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Read MoreSmela
Smela (Yiddish), Smela – Смeла (Russian) Smela is a city in the Cherkassy region. It is situated on the left bank of the Tiasmin river. The population of Smela was 69,000 people in 2005. The first settlement on the Tiasmin river dates back to 1542 and was called Yatskovo, later it was called Tiasmino. The shtetl of Smela was founded in 1633 with the support of magnate Stanislav Kontsepolskiy. In 1650, Smela Jewish community was first mentioned. In 1773, at the request of then-owners of the town the Liubomirskys, the Polish king gave the town the Magdeburg Right. In 1795, Smela became a part of the Russian Empire. It was a shtetl of Cherkassy uezd, Kiev gubernia. Get Directions In the XVIII century, Smila was often subject to pogroms by Haidamaks, especially in 1768, when Zheleznyak entered the city with a detachment of rioters and, as described by Pohilevich: “the detachment of 300 people, under the leadership of Zheleznyak himself, killed the Polish nobles and the Jews.” As a result of the pogroms, the Jewish community disappeared and it was only revived in the mid-XIX century. More names In the 1830’s, its industrial development began. Jewish population of Smela: 1765 927 (in kagal) 1847 – 1270 Jews 1897 – 7475 (50%) 1925 – 5881 Jews 1939 – 3428 (10%) 1990’s ~ 600 Jews 2018 ~ 50 Jews Count Alexey Bobrinskiy played an important role in the town’s development. He founded a sugar factory in 1838 and a mechanical plant in 1840. In 1863, there were 6,906 Jews in Smila, or 40%). Among the 23 local merchants of the Third Guild, 18 were Jews. The railway line from Fastov to Znamenka was started and went through Smela in in 1876. It accelerated the economic development of the shtetl. On May 3-4 1881, a pogrom was committed in Smela. It was quelled by newly arrived troops. During the pogrom in Smela two male and one female peasant were killed by the troops; three male and one female Jews were killed, 19 Jews were wounded by the bandits. Soon one of those Jews died. Leather factory of Abraham Moishi on the bank of Tyasmin river, beginning of XX century: In the early XX century, there was a synagogue and two other houses of worship in the town as well as one boys’ and two girls’ private Jewish schools. A list of the synagogue of Smela in the late XIX-early XX centuries which...
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Read MoreKhoroshev
Khoroshev is an urban-type village, a district center in the Zhitomir region. Khoroshev has been a part of the Russian Empire since 1793. In the XIX – early XX centuries it was a shtetl in Zhitomir uyezd, Volyn gubernia. The settlement has been renamed several times: by 1607 – Alexandropol, in 1607-1912 – Goroshki, in 1912-1923 – Kutuzovo, in 1923 – 1933 – Volodarsk-Volynskiy, and in 2016 – Khoroshev. We gathered information about post-war Jews of Khoroshev during our summer expedition in 2017. Get Directions The first mention of Khoroshev dates back to 1545. Jews have been living in Khoroshev since the XVIII century. Their main occupations were crafts and petty trade. In 1912, a Jewish service and credit society was established in Khoroshev. In early September 1919, the 44th Soviet Division retreated through Khoroshev. For three days and three nights they terrorized the Jewish population. They broke into stalls, took goods out of them, entered homes and committed robberies and murders. Jewish population of Khoroshev: 1897 – 2018 (62%) 1926 – 2068 (51%) 1939 – 988 (28%) 1989 — 76 Jews 2017 – 1 Jew After this, the shtetl was looted repeatedly by the local bands. In the 1920’s., kheders were closed, a mikvah was destroyed. In the late 1920’s, a Jewish community rebuilt a new mikvah with the help of Y.-I. Shneyerson’s representatives. In 1928, two synagogues were closed. In the 1920’s, Bentsion Fridman was a rabbi in Khoroshe. In the 1920’s, a Jewish school was opened in the shtetl. In the 1930’s, it was a center of the Jewish national village council. Holocaust In 1939 there were 988 Jews (28% of the population) living there. Anarchy came to the village when the Red Army had left it. Robberies of the shops and houses began. An announcement was made that all citizens ( ‘except Jews”) were invited to a meeting in a local theater By the time of the occupation (August 12, 1941) there were not only local Jews living there but now also refugees from the other places in Khoroshe Occupants changed the name of the town back to its old name , Goroshki. The Jews were sent to dig the trenches, clean the streets, and do other types of hard work. On August 20, 1941, one of the German officers, with the help of a local girl, warned the Jews that their detail would soon leave Khoroshe and then a punitive detachment would come...
