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Korsun

Korsun

Корсунь-Шевченковский (Russian), Корсунь-Шевченківський (Ukrainian)

Korsun-Shevchenkovskiy (Korsun until 1944) is a town since 1938, a district center in Cherkassy region.

It was founded by the Grand Prince of Kiev Yaroslav the Wise in 1032. In 1584, Korsun received the Magdeburg Charter. In the XVI-XVIII centuries it was a part of Kiev Voivodship in Rzeczpospolita (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795). In 1793 Korsun became part of the Russian Empire.

In the XIX – early XX century Korsun was a shtetl in the Kanev Yesd, Kiev province.

Klavdiya Kolesnikova, the founder of Korsun Jewish museum who provided all information for this article

Klavdiya Kolesnikova, the founder of Korsun Jewish museum who provided all information for this article

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There were two more towns with large Jewish communities in the Korsun area – Shenderovka and Steblev

If you would like to help Korsun Jewish community or Jewish museum please contact Klavdiya Kolesnikova kik.korsun@gmail.com

Ros River in Korsun:

Beginning

The Jews would settle in Korsun in the beginning of the XVII century.

In 1622, Lublin Tribunal made a decision to send to “exile” those Jews of Korsun who didn’t obey the verdict of the Kiev court, following the case between them and the Korsun elder Yan Danilovich. This court decision was the first known written evidence of the Jewish community in Korsun, largely destroyed in the khmelnytsky uprising in mid-XVII century.

View of Korsun, 1782. Jewish cemetery is on the left side.

View of Korsun, 1782. Jewish cemetery is on the left side.

L. Polikhevich in his “Tales of the Inhabited Areas of the Kiev Province” says that in 1702, when Korsun Cossack leaders S. Samus and S. Paliy were captured, local Jews and Catholics were “slaughtered “.

Jewish population of Korsun:
1765 – 187 Jews
1847 – 1,456 Jews
1897 – 3,799 (45.9 %)
1926 – 2,449 (51.2%)
1939 – 1,329 (14.2%)
1945 ~ 800 Jews
1990 ~ 200 Jews
2016 ~ 50

In 1734, the haidamaks (pro-Ukrainian (Cossack) paramilitary gangs in the XVIII century) killed 27 Jews in Korsun. In 1737, only one Jew remained in Korsun.

In 1838-1843, Srul Pokras was the leader of Korsun kahal and Mendel Golinskiy and Ariy Leyba Barskiy were tax collectors. In 1849-1851, Nusin Volko Seliskiy and later Barskiy  took over the tax collection.

During the XIX-early XX centuries local Jews owned brick and sugar plants, breweries, hulling mills and flour mills, cinemas, print shops, mineral water production companies and weaving mills. In the early XX century there were nine water mills in Korsun and eight of them were rented out by the Jews.

Leyah Spector with children in Korsun, 1913

Leyah Spector with children in Korsun, 1913

In 1907-1909, two local Jews Eli Ostrovskiy and Berko Maystrovskiy built two hulling mills, powered by an oil engine. In 1913, a brewery belonged to Mene Raychman, mead factories belonged to Duvid Moskalenskiy and Nechame Khriplivets.

This tray is a gift to Russian doctor Ivan Opanasovich Bondarev from Korsun Jewish community, 1898

This tray is a gift to Russian doctor Ivan Opanasovich Bondarev from Korsun Jewish community, 1898

In 1900, Korsun tradesman Volko Itskovich Pokras owned “a weaving establishment” where 20 Jews worked and in 1913, Mindla Tevelevna Kanelskaya had a weaving workshop. Brothers Mordka and Volka Pavolotskiy owned a printing press and a bookshop and a stationer’s as well. One of the first cinemas in the town was founded by Nison

 

In 1913, a brewery belonged to Mene Raychman, mead factories belonged to Duvid Moskalenskiy and Nechame Khriplivets. In 1900, Korsun tradesman Volko Itskovich Pokras owned “a weaving establishment” where 20 Jews worked and in 1913, Mindla Tevelevna Kanelskaya had a weaving workshop. Brothers Mordka and Volka Pavolotskiy owned a printing press and a bookshop and a stationer’s as well. One of the first cinemas in the town was founded by Nison Cherkes.

