lists here (in Russian).

Other names are still unknown…

After WWII

After 1945, some Jews returned to Zhashkiv.

In 1993, the Jewish community registered again. It’s first chairman was teacher Arcadiy Lesnovskiy. Due to his efforts, a fence around the Jewish cemetery was built. After his departure to Russia, the new chairman became M.Kanterman.

Rita Pisaryk became the Head of community in 1998.

In 2002 new chairman became Raisa Pavlovna Tretyak.

In 2012, there were about 70 Jews in the city.

Most Pre-Revolution building in Zhashkov were destroyed in XX centiry.

In the place of the modern-day library once was located the house of Zhashkov’s first doctor Kuzminskiy Shmul Abramovich. He provided his services to people of all nationalities and was very well respected among the community. His grave is only one which was preserved in the old Jewish cemetery.

Genealogy

Jewish Cemetery

The cemetery is located in north-eastern outskirts of the town in Naberezhna Str.

Zhaskov Jewish cemetery: new part

The old part of the cemetery is surrounded with a ditch and lined with trees. The new section built after the war is surrounded with an iron fence on concrete pillars.

The cemetery has been taken care of since 1945. In 1998, a new fence was added on to the post-war section.

The oldest gravestone in the cemetery is dated from 1918. The total number of gravestones is 70.

Old section

Information for the this article was taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

Holocaust mass grave

– Bahva mil

The mass grave is located along the road from Sorokotyaha to Zhashkiv, near the Bagwe-Mlyn mill (marked on topographic maps), in the field. Drive about half way across the field from Zhashkiv to Pobiyna village, on the right there is the mass grave, close to a birch and a fir tree. There is a memorial stele with an inscription at the site.

Bahva mill area

The mass grave is marked with a stone plate, 3m x 1.5 m. in size, with a granite plaque on top of it with the inscription: “Вічна пам’ять замученим та вбитим, що лежать у цій землі”. – Eternal memory to the tortured and murdered who were buried here. On the right, there is a carved cross, surrounded by a star of David, which has almost been erased.

Holocaust memorial in Bahva mill area

In the 1990s, the. stone stele at the site of execution was fenced. In 2010, the fence does not exist anymore.

Information was taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

– Skibinski Forest – clay pit

The mass grave is located by the clay factory, in a clay pit.

Monument in Skibinski forest

At this place 49 of Zhaskov’s were killed in the summer 1941. During the next year it was used as a killing site by the Nazis for Non-Jewish Ukrainians and other enemies of the Nazi Regime.

Bones were discovered here in 1970’s during an excavation, but local authorities refused to erect a monument.

A memorial was finally erected here in 2014 due to the efforts of local historian Stepan Goroshko.

Famous Jews from Zhashkov

Shmuel Dayan (Kitaigorodskiy) (1891, Zhashkov – 1968) was a Zionist activist during the British Mandate of Palestine and an Israeli politician who served in the first three Knessets. Shmuel is the father of Moshe Dayan, Famous Israeli military leader and politician.

Shmuel Dayan (1891 – 1968)

Samuel Kramer (1897, Zhashkov-1990), one of the world’s leading Assyriologists and a world renowned expert in Sumerian history.

Samuel Kramer (1897 – 1990)

Lev Ahmatov (1899, Zhashkov – 1937. Moscow), one of the NKVD official, head of all prisons in Ukraine. He was arrested in 1935 and sentence to death in 1936.

Memoirs about Zhaskov

This interview was given by Samuel Sander who was born in Zhaskov before WWI. I have downloaded it from Oral history library.

Koneła (Polish), Конела – Konela (Ukrainian, Russian)

Konela is a village located in Cherkassy region of central Ukraine, Konela belongs to Zhashkov district. The village’s estimated population is 601 (as of 2001).

Konela is approx. 20 km from Zhashkov, 5 km from Sokolovka and 44 km from Uman. In XIX – beginning of XX century Konela was a shtetl of Lipovets Yezd of Kiev Gubernia

A Jewish community existed in Konela from the beginning of the 19th century.

According to Pokhilevich (who is Pokhilevich?), in the mid-19th century, the population of Konela included 822 Orthodox Christians, 76 Roman Catholics, and 1,360 Jews. This contradicts with the data of the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia which states that in 1847, 445 Jews lived in Konela.

In the second half of the 19th century, there were two synagogues (1865). The key occupations of the Jews were crafts and trade.

In 1914, the Jews owned two pharmacies, two lumberyards, mills and nine stores.

The Jewish population in 1900 was 744 people (36,2%), in 1923 – 225.

At the beginning of the XX century, economic and political turmoil caused many Jews to leave Konela and emigrate to the United States. In America a Sokolifker–Kenaler Fraternal Association was established in 1923.

Konela panorana by Leon Vichylkovskiy, 1911

By the 1930s, there were about 100 Jews living in Konela.

The Jewish community of Konela was destroyed during the Holocaust. According to local residents, the sites of mass executions were as follows:
1. According to local resident Oleg Karpun, 70 Jews from Konela were shot and buried in mass grave located in the western outskirts of the village near the cattle cemetery ( on the right side of Zhashkov-Uman road)
2. The remainder of Konela’s Jewish population was executed at an unknown location in the winter of 1942.

Konela enterpreneurs list from Russian Empire Business Directories by 1913

I have found the names of only 5 Jewish men who were drafted into Red Army and were killed in action during the Second World War:
– Kuts Leibovich Berdichevskiy (1910 – 1943)
– Roina Shmilkovitch Belilovskiy (? – 1941)
– Itsko Bentsionovich Litichevskiy (1907-1942)
– Shevel Benevitch Lysnovskiy (1906-1943)
– Abraham Israileich Tylchinskiy (1913-1944)

During the occupation the Nazi’s destroyed Konela’s old wooden synagogue. According to local historian Oleg Karpun it was a 2-storey building.

Ukrainian peasant Philip Karpun (1884-1961) saved Konela Jewish girl Sheila Grabova (1924-1978).

In 1945, a local Jew, Peisa Shlemovich Ostrobrod (1924-1995), designed the memorial, a granite obelisk with a five-pointed star on top it. This monument was erected at the site of the mass execution.

Pesia was the last Jew remaining in the village…

River near Konela

After the war at each May, Konela’s Jews from different parts of USSR would gather at this monument to commemorate the victims. In the 1970’s-1980’s not many people attended this event so instead they gathered at Ostrobrod’s house.

Local historian Oleg Karpyn noticed three non-christian gravestones in Orthodox cemetery. He assumed that some Jewish families returned to Konela after WWII.

Geneology

The State Archive of Cherkasy oblast has few documents relasted to Konela:
– Bodies of social class government. Burgher councils of Kiev province. Zhashkivska, the city of Zhashkov, Tarascha County. F.846, 1909-1915, 15 c.
– Birth/Death/Marriage for 1851 (F.1163 Op.1 File.2)

Famous Jews from Konela

Sam Reed (real name – Samuel Pobiersky, 20.08.1906, Konela – 3.08.1999, Durham, North Carolina) – US trade unionist, political and civil rights leader.

Konela Jewish cemetery

The cemetery was destroyed during the Second World War. There was a Soviet military defensive line at the site and the territory was dug up with trenches. According to another version, there was a German anti-aircraft battery located at the site. Part of the cemetery was destroyed during road reconstruction in 1959.

In 1950’s local Ukrainian children used cemetery as footbal field.

All gravestones were stolen by local Ukrainians and used for different purposes.

Information taken from Lo-Tishkah website.

Holocaust mass graves

– Urochische “Konelskyi les” forest, 25m from the road around the forest. There is a memorial at the site.

Three graves at this place were discovered in 1964. There were killed Jews, communist, partisans and their families from 3 different districts of Cherkassy region.

– Western outskirts of the village, 50m from animal farms on the banks of Konelka river. There is a memorial at the site.

In 1945, Peisa Shlemkovich Ostrobrod erected a mound and put a granite obelisk with a five-pointed star on top. The Ostrobrod family have been taking care of the mass grave for many years. The memorial is a stone stele, decorated with a star on top. It is located on a hill and surrounded with an iron fence.

Local authorities tried to destroy this monument in 1960’s but Peisa Ostrobrod defend it.

The stele was taken from a Catholic cemetery, there is an inscription on the reverse side:

«Wincenty
Wierzchowski
zmail 1861 r Luty
Pokoy Jego Popelom
Przechodniu zmow
Zurawasza jego
Dusze”

Information taken from Lo-Tishkah.

Most information about Justingrad was taken from book “Sokolievka/Justingrad: A Century of Struggle and Suffering in a Ukrainian Shtetl”, New York 1983.
You can download a text version from Jewishgen or pfd version from my Google Docs.

Another book is “Descendants of Candle Maker Kaprove”, Philadelphia, Dorrance 1969

סוקוליבקה ,יוסטינגרד (Yiddish), Justingrad (Formerly called), Justynhrad, Yustingrod (Polish), Загайполь(Russian), Zagaipol, Sokolivka, Юстiнград (Ukrainian)

Justingrad is a Jewish shtetl which was completely destroyed in the XX century. Now it is a part of a small Sokolivka village in the Zhashkiv district, Cherkassy region. Current population of Sokolivka is less than 1290 people.

Justingrad was approx. 28 km from Zhashkov and in 42 km from Uman.

Justingrad was founded in 1825, in the XIX – beginning of the XX century as a shtetl of Lipovets Uyezd of Kiev Gubernia. Sokolivka is a village on the opposite side of the river and formed a part of the Uman Uyezd.

Beginning

The Jewish community of Sokolivka appeared in the second half of the 18th century. In 1760, the owner of Sokolivka, Francis Pototski, issued a decree whereby all Christians and Jews who wished to settle in the town were exempt from taxes on spirits, beer and honey for three years. In 1765, there were around 585 Jews in Sokolivka and the surrounding villages.

In 1825, Nicholas I issued a law restricting the rights of Jews to choose their place of residence and occupation. A military settlement was set up in Sokolivka and the Jewish population was expelled. The Jews bought the land from the landowner on the other side of the lake, and founded a new settlement. They named the place of their settlement Justingrad, so it appears, after the name of Justina, proprietress of the estate from whom they acquired the lots for their houses.

The people never quite accepted the name of this settlement. They were the people of Sokolievka, they and their forefathers, and so they also began to call the new settlement Sokolievka. The name Justingrad was used only in official documents and on postal addresses. It was inscribed in large letters on the sign of the drugstore and other community institutions.

Justingrad on the map, 1846

From year to year the new settlement grew and became a town. In the year 1852 Rabbi Reb Gedaliah Aharon came to settle here. He was then a famous Tzaddik in his city of Linitz, and he had many Chassidim (as followers).

As time passed, gentiles settled in the surrounding area, mostly farmers. Strong relationships in trade and in occasional employment developed between the settlers and the Jews. They were also included in the town census as residents of the town. In the population census of 1897, the total number of inhabitants reached 3,194, of whom 2,521 were Jews and 673 non–Jews.

The Synagogues of Sokolievka

Mr. Peretz Shuman, a Sokolievker settled in Buffalo, in one of his letters, tallied all the synagogues in the town:

– the synagogue of Rabbi Pinchas;
– the synagogue of the Tolner Chassidim;
– the “Big Bess Medrash”; the one called ‘Dos Shulech’l’ established by a group which withdrew from the first.
– the synagogue of the Kontakozov Chassidim;
– the one called “Dos Shulech’l”, “the little synagogue,” favored by the craftsmen
– the second “Shulech’l”, established by a group which withdrew from the first

There were six synagogues in the town, and each synagogue had its ‘chazzan’ (cantor), its ‘Ba’al Korei’ (Torah reader) and its ‘Shammos’ (sexton). Their maintenance depended on the synagogue congregation. An important source of their income were the holidays and family celebrations: circumcisions, engagements, weddings.

The town had four ‘shoctim’ (approved slaughterers for kosher meat) who slaughtered cattle in the town abbatoir, and poultry, which were brought to their hoses. Several of these had been granted ‘smicha’ to ‘paskin shalles’ (equivalent to rabbinical ordination, with authority to decide questions of kashruth). Some of them also acted as a Board of Arbitration in disputes between one and another.