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Read MoreKamenka
Kamenka is a town in the Cherkassy region with the population of 11,978 (2016). Before the 1917 revolution, Kamenka was a shtetl of Chigirin uyezd, Kiev guberniya. No much information was available about Kamenka’s Jewish history in the XIX – early XX century. In the early XX century, there was one synagogue and a prayer house in the town. During pogroms, the synagogue and the Jewish amateur theatre were destroyed. In 1919, it has about six thousand inhabitants; about 540 Jewish families. The pogrom was perpetrated by the Grigorievists in the middle of May, approximately May 14-20. There were 76 Jews killed (62 men and 14 women). In the early 1920s, a Jewish self-defense unit, 25 people strong, was formed The Ukrainians and the Jews formed two major ethnic groups living in Kamenka. The records show 305 Jewish inhabitants of the town. They were engaged in crafts, pottery, cattle trade and general sales. A lot of them had their own shops, were employed by the local match-producing and ball-bearing factories. In 1939, 618 Jews (7.92%) lived in Kamenka, with 737 Jews in total in the surrounding area. Jewish population of Kamenka: 1764 – 16 Jews 1847 – 1663 Jews 1897 – 2193 (34%) 1939 – 618 (8%) 2017 ~ 20 Kamenka was occupied by the German Army on August 5, 1941. Only some Jews managed to escape with an evacuation campaign to the East. All men subject for military duty were called up or joined the Red Army as volunteers. Approximately 60% of the pre-war Jewish population remained on the occupied territories. Soon after the occupation, the German Commandant’s office forced all Jews to be registered. They were required to wear an armband with the Star of David on their sleeve. They were sent to do hard labour such as mending roads and buildings. The chief accountant of the ball-bearing plant Solomon Tashlitskiy suffered torture and then was thrown into the well in the yard of the local police office. Iosif Kerosinskiy was crucified while still alive. All Jewish houses were mostly destroyed. There was a stable, warehouses, and other buildings. In late December 1941, a ghetto was set up. The inmates used to clear snow from the railway tracks at the local station and load grain which was sent to Germany. This was how they were able to bring some grain into the ghetto. The Jews were not allowed to leave the ghetto or to buy produce from...