 

Most Jews was engaged in trade and crafts. In 1896, there were 20 Jewish merchant houses and 105 shops in Korsun. Small shop owners traded on their own,more affluent ones such as the merchant of the second guild from Kanev Leyba Pokras, Aron Zolotov, Khuna Tartakovskiy, Nakhman Slivnik and others, hired sales staff. Nearly 70 craftsmen, such as cobblers, tailors, watchmakers and tinkers, worked in small workshops.

1913-1

1913-2

In 1865, there were two synagogues in Korsun, with the number rising to five in 1896, and a Jewish bathhouse, in 1900 – three synagogues, in 1924 – two synagogues (the communities associated with them were called “Balakhovskiy Kloyz” and “Synagogue”). One Torah scroll was preserved to this day, it might have belonged to one of these synagogues and now it is stored in the funds of Korsun-Shevchenkovskiy State Historical and Cultural Reserve.

There is some fragmentary data about Korsun official rabbis. In 1854, it was Fayvel Ostrovskiy, with Moshko Umanskiy a gabai, and Yankel  Umanskiy a kloyz gabai. In 1856-1862, Itsko Portnoy was a rabbi, in 1900-1909 – Moshko Mordkovich, who established a Jewish library in the town and wanted to start a Jewish school, in 1913-1914 doctor Berko Shmulevich Pinskiy took his place.

Among other Korsun rabbis there was Azriel Dov Galevi (?-1872), the author of the books “Pri Dea” (1861) and “Shemen-la-Maor” (1871), he was called rab Alter Korsiner. His son Iyeguda Leyb Galevi became a rabbi after him.

In 1854-1914, rabbi Tsvi Girsh Shlez (1834(?)-1914) lived in Korsun, he was buried at the local Jewish cemetery. In the 1880s, he founded a yeshiva at the local synagogue and it became the most famous yeshiva in Ukraine. More than 150 students from all over Ukraine, Russia and even from Lithuania studied there, the future Minister of Education and Culture of Israel Ben-Tsion Dinur, famous New-York rabbi Nissan Telushkin and many others were among its students.

There were four grades in yeshiva, the teachers were rabbis David, Duvidl, Avrum Steinberg, and Tsvi Girsh Shlez. Rabbi Tsvi Girsh Shlez was famous for his books, written in Korsun and approved by the chief rabbis at the time; the most important one is “Niflaot MiTorat Hashem Itbarakh” (“The Wonders of the G-d’s Blessed Torah”).

In 1881, while looking for a job, Sholem Aleichem, a well-known Yiddish author, visited Korsun several times. Here he met a future teacher, a literary critic, a publicist and a social activist Shimen Dobin who used to live in the town at that time.

In 1910, there was a Talmud-Torah, four private Jewish specialized schools, a separate Jewish department at the public two-year college in Korsun.

Moses Kopitnikov, member of RSDRP Korsun branch since 1905.

Moses Kopitnikov, member of RSDRP Korsun branch since 1905.

Civil War pogroms

In 1918-1920, during the Russian Civil War many Jews became victims of the pogroms, instigated by the Germans, Petliura and Denikin gangs and the Red Army soldiers. On March 1

On March 1, 1918 Petliura’s detachment of the Ukrainians led by Kirichenko appeared in Korsun. Having proclaimed himself “The Central Rada Commissioner”, he disarmed the town’s self-defense battalion and threatened to “put all Jews to the knife”, if a contribution from every Jewish household is not paid.

Market square in Korsun, 1918

Market square in Korsun, 1918

Then the German occupation of Korsun began. The peasants revolted against it and after long and persistent fights the Germans had to leave Korsun for some time. It happened in early July 1918. When the Germans returned, they thought the Jews were the main instigators of the rebellion and gave shelter to the rebels. The Germans entered the town in an armored car and fired right into a group of Jews congregating at the market. Some of them were killed, some were wounded and maimed.