Justingrad enterpreneurs list from Russian Empire Business Directories by 1913

According to the recollection of Mr. Peretz Shuman, in his time there were twelve ‘melamdim’, Hebrew teachers, each with his own ‘cheder’, and all of them poverty–stricken. Tuition fees paid by parents were extremely low. Children were enrolled in a ‘cheder’ only for half a year at a time, for one ‘z’man’, one term. Twice a year, at the end of the summer and at the end of the winter, an inter–session time, ‘melamdim’ would be going from door to door to convince parents to continue to send the pupils to them.

City plan

The plan of the city was provided in “Sokolievka/Justingrad” book:

Sketch of Justingrad center, not in scale

Near the courtyard of the Rabbi was the house of the ‘Dayan’, to whom would come questions dealing with the dietary laws (kashruth), executions of contracts, litigation of disputes between one man and another, sometimes between a Jew and a Gentile. Also nearby stood the communal bathhouse.

The Modernized Cheder

Yitzchak Yoel Kuzminsky was also the initiator of the modernized ‘Cheder’ in Sokolievka. Thanks to his connections with the enlightened ‘maskilim’ of the shtetl, some fifteen pupils, children of “cheder” age, were assembled and entrusted to Baruch Bernstein as their teacher (‘moreh’). He spoke Hebrew (as a living language) and had teaching experience. He was acquainted with the new method of teaching reading of that day, called the oral method and the Invrit B’Ivrit method of teaching “the Hebrew language in Hebrew”, without translations into Yiddish.

This modern “Cheder” was held in a small room in the home of Yitzchak Yoel’s parents. One of the pupils was his younger brother Alick.

The rapid progress of the children in reading and in speaking Hebrew on the shtetl streets made a strong impression, and this small modernized cheder exercised great influence on Hebrew education in the shtetl. Teachers who were, so to speak, “progressive”, discarded texts that used Yiddish translations and adopted HaDibur Halvri (“The Hebrew Word”) of M. Krinsky, with its many easy conversations and illustrations for discussion, from which the children by themselves learned the Hebrew language and to speak Hebrew.[69] The modernized ‘cheder’ used as a text the P’rakim Rishonim (“First Chapters”) of Jacob Fichman, whose poetic spirit was much loved by the children. The modernized ‘cheder’ was set up in 1912 and soon afterward a modern Hebrew School was opened in the town.

The Post Office

The shtetl suffered through many years for lack of proper postal communications. Letters, packages and money were sent from Sokolievka by wagoners, and special messengers. Mail sent to Sokolievka from other places arrived after much delay through the nearby village of Popivka. From there, it was brought by an old Jewish man, Chayyim Yehoshua, who distributed it to homes and was paid for his trouble. All the mail, few letters and fewer periodicals, were tied up in his kerchief – a small one. With the opening of the post office in the shtetl, a sense of extension came to the settlement. The shtetl ceased to be isolated. A doctor, or any enlightened person, to whom a post office was a necessity, now more readily settled in the town. The post office was both an economic and a cultural stimulant to the shtetl. Though the post office not only letters and packages, but many periodicals and books came, in Hebrew, In Yiddish and even in Russian.

Family group picture taken in Justingrad 1912 on the eve of the departure for America of newlyweds David Feldstein (1884 – 1964) and Adella Logvin Feldstein (1892-1973)
Standing left. Seated center, Adella’s parents, David Logvin (d. 1916?) and Blume Leah Logvin (d. 1937, Brooklyn): she was blinded in a 1919 pogrom.
Behind them, infant Leo Troy (d. 1981, Scranton), in the arms of his mother, Adella’s sister Maryam Troyaker (later Firdman) who was killed in the Nazi Holocaust with her other children.
Standing right, Adella’s brother Lazar Logvin (d. 1969, Buffalo) with his wife Esther Krenzel Logvin (d. 1918).

The “Bank”

Previously someone who was in need of a loan had to turn to a usurious money lender or to the charitable Free Loan Society (‘Chevra Gmilas–Chassadim’). In either choice the application for a loan involved unpleasantness. A borrower had to accept humiliation, and bring personal belongings as security collateral: a valuable garment, a pillow, a silver vessel or jewellery. Whoever borrowed from a moneylender had to pay very high interest usury.

And hereupon arose a cooperative among the merchants of the younger generation, led by Joseph (Yossel) Chertov, an intelligent and understanding man, who succeeded, after many approaches to the authorities, in receiving permission to establish a “Savings and Loan Fund”. This depository, for short called “the Bank” was a very useful institution and helped advance industry and commerce. To get a loan from the Bank was not a matter of pleading and a pledge. The borrower simply filled in an application. The management validated the application, and the borrower and two co–signers as guarantors signed a note promising to repay on time. The money could be repaid in monthly instalments, and with normal legal interest.

“Haskalah” in Justingrad

Years after years the youth had been content with what they had learned from the local instructors: to write a letter in Yiddish and address the envelope in Russian. But all things change and advance with time. Little by little the longing awakened in the youth to know more than this, to learn Russian in a systematic way, to acquire a general education. Some even dreamed of taking the university entrance examinations given in the nearby city of Uman.

Teachers of Russian began to appear in the shtetl. They offered private lessons. At first they had girl pupils, who in effect were excluded from studying Torah at ‘cheder’ soon they were joined by boys who had finished ‘cheder’ and saw little value in Bess Medrash studies. The whole household would be studying. Each one sat in his own corner and memorized verses of Russian poets, the rules of grammar or the rules of arithmetic. In those days they did a great deal of memorizing.

Boys and girls saved pennies from market day earnings to pay teachers’ tuition fees. At night they sat and studied with diligence and devotion. It was a great ‘mitzvah’ to help the children of the poor, and those who were more advanced in their studies would give them free lessons.

Market square in Sokolovka on the place of former Justingrad

With the acquisition of the Russian language, speaking Russian and reading of Russian books spread among the youth. In those days there began to come into the shtetl youths without names, “comrades”. They would call the youth to secret meetings outside the town, and tell them about the great revolution coming soon in Russian, and the necessity, in the coming time, of organizing strikes and protest demonstrations. At these meetings there were distributed leaflets and propaganda pamphlets to read and spread. Sokolievka had no industrial factories and workers, so there were no strikes. The youth came to hear what the speakers would say and to learn what was in the pamphlets. The youth sought knowledge.

The Library

The need for access to books was great. But in Russian, an authorization from the regime was in those days required for opening a library, and all representations to the officials to this end were in vain. A grouping of local young people determined to set up an “illegal” library, without authorization. According to Mr. Baruch Bernstein, who was one of this association, the effective role in this movement was taken by the young “Maskil” Yitzchak Yoel Kuzminsky. He was the son of the “Shochet”, and in line to inherit that post from his aged father, becoming ‘Shochet’ in his place (a position requiring unquestioned orthodoxy in the public eye).[67] Therefore Yitzchak Yoel could not openly participate in this activity and so he worked behind the scenes. He would invite the youth, the older boys and girls, to his home, guide them with his counsel, encourage them to take part in the cultural field. He arranged the lectures by visiting writers, evenings for readings and for plays. Thanks to his expertise in Hebrew and Yiddish literature, with the funds collected, the library was opened with a selection from the best in both languages. In a short time a large number of readers subscribed.

Hudel and Levi Wegodner from Justingrad

The library began with one shelf, but as readership increased so did income, and with that, the number of books. Russian books were also added, and pamphlets dealing with current questions, the Russian revolution (of 1905) and the socialist movement, reading matter taboo in the eyes of the regime. The library was kept in rented space in private homes, and for fear of betrayal of its secret to the local authorities, it frequently had to be moved from one place to another. But the activists involved never weakened. Teenage youth brought wooden egg crates from the egg dealers and built cases for the books. The library grew, and became an important factor in the education of the youth and the masses of the people in the shtetl.

1900’s

During the last twenty years of Sokolievka, from the beginning of the century to its annihilation, there were great changes. New institutions were founded, new developments in the field of the economy and of culture, and these were mainly the fruit of the initiatives and the efforts of the new generation.

The members of the old generation were not adaptable to novelties, and to any activity that deviated from the bounds of tradition and custom.

When an economic crisis struck the town in the first decade, in large measure due to the weakened status of Russian Jewry of that day, conscientious members of the community who were deeply rooted in its life were affected by despair and depression, and left their families to seek their fortune in America.

It was the young merchants who were stimulated to seek improvement in the town. They obtained permission to open a financial institution which helped craftsmen and storekeepers with loans for constructive purposes. These merchants also importuned the authorities to hasten the opening of a post office in the town. These young men founded the “modernized cheder” and the young married men sent their children to it. These youth organized a public library, initiated literary evenings and other cultural activities, drawing on local talent and on forces from nearby towns. If a writer chanced to come to town, immediately a committee of the youth appeared to invite him to lecture, and a troop of enthusiastic youth spread through the town to sell tickets.

This was one of the qualities of the town, voluntary contribution of effort with spirit, the traditional joy of doing a ‘mitzvah’ (good deed) with all your heart.

In this awakening of Sokolievka to improvement and innovation, an awakening that blended with the great yearning of youth for education and the acquisition of knowledge, may be seen the peculiarity of the development in the shtetl. Under the external shell of the frozen absence of motion, there were budding new and creative forces from whom emerged new builders and renewers. Yossel Chertov the “apikoros”, Yitzchak Yoel Kuzminsky the “intellectual”, and Shimon Geisinsky, a modest and popular good fellow, these blossomed and grew on the quiet.

No one taught them, no one trained them for all they did and tried to do. They arose from themselves and came forward to service of the people, because the hour had come, their service was acceptable and was a blessing to the whole town.

Jewish cemetery in Justingrad, 2011

Sionists

(A letter from Bennie Berkun touches on another development.) “You ask about Zionists in Sokolievka. In 1911, when I was fourteen, I already considered myself a member of the ‘Tz’irei Tzion’ (“Youth for Zion”). Gedalyahu Mendl, grandson of Rabbi, Samuel Kaprov, and Konstantinovsky conducted Zionist activity. We had a club and public meetings. A man named Moshe used to come to us from Zashkov to lecture on the Zionist movement (probably Moshe Skriton, who was related to the Dayan family). We organized a club in the village of Voronoye. Older folk were General Zionists, sons of the ‘Baalebatim’ were ‘Tz’irei Tzion’, sons of working craftsmen were Seimovtzim. We used to argue in the streets of the town, especially after the Revolution, before elections, till Zelyoni (may his name be blotted out) came and killed them all. ”

“and on the dramatic company in Sokolievka,” runs a letter from Miriam Geisinsky, widow of Same Kaplan, “The group put on several plays. My brother Shimon (Shimon Geisinsky, son of Yitzchak Yoel the ‘Shochet’) Sought out the plays, casted the players, prepared scenery decorations and directed the staging. Among the actors were Shulki Menachem’s, Berel Herzl Peretz’s (a fine lad, played very well), Mani Dubobis (she was outstanding in Mirele Efros, a classic drama by Jacob Gordin); also Perel Dratsh, and Yocheved Nachum–Elye’s. Alick Kuzminsky played the role of a child beautifully. Traina, his sister, also was a good actress, and my sister Feige did not do so badly either. Shimon started with the plays of Abraham Goldfaden and Jacob Gordin, and went on to those of Peretz Hirschbein. The shtetl of Monastrichtsh invited Shimon and his troupe to come and play for them. To our sorrow the pogroms then began and a tragic end came to the dramas of Sokolievka. ”

The Sokolievka orchestra was well known and used to play in neighbouring towns and at evening entertainments of the landed gentry.

In the mid-19th century, the local population consisted of 2,349 Orthodox Christians and 502 Jews.

In 1900, 2,521 Jews resided in Sokolivka.

In the early 20th century, many people moved to the United States and other countries.

Civil War Pogroms

With the start of the Russian Revolution local Jews organised a local self-defence unit. Chayyim Greenspan, who later settled in Buffalo, recalls: “With twelve rifles, they set up a night watch, and stopped night robberies.

When the goyim of nearby villages came to seize their arms, they resisted. These goyim then seized a number of Jews, dragged them to the “Bridge” to throw them in the river. Fortunately some goyim from Sokolievka proper at the other end of the “Bridge” intervened to protect their neighbours, and the other goyim left.