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Read MoreEmilchino
A village named Emilchino has been known since the year 1585; however, little information exists about pre-revolutionary life there. We do know that the town was originally incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, in 1793, Emilchino became part of the Russian Empire. We find some references to a Jewish population in the town during the XIX – XX centuries. Most Jewish residents worked in petty trading or in various crafts. During that time frame, the town became an integral part of Novograd-Volynskiy uyezd, Volyn gubernia. The town locates 40 minutes from Novograd-Volynskiy, only 154 kilometers from the regional center of Zhitomir. Today, the population of Emilchino has grown in size since its days as a small shtetl and is a sizable Ukrainian village with no remnants of its Jewish past. Get Directions The basic information for this article was gathered by Zalman Shkliar from memories provided by Etia Urman (Emilchino), Alex Kopelberg (Haifa, Israel), Aleksandr Yaroshevskiy (Karmiel, Israel), Arkadiy Zax (Niurnberg, Germany), Boris Latman, Bronia (Brantsia) Shargel and the daughter of Shimon Gurfinkel’s daughter. The photographs were taken during JewUA.org’s expedition in the summer of 2017. All information about PostWWII Jews of Emilchino can be found in the book Boris Latman, who is living in Germany. Jewish population of Emilchino: 1897 – 1049 (42%) 1926 – 1383 (38%) 1939 – 1115 (21%) 1989 – 77 Jews 1999 ~ 30 Jews 2017 – 5 Jews Information about Elmilchino as a shtetl is sparse and difficult to found. Next information was found in “Memorial Zvil book”: Local resident Gedale Levy was a Zionist leader before the revolution. In the 1910’s, local rabbi Yakov Ben-Meir (his real surname is unknown) founded a Talmud-Torah for poor children where he taught Torah, supplied the children with clothes and other necessities. Later he moved to Odessa. Before the Russian Revolution, unofficial head of Jewish community was Schneidermann, owner of a ready-made clothing store. Civil War pogroms During the Civil War the Jewish population of Emilchino suffered pogroms, robberies and health emergencies. On 22 April,1919, for example, Petliura’s troup on the way from Olevsk to Novograd-Volynsk, attacked the Jewish residents of the town in a two-day pogrom during which 11 people were killed, 18 shops were burned, and countless individuals and shops were robbed. Nakhman Vladimirskiy was among those Jews killed. Detail description of pogrom in Emilchino from the book “The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine in 1919” by Heifetz Elias: In 1920, the shtetl was...
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Read MoreGostomel
Hostoml (Polish), Гостомель – Hostomel, Hostomel’ (Ukrainian) Gostomel is a town in the Kiev region. In the XIX – early XX centuries, it was a shtetl of the Kiev uyezd, Kiev gubernia. Very little is known about Jewish history of this former shtetl. Some information on the post-war Jewish population of Gostomel was provided by Genia Mezhiritskaya, born in 1938. We met in Gostomel in spring 2018. Get Directions Following the second partition of Poland in 1793, when the Russian Empire acquired vast swathes of Central Europe of what is now Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Lithuania and the pale of settlement was drawn, prohibiting Jews from settling anywhere in Russia outside of a restricted area, Kiev, even though geographically within the pale, was excluded from the list permitted settlements; Jews were not allowed to live there. They would settle in shtetls nearby. Gostomel was one of them. According to the 1861 testimony of Lavrenty Pohilevich, “a Jewish elementary school was established in the shtetl with the help of the owner; this is why all of the members of the Jewish community are literate. Of the Orthodox Christians only the priest and the junior deacon are literate, and there is no school for the villagers”. In 1863, a synagogue was founded in Gostomel. Yosif-Leyb Karabelnikov (1876 – ?) was appointed a rabbi in 1906. Jewish population of Gostomel: 1842 – 304 Jews 1897 – 916 (45%) 1939 – 165 (3%) 2001 ~ 20 Jews On the 20th – 21st October 1905, Gostomel suffered a pogrom. It was organized by the locals from nearby villages. 23 Jewish stalls and 17 houses were looted. In 1912, a Jewish savings and credit society was established in Gostomel. During the Civil War, the Jewish population of Gostomel suffered from local bandits’ raids. In September 1919, some units of the Volunteer Army were responsible for a pogrom in Gostomel. Almost all Jews escaped; Nota Goldman was the only one who stayed and rescued the Torah scrolls from the destroyed synagogue. Most of Gostomel Jews left the town in the 1920s in search of a better life. They moved to Kiev and other large cities. Most Jews left after the New Economic Policy (NEP) came to an end in the late 1920s. Before World War II, very few Jews remained in the shtetl, exact numbers are unknown. Similarly, there is no information relating to the fate of the local Jews in the Holocaust in Gostomel. Masha...
