Liubeshiv Jewish Cemetery

The exact period of the cemetery’s foundation is unknown. It existed in the 18th century and appears on Russian maps from the 1880s. According to some sources, this cemetery may be the new cemetery of Liubeshiv, but the location of the old cemetery is not known. The cemetery was destroyed during or after WWII. After the war, the Liubeshiv Jews who were shot in August 1942 were reburied in this cemetery.

The first mention of the Jews of Liubeshiv dates back to the years of Khmelnitsky uprising, which a number managed to survive. In 1766, 385 Jews lived in the town. The Jewish population of the town expanded rapidly from 1847, when 831 Jews were living in Liubeshiv, until 1886, at which point they numbered around 1,800. While in 1867 one synagogue was operational, their number had increased to four by the early 20th century. The town’s rabbis came from the Weingarten family. During WWI, all but one family were deported to Poland by the German administration. By 1924, Jews were returning to the town, and in 1936, around 1,500 Jews were residing in Liubeshiv. During the interwar period, a number of Zionist organisations, charities, and political parties were functioning, and a Jewish library existed. An attempted pogrom was fought off by self-defence organisations. In early July 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied the town, setting up a ghetto in May 1942, in which around 2,000 Jews from Liubeshiv were imprisoned. The majority of the ghetto’s population of 1,700 was murdered during its liquidation on August 15, 1942. The remaining Jews were executed in November 1942. In 1990, a monument to the victims was erected.