On another occasion a bandit troop of 150 invaded the shtetl, demanded the people give up their clothing and boots to the bandits and pay a ransom of half a million roubles. This time the shtetl was saved by the courage of two men who slipped away and rode to Monastrishtsh where they made contact with the government forces (Bolshevik) camped there. When the bandits were making ready to let loose their terror of the shtetl they were surprised by the arrival of a force of regular soldiers headed by a Jewish commander.

The people of the shtetl saw these deliverances as miracles. From mouth to ear the word was passed that Reb Pinchas’l the Rabbi had said, “As long as I live, no blood will be shed in my town.”

– First pogrom

During the night looting and vandalism began. Sunday morning saw streets deserted, some houses already devastated. At daylight a hunt and round–up began, the bandits seizing all young men, especially any from eighteen to thirty. They were dragged to the synagogue of the Tolner Chassidim and locked up there.

The bandit chief announced that a “war tax” was imposed of not less than a million roubles, to be collected and turned over in two hours. A communal worker, surrounded by armed bandits, went from home to home to collect the money. Meanwhile the hostages in the synagogue were being beaten down with their prayer stands by the armed bandits who then stomped on their heads.

Two hours passed, and the sum demanded had not been reached. Ten men were taken out and killed. Another hour passed, and another ten were killed. At noon the collectors returned to the synagogue, having amassed only about half the amount demanded. The bandit officer took the money, refused to release the prisoners and gave the word to start plundering the houses.

The bandits spread out through the shtetl, broke into stores, looted the merchandise, beating people with their whips. There was shooting of men, and raping of women. They spoke of killing all the men in the synagogue.

About five o’clock the bandit horde began to move out of the town. They separated out about a hundred and fifty young men from the rest in the synagogue and took them along as captives. At first some thought that nothing very serious would happen to them, because in another two Zeliony [the Green Army, a third force in the post-Revolutionary Russia, armed peasants, resisting all organised governments, – editor’s note] had also seized a large number of young men, but only warned them not to help the Bolsheviks and turned them loose. Alas, on the captives of Justingrad, the wrath of the Lord descended.

When the captives were led out on to the “Bridge”, some parents overtook them, and pleaded for their children, offering still more money. They were shot down and thrown into the river: among these parents were Menachem Tchernus and Yitzchak Snitzer.

Some of the young men, seeing what was up, pleaded with Zeliony to take them as recruits to his band. The murderer mocked their words and ordered them to be mowed down. A withering fire was opened on them from a hidden ambush, from a machine gun concealed by bushes. The best of Justingrad’s youth fell dead, many young fathers, the strength and glory of Sokolievka.

(The shooting having done its bloody work, the bandits waded in with their swords to silence the voices of the dying, among whom there were some who with their last strength cried out the Sh’ma Yisroel, the martyr’s creed, “Hear, O Israel”.)

One of the young men, Yitzchak Pushkalinsky, though severely wounded in the head, managed to drag himself out of the heap of the dead, and to reach town. He died two months later in the hospital in Uman, but from him were learned the details of what had happened. The bodies were first found in a ravine by Gentiles who notified the town.

Chayye Shuman, four of whose brothers were among those killed, recalled, “The Gentiles refused to bring the bodies to the shtetl. The Jewish population rented horses and wagons from them, and themselves brought back the dead. My father was among those digging graves for my brothers. Nachum the apothecary tried to help him digging. My father said to him, “Take it easy, Nachum; let me take care of my children.” My brother Baruch who was killed was married and the father of a little boy. ”Reb Pinchas’I was seventy-six at the time he was murdered.

Another testimony about first pogrom:

Another witness said this about the murder:

– Second pogrom

After Zeliony’s massacre the shtetl was raided often by local gangs from nearby villages. No day passed without some tragic event. So the year 5679 came to an end (September, 1919).

On Rosh Hashanah 5680 (September 25, 1919) the army of Denikin (Tsarist) passed through the shtetl on their way to fight against the Bolsheviks. Three Jews whom they chanced upon on the way they killed. Again there was robbing, looting, setting homes afire.

In Denikin’s days, there was total anarchy. From the old town of Sokolievka, hoodlum ruffians came night after night, rioted, attacked Jews, burned houses to force the Jews to leave. Many families did flee at that time. This went on about three months.

– Third pogrom

The Denikin forces were defeated. On their retreat from Byelo–Tserkov they again passed through Justingrad. Again they began with burning homes, and this time they ended killing some two hundred. In the severe frost, the Denikin forces seized Jews, dragged them to the ice of the frozen river, stripped them naked where they froze to death.

During the December 1919 Denikin pogroms, the Logvin family left their home (near the ‘Bess Medrash’) and hid in a decrepit hovel at the end of their street, hoping that its very poor condition would not attract attention. The pogromists came nonetheless. Breaking in, they struck Shammai (Seymour) Logvin, then a mere boy, on the head. He fell unconscious and bleeding. His grandmother Blume Leah ran to help him, so she was seized and strung up by rope to the roof beams. Meanwhile pogromists outside set fire to the roof thatch. In the confusion of flame and smoke the family managed to save both Blume Leah and Seymour, escaping out the back way. Blume Leah was, however, permanently blinded by the effect of the hanging.

The shtetl was in ruins. The community of stunned mourners, crushed by these disasters, wandered around in a delirium of despair. The ground burned under their feet. They fled, some to nearby Uman, others to Odessa, crowding miserably into emergency shelter in the synagogues. Many decided to leave the country, making their way on foot overland to the River Dniester, the Romanian border. Risking their lives in the river crossing, they filtered stealthily across the frontier and reached Romania penniless and starving.

Families broke up. Some, who had relatives in America, were able with their help to cross the ocean to the United States. A few families after great hardships managed to reach the land of Israel and settle there.

As a result of pogroms in 1919, the Jewish town was destroyed. 400 houses, 140 shops, a steam mill, six tanneries, three carbonated water plants, a savings and loan association, six synagogues and two bathhouses were burnt. A fifth of the Jewish population of the town perished.

After Civil War

In 1926, 762 Jews lived in Sokolivka, constituting 25% of the total population. There were five Jewish houses of worship.

The Monument at Beth David Cemetery, Elmont, Long Island, New York was erected October J7, 1926 to the victims of the pogrom of the 7 of Av 5679 is in raised letters on bronze tablets mounted on the cylindrical granite pillars on each side of the gate of the Sokolievka society burial ground. The Yiddish text, which seems to be primary, is on the right side, facing out, and the English, which appears to derive from the Yiddish, is on the left.

Monument at Beth David Cemetery

The names of the victims, which include many who were killed on other dates, are in English transliteration, arranged in three columns on each tablet. The total is over 230. Because of some misinterpretation in the way the names are indicated, the exact total is not clear. There are 38 lines in each column, but some lines appear to refer to more than one person.

The English text reads:

IN MEMORY OF THE DAY OF GRIEF AND SORROW ON AUGUST 3,1919 DURING THE TIME OF THE GREAT RUSSIAN REVOLUTION ON WHICH DAY 142 OF OUR DEARLY BELOVED FATHERS, MOTHERS, HUSBANDS, WIVES, SONS, DAUGHTERS, SISTERS,

BROTHERS AND COUNTRYMEN WERE AFTER LONG HOURS OF TORTURE AND UNDESCRIBABLE SUFFERINGS, KILLED BY A BAND OF ROBBERS AND BLOODTHIRSTY MURDERERS AND ALSO IN MEMORY OF OTHER DAYS OF DEEP SUFFERINGS IN WHICH OUR FLESH AND BLOOD AND COUNTRYMEN WERE, THROUGH VARIOUS GRUESOME KILLING, MURDERED AND BURNED. WE SOKOLEFKER-KENALER, IN WHICH CITIES THESE CATASTROPHES OCCURRED, HEREBY PERPETUATE THE NAMES OF THESE DECEASED ON THE BRONZE TABLET THROUGH THE COOPERATION AND ASSISTANCE OF THE SOKOLIFKER-KENALER FRATERNAL ASSOCIATION, INC ..

All list of names you can find in my Google Docs document.

Before the war, over 150 Jews had lived in Sokolivka.

The village was occupied on 24 July, 1941. Soon after the occupation, all Jews were registered and ordered to wear a badge with a six-pointed star.

On September 19, during the first shootings, 35 Jews were killed together with 13 local communists. The remaining Jews were resettled to the ghetto which was liquidated in May 1942. Some Jewish artisans were left alive.

In September 1942, some of the Jewish artisans were shot and in the summer of 1943, the same happened to all the rest.

During the period of the Holocaust, more than 190 Jews were slaughtered in Sokolivka. We know names of 184 only…

Their names are listed in this document.

After WWII

After the War few Jews returned to village. According to local residents, the last Jew of Justingrad was a rope maker and buried on local Jewish cemetery.

Immigrants arriving at different periods in the New York City area created two landsmannschaftern, the Justingrader society before World War I and the Sokolifker–Kenaler Fraternal Association in 1923, maintaining friendly but independent relations. The Justingrader society, in its flourishing days, was of cosmopolitan outlook and often took constructive stands on broad national and international issues. Both societies existed in USA till 1970’s-1980’s. (Typically, the American–born children of such immigrants do not continue the mutual aid societies set up by their parents.)

Monument to the Justingrad pogrom victims in Holy Order of the Living Cemetery, Cheektowaga, near Buffalo, New York dedicated August 30, 1964

The Justingrader maintain burial grounds in the Old Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield Gardens, and in the New Montefiore, Pinelawn. The Sokolifker–Kenaler plot is also on Long Island, in Beth David Cemetery, Elmont; on the pillars of its gate are the bronze memorial tablets described elsewhere herein.

In Justingrad few Jewish houses still exist inhabited by the Ukrainians who don’t like to speak about the Jewish past of their village.

Famous Jews from Justingrad

Motl Grubiyan (1909 – 1972, Moscow) – a Yiddish poet, prisoner of concentration camps.

Yakob Grubiyan (1911, Justingrad – 1979), Soviet writer who wrote in Yiddish.

Sokolivka Jewish cemetery

The old Jewish cemetery with graves from the 18th and 19th centuries was situated on Naberezhnaya Street on the western outskirts of the village.

In the early 20th century, an artificial body of water was constructed which covered a large part of the cemetery while the rest of the cemetery area was turned into a field. The exact place of the old demolished Jewish cemetery is unknown.

Inscription on the oldest surviving tombstone:
פ”נ, תנצב”ה, א’ח’ ? הועד, מירל בת פנחס, נפ’ ט’ מח’ חשוון שנת תרכ”ו לפ”ק

Here buried, A respected woman [ …], Mirl, daughter of Pinchas, Who died on the 9th of Cheshvan, 5621

Here buried
A respected woman [ …]
Mirl, daughter of Pesach
Who died on the 9th of Cheshvan, 5621
According to the Jewish calendar

Most recent surviving inscription:

1919
פ”נ
הקדוש
ר’ יוסף
בר יצחק ליב
ליאמיץ
נהרג
[ה] אב תרעט
תנצבה
Here buried is
The holy
Rabbi Joseph,
Son of Yitshak Leib
Leymetz.
Who was killed in the month of Av, 5679.
Let his soul be bound in the bond of life.

Most gravestones were stolen by local Ukrainians.

Information was taken from http://admin.lo-tishkach.org/Search/Search/ShowQryCemeteryTownPage.aspx?QryCemeteryAndTown=12004

Holocaust Mass Graves

– Jewish cemetery

Behind the bridge across the water reservoir, 1 km to the left of the road to Konel’ska Popivka village. The mass grave is located at the entrance to the Jewish cemetery of Sokolivka.

Plaque or Signpost near the cemetery entrance

Inscription Text:
«Eternal memory
To the defenseless Soviet citizens and their children,
Ruthlessly tortured by the German t occupiers
In the years 1941-1943.
A total of 24 victims»

Holocaust mass grave on Sokolovka Jewish cemetery

The mass grave is located at the site of the former pre-burial house. According to the local residents, in 1941, Jewish children aged 14-15 were gathered in this house and killed, then dropped into the basement of the building (according to another version, into the well). The next day, local residents were forced to fill-up the cellar with soil.

In 1945, the pre-burial house was demolished, and in 1960, a monument was erected.

– Konels’kyi Forest

The location marks a series of mass graves. The granite obelisk reads: “Eternal memory to the Soviet defenceless citizens and children, brutally tortured by the Nazi occupants in 1941-1943. 140 people.