Korsun Jewish self-defence unit, 1919

Korsun Jewish self-defence unit, 1919

However, it was the Denikin gangs that instigated the most horrific atrocities. On August 24 1919, Bolsheviks left Korsun. It was known at the time that eight or ten kilometers away from the Zavadovka junction a special forces detachment Terskiy Brigade was stationed. A delegation of four Christians and three Jews went there to greet the brigade and ask them to move into the town. On August 25 a small detachment enters Korsun. It was warmly greeted by both Russian and Jewish communities, with the rabbi at the head. The Denikin forces organized a mass rally where they announced that the peaceful inhabitants of Korsun may live in peace as there would not be any violence. When the next day, August 26, the local Bolsheviks captured the town for a few hours again,  the two Jewish members of the delegation paid with their lives for sympathizing the Volunteer army. Their names were Sheinbloom and Slavutskiy, the third one managed to escape. On the same day the Bolsheviks were pushed out by the special forces brigade and from that moment on mass pogroms and massacres began. The rabbi who greeted the arrival of the Denikin detachments, died as a result of terrible torture, literally torn to pieces. The Volunteers detachment was stationed in Korsun for about four months, from August till December 1919. Their rule was marked by numerous atrocities, rape and slaughter of the local Jews as well as looting and arson.

On the 11-19 May 1920, the Red Army soldiers of the 391 Tarashchansky regiment instigated a pogrom, affecting over 500 Jewish families.

During 1919-1920 there were seven pogroms in Korsun, 75 people were murdered, 65 wounded, and 600 people died as a result of disease, starvation and hypothermia.

These 4 Jewish Korsun girls were members of Soviet anti-gang unit and were burned alive by Tsvetkovskiy’s bandits near village Kidanivka, Boguslav district.

In 1918-1921, there was a Jewish self-defense unit in Korsun. After the Denikin pogrom in August 1919 it was turned into an anti-gang unit. It was formed and armed with the permission of the local authorities.

Korsun Jewish self-defence unit, 1920

Korsun Jewish self-defence unit, 1920

At different times it was headed by Kh. Reznichenko, Petrushanskiy, Avrum Maystrovskiy, the chief of staff was Isaak Kitaygorodskiy, and the soldiers were Ovsey Kozlov, brothers Aron and Shlema Litrovnik, Moisey and Zelik Ocheretiany, Srul Ziserman, Moisey Zaslavskiy, Rozenfeld, Feldman and many others.

Members of Korsun Jewish self-defence:

After the Revolution

During the 1920s, there was a department of Jewish Section in Korsun.

In 1925-1926, a village council was founded in Korsun, it was bilingual – Ukrainian and Yiddish, and in 1927 it was transformed into the council for the Jewish ethnic minority, Headed by Moisey Ocheretiany and Ovsey Kozlov in the 1920s-1930s. The board members were Y.M. Radinovskiy, P.Y. and M.B. Ostrovskiy , and A.B. Gabinskaya.

Korsun village council in 1936: among them Jewish are Ovsei Lvovich Kozlov (head), Y.M.Radinovskiy, P.Y.Ostrovskiy, M.B. Ostrovskiy, A.B. Gabinskaya

Korsun village council in 1936: among them Jewish are Ovsei Lvovich Kozlov (head), Y.M.Radinovskiy, P.Y.Ostrovskiy, M.B. Ostrovskiy, A.B. Gabinskaya

In 1923, Ovsey Markovskiy, Aron Ostrovskiy, Itsyk Chudnovskiy, Mordko Beliaskiy and Aron Kogosov founded a Jewish Agricultural Collective “The Jewish Farmer”. In 1929, it was turned into a Jewish collective farm “Yevpachar” (short for “The Jewish Farmer”). It was headed by Kagalovskiy, Meyer Ostrovskiy and Abram Solop.

