Krasnostav

Krasnostav is a small village in Slavuta district of Kmelnitskiy region.

Population in the beginning of XXI century is only 535 person. But before Revolution it was a mestechko (shtetl) of Berezdov district, most population were a jews.

In Ukraine exist 3 villages with same names (in Zhitomir, Chernihiskiy and Volinskiy regions) but they didn’t have such big Jewish population as this village.
Don’t miss this Krasnostav with city in Lublin voevodstvo in Poland – Krasnystav.

More information about PreWWII Jewish history of Krasnostav can be found in tkfgen.org here, here, here, here and here.

Beginning

Hlapotin (it was initial name of current Krasnostav) mentioned in first time in 1386.
Krasnostav became a city at June 2, 1573. So we can assume that first Jews appear here in XVI century.
City get Magdeburg rights in 1616. In the beginning of XVII century there were 399 houses (now only 177).

According to census of 1897 there were lived 1222 Jews (55% of total population). In the list of entrepreneurs for 1914 most names are jewish. Before revolution there lived ~250 Jewish families.

More detail info about Jewish life in Krasnostav in the beginning of XX century you can find in book “Deep in the Russian Night” by Aaron Chazan. In that time Rabbi was Moshe Hacohen Rappaport. Next Rabbi was his son-in-law Mordechai Chazan.

Description of destruction of the Jewish life in Krasnostav in 1920s-1930s from the book “Deep in the Russian Night” by Aaron Chazan:

Shtetl greatly suffered during pogrom wave. Total number of Jews killed in Krasnostav during few years ~ 150 persons.
Between 1932 and 1938 jewish school existed in Krasnostav. There was Jewish village councils before the WWII.

Holocaust

On August 7, 1941 execution squads appeared in the village. On the market square were collected 47 middle-aged and older Jews, they were taken into the forest for two dozen kilometers and shooted. Only in the 1950’s their remains were reburied to the Jewish cemetery in Slavuta. A few days later a large group of jewish girls was took to Berezdiv for work in military dining. Later they were taken together with last Berezdov jews in the Slavuta ghetto and shot.

At August 29, 1941 in Krasnostav arrived two germans from Berezdov and ordered to village gead prepare a pit 18x2x2 meter. At the next day
In the morning of next day, policemen from Krasnostav, Berezdov and other villages surrounded the town, German execution squad arrived by car. Fascists and policemen burst in Jewish homes and driven all inhabitans to the market square. Policemen scoured through attics and gardens, seeking those who tried to escape. Some Jews were killed at place. Few Jews managed to hide but they were caught later and shooted in Jewish cemetery (their names are Shoikhet I., Harbash B., Kelrih V., Golberg B. and Holostoy L.).
All square was filled with people, policemens surrounded crowd. Some Jews asked to go out of the crowd for water, but no one responded to the request. German and policemens began to persecute people in Shepetovki. In the column were old people, mothers with babies, pregnant women and adolescents. Them were told that their train from Shepetovka will be sent to Odessa and than to Palestine. But column turned toward the forest, between Krasnostav and Guta. People began to cry, the Jews realized that they cheated. In the column was a local Rabbi (he was a rabbi from the middle of 1930’s).
He came to the place of execution with the Torah and bypassed this place 3 times with shouts and screams of people being killed. He was killed with his community. Many Jews were burried alive.

In that day were killed 735 Jews (from other about 900 persons).
Last 175 Krasnostav Jews were moved to Berezdov ghetto at March 4, 1942. They were killed alltogether with last Jews of Slavuta region in Slavuta on 26 June 1942.

Krasnostav was liberated in the middle of January 1944. During a Holocaust there were killed 957 Jews, we know names of 319 only.

I didn’t fiind information about a jews in a village after WWII.

In 2015, Julia Melamed created a documentary film about Holocaust  “Road to Krasnostav. The mystery of life and death of one shtetl”.

This is a trailer:

PreRevolution Jewish photos

These PreRevolution photos were provided by Karen Krantzberg. All photos were taken in Krasnostav or neighborhood before Revolution

Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery was established in the 18th century with last known burial was in 1940. The cemetery contains marked mass graves. Jewish individuals abroad fixed wall in 1993. Now, authorities occasionally clean or clear site.

Comments

comments