The inscription is fading and might soon disappear.

In 1970, a monument was erected. Until the mid-1990s, the mass grave was maintained by a local resident, Petr Strekoten.

In 1941, 140 people were shot in Konelsky forest.

According to the local resident Andrey Ivanovich Kovalchuk, the police had driven nearly all the Jews from Sokolivka towards the woods.

Information was taken from http://admin.lo-tishkach.org/Search/Search/ShowQryCemeteryTownPage.aspx?QryCemeteryAndTown=10086

Below is the map of settlements which has more that 1000 of Jewish popualtion according to 1897 census in Kiev Gubernia.

Part of them were city but most was “classic” shtetl. More details and naming variants you can find below the map.

Some names was changes and some shtetls disappeared but on the map mentioned real Pre-Revolution name.

Hostoml (Polish), Hostomla, Ostomla (Alternative Name), Гостомель – Gostomel, Gostomel’ (Russian), Гостомель – Hostomel, Hostomel’ (Ukrainian), Остромир – Ostromir, Ostromyr (Formerly)
916 Jews( 46% of total population)

Anatovka (Yiddish Transliteration), Гнатівка – Hnativka (Ukrainian), Игнатовка – Ignatovka (Russian), אנטבקה (Yiddish)
926 Jews( 85% of total population)

Tahancho
953 Jews( 21% of total population)

Dimer (Yiddish Transliteration), Dymir (Polish), Димер – Dymer (Ukrainian), Дымер – Dymer, Dimer (Russian), דימער (Yiddish)
984 Jews( 31% of total population)

Moshny (English), Мошны (Ukrainian)
1022 Jews( 13% of total population)

Zarnowce (Hungarian), Жорнище (Ukrainian), Жорнище – Zhornishche (Russian)
1040 Jews( 30% of total population)

Германівка – Hermanivka (Ukrainian), Германовка – Germanovka (Russian), Красне-2, Красное-2, Krasne -2, Krasnoe -2 (Formerly)
1049 Jews( 29% of total population)

Медвин (Ukrainian), Медвин – Medvin (Russian)
1082 Jews( 11% of total population)

Dubowa (Polish), Дубова, Dubova (Russian), דבובה (Yiddish)
1104 Jews( 40% of total population)

Вчерайше – Vcheraishe (Russian), Вчорайше (Ukrainian)
1108 Jews( 33% of total population)

Дзюньків – Dziunkiv, Dziun’kiv (Ukrainian), Дзюньков – Dziunkov, Dzyunkov, Dziun’kov (Russian)
1137 Jews( 26% of total population)

Obuchów (Polish), Obukhow, Obuchiv (Alternative Name), Обухів – Obukhiv (Ukrainian), Обухов – Obukhov (Russian)
1140 Jews( 13% of total population)

Bialopole (Polish), Белополье – Belopole (Russian), Білопілля (Ukrainian)
1141 Jews( 44% of total population)

Ładyżynka (Polish), Ладыжинка/Ладыженка (Ladyzhinka/Ladyzhenka) (Russian)
1173 Jews( 32% of total population)

Terlica (Polish), Terlitza (Yiddish), Terlycja (Alternative Name), Терлица – Terlitsa (Russian), Терлиця – Terlytsia (Ukrainian)
1191 Jews( 52% of total population)

Olszana (Polish), Vil’shany, Olshany, Golshany (Alternative Name), Вільшана (Ukrainian), Ольшана, Olshana (Russian), ווילשאנא, אולשאן , Olshan (Yiddish)
1233 Jews( 20% of total population)

Shenderivka (Yiddish), Szandorowka (Polish), Самгородок (Ukrainian), Самгородок – Samgorodok (Russian)
Самгородок 1234 Jews( 34% of total population)

Trypol (Polish), Трипілля – Trypillia, Trypillya (Ukrainian), Триполье – Tripole, Tripol’e, Tripolye (Russian)
1238 Jews( 22% of total population)

Ківшовата – Kivshovata (Ukrainian), Ковшеватое – Kovshevatoe (Russian)
1265 Jews( 22% of total population)

Torhovytsia
1299 Jews( 35% of total population)
don’t miss with Torhovytsia of Mlynivskyi Raion in Rivne Oblast

Rizinivka (Yiddish Transliteration), Ryżanówka (Polish), Рыжановка, Ryzhanovka (Russian)
1374 Jews( 33% of total population)

П’ятигори – Piatyhory, P’iatyhory (Ukrainian), Пятигоры – Piatigory, Pyatigory (Russian)
1385 Jews( 32% of total population)

Kagareyk (Alternative Name), Kahorlik (Polish), Кагарлик – Kaharlyk (Ukrainian), Кагарлык – Kagarlyk (Russian) Кагарлык
1414 Jews( 21% of total population)

Medvedivka (Polish), Medvedovka (Yiddish Transliteration), Медведовка, Medvedovka (Russian)
1453 Jews( 39% of total population)

Steblëv Pervyy, Steblëv (Alternative Name), Steblów (Polish), Стеблёв, Stebliov (Russian), Стеблів (Ukrainian)
1472 Jews( 26% of total population)

Vinograd – Виноград (Russian), Vynohrad – Vinohrad – Виноград (Ukrainian), Winograd (Polish), ווינאָגראַד (Yiddish)
1523 Jews( 37% of total population)

Okhrymovka (Old Name), Sarni (German), Sarny (Yiddish Transliteration), Сарни – Sarny (Ukrainian), Сарны – Sarny (Russian) – don’t miss with Sarny in Rivny oblast
1555 Jews( 48% of total population)

Иванков – Ivankov (Russian), Іванків – Ivankiv (Ukrainian)
1577 Jews( 52% of total population)

Pokotilovo
1670 Jews( 55% of total population)

Kalihórka Mokra (Polish), Мокрая Калигорка, Mokraya Kaligorka (Russian)
1677 Jews( 52% of total population)

Alternative Names: Кагановичи – Kaganovichi, Kahanovychi (Formerly), Кагановичі Перші – Kahanovychi Pershi (Formerly), Полесское – Polesskoe (Russian), Поліське – Poliske, Polis’ke (Ukrainian), Хабне – Khabne, Хабно – Khabno (Formerly)
1721 Jews( 63% of total population)

Lukaszewka (Polish), Лукашiвка – Lukashivka (Ukrainian), Лукашевка – Lukashevka (Russian)
1724 Jews( 40% of total population)

Казатин – Kazatin (Russian), Козятин (Ukrainian)
1731 Jews( 20% of total population)

Rachmastrivka, ראחמסטריווקא (Yiddish), Rotmistrzówka (Polish), Ротмистровка, Rotmistrovka (Russian), Ротмістрівка (Ukrainian)
1785 Jews( 37% of total population)

Плисків (Ukrainian), Плисков – Pliskov (Russian)
1828 Jews( 47% of total population)

Borshagovka 1853 Jews( 58% of total population)
It is a part of Kiev now.

Hornostajpol (Polish), Горностайпіль – Hornostaypil, Hornostaypil’ (Ukrainian), Горностайполь – Gornostaypol, Gornostaypol’ (Russian), הורנוסטייפל, הורניסטייפל, הורנוסטייפעל, סטייפל (Yiddish)
1888 Jews( 57% of total population)

Zhivatov (Yiddish), Zivotov, Zywatow (Polish), Животівка (Ukrainian), Животов (Russian)
1935 Jews( 52% of total population)

Ekaterinopol’, Yekaterinopol’, Yekaterynopol (Alternative Name), Ekaterynopol (Polish), Jekaterinopol, Kal’niboloto, Ekaterinople (Alternative Name), Калниболото, Kalniboloto (Old Name), Катеринопіль (Ukrainian), Катеринополь, Katerinopol’ (Russian)
1980 Jews ( 28% of total population)

Нова Прилука (Ukrainian), Новая Прилука – Novaia Priluka (Russian)
2011 Jews ( 56% of total population)

Wołodarka (Polish), Володарка – Volodarka (Ukrainian), Володарка – Volodarka (Russian)
2079 Jews ( 45% of total population)

Kamenka-Shevchenkovskaya, Kamenka Cherkasskaya (Alternative Name), Kamianka – Кам’янка (Ukrainian), Kamionka (Polish), Kam’janka (Alternative Name), Kamеnka – Каменка (Russian)
2193 Jews ( 35% of total population)

Belilovka (Russian), Bilylivka, Byelilovka, Белиловка – Belilovka (Russian), Білилівка (Ukrainian)
2223 Jews ( 46% of total population)

Baki (Yiddish), Буки – Buki (Russian), Буки – Buky (Ukrainian)
2298 Jews ( 59% of total population)

Vichnifka (Yiddish), Wachnowka (Polish), Вахнівка (Ukrainian), Вахновка – Vakhnovka (Russian) Махновка Комсомо́льское
2404 Jews ( 45% of total population)

Zasashkhov, Żaszków (Polish), Жашків – Zhashkiv (Ukrainian), Жашков – Zhashkov (Russian), זאשקאוו, Zashkov (Yiddish)
2445 Jews ( 47% of total population)

Pohrebysce, Pochrebishtche (Hungarian), Pohrebyszcze (Polish), Probishta (Yiddish), Погребище (Ukrainian), Погребище – Pogrebishche (Russian)
2494 Jews ( 40% of total population)

Justingrad (Formerly called), Justynhrad, Yustingrod (Polish), Sokolowka (Czech), Stara Vies (Alternative Name), Sukhovole (German), Zahojpole (Alternative Name), Zaluzie (Polish), Загайполь – Zagaipol (Russian), с. Соколовка – Sokolovka, Юстинград – Yustingrad (Russian), Соколівка – Sokolivka, Юстiнград – Yustingrad (Ukrainian), סוקוליבקה ,יוסטינגרד (Yiddish)
2521 Jews ( 79% of total population)

Malyn (English),Malin (Yiddish)
2547 Jews ( 60% of total population)

Monasterishtche, מאנאסטריטש (Yiddish), Monasterzyska (Polish), Монастирище – Monastyrysche (Ukrainian), Монастырище – Monastyrishche (Russian)
2620 Jews ( 28% of total population)

Lisianka (Yiddish), Lisinka (Polish), Lusanka (Czech), Лисянка – Lysianka (Ukrainian), Лысянка – Lysianka (Russian)
2845 Jews ( 39% of total population)

Ruzhin (Yiddish), Ruzin, Ruzshin, Rizhn, Rużyn (Polish), Ружин (Ukrainian), Ружин – Ruzhin (Russian)
2917 Jews ( 67% of total population)

Gorodische (German), Gorodische – Городище (Russian), Gorodish, Horodishtch (Yiddish), Horodische – Городище (Ukrainian), Horodyshche, Horodysce, Gorodisce, Gorodyszcze (Alternative Name), Horodyszcze (Polish)
3124 Jews ( 21% of total population)

Александровка – Aleksandrovka (Russian), Олександрівка (Ukrainian)
3213 Jews ( 74% of total population)

Tetyjów, Tetyiow (Polish), Тетиев – Tetiev (Russian), Тетіїв – Tetiiv (Ukrainian), טטייב (Hebrew), טעטיאב ,טיטוב ,טעטיעב (Yiddish)
3323 Jews ( 95% of total population)

Stepańce (Polish), Stepancy, Stepanci (Alternative Name), Stepanitz (German), Stepnitz, סטעפניטץ (Yiddish), Степанці – Stepantsi (Ukrainian), Степанцы – Stepantsy (Russian)
3389 Jews ( 46% of total population)

Паволочь – Pavoloch (Russian), Поволоч (Ukrainian)
3391 Jews ( 42% of total population)

Brusilov (Yiddish), Brusiłów (Polish), Brussilow, Брусилів (Ukrainian), Брусилов – Brusilov (Russian)
3575 Jews ( 53% of total population)

Hodorkov (Polish), Ходорків – Khodorkiv (Ukrainian), Ходорков – Khodorkov (Russian)
3672 Jews ( 53% of total population)

Karun’ Sheychenkovskaya (Alternative Name), Korsun’ (Russian), Korsuń Szewczenkowski (Polish), Korsun-Schewtschenkiwskyj (German), Korsun’-Shevchenkovskiy – Корсунь-Шевченковский (Russian), Корсунь-Шевченківський (Ukrainian)
3799 Jews ( 46% of total population)

Stavisht (Yiddish Transliteration), Stawiszcze (Polish), Ставище – Stavishche (Russian), Ставище – Stavysche (Ukrainian), סטאוויש (Yiddish), סתעבישצ (Yiddish)
3917 Jews ( 48% of total population)

Makarov (Yiddish), Макарів – Makariv (Ukrainian), Макаров – Makarov (Russian)
3953 Jews ( 74% of total population)

Korosteszów (Polish), Korostishev, Korostyschiw, Korostysiv, Коростишів (Ukrainian), Коростышев – Korostyshev (Russian)
4160 Jews ( 53% of total population)

Demievka (English)
4919 Jews ( 47% of total population)
Now it is a part of Kiev.