In the 1920s, two synagogues were opened in Korsun, they were called “Balakhovskiy Kloyz” (or “Old kloyz”) and there also was a prayer house “Synagogue”, the locals called it “balmalukheshe shul” that meant “the synagogue for small traders”. The community board at “Kloyz” consisted of Mordko Belinskiy, Berko Levitch, Oves Spivak, and Leyba Kovarskiy. There were 43 people in it. The Community “Prayer House “Synagogue” was founded in May 1923, Berko Maystrovskiy was the chairman of the board and the list of co-founders included 20 people. In 1928, Korsun Jewish labor conference not affiliated to any political parties demanded the dismantling of the semi-ruined building of the old synagogue in order to use the material for building a school. In 1931, both synagogues were closed “at the request of the workers”. A Young Pioneer club found home in one of the synagogues and the other housed a kindergarten.

Lesson of political literacy to Korsun Jewish housewives: teachers are heads of Korsun village council Iosef Kaminskiy and Volodya Masterovoy ( 2 men in the center). Second row - 1) Eva Leibovna Samorodnitskaya (Seliskaya), 8) Golda Kashvina (Golberg). Third row - 2) Hava Avigdorovna Kashvina (Maltarnavska), 5) Rosa Belobrova, 1930's

Lesson of political literacy to Korsun Jewish housewives: teachers are heads of Korsun village council Iosef Kaminskiy and Volodya Masterovoy ( 2 men in the center). Second row – 1) Eva Leibovna Samorodnitskaya (Seliskaya), 8) Golda Kashvina (Golberg). Third row – 2) Hava Avigdorovna Kashvina (Maltarnavska), 5) Rosa Belobrova, 1930’s

In 1928, Korsun Jewish labor conference not affiliated to any political parties demanded the dismantling of the semi-ruined building of the old synagogue in order to use the material for building a school. In 1931, both synagogues were closed “at the request of the workers”. A Young Pioneer club found home in one of the synagogues and the other housed a kindergarten.

An artel of craftsmen of the town of Korsoun. Photo was made in 1925. Everyone is Jewish here.

Korsun artel of Jewish tailors in Korsoun, 1926

Korsun artel of Jewish tailors in Korsoun, 1926

Korsun Jewish school, 1938

Korsun Jewish school, 1938

In 1924-1938, there was a working Jewish school. At first it was a four year school and was opened on October 1 1924 in the former Orthodox Christian priest’s house on Academician Zakharenko Street. In the early 1930s it became a seven year school and moved to a new two-storied building in Shevchenko street (the old building of the current gymnasium), which was built on the donations of the local Jewish community.

The 7th grade of Korsun Jewish school: director David Tuchinskiy and pupils (from left to right) Grigoriy Zelikov, Isser Kagan, Yacob Dubinin, Vera Faershtein, Lusya Medvinskaya, Zeidl Polinskiy and Usher Musikant, 1936

The 7th grade of Korsun Jewish school: director David Tuchinskiy and pupils (from left to right) Grigoriy Zelikov, Isser Kagan, Yacob Dubinin, Vera Faershtein, Lusya Medvinskaya, Zeidl Polinskiy and Usher Musikant, 1936

Shops in the center of Korsun, 1930's. Photo from the collection of Pavlo Zholtovskiy and Stefan Taranushenko.

Shops in the center of Korsun, 1930’s. Photo from the collection of Pavlo Zholtovskiy and Stefan Taranushenko.

