Makariv Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Historical overview
The Makariv Jewish cemetery already existed in the mid-19th century, when Menachem Nachum Twersky was buried there. The cemetery was destroyed in 1970s, and some tombstones were transferred to the Makariv municipal cemetery. In last decades the ohel of Menachem Twersky of Makarov was reconstructed by the organisation “Ohalei Tzaddikim.”
The Makariv Jewish community has existed since mid-18th century. In 1765, it included 217 taxpayers. According to census data, the Jewish population consistently grew during the 19th century: from 848 in 1847, to 1,207 in 1864, and 3,953 in 1887. The Hasidic dynasty of Makariv, a branch of Chernobyl Hasidism, was founded in 1837. In 1867, there was one synagogue in Makariv, and by the end of the cenury, there were six. During the 19th cenury, the synagogue and the beit-midrash were rebuilt several times at the landowner’s expense, according to historian M. Pokhilevich, because of fires which destroyed the town. The Jewish community of Makariv suffered severely from the pogroms during the civil war. Makariv’s Jews were able to defend themselves against attacks on November 21, 1917, but on July 6 and August 15, 1919, 20 Jews were killed by gangs led by Sokolovsky and Matviyenko. By the time the Volunteer Army arrived, about 4,000 Jews had left Makariv, with around 200 elderly people remaining in town. Around 100 were killed in the pogrom on August 18, 1919. In 1920, the Jewish collective farm “Vozrozhdeniye” (“A revival”) was founded in Makariv, counting 141 members by 1930. After the Nazi occupation in late July 1941, the first shooting of Jewish population in the Kyiv region took place in Makariv. The total number of Makariv Jews killed during the Holocaust was around 250. In 1999, about 20 Jews lived in Makariv.