Ильинцы – Ilintsy (Russian), Іллінці (Ukrainian)
4993 Jews ( 50% of total population)

Shpola – Шпола (Russian), Shpola – Шпола (Ukrainian), Shpole, שפּאָלע (Yiddish), Szpoła (Polish)
5388 Jews ( 45% of total population)

Talna, Tolne, טאלנא (Yiddish), Talne (Polish), Talne – Тальне – Tal’ne (Ukrainian), Talnoe, Talnoya (Alternative Name), Tal’noye, Talnoe – Тальное (Russian)
5452 Jews ( 57% of total population)

Chernobyl (English)
5526 Jews ( 59% of total population)

Фастів – Fastiv (Ukrainian), Фастов – Fastov (Russian), Хвастів – Khvastiv (Formerly), כוואסטוב ,חוואסטוב (Yiddish)
5595 Jews ( 52% of total population)

Rzhishchev, Rzhyschiv, Rzysciv (Alternative Name), Rzyszczów (Polish), Ржищев – Rzhishchev (Russian), Ржищів – Rzhyschiv (Ukrainian), אורזישטשב , אורזיטשוב (Yiddish)
6008 Jews ( 52% of total population)

Новозлатопіль (Ukrainian), Новозлатополь, Novozlatopol (Russian), נײַ-זלאַטאָפּאָל, Ney Zlatopol (Yiddish)
6373 Jews ( 78% of total population)

Bohsla (Yiddish), Boslw (German), Богуслав – Boguslav (Russian), Богуслав – Bohuslav (Ukrainian)
7445 Jews ( 65% of total population)

Smela (Yiddish), Smela – Смeла (Russian), Smiela, Smiła (Polish), Smila – Сміла (Ukrainian)
7475 Jews ( 49% of total population)

Biała Cerkiew (Polish), Shvartze Timme (Yiddish Transliteration), Белая Церковь – Belaia Tserkov, Belaya Tserkov (Russian), Біла Церква – Bila Tserkva (Ukrainian), שדה לבן (Hebrew)
18720 Jews ( 53% of total population)

Киев – Kiev (Russian), Київ – Kyiv (Ukrainian)
31801 Jews ( 12,9% of total population)

Barditchev (Yiddish), Berditchev, Berditchov, Berditschew, Berdytschiw,, Berdyczów (Polish), Бердичев – Berdichev (Russian), Бердичів (Ukrainian)
41617 Jews ( 78,0% of total population)

Vasilikov (Yiddish Transliteration), Wasilkow, Wassilkow, Wassylkiw (Alternative Name), Васильків – Vasyl’kiv, Vasylkiv (Ukrainian), Васильков – Vasil’kov, Vasilkov (Russian), וואסילקוב (Yiddish), וסילקוב (Hebrew)
5155 Jews ( 39,3% of total population)

Zvenigorodka (Yiddish Transliteration), Zvenigorodka – Звенигородка (Russian), Zwienigorodka (Polish)
6389 Jews ( 38,0% of total population)

Kaniow (Polish), Канiв – Kaniv (Ukrainian), Канев – Kanev (Russian)
2682 Jews ( 30,3% of total population)

Lipovetz (Yiddish), Lipowiec (Polish), Липовец – Lipovets (Russian), Липовець (Ukrainian)
4135 Jews ( 47,7% of total population)

Radomishel (Yiddish), Radomishl, Radomyszl, Radomyschl (German), Radomyshl’ (Ukrainian), Radomysl’ (Russian), Radomyśl (Polish)
7502 Jews ( 68,8% of total population)

Skver, Skvir, Skwere (Yiddish Transliteration), Skwira (Polish), Сквира – Skvira (Russian), Сквира – Skvyra (Ukrainian), סקווירא (Yiddish)
8908 Jews ( 49,5% of total population)

Tarasche (Yiddish), Taraszcza (Polish), Тараща – Tarascha (Ukrainian), Тараща – Tarashcha (Russian)
4905 Jews ( 43,5% of total population)

Humań (Polish), Imen, Human (Yiddish Transliteration), Умань (Ukrainian), Умань – Uman’ (Russian), אמואן (Yiddish)
17943 Jews ( 57,8% of total population)

Cerkasy, Cherkassi, Cherkassy – Черкассы (Russian), Cherkasy – Черкаси (Ukrainian), Cherkoss, טשערקאס (Yiddish), Czerkasy (Polish), Tscherkassy (German)
10950 Jews ( 37,0% of total population)

Cherin, טשערין (Yiddish), Czehryń (Polish), Чигирин (Ukrainian), Чигирин, Chigirin (Russian)
2921 Jews ( 29,6% of total population)

Below is the map of settlements which has more that 1000 of Jewish popualtion according to 1897 census in Kiev Gubernia.

Part of them were city but most was “classic” shtetl. More details and naming variants you can find below the map.

Some names was changes and some shtetls disappeared but on the map mentioned real Pre-Revolution name.

Poltava
10954 Jews according to 1897 census (20% of total population)

Gadiach, Гадяч (Ukrainian)
853 Jews according to 1897 census (24% of total population)

Zinkov, Zen’kov (Russian), Zienkow (Polish), Zin’kiv (Ukrainian)
1263 Jews according to 1897 census (12% of total population)

Zolotonsza (Polish), Золотоноша (Ukrainian), Золотоноша – Zolotonosha (Russian)
2769 Jews according to 1897 census (32% of total population)

Kobeliaki, Кобеляки (Ukrainian,Russian)
2119 Jews according to 1897 census (20% of total population)

Konstantinograd – Красноград (Ukrainian) since 1922, Красноград – Krasnograd (Russian)
1099 Jews according to 1897 census (17% of total population)

Kremenchug Кременчуг (Russian), Кременчук (Ukrainian), Kremenczug (Polish)
29768 Jews according to 1897 census (47% of total population)

Gradizhsk Градижск (Russian), Градизьк (Ukrainian)
1111 Jews according to 1897 census (12% of total population)

Lokhvitsa Лохвиця (Ukrainian), Lochvitza (Yiddish) Lochwyzja (Polish), Лохвица (Russian)
2465 Jews according to 1897 census (28% of total population)

Lubny (English), Luben (Yiddish), Lubnie, Lubin, Lubny (Polish)
3006 Jews according to 1897 census (30% of total population)

Mirgorod Миргород – (Russian), Mirhorod Yashan (Traditional Hebrew)
1248 Jews according to 1897 census (12% of total population)

Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Переяслав-Хмельницький(Ukrainian), Perejaslaw (Polish),Переяслав – Pereiaslav, Pereyaslav (Alternative Name)
5754 Jews according to 1897 census (39% of total population)

Piriatin Пирятин (Ukrainian), Пирятин (Russian)
3166 Jews according to 1897 census (39% of total population)

Pryluki (Polish), Прилуки (Ukrainian), פרילוקי (Hebrew)
5717 Jews according to 1897 census (31% of total population)

Romny Ромни (Ukrainian), Ромны – (Russian)
6378 Jews according to 1897 census (28% of total population)

Khorol – Choral (Yiddish), Chorol (Polish), Хорол (Ukrainian), Хорол – (Russian)
2056 Jews according to 1897 census (26% of total population)

Boryspil Бориспіль – (Ukrainian), Boryspol (Polish)
1094 Jews according to 1897 census (12% of total population)

Yagotin Яготин – (Ukrainian,Russian), Yagotina (Yiddish)
943 Jews according to 1897 census (21% of total population)

We first appeared here about 500 years ago…

On the even of the first world war 400,000 of our ancestors lived in over 100 small-towns (Shtetlach) in this picturesque part of Ukraine called Podolia.

On this map you can find 96 shtetls of Podololia Gubernia which has more than 1000 person of Jewish population according to 1897 census.

Каменец-Подольский – Kamenets-Podolsky (Russian) – more details
16211 Jews according to 1897 census (45% of total population)

Bałta (Polish), Balte (Yiddish), Yusefgorod (Polish), Балта – Balta (Russian)
13235 Jews according to 1897 census (57% of total population)

Bracław (Polish), Bratzlav, בראָסלעוו (Yiddish), Braslav (Formerly), Брацлав – Bratslav (Russian) – more details
3290 Jews according to 1897 census (42% of total population)

‎Winitza (Yiddish), Winnica (Polish), Винница – Vinnitsa (Russian)
11689 Jews according to 1897 census (38% of total population)

Aysyn (Yiddish), Hajsyn (Polish), Гайсин – Gaisin (Russian)
4321 Jews according to 1897 census (46% of total population)

Latyczów (Polish), Letyciv, Летичев – Letichev (Russian), Летичів (Ukrainian)
4108 Jews according to 1897 census (57% of total population)

Литин – Litin (Russian), Літин (Ukrainian)
3874 Jews according to 1897 census (41% of total population)

Chmielnik (Polish), Хмельник – Khmelnik (Russian), Хмільник (Ukrainian)
5977 Jews according to 1897 census (51% of total population)

Mogilów (Polish), Mogilov-Podolski, Могилёв-Подольский (Russian), Могилів-Подільський (Ukrainian)
12344 Jews according to 1897 census (55% of total population)
‎
Bar (Polish), Бар (Ukrainian), Бар – Bar (Russian)
5772 Jews according to 1897 census (58% of total population)

Ольгопіль (Ukrainian), Ольгополь – Olgopol (Russian), Рогузька-Чечельницькая (Formerly called)
‎2473 Jews according to 1897 census (30% of total population)

‎Проскуров – Proskurov (Formerly called), Хмельницкий – Khmelnitskii (Russian), Хмельницький (Ukrainian)
11411 Jews according to 1897 census (50% of total population)
‎
Nova Oshitza (Polish), Novaja Osica (Czech), Новая Ушица – Novaya Ushitza (Russian)
2213 Jews according to 1897 census (35% of total population)
‎
Старая Ушица – Staraya Ushitza (Russian)
1583 Jews according to 1897 census (38% of total population)
‎
Iampol (Romanian), Ямпіль (Ukrainian), Ямполь – Yampol (Russian)
2823 Jews according to 1897 census (43% of total population)

Berszad (Polish), Бершадь – Bershad (Russian)
6603 Jews according to 1897 census (74% of total population)

Bogopol – became a part of Pervomaysk in 1919
5909 Jews according to 1897 census (82% of total population)

Worchowka (Polish), Berhefke Yiddish), Верхівка (Ukrainian), Верховка – Verkhovka (Russian)
1094 Jews according to 1897 census (35% of total population)

Volkovintsy 
1178 Jews according to 1897 census (32% of total population)

Vinkivtsi
1768 Jews according to 1897 census (56% of total population)

Voronovycja, Voronovitsy, Woronowica (Polish), Вороновица – Voronovitsa (Russian), Вороновиця (Ukrainian)
1411 Jews according to 1897 census (47% of total population)

Varshilovka (Yiddish), Vorosilovka (Dutch), Woroshilowka (Polish), Ворошилівка (Ukrainian), Ворошиловка – Voroshilovka (Russian) – more details
Ворошиловка 1592 Jews according to 1897 census (50% of total population)

Holovenevsk (Yiddish), Hołowaniewskie (Polish), Голованевск – Golovanevsk (Russian), Голованівськ (Ukrainian)
Голованевск 4320 Jews according to 1897 census (53% of total population)

Goloskovo
1272 Jews according to 1897 census (84% of total population)

Gródek Jagielloński (Polish), Городок (Ukrainian), Городок – Gorodok (Russian)
3194 Jews according to 1897 census (36% of total population)
don’t miss with Horodoks in Lviv and Volyn oblast

Gusiatyn, Gusatin, Usiatyn, Gusyatin (Russian), Husiatin (Yiddish), Husiatyń (Polish), Гусятин – Gusiatin (Russian), Гусятин – Husiatyn (Ukrainian)
1153 Jews according to 1897 census (41% of total population)
This “Husyatin” was situated only on left bank of Zbruch river. Right bank Husyatin was a part of Austria-Hungary.