The lessons were in Yiddish. Its students were taught not only the usual subjects but also the Jewish language and Literature. The school principal was a teacher of the Jewish language and Literature Yankel Kleyman, followed by David Tuchinskiy, the teacher of Physics. The teachers were Pyrl Ovodenko, I.Pravdin, R.S.Sigalova. Nina Georgiyevna Bantos and Mikhail Alekseyevich Kolyakov taught the Ukainian language and Literature, Polina Isaakovna Leshchinskaya taught Chemistry and the Russian language, Beyla Dlugach – the Russian language and Literature, Yefim Vishnevskiy – Mathematics. The teachers Sophiya Moiseyevna Romanovskaya, Perelman, Moiseyev, Sinayevich worked with junior forms. There was a drama club at school, with  Roza Kashvina in charge of it. Former students can still remember the performance of «Motl the Cantor’s Son» after the novel by Sholem Aleichem.

Nina Georgiyevna Bantos and Mikhail Alekseyevich Kolyakov taught the Ukainian language and Literature, Polina Isaakovna Leshchinskaya taught Chemistry and the Russian language, Beyla Dlugach – the Russian language and Literature, Yefim Vishnevskiy – Mathematics. The teachers Sophiya Moiseyevna Romanovskaya, Perelman, Moiseyev, Sinayevich worked with junior forms. There was a drama club at school, with  Roza Kashvina in charge of it. Former students can still remember the performance of «Motl the Cantor’s Son» after the novel by Sholem Aleichem.

Holocaust

On July 30, 1941 Korsun was occupied by the Wehrmacht divisions.

At first the Jews were separated in a kind of ghetto in Remeslennaya Street (now Z.Kosmodemyanskaya street).

Former Jewish ghetto during WWII

Former Jewish ghetto during WWII

In September 1941,  226 Korsun Jews were shot by the Ukrainian police in Kushchayevka ravine, and 543 Jews from Korsun and Kanev suffered the same fate in November.

Since the autumn of 1941 till the spring 1942 more than 1,000 Jews, mostly women, older people and children, were shot in the same ravine and in the allotments behind the house in Shevchenko street, 8.

Photos of Holocaust vicitims which were collected by Klavdiya Kolesnikova in 1990’s-2ooo’s:

Whole families were murdered, such as the Atkaches, Bazilevskiys, Boguslavskiys, Vodas, Grinbergs, Golbergs, Druz, Kogosovs, Kozlovs, Litvinskiys, Leshchinskiys, Magitskiys, Melnikovs, Moskalenskiys, Ostrovskiys, Pochtarevs, Slezovs, Spivaks, Reznikovs, Ruvinskiys, Petrushanskiys, Tabachnikovs, Feldmans, Khinchins, Chudnovskiys, and many others (we have a list containing 125 names).

List of Korsun Jews who served in Soviet army and were killed in action:

Photos of perished soldiers which were collected by Klavdiya Kolesnikova in 1990’s-2ooo’s:

 

Several instances of the local Ukrainians saving Jews are known.

16-%d0%ba%d1%83%d0%b7%d0%bd%Tamara Kuznetsova (second from the right) who was saved together with his Jewish mother, brother and sister by Klavdiya Zaitseva (second from the left)d0%b5%d1%86%d0%be%d0%b2%d0%b0-%d1%82%d0%b0%d0%bc%d0%b0%d1%80%d0%b0-%d1%81%d0%be-%d1%81%d0%bf%d0%b0%d1%81%d0%b8%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%8c%d0%bd%d0%b8%d1%86%d0%b5%d0%b9-%d0%b7

Tamara Kuznetsova (second from the right) who was saved together with his Jewish mother, brother and sister by Klavdiya Zaitseva (second from the left)

Jewish WWII veterans from Korsun:

In 1946-1948, the remains of the victims from the Kushchayevka ravine were reburied in two common graves  at the Jewish cemetery by the order of the Head of Municipal Economy Abram Borisovich Zhytnitskiy, whose son perished there.

Abram Borisovich Zhytnitskiy

Abram Borisovich Zhytnitskiy

After the WWII

In the late 1940s, those Korsun Jews who managed to survive, came back to their native town and gradually started to restore the Jewish life.

