Liubashevka

Любашівка(Ukrainian), Любашевка(Russian)

Liubashevka is an urban-type settlement, a district centre in the Odessa region of Ukraine. In the 19th to early-20th centuries, it was a village in the Ananyev Uyezd of the Kherson gubernia.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find much information about Jews of Liubashevka. In 2018, we visited former shtetl during our summer’s expedition and didn’t find Jews here. Most information for this article was provided by local teacher Valeriy Bondarenko (see video below).

Unfortunately, I didn’t find much information about Jew of Liubashevka before WWII.

The town was founded in the late 18th century.

Since 1895, the rabbi was Shmuel-Zeev Shekhter (1875–?).

In 1914, the only drugs store in town belonged to a Jew. Many armies passed through town in the period from 1917 to 1920. In 1919 there was a pogrom, arranged by the Volunteer Army units; some Jews escaped to Ivanovka.

In 1939, 671 Jews lived in Liubashevka itself, while 1,021 Jews lived in the whole district.

Moisey Shmulevich Pustylnik (1910 – 1945, killed in action) was in charge of the evacuation of Jews from Liubashevka but 50-60 Jewish families remained in Liubashevka.

Moisey Shmulevich Pustylnik

In the summer 1941, the town was occupied by the Wehrmacht units. A ghetto was established. In September 1941, about 350 Jews were shot.

The following Nazi actions took place in the summer of 1941, to terrorize local populations :

· more than 350 local Jews were shot in Liubashevka
· approximately 100 people in the village of Gvozdavka
· approximately 100 people in the village of Yasenovo

Holocaust memorial in Gvozdavka

In November 1941, in the area of Gvozdavka,20 km away from Liubashevka, Nazis organized a concentration camp. Jews from the Bessarabia, Odessa and Zhitomir regions were brought there, as well as Jews who were local to the area. About 5,000 prisoners died there: 2,772 people were shot and 2,000 died of starvation and disease.

Small list of the Jews killed in Gvozdavka (from Russian archive):

The Extraordinary State Commission carried out excavations in the village council territory of Gvozdavka-2. These excavations revealed 2,208 bodies buried beneath a 40 metre anti-tank ditch The mass shooting took place in the winter of 1941 –1942.

Periodically, people still find unknown and unmarked mass graves of Holocaust victims from in Gvozdavka.

Holocaust’s research of the local school’s student can be found here.

During the war, the synagogue in the center of Liubashevka was destroyed.

After the war a few Jewish families came back to Liubashevka.

In 1979, some 20 Jews lived here. Many enterprises were run by Jews: Gershkovich was a director of a food factory, Koyfman was in charge of a buffet, Kunkel was a director of a workshop. A local museum organizer was also Jewish, though we couldn’t determine his surname.

Fomer center of shtetl Luibashevka

Jews lived mostly in the center of the shtetl. Several inns and pre-revolutionary houses were preserved here until the 1970s, at which time the centre of Liubashevka was rebuilt, along with a new council hall.

In 2013, the last Jew left Liubashevka for Izmail (city in Ukraine) to join their children.

The local cemetery was in use till the 1980s. Later Jews buried their dead relatives at a Jewish cemetery in Israel.
In 2018, Ester Levina, a native of Liubashevka, lived in Israel. Although we were hopeful that she could have told us a great deal about pre-war Jews of the shtetl, we were unable to get in touch with her.

Holocaust mass grave

Guess, around 350 local Jews were killed in this place.
In 2018, we didn’t visit this place. I found only this Lo-Tishhach’s information.

Jewish cemetery

PreWWII part of the cemetry was destroyed and only few graves left here.

Panorama of Liubashevka Jewish cemetery, 2018

List of the PostWWII graves, created by Valeriy Bondarenko
Пустильник Кива Моисеевна 1891-1972рр.
Громадский Борис Моисеевич 1870-1962рр.
Зеленер Йойна Лейбович 1902-1976рр.
Мучник П.Н. 1947,25 лет
Блянк Сара Петровна 1899-1983рр
Бессарабник Самаил Давидович 1893-1966рр.
Краснер Михаил Аврамович 1924-1963рр.
Ивницкая Э.Л. 1910-1963
Недмець 1905-1954рр.
Саможин Ольга Кивовна 1988-1952рр.
Громадская Лидия Семеновна 1875-1956рр.
Мостовецкая София Моисеевна 1875-1956рр.
Аравкина Татьяна Аврамовна 27.01.61р.
Гершунович Анна Моисеевна 1915-1968рр.
Кушнир Анна Завелевна 1902-1971рр.
Курлянчук Сарра Марковна 1890-1970рр.
Кноп Раиса Михайловна 1925-1972рр.
Эстер Брайтман 1866-1959рр.
Резников Лэйб Моисеевич 1877-1961рр.
Балановский Рафаил Григорьевич 1916-1958рр.
Щогам А.Х. 1896-1949рр.
Сонис Григорий Борисович 1902-1947рр.
Словесник М.Ш. 1892-1946рр.
Валченбаин Борис М. 1908-1962рр.
Цигельман Даниил Исакович 1909-1974рр.
Николай Герасимович 1911-1976рр.
Шихман Соня Давидовна 1893-1973рр.
Мясковская Фаина Аизиковна 1929-1976рр.
Мясковский Михаил Мендемевич 1923-1980рр.
Клейман Сарра Львовна 1890-1974рр.
Клейман Григорий Моисеевич 1892-1985рр.
Короткая Сарра Абрамовна 1898-1981рр.
Кац Хоя-Фейга Михалевна 1886-1974рр.
Борик Израиль Самойлович 1904-1975рр.
Вайсман Двойра Мировна 1895-1974рр.
Гонис Иссак Борисович 1907-1965рр.