Dzierażnia, Derazhnya (Polish), Деражня (Ukrainian), Деражня – Derazhnia (Russian)
Дережня 3333 Jews according to 1897 census (68% of total population)

Djurin (Polish, Yiddish & Hebrew), Джурин (Ukrainian), Джурин – Dzhurin (Russian)
1585 Jews according to 1897 census (34% of total population)

Дзигівка (Ukrainian), Дзыговка – Dzygovka (Russian)
2187 Jews according to 1897 census (30% of total population)

Schabokritsch, Zabokryc, Żabokrzycz (Polish), Zhabokritch (Yiddish), Жабокрич (Ukrainian), Жабокрич – Zhabokrich (Russian)
1307 Jews according to 1897 census (21% of total population)

Zhvanets
3353 Jews according to 1897 census (67% of total population)

Zhmerinka (Russian), Zmierzynka (Polish)
2396 Jews according to 1897 census (17% of total population)

Zinkov (Yiddish), Zińków (Polish), Зиньков – Zinkov (Russian), Зіньків (Ukrainian)
3719 Jews according to 1897 census (53% of total population)

Kalinówka (Polish), Kolenivka (Yiddish), Калинівка (Ukrainian), Калиновка – Kalinovka (Russian)
1052 Jews according to 1897 census (41% of total population)

Kamenka, Kamionka (Polish)
2902 Jews according to 1897 census (43% of total population)
Located on the territory of PMR – partially recognized state located mostly on a strip of land between the River Dniester and the eastern Moldovan border with Ukraine

Киблич – Kiblich (Russian), Кіблич (Ukrainian)
1067 Jews according to 1897 census (34% of total population)

Китайгород (Ukrainian), Китайгород – Kitaigorod (Russian)
1087 Jews according to 1897 census (49% of total population)

Knyazhe-Timanovka, Knyazhopol
1040 Jews according to 1897 census (95% of total population)

Codâma (Romanian), Kodima (Yiddish), Кодима (Ukrainian), Кодыма – Kodyma (Russian)
2041 Jews according to 1897 census (48% of total population)

Copaigorod, Kopai Gorod, Koprod, Kopaigorod (Yiddish), Kopajgród (Polish), Копайгород (Ukrainian)
1720 Jews according to 1897 census (58% of total population)

Велика Кісниця (Ukrainian), Великая Косница – Velikaia Kosnitsa (Russian)
781 Jews according to 1897 census (13% of total population)

Krasne – Красне (Ukrainian)
2590 Jews according to 1897 census (91% of total population)

Кривое Озеро (Russian), Kryve Ozero
5478 Jews according to 1897 census (70% of total population)

Круті (Ukrainian), Крутые – Krutye (Russian)
2389 Jews according to 1897 census (50% of total population)

Krizhopol (Yiddish), Kryżopil (Polish), Крижопіль (Ukrainian), Крыжополь – Kryzhopol (Russian)
668 Jews according to 1897 census (59% of total population)

Kyzmin
890 Jews according to 1897 census (30% of total population)

Kupin
1351 Jews according to 1897 census (97% of total population)

Murovani Kurylivtsi (Ukrainian),Maravna Krilovitz (Polish),  Куриловцы Мурованные (Russian)
1410 Jews according to 1897 census (32% of total population)

Ladejn (Yiddish), Ładyżyn (Polish), Ладижин (Ukrainian), Ладыжин – Ladyzhin (Russian)
3212 Jews according to 1897 census (49% of total population)

Lucinet (Yiddish), Lutschinez (Polish), Лучинец (Russian), Лучинець (Ukrainian)
1050 Jews according to 1897 census (27% of total population)

Лянцкорунь- Lyantskorun, became a Zarichanka in 1947
1893 Jews according to 1897 census (50% of total population)

Medzibezh, Medzibozh, Mezhibezh, Mezhybozhe (Alternative Name), Międzybuż (Polish), Międzybóż, Меджибіж (Ukrainian), Меджибож – Medzhibozh (Russian),
6040 Jews according to 1897 census (74% of total population)

Межирів (Ukrainian), Межиров – Mezhirov (Russian)
1345 Jews according to 1897 census (59% of total population)

Миньковцы – Minkovtsi
2196 Jews according to 1897 census (67% of total population)

Mihalpol, now it has name Mihailovka
1392 Jews according to 1897 census (59% of total population)

Мурафа (Ukrainian), Мурафа – Murafa (Russian)
Мурафа Старая 1350 Jews according to 1897 census (99% of total population)

Myastkovka – It was renamed to Gorodovka in 1946.
Мястковка 2105 Jews according to 1897 census (26% of total population)

Немирів (Ukrainian), Немиров – Nemirov (Russian)
5287 Jews according to 1897 census (59% of total population)

Mikołajów (Polish), Миколаїв – Mykolaiv (Ukrainian), Николаев – Nikolayev (Russian)
2189 Jews according to 1897 census (60% of total population)

Novo Konstantinov – Ново Константинов (Ukrainian), Новый Константинов (Russian)
2320 Jews according to 1897 census (59% of total population)

Obodovka (Yiddish), Obodówka (Polish), Ободівка (Ukrainian), Ободовка – Obodovka (Russian)
1676 Jews according to 1897 census (22% of total population)

Ozarinet (Romanian), Ozarintsy (Russian), Ozarynci (Ukrainian)
994 Jews according to 1897 census (25% of total population)

Orynin, Орынин
2412 Jews according to 1897 census (42% of total population)

Pistchanka (Yiddish), Piszczanka (Polish), Песчанка – Peschanka (Russian), Піщанка (Ukrainian)
3682 Jews according to 1897 census (49% of total population)

Novyy Pykiv (Formerly), Pikov (Polish), Пиків (Ukrainian), Пиков – Pikov (Russian)
1479 Jews according to 1897 census (100% of total population)

Raigrod (Yiddish), Райгород (Ukrainian), Райгород – Raigorod (Russian)
995 Jews according to 1897 census (44% of total population)
??Don’t miss with Raihorodok??

Рашков, Rashkov
3201 Jews according to 1897 census (55% of total population)

Rybnitsa, Рыбницы
1574 Jews according to 1897 census (39% of total population)

Kanetspol – XVIII, Sauran (Dutch), Sawrań (Polish), Саврань – Savran (Russian), Саврань – Savran (Ukrainian)
3198 Jews according to 1897 census (54% of total population)

Сатанів (Ukrainian), Сатанов – Satanov (Russian)
2848 Jews according to 1897 census (65% of total population)

Стара Синява (Ukrainian), Старая Синява – Staraya Sinyava (Russian)
2279 Jews according to 1897 census (49% of total population)

Смотрич (Ukrainian), Смотрич – Smotrich (Russian)
1725 Jews according to 1897 census (39% of total population)

Sobolevka, Соболевка (Russian), Соболівка (Ukrainian)
1121 Jews according to 1897 census (20% of total population)
Солобківці (Ukrainian), Солобковцы – Solobkovtsy (Russian)
1307 Jews according to 1897 census (39% of total population)

Stanislavcik (Yiddish), Станиславчик – Stanislavchik (Russian), Станіславчик (Ukrainian)
1207 Jews according to 1897 census (23% of total population)

Tepłyk (Polish), Теплик (Ukrainian), Теплик – Teplik (Russian)
3725 Jews according to 1897 census (53% of total population)

Tarnovka (Yiddish), Ternowka (German), Тернівка (Ukrainian), Терновка – Ternovka (Russian)
2823 Jews according to 1897 census (53% of total population)

Tomashpol (Yiddish), Tomaszpol (Polish), Томашпіль (Ukrainian), Томашполь – Tomashpol (Russian)
4515 Jews according to 1897 census (91% of total population)

Trostjanec’, Trostjanez, Тростянець (Ukrainian), Тростянець – Trostianets (Russian)
2421 Jews according to 1897 census (55% of total population)

Tul’chin (Russian), Tulczyn (Polish), Tultchin (Yiddish), Tultschin, Tulcyn
10055 Jews according to 1897 census (62% of total population)

Tiuriv (Yiddish), Tyvrov – Тывров (Russian), Tywrów (Polish), Тиврів (Ukrainian)
1051 Jews according to 1897 census (33% of total population)

Ulanov (Yiddish), Ułanów (Polish), Уланoв – Ulanov (Russian), Уланів (Ukrainian)
2000 Jews according to 1897 census (98% of total population). Last Jew of Ulanov died in the end of 2000’s.

Felshtin. It was renamed in Hvardeiskoe in 1947.
1885 Jews according to 1897 census (94% of total population)

Frampol. It is now known as Kosogorka.
1216 Jews according to 1897 census (98% of total population)

Черневці (Ukrainian), Черневцы – Chernevtsi (Russian)
2274 Jews according to 1897 census (25% of total population)

Chornyi Ostrov
2216 Jews according to 1897 census (79% of total population)

Chichelnik (Yiddish), Czeczelnik (Polish), Чечельник (Ukrainian), Чечельник – Chechelnik (Russian)
3388 Jews according to 1897 census (42% of total population)

Sharovka
753 Jews according to 1897 census (36% of total population)

Kuchuk-Istanbul, Sarhorod (Formerly called), Sargorog (Hebrew), Shargorod, Шаргород (Russian), Sharigrod, Sharigrad, שריגרוד, שאריגראד (Yiddish), Szarogród (Polish), Шаргород (Ukrainian)
3989 Jews according to 1897 census (72% of total population)

Shpikov – Шпиков (Russian), Spykiv – Шпиків (Ukrainian), Szpików (Polish)
1875 Jews according to 1897 census (38% of total population)

Юзефполь-Людв. , Uzefpol – I haven’t identify current town location yet
872 Jews according to 1897 census (36% of total population)

Jaltuskow (Polish), Ялтушків (Ukrainian), Ялтушков – Ialtushkov, Yaltushkov (Russian)
1238 Jews according to 1897 census (35% of total population)

Янов- Yanov. It was renamed of Ivanov
2088 Jews according to 1897 census (38% of total population)

Ярмолинці (Ukrainian), Ярмолинцы – Iarmolintsy (Russian)
2633 Jews according to 1897 census (50% of total population)

Yaruga
1271 Jews according to 1897 census (51% of total population)

Ярышев – Yarishev
1499 Jews according to 1897 census (41% of total population)

Пирятин (Ukrainian), Пирятин – Piriatin (Russian)

Pyriatyn is a historic town located in Poltava region of central Ukraine, center of Piriatyn district. Piriatyn is located on the Udai River, a tributary of the Sula. The city’s estimated population is 16,146 (as of 2011).

In XIX – beginning of XX century it was center of Piriatyn Yezd of Poltava Gubernia.

Piryatin is approx. 44 km from Priluki, 150 km from Kiev and in 47 km from Lubny.

Beginning

A Jewish community was first recorded in Pyriatyn at the start of the 17th centuryPyriatyn. At the time of ”Khmelnytchina”–a popular uprising led by Bogdan Kmelnitsky–, in 1648, the community was destroyed.
By the end of the 17th century the Jews settled in Pyriatyn again.

In 19th century rabbi Menakhem-Tuviya, the student of Tsemakh Tsedek, was the rabbi in Pyriatyn.

In late XIX –XX centuries commercial trade and artisan crafts were the main Jewish occupations in Pyriatyn.
In 1855 there were 87 merchants of the 3rd guild and 302 among the Jews of Pyriatyn.

The synagogue was built in 1859.

“Poaley Tsion” branch, a Zionist youth movement, was founded here in 1906.

Four years later Pyriatyn had three synagogues, a Jewish cemetery, two private colleges for Jewish men, two private colleges for Jewish women, a Talmud Torah, 37 Jewish households.

In 1912, the Jewish Savings and Loan Association was set up.

Pyriatyn entrepreneurs list from Russian Empire Business Directories by 1903:

In 1914 four pharmacies, the town bakery and the town barber had Jewish owners as well as 28 shops (including five haberdashery stores, the town musical instruments store, two jewelers’ and two stationery stores) were owned and managed by the Jews of Pyriatyn.