They wanted to show respect to the memory of the victims of the Nazis from the Kushchayevka ravine, buried in two common graves at the Jewish cemetery. In November 1948, the meeting of the local Jews took place and Meyer Bentsionovich Ostrovskiy proposed that the Jews collect money for the memorial. By March 1948 89 people had donated 2,550 rubles. However, the authorities refused to allow a Jewish memorial so that they are not singled out as the only victims of Nazism, which is why the district council ordered to give this money to the state. Later, a memorial plaque was installed to mark the common graves and in 1991, a memorial appeared funded by the Jewish cultural community and the local authorities.

Holocaust memorial and new part of Korsun Jewish cemetery, 2016

Holocaust memorial and new part of Korsun Jewish cemetery, 2016

In January 1953, an anonymous letter informing about a Zionist organization headed by Gufeld, Fishbein and Ostrovskiy set up in Korsun-Shevchenkovskiy was sent to the Ukrainian Department of the Soviet secret police. Among the “crimes” of the Korsun Zionists was the collection of funds to build a memorial and also to send a representative to the former Head of Israel Mission in Moscow – Golda Meyer. The fact that all secondary and high schools teachers of the Russian and Ukrainian languages were Jewish was also mentioned. The inspection that followed discovered that only the money collection for the memorial was true.

Jewish blacksmiths in Korsun: Samul Shmidman, Zalman Ocheretyaniy and Vasyl Pshono, 1950's

Jewish blacksmiths in Korsun: Samul Shmidman, Zalman Ocheretyaniy and Vasyl Pshono, 1950’s

In 1965, a 95-year-old lawyer from Korsun Petr Abramovich Ulitskiy sent a letter to the newspaper «Izvestiya». It was an open letter in 20 pages to the author of the anti-Semitic book «Judaism Without Embellishments» T.Kichko, denouncing its anti-Semitic premise because he couldn’t not keep quiet when lies were told about his people. It wasn’t published but it became known to the local people. Ulitskiy gave a copy of this letter to Natan Iosifovich Shapiro, the activist of the movement against anti-Semitism in Kiev, who kept it for 20 years, and in 2000, it was published in his book «We’ve had enough of contempt» by S.L. Averbukh.

Handwritten Jewish calendar by Leib-Peisah Petrushanskiy, 1968

Handwritten Jewish calendar by Leib-Peisah Petrushanskiy, 1968

Handwritten Jewish calendar of Leib-Peisah Petrushanskiy:

In the 1950s-1980s, a clandestine Jewish community with a “secret minyan» existed in Korsun. It included Lev Yankelevich Brodskiy, Nakhl Gershkovich Rasgkovskiy, Leyb-Peysakh Kopelevich petrushanskiy, Avner Iosifovich Rozhanskiy, Chaim Lvovich Selisskiy, Aron Itskovich Druz, Berl Lvovich Kozlov, Bentsion Gershkovich Ostrovskiy, David Ovseyevich Moskalenskiy, Rachmil Litovskiy, Shimon Kagan, Yefim Gleyzerman. They gathered secretly in the apartments of N.Rashkovskiy, L.Petrushanskiy or L.Brodskiy.

L.Brodskiy held the position of the chair and the treasurer of the community for a long time. They had all religious ritual accessories like tallit, kippahs, tefillins, a prayer book, and a real Torah in a blue velvet cover. They celebrated Shabbat and tried to follow the laws of kashrut. They celebrated all Jewish holidays. Some handwritten Jewish calendars by L. Petrushanskiy survived.

On this paper, Leib-Peisah Petrushanskiy wrote count of Korsun Jewish population from 1945 till 1990. In 1990, there were lived 143 Halakha Jews

On this paper, Leib-Peisah Petrushanskiy wrote count of Korsun Jewish population from 1945 till 1990. In 1990, there were lived 143 Halakha Jews

The rites of britt-milah (circumcision) and bar-mitzvahs were last held in Korsun in the 1950s with the help of a rabbi invited from Kiev. Some Jewish wedding traditions were followed. The Chuppa was not set but a sort of Ktubah was made, glasses were smashed in the memory of the demolition of the Temple of Jerusalem and special blessings were told. Jewish burial rites were followed – the tailor Boris Belobrov made a “kytl” (a burial garment), tallit and tefillin were placed into the coffin, special prayers were read at the cemetery, women were buried in one row, men in the other. The cemetery was always in good order, some people tidied it up on Sundays, collected money to make improvements. They collected tzdokah and helped those in need, supported them by buying winter fuel, paid burial costs and even bought them houses (this is how a house for Itsik Teplitskiy was purchased).