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Read MoreOvruch
Ovruch is a city in Zhytomyr region. In the XVI – XVIII centuries, it was a part of the Commonwealth of Poland. In the year 1793 the town was incorporated into the Russian Empire. Since 1795 it has been a district (uyezd) center of the Volyn gubernia. The first mention of Jews living in Ovruch dates back to 1629. At that time Jews there owned three houses and paid taxes to the owner of Ovruch. The main occupations of the Jews in Ovruch back then were crafts (currying of sheepskin, shoemaking, tailoring) and trade. By 1765, Jews living in Ovruch owned 80 houses. By the XVIII century, there was a significant Jewish community there, and was a branch of Chernobyl community. Get Directions In the late XVIII century, the majority of the Jews living in Ovruch were Hasidic. A.D.-B. Auerbakh, a follower of Tverskoy Hassidic dynasty, had been a rabbi there since 1785. In the 1850’s, Ovruch became one of the centers of Chabad Hasidism. Rabbi Yosef-Itskhok Shneyerson (1819-1875), a son of Tsemakh Tsedek, used to live and work in Ovruch. His son Nokhum-Doyv-Ber (? – 1894) continued father’s work. In 1857, four synagogues were functioning in Ovruch; by 1889 there were six synagogues including a stone one, and several cheders. A devastating fire occurred in Ovruch in the fall of 1863. Since most of buildings were made of wood, the fire destroyed the entire town. Jewish population of Ovruch: 1765 – 607 Jews 1857 – 2220 Jews 1897 – 3445 (47%) 1910 – 3150 Jews 1939 – 3862 (33%) 1959 – 2200 (16%) 1989 – 677 Jews 1995 – 450 Jews 2017 ~ 40 Jews Some interesting information about the history of the Jews of Ovruch in the XIX century can be found in a diary of Natan Gertsenshteyn. You can read this in this link: The Gertsenshteyn family played a great role in Jewish life of Ovruch. Five generations of the family were the members of the city council and heads of Orphans courts. In the early XX century, Talmud Torah was opened in Ovruch. It’s director was B.N. Panich. Zionist organizations were also functioning in Ovruch around this time, including “Poaley Zion”. Sh. Kipnis was a rabbi in Ovruch starting in 1907and Shlomo Risin starting in 1911. In 1910, there were seven synagogues, a Jewish private technical college, an almshouse, and two Jewish cemeteries in Ovruch. In 1914, the Jews owned two pharmacy warehouses, a library,...
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Read MoreAlexandrovka
Alexandrovka is a city located in Kirovograd region of central Ukraine, center of Alexandrovka district. Kozelets is located on the Tyasmin River, a tributary of the Dnieper. The city’s estimated population is 8721 (as of 2017). In XIX – beginning of XX century it was shtetl of Chigirin Yezd of Kiev Gubernia. Information about the Jews of Alexandrovka was collected and organized by the head of the local museum Vasyl Viktorovich Biloshapka. Get Directions The first written mention of the Jews of Alexandrovka district dates back to the second half of the XVIII century, beginning from 1765. It was found in some Polish documents. Rabbi Nakhman from Bratslav (1772 – 1810), the future founder of Bratslav (Breslovsky) Hasidism used to live in the village called Stara Osota of Alexandrovka district after his marriage at the age of 13. He lived there with his father-in-law. Jewish population of Alexandrovka: 1847 – 356 Jews 1864 – 706 Jews 1897 – 3213 (73%) 1939 – 565 (10%) 2017 ~ 10 Jews 1,388 people of Jewish nationality lived in Chihirin district in 1801. Among them there were 16 merchants and 740 middlemen. In 1847, there were 356 Jews in Alexandrovka. Information on the size of the Jewish population of the shtetl can be found in the book “Legends of the Settlements of Kiev Province” by Lavrentiy Pokhilevich (1864). The majority of Jews lived in Alexandrovka (706 people), Vyshchi Vereshchaky (305), Sosnivka (263), Tsvitna (90), Lyubomyrka (50) and Stavydly (32 people). In mid XIX century, agricultural Jewish colonies appeared in Alexandrovka region. They are: Tsvitnyanska (1848), Sosnivska (1851), Forpostyanska, Vereschatska. They were located on state land. In 1881, 1,641 Jewish people lived in those colonies. At the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, the majority of the population of Alexandrovka was Jewish. Out of 4,366 inhabitants of the shtetl 3,213 were Jewish. It was 73.6% of the total population. In shtetl Stavydly 11.1% were Jews, Aleksandrovka district – 3,628 Jews, Tsvitnianska – 1,079, Tryliska – 324. Old Jewish houses in Alexandrovka, 2017: In late XIX century, synagogues and prayer houses were opened in Alexandrovka, Stavydly, Tsvitnyanska Jewish colony, and Fedvara (Pidlisnoye) in order to satisfy the spiritual needs of the Jewish population. In 1895, Isaac Revich was the rabbi of Alexandrovka. Avram Isakovich Revich was rabbi after him. Jews of Alexandrovka took an active part in the economic and cultural life of the town in the early XX century. In 1911, the Jewish...