Civil War pogroms

In April 1918 several murders of the local Jews occurred at the Pyriatyn railway station.

Railway in Piryatin

In February 1919 a Jewish pogrom, , organized by the units of the Directorate, a provisional Ukrainian governing body.

In summer 1919  another pogrom was instigated by the division of the Volunteer army under the command of General Shkuro.  Piryatin was occupied by Denikin’s army during autumn 1919. At this time most Jewish houses and shops were destroyed, many people were killed.

In 2015, I found in Chernigov Archiv documents regarding pogroms in Piryatin. Some of them were children’s testimony in Priluky Children Asylum recorded in the beginning of 1920’s:

Blana (13 years), Boris (10 years), Abraham (6 years) Kostrinskiy – Our father Eliya (40 years, locksmith) was killed on November 19, 1919, mother was raped and died in 1920. Brother Moses (11 years) and sister Nadya (12 years ) died too. We find shelter in Priluki Asylum.
Boris (14 years), Enta (12 years), Aaron (5 years) Yrlainis – Our father Morduh and mother Elka were killed…
Etya (14 years) , Luba (12 years) Suponitskiy (daughters of Mendel) – Our mother was beat up.
Iosef Vigoder – My father David (55 years) died after torture.
Ranya, Elya, Pavel Kaganov (father – Laiser) – Our father (49 years,blacksmith) was beat up and lost ability to work. Now we are in Priluki Asylum

Also another people mentioned in their documents next names of pogrom victims in Piryatin:
Killed: Leiba Polyakov (45 years), Moses Fridman (65 years),Mark Levitov (28 years)
Injured: Yankel Leib Ropskiy (53 years), Meer Yakovlevich Ruvimskiy (55 years), Simha Moiseevich Ostrovskiy,

Of course these lists include not all Piryatin pogrom victims.

Between wars

At the time, many people joined the Communist Party. The synagogue was closed, and it was replaced by a fulling factory. However, the older generation was trying to save their religious heritage by meeting up for religious observances in the chapel, which used to be a private house, whose owner took it upon himself to become a rabbi.

Old shtetl’s building in the center of Piryatin

In the early 1920s a committee of the aid to the victims of pogroms was established in Pyriatyn, and an orphanage for the Jewish children was opened as well as a Jewish labor school № 4, named after the International Labor Day, “The First of May”.

In 1926 a youth Zionist organization was led by I Mogilevskiy, M Mordukhovich, J Rozinskiy. Two hand-written magazines were produced – “Der Veker” and “The Voice of Labor”.

In 1920’s, there were registered 3 religious Jewish community.

Yiddish elementary school in Piryatin, 1929 YVA,Photo Collection 8913/1

The most interesting part of the history of the Jews in Pyriatyn before the World War IIis to do with the Jewish collective farm. As the policies of NEP (New Economic Policy) were abandoned, marking a sharp departure from the state support of private enterprise which hit small Jewish businesses exceptionally hard, there was a need to provide workplaces for disenfranchised Jewish workers. To employ them, a Jewish collective farm, called “The Banner of Communism”, was organized in Pyriatyn.

Center of Piryatin in 2015

Its buildings were located in the outskirts of the town, at the end of Kievska Street. According to some old residents, the collective farm got one acre of land, which used to belong to the landowner farmers. The first chairman of the collective farm, employing mostly men, was Toporskiy. With a lot of Jewish enthusiasm and common sense, they applied themselves to the work new to them. Soon the collective farm became a prosperous agricultural business. Grain, sugar-beets, vegetables, sunflowers were grown there. It had its own mill and an oil-press. There was plantation of melons, with the produce sold at the local market and famous all over the local area. Cattle breeding program was started, with a dairy farms, a pig farms (traditions weren’t much thought about) and even a small horse farm coming later. The farm’s race track and stables remain until the present day.

Territory of former Jewish collective farm in 2015 (see map above for detail location)

In the 1930s, Ilya Markovych Stavitskiy became the chairman of the collective farm. Many Ukrainians were employed on the farm at the time. According to the old farm workers, he was a sensible and smart manager, as well as a kind and honest man. In 1933, the year of severe famine, he saved some oats from government seizures – there were rumors that he ordered to sprinkle it with bran. In that hungry winter, the farm’s canteen cooked soup with those oats. It was said that Ilya Markovich agreed to help some teenagers who escaped from a starving nearby village. Their relatives asked him for help, so he added their names to the employees’ list, as shepherds, so they could get dinner at the farm’s canteen.

In the 1930s most Jews moved from Pyriatyn to other cities.

In 1939 there were 1,747 Jews (12.7% of the whole population).

Holocaust

On the 18 September, 1941 Pyriatyn was occupied by Wehrmacht.

Only a small number of Jews were able to evacuate to the East of the Soviet Union. All men liable for call-up were drafted or voluntarily entered the Red Army, so 87-88% of the Jews, who lived in the town, remained under the Nazi occupation.

As soon as the area was occupied, an order by the commandant’s office was issued for all Jews had to be registered and to wear a white bandage with a yellow six-pointed star on the sleeve. All Jews were forbidden to appear in public places. Jewish men were assigned to different jobs without payment.

In 1941 or early 1942, a  ghetto was founded in Pyriatyn, located on Naberejna St. In March –April 1942, 1,530 Jews lived in the ghetto.

Streets of former Jewish ghetto in 2015:

On the top of church (on the photo you can see new church build on the place of destroyed old church) was located machine gun of ghetto guard.

Until September 1942 the town and nearby districts were controlled by the military commandant’s office, which set up the town judiciary force and Ukrainian auxiliary police, who became executive agencies of the commandant’s office.

“Pirogova Levada”: book of local historian about Nazi victims in Piratin, 2012

In September 1942 the power was transferred to the German civil administration, and Pyriatyn joined the Kiev general district, becoming an administrative center of the Gebietskommissariat Pyriatyn, including Pyriatyn, Chernukhi, Sencha and Lokhvitsa.

On 6 April 1942 the ghetto was liquidated. Germans moved all Jews in 2 columns to western outskirt. First column was formed from elderly people on the carts and in second were young Jews who can walk. Columns were guarded by 15 local Ukrainian policemen and 4 German soldiers. Almost all Jews were shot in the Pirogova Levada 3 km away out of Pyriatyn. The mass killing was executed by Sonderkommando SD “Plat” under the command of Hauptsturmfurer SS Plat. The same team was probably responsible for another action on 18 May 1942 , when 380 communists and soviet activists, as well as 25 Gipsy and some Jewish families were shot in the same place.

Piryatin was liberated by the Red Army on September 17, 1943.

Report about Nazi’s crimes in occupied Piryatin

Photos of Holocaust victims in Piryatin from book “Pirogova Levada”:

Only a few Jews managed to escape. Among them was S.Y. Kantor, who left the ghetto at night before the shooting. She said she was warned by a German officer. Going into hiding, she managed to reach Belgorod on foot.

Boris Beilin was slightly wounded during mass execution and got out from common grave at night. After liberation he joined the Soviet Army to fight Germans. After the war he lived in Piryatin.

Boris Beilyn (1914-1967)

I find 2 lists of Piryatin Holocaust victims:

• handwritten list created by Head of local Jewish community Vladimir Gurevich

First list

• list of civilians killed during the Nazi occuption from the book “Pirogova Levada” (published by local historian in 2012). It contain not only Jewish names

After the WWII

After 1945 some Jews returned to Pyriatyn.

In the postwar period religious Jewish community was registered  at December 25, 1946 by address Soviet Str., 12.  It was a private room in the house of Mendel Iosypovich Livshits.
In 1946 the community numbered 39 people, in 1950 – 40, in 1959 – 15. The duties of the Rabbi were performed by Moses Zalmanovich Mashkovich (1884–?).

Jewish community was removed from registration by the decision of Executive Committee of Poltava region’s Council from December 08, 1959.

Community was registered again in 1998. First chairman was elected Avigdor Naumovich Rahmanovich (1919-). After his death new Head of Jewish community was elected Vladimir Borisovich Gurevich.

Genealogy

Most documents regarding Jewish history of Piryatin store in Poltava Archiv.
Birth records for 1900-1906: Fond 1072/1/1.

Former Synagogue

Building of former synagogue located on Yarmakova Str.

Building of former synagogue

Jewish cemetery

The cemetery is located on the northeast of the town in Tsybania Street, №8. It was founded in the beginning of the XIX century.

Part of gravestones was stolen by local Ukrainians. Cemetery looks very abandoned.

View from Piryatin Jewish cemetery

Holocaust mass grave

Grave located in 3 km from the town, “Pirohovskaya levada” (pasture), urochische Yablonevishchina. There is a memorial at the site.

From the article “The Land of Piryatin” by Ilya Erenburg:
On April 6, 1942, in the town of Pryatina of Poltava District, the Germans murdered 1,600 Jews – old people, women, and children who were not able to move [i.e. escape] westward….
The Jews were taken out to the road to Greben. They were brought as far as Pirogovskaya Levada, 3 kilometers from Piryatin. Large pits had been prepared there. The Jews were forced to take off their clothes. Right afterwards the Germans and policemen divided among themselves the things that belonged to the women and children. Then they chased the people into the pit in groups of five and shot them with automatic weapons.

First memorial in Pirogova Leavda

I can’t speak about the murder of nursing infants: I don’t have the words to do this. Right now I want to tell about the suffering of Petre Lavrentevich Chepurchenko. He was brought here at three in the afternoon, along with were more than 300 residents of Piryatin. They were given shovels. They saw the Germans killing the children. At five o’clock an officer gave the order: “Bury them!” Cries and groans resounded from the pit. Half-dead people were stirring under a thin layer of earth. Chepurchenko said: “The earth is heaving…”

Unknown Soviet soldier near the grave in Pirogova Levada, 1944. Photo was found in Pirytin city council in 1990’s and transferred to local museum.

Suddenly Chepurchenko saw emerging from this earth his neighbor and friend the Jew Ruderman, who delivered things for the felt boot factory. Ruderman’s eyes were full of blood and his body was covered with blood. Ruderman screamed, “Finish me off!” From behind him someone shouted in response, “Finish him off!” That was the request of another person [Jew] whom Chpurchenko knew, a carpenter whose first name was Sima, who had been only wounded, not killed. A dead woman lay at Chepurchenko’s feet. A 5-year old boy crawled out from under her body, crying, ‘Mommy!” Chepurchenko didn’t see or hear anything else. He had fainted.
Petro Lavrentevich Chepurchenko is still alive but his life is a bitter one: he cannot forget April 6, 1942… His gaze was focused on some point and he seemed to be listening. What does he see: the boy tugging at his dead mother [or perhaps] Ruderman’s eyes? On that terrible day, along with the others, the Germans killed Chepurchenko….”

November 26, 1943

Famous Jews from Piryatin

Lev Grigoryevich Mironov (Leib Kagan Girshevich) (1895-1938, Moscow), a member of Special Services, Commissioner of State Security, 2nd rank (1935), in 1922-23 – Deputy People’s Commissar of Justice of the Turkestan ASSR, in 1933-34 –  a member of the Board of the OGPU of the USSR, “Honourable worker of the All-Russian Special Commission for Combating Counter-revolution and Sabotage – GPU(State Political Directorate)” (twice), awarded with two medals, arrested in 1937, shot in 1938. He wasn’t rehabilitated.

Lev Grigoryevich Mironov (1895-1938)

«… This town is known as Khabnoe. It has everything that you need in a shtetl: the post office, a state-appointed and a local rabbi, the river, telegraph service, a cemetery, a police station, a Talmud Torah, some Hasidim, two synagogues, a lot of poor Jews and a handful of the rich, just like it is in our shtetls.»

(Sholom Aleikhem “Khabnoe town”)

Кагановичи – Kaganovichi, Kahanovychi (Formerly), Кагановичі Перші – Kahanovychi Pershi (Formerly), Полесское – Polesskoe (Russian), Поліське – Poliske, Polis’ke (Ukrainian), Хабно – Khabno (Formerly)

Khabno was a historic town located in Kiev region of northern Ukraine. Khabno was located on the Uzh River, a tributary of the Pripyat. It was renamed Kaganovichi in 1934, and Polesskoye in 1957.