First Shabat in Korsun which was conducted by participants of Peace Marсh Sally and Alan Grach, 1988

First Shabat in Korsun which was conducted by participants of Peace Marсh Sally and Alan Grach, 1988

In independent Ukraine

On 25 March 1990, a society of Jewish Culture was established in the town, a Jewish community since 1995. Among the founders were Viktor Zveigbaum, Petr Rashkovskiy, Boris Petrushanskiy, Klavdiya Kolrsnikova, Maya Medovaya, Yefim Diskin, Petr Fishbein, Leonid Kolesnikov, Mikhail Albin, and Tsal Groysman.

The first board of Korsun Society of Jewish Culture: Boris Petrushanskiy, Maya Medovaya, Peter Fishbein, Victor Tsvaigbaum (Chairman) and his son Eugene, Leonid Kolesnikov, Efim Diskin, Peter Rashkovskiy, Klavdiya Kolesnikova, 1990

The first board of Korsun Society of Jewish Culture: Boris Petrushanskiy, Maya Medovaya, Peter Fishbein, Victor Tsvaigbaum (Chairman) and his son Eugene, Leonid Kolesnikov, Efim Diskin, Peter Rashkovskiy, Klavdiya Kolesnikova, 1990

Since 1995 Korsun-Shevchenkovskiy Jewish community is headed by Ts. N. Groysman. In 1990, the community opened a Jewish library and founded a choir “Lechaim”.

In 1993, the Regional Association of Jewish Organizations of Small Towns of Ukraine with the center in Korsun-Shevchenkovskiy was established. It is headed by its president P.N. Rashkovskiy. From 1994 till 2014 a regional Sunday Jewish school was open.

A Jewish regional newspaper “Hope” has been published since 1994. Since 2000, various clubs, festivals, seminars and conferences have been held by the community. In 2003, a regional museum of Jewish history “We come from a shtetl” opened its doors.

Inside Jewish museum:

Famous Jews from Korsun

The following people were born here: a writer, teacher, scholar, and popularizer of Jewish history Moisey Iosifovich Bazilevskiy (1840-1902),  painter Abram Borisovich Kozlov (1878-1933) and his brother sculptor Benedict Borisovich Kozlov (1888-1945), who belonged to the Paris school; an essayist, a literary and film critic Yefim Semionovich Dobin (1901-1977); a politician, a historian, a journalist, a literary critic and a folklorist Abram Davidovich Yuditskiy (1886-1943); a scientist and a designer of artillery systems and rocket and space technology, USSR State Prize winner Mikhail Tsyrulnikov (1907-1990); a philosopher, historian, ethnographer, scientific consultant of “The Brief Jewish Encyclopedia” Pinkhas Chaimovich Samorodnitskiy (1930); Ph.D., chief technologist of magnesium production in the “Enterprises of the Dead Sea” in Israel,Yefim Alexandrovich Kitaygorodskiy.

Korsun Jewish cemetery

Cemetery was founded in XVIII century and still in use. The local Jewish community is responsible for cemetery maintenance.

Old part of the cemetery:

In 2015, new fence was build for cost of German charity foundation.

New section of Korsun Jewish cemetery

New section of Korsun Jewish cemetery

Date Of The Oldest Known Gravestone: 1830.

Renewed memorial on the grave where Holocaust victims were reburied after WWII. Korsun Jewish cemetery, 2020

Renewed memorial on the grave where Holocaust victims were reburied after WWII. Korsun Jewish cemetery, 2020

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