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Read MoreNovoarkhangelsk
Novoarkhangelsk is an urban-type settlement since 1957 and a district center of Kirovograd region. It was established in 1742. In the XIX to early XX centuries, it was a shtetl of Yelizavetgradka uyezd, Kherson guberniya. Novoarkhangelsk stands on river Sinuha. On the opposite side of river locates former shtetl Torgovitsya. We were in Novoarkhangelsk in the summer 2017, but we couldn’t gather any information about the history of Jews living in this former shtetl. Get Directions Jews have been living in Novoarkhangelsk since 1764. In the XVIII century, the main occupations of the Jewish population of the shtetl were crafts and trade. Jewish population of Rizhanovka: 1897 — 943 (15%) 1923 – 570 Jews 1939 – 209 Jews In the 1880’s Jews owned the majority of trade and industrial enterprises including mills and smithies. In 1913, Jews owned the only drugstore and a warehouse of pharmacy products, five stalls including the only haberdashery store, and a factory. The only lumberman in Novoarkhangelsk was Jewish. In early September 1919, a pogrom was carried out by the parts of the Volunteer Army in Novoarkhangelsk. As a result, many Jews were killed and, all Jewish houses were looted. In the 1920’s-1930’s, a large part of the Jews of Novoarkhangelsk moved to bigger cities. In August 1941, Novoarkhangelsk was occupied by Wehrmacht parts. On February 5 1942, 134 Jews were killed in the collective farm “Stalin” of Novoarkhangelsk district. On March 12 1942, 27 Jews were shot in Novoarkhangelsk. In 2005, some Jews still lived in Novoarkhangelsk. Famous Jews from Novoarkhangelsk Zevulun Kvartin (1874, Novoarkhangelsk – 1953, New Jersey), a cantor,...
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Smela
Smela (Yiddish), Smela – Смeла (Russian) Smela is a city in the Cherkassy region. It is situated on the left bank of the Tiasmin river. The population of Smela was 69,000 people in 2005. The first settlement on the Tiasmin river dates back to 1542 and was called Yatskovo, later it was called Tiasmino. The shtetl of Smela was founded in 1633 with the support of magnate Stanislav Kontsepolskiy. In 1650, Smela Jewish community was first mentioned. In 1773, at the request of then-owners of the town the Liubomirskys, the Polish king gave the town the Magdeburg Right. In 1795, Smela became a part of the Russian Empire. It was a shtetl of Cherkassy uezd, Kiev gubernia. Get Directions In the XVIII century, Smila was often subject to pogroms by Haidamaks, especially in 1768, when Zheleznyak entered the city with a detachment of rioters and, as described by Pohilevich: “the detachment of 300 people, under the leadership of Zheleznyak himself, killed the Polish nobles and the Jews.” As a result of the pogroms, the Jewish community disappeared and it was only revived in the mid-XIX century. More names In the 1830’s, its industrial development began. Jewish population of Smela: 1765 927 (in kagal) 1847 – 1270 Jews 1897 – 7475 (50%) 1925 –...