Khabnoe became a part of Russia Empire in 1793, in XIX – beginning of XX century it was shtetl of Radomyshl Yezd of Kiev Gubernia. In 1990’s it was resettled after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and high level of radioactive pollution. Khabnoe is no longer registered as a place of habitation. Visits are only allowed by special permission.

Khabno is approx. 22 km from Narodichi, 57 km from Chernobyl and in 280 km from Kiev.

Beginning

While one of the first mentions of the settlement under the name of Khabno can be dated to 1415, 1215 is considered to be the date of establishment according to the official website of the Poliske region. According to one version of its history, the town was founded by Jews who fled Kiev because of persecution. There is evidence that some Jews lived in Khabnoe in the 17th century.

Habnoe on the engraving, XVIII century

Khabnoe had a synagogue, and from the mid-1700s, there was a Jewish cemetery.

In the XVIII and XIX centuries, several settlements flourished near Khabno, which was primarily a Jewish area. Zamostya on the left bank of the Uzh River was inhabited by Poles; Sloboda Radzivilovskaya (currently the Volya and Pesok Streets’ area) was inhabited by registered Cossacks and settlers; and Kovtyub (now the end of Volya Street and the area near the bus terminal and the sovkhoz Khabnoye) was populated by serfs belonging to an estate that was located on the territory of the present tuberculosis hospital. In the 19th century these separate settlements joined Khabno and the town’s ethnic diversity increased significantly. According to census results, the Jewish population of the town was 904 in 1847 and 1,721 by 1897. In 1890, 80% of the population was estimated to have been Jewish.

Khabno entrepreneurs list from Russian Empire Business Directories by 1913

There was a significant increase in the Jewish population of Khabnoe in XIX century. In 1840 78 houses had Jewish owners, in 1841 88, in 1842 94, in 1844 106, and in 1845 114 houses. In 1845 four out of five coaching inns were under the Jewish ownership. Among 39 artisans of Khabnoe 38 were Jews (18 shoemakers and 20 tailors).

By the beginning of the WWI, there were two synagogues, one Roman-Catholic church and one Orthodox church in the town. Most of the buildings survive to this day.

In 1858 a klezmer choir was founded in Polesskoe which became very popular. In 1890s the choir was managed by Avrom-Yehoshua Mahonovetsky (1872 Khabnoe -?). In 1885 Khabnoe had 2 synagogues. Nohum-DovBer Reznick (1880 – ?) was the rabbi of Khabnoe from 1907. In 1912 the Jewish Savings and Loan Association was set up as well as several synagogues. In 1914 the Jews owned the only remaining coaching inn, a medical products warehouse and 40 stores in the town (including 21 out of 22 grocery shops, all eight general stores and the two shops selling ready-made clothes).

Civil War

On 4 May, 1919 there was a pogrom in Khabnoe, organized by Lazenyuk and Struk gangs; 15 Jews were murdered. On 30 July, 1919 another pogrom was started by the gang of Ataman Sokolovsky. In 1918-19 a Jewish self-defense unit was formed which carried out preventative operations across the neighboring villages to oppose local bandits and pogrom-instigators.

The information on the Jewish self-defense unit in Khabnoe during the Civil War as well as other related sources are preserved by the Joseph Giligich Fund (Australia):

Between the Wars

In 1924 a Jewish “four-year” school with 152 pupils was set up. About 50 children studied in heder. There was a theater staging Jewish plays.

Pupils of Jewish school, 1935

In 1924 ” Komsomol seyder”, was held in the club by Jewish school teachers.

In 1926, Benzion Shemtov (1902-1975), a representative of J.-I. Shneerson organized a group to study Talmud. In 1925 a Jewish agricultural colony “Labour and Khabno” (100 people) was set up in the Kherson region as an agricultural settlement №18.

In 1934 there was a Jewish collective farm in Khabnoe.

Members of Artisan association in Khabnoe, 1920’s-1930’s

In the 1930s, Khabno was renamed Kaganovichi Pervyye (Kaganovichi the First) after Lazar Kaganovich, a Jewish Soviet politician and administrator and Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party 1928 – 1939 who lived in the town. His birthplace, the village of Kabany (Dubrava), was re-named Kaganovichi Vtoryye (Kaganovichi the Second) at the same time. It is known for certain that, on his arrival to Khabno, Kaganovich spoke only Yiddish. Kaganovich, one of the organisers of the Ukrainian Holodomor, nevertheless helped his hometown by ensuring a supply of grain to the area. Khabno was therefore able to survive the terrible famine of 1933. Kaganovichi Pervyye received official city status in 1938.

Members of Artisan association in Khabnoe

Names of the people on the photo

In 1930’s many Jews left the town. In 1939 990 Jews (24.6% of the total population) lived there.

Holocaust

Khabnoe was occupied by the Nazis between July 22, 1941 until September 16, 1943. In September 1942 this region became part of the Gebietskommissariat Novo-Shepelichi of the General Kiev district.

Only about 15 Jewish families managed to evacuated.

On the first day of occupation all cows were confiscated from the Jewish households.

On 13 September, 1941 the Jews were ordered to report to the town stadium for work. The local police called from nearby villages rounded up the Jews and convoyed them to the place of mass execution out of town, not far from the village of Tarasy. In this day the 8^th regiment of the 1^st motorized infantry division SS shot 391 Jews. According to one version, Jews were buried alive…

According to eyewitness accounts, Ukrainians were forced to wash the blood from German cars. The mass graves were guarded by submachine gunners as the soil stirred for several more days.

German soldiers on the streets of Khabno

On 14 September of the same year 26 people were shot.

In July, 1943, 35 children from mixed families were killed in Khabnoe.

The property of the murdered Jews was kept in the storehouse and then passed to the regional board and sold to the locals.

Here you can find the not full list of civilian Jews killed in Khabno and Khabno district (created by researchers Fedor Maksimovich Gres).

List of Jewish soldiers from Khabno and Khabno district which were killed during WWII (created by researchers Fedor Maksimovich Gres):

Post-War period

After the Second World War about 120-150 Jews returned but the synagogue did not re-open, so many religious Jews prayed in one of the houses.

The Jews, killed during the Holocaust, were not buried in within the town boundary; they were buried elsewhere, perhaps in Chervonnoe village. There are three burial mounds.

There were two hospitals here, where Shapiro (Tanya Shapiro’s father) was in charge of the military one. Kleinerman was in charge of the Civil Hospital.

All three local barbers were Jewish. One of them was called Soroka. Another Jew called Ger was the vice-chairman of regional consumers’ co-operative. Kravchenko, also a Jew, was the doctor.

Before the Chernobyl disaster there were a few hundred Jews in Polesskoye (former Khabnoe).

After the Chernobyl disaster, the town’s population started to fall and in 1999 the remaining population was evacuated. While the town is officially uninhabited, in 2005 there were about 1000 people were living there, mostly senior citizens.

Khabno in 2010’s

In 2011, 10 people resided in Polesskoe despite it being in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Geneology

In the Kyiv archives the following documents about the history of the Jewish community in Khabnoe remain:

• Log books on candle and box state levies on the Jewish town-dwellers of Khabnoe during 1908;
• The regional Revolutionary Committee of Khabnoe, among the deposited material there are lists of students of the Jewish Labour school in Khabnoe and the report on its work; certificates of the rabbi about the civil status of individuals, personal verification documents, certified by the signatures of the Jewish residents of Khabnoe and logged because of the loss of some Jewish births and other certificates during military operations.
• The regional executive committee of the Councils of Workers, Peasants and Red Army Deputies of Khabnoe (Volost Executive Committee), information on the teachers at the Jewish school, family lists of the Red Army soldiers of Khabnoe, members of the Jewish amateur dramatics group at the Cultural League Department, reports of performances of the Jewish children’s troupe, performances to raise funds for the famine victims etc.
• The information on the foundation of the Jewish agricultural labor collective in Khabnoe district named after the International (lists of members, indicating occupation and family members, correspondence with the representative, extracts from the minutes of the agricultural meeting of Khabnoe about the transfer of land to the Jewish collective);
• The following information on the inspection of the economic status of the Jewish population of the towns of Kiev district (1923-1929). (In the report Khabnoe is called “Polessye”

Famous Jews from Khabno

Moses Efimovych Mizhiritsky (Moyshe Ben-Haim Ber, pen name of Moyshe Libes) (May 22, 1891, Khabnoe – December 18, 1951) a literary critic, PhD(1943).

His father, Khaim Ber Mizhiritsky, was a prasol (cattle-dealer), who died at the age of 36, his mother, Liba Mizhiritskaya (born Borodyanskaya) was housewife (murdered at Babiy Yar).

He graduated from the local heder and yeshiva, after the revolution he worked as a teacher in the Jewish schools in Kiev, where he studied at the night school. After his graduation he went on to study linguistics at Moscow State University. Back in Kiev, he worked as a researcher at the Institute of Jewish Culture.

Moses Mizhiritsky (1891-1951)

The first literary criticism appeared in the Jewish press in 1924. He wrote in Yiddish, was published in the newspapers “Proletarishe fon”, “Der Shtern” in “Farmest” magazine, “Sovetish literatures.”

In 1930s he was working on a textbook and a list of recommended literature in Yiddish for Jewish schools.

According to some sources, he was a member of the YEAK (Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee). After the war, he collected materials for “The Black Book” by I G Erenburg and V S Grossman; he worked on the monograph “Beginnings of the Jewish Soviet prose” and the materials on the Jewish participation in the partisan movement. He was arrested on 16 July, 1951, sentenced to ten years in prison and died in a prison van en route to a concentration camp.

Berl Kostinsky (born Khabnoe,1920), prisoner of Soviet concentration camps. He published 2 books of memoirs where also described pre-WWII Khabnoe.

Berl Kostinskiy

Iser Kuperman (Khabnoe,1922 – USA, 2006), a seven-time world champion of draughts, was born in Khabnoe on April 21, 1922. He emigrated to Israel and then to the United States in 1978. Iser was world champion in 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, and 1974. After his emigration, any mention of him was purged from the Soviet records.

Lazar Kaganovich (1893-1991), a Jewish Soviet politician and administrator and Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party 1928 – 1939, lived in the town.

Lazar Kaganovich

Jewish cemetery

The cemetery is located on Khmelevaia street near the former farm machinery office. Special permission is needed to visit the site as Khabno (Polisske) is located in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The plaques reads as follows: 1941-45, Ніхто не забутий – Ніщо не забуто (Nobody is forgotte, Nothing is forgotten), Здесь в 1941 году фашистскими захватчиками расстреляно 252 Граждан Района (Here in 1941 Fascist occupiers killed 252 inhabitants of the region).
The mass grave is surrounded by a green wooden fence. The area is rectangular and measures 52m x 18m. There is a bench

The cemetery is partially demarcated by a wooden fence in a poor state of repair. The site is surrounded by a ditch. It was not possible to measure the site precisely as the visit was brief due to high levels of radiation.

It is not possible to ascertain the number of gravestones at the cemetery as a result of thick vegetation. Between half and three-quarters of the visible gravestones are damaged. Gravestones are tablet-shaped, with inscriptions are in Russian and Hebrew. There is a caretaker’s house on the grounds of the cemetery. The cemetery was abandoned in the late 1980s/early 1990s after the Chernobyl accident.

Date Of The Oldest Known Gravestone:  1920
Last Known Jewish Burial:  End of the 1980s/early 1990s

The cemetery is situated within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and therefore pollution levels in the area are very high, vegetation growth is practically unchecked and the gravestones are suffering from weather erosion and the effects of vegetation.

Information was retrieved from Lo-Tishkah website.

Holocaust mass grave

Grave locates along Taras Shevchenko street, on the way to Tarasi. 50m from the Poliske sign.

While the memorial sign mentions that 252 people were killed at this site, local researchers Fedor Maksimovich Gres and Grigory Ivanovich Ivanenko have established that 439 Jews were in fact killed and buried here in September 1941 and during 1942. 398 from Poliske, 20 from the village of Vovchiki and 7 from Zalishany were killed here in September 1941. 4 members of the Novak family from Poliske and 10 people from the village of Maksimovichy were shot here in 1942. A list of 262 names compiled by Mr Gres can be viewed in the photo gallery above (7 pages).

Information was retrieved from Lo-Tishkah website.