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Khoroshev
Khoroshev is an urban-type village, a district center in the Zhitomir region. Khoroshev has been a part of the Russian Empire since 1793. In the XIX – early XX centuries it was a shtetl in Zhitomir uyezd, Volyn gubernia. The settlement has been renamed several times: by 1607 – Alexandropol, in 1607-1912 – Goroshki, in 1912-1923 – Kutuzovo, in 1923 – 1933 – Volodarsk-Volynskiy, and in 2016 – Khoroshev. We gathered information about post-war Jews of Khoroshev during our summer expedition in 2017. Get Directions The first mention of Khoroshev dates back to 1545. Jews have been living in Khoroshev since the XVIII century. Their main occupations were crafts and petty trade. In 1912, a Jewish service and credit society was established in Khoroshev. In early September 1919, the 44th Soviet Division retreated through Khoroshev. For three days and three nights they terrorized the Jewish population. They broke into stalls, took goods out of them, entered homes and committed robberies and murders. Jewish population of Khoroshev: 1897 – 2018 (62%) 1926 – 2068 (51%) 1939 – 988 (28%) 1989 — 76 Jews 2017 – 1 Jew After this, the shtetl was looted repeatedly by the local bands. In the 1920’s., kheders were closed, a mikvah was destroyed. In the late 1920’s, a Jewish community...
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Puliny
Puliny (from 1935 until 2016 called Chervonoarmiisk) is an urban-type settlement in Zhytomyr Oblast. It is the administrative center of Puliny Raion. Population: 5,454(2013 est.) In XIX – beginning of XX century it was a shtetl of Zhitomir Yezd, Volyn Gubernia. In the mid-nineteenth century, Puliny did not form an independent Jewish community and in 1867 there were only 43 Jewish houses. Get Directions In 1867 the Russian authorities knew about one prayer house in Puliny, which was officially...
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Kamenka
Kamenka is a town in the Cherkassy region with the population of 11,978 (2016). Before the 1917 revolution, Kamenka was a shtetl of Chigirin uyezd, Kiev guberniya. No much information was available about Kamenka’s Jewish history in the XIX – early XX century. In the early XX century, there was one synagogue and a prayer house in the town. During pogroms, the synagogue and the Jewish amateur theatre were destroyed. In 1919, it has about six thousand inhabitants; about...
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Emilchino
A village named Emilchino has been known since the year 1585; however, little information exists about pre-revolutionary life there. We do know that the town was originally incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, in 1793, Emilchino became part of the Russian Empire. We find some references to a Jewish population in the town during the XIX – XX centuries. Most Jewish residents worked in petty trading or in various crafts. During that time frame, the town became an integral...
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Gostomel
Hostoml (Polish), Гостомель – Hostomel, Hostomel’ (Ukrainian) Gostomel is a town in the Kiev region. In the XIX – early XX centuries, it was a shtetl of the Kiev uyezd, Kiev gubernia. Very little is known about Jewish history of this former shtetl. Some information on the post-war Jewish population of Gostomel was provided by Genia Mezhiritskaya, born in 1938. We met in Gostomel in spring 2018. Get Directions Following the second partition of Poland in 1793, when the...
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Ovruch
Ovruch is a city in Zhytomyr region. In the XVI – XVIII centuries, it was a part of the Commonwealth of Poland. In the year 1793 the town was incorporated into the Russian Empire. Since 1795 it has been a district (uyezd) center of the Volyn gubernia. The first mention of Jews living in Ovruch dates back to 1629. At that time Jews there owned three houses and paid taxes to the owner of Ovruch. The main occupations of...
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