Artsyz Jewish Cemetery

Presumably, the cemetery was founded in the second half of the 19th century, and it already existed in 1899. Jewish burials were held here at least until the 1970s. A memorial stone, dedicated to victims of Nazism, for the Jews of Artsyz who were murdered in 1942, was erected on the mass grave on the cemetery site.

Jews began settling in Artsyz from the mid-19th century onwards. In 1900, 35 Jewish families (170 people in total) who were suffering from famine and drought received assistance from St. Petersburg and Odessa. Zionist organisations were active in Artsyz from the 1900s. The German population of the town, founded by German colonists who moved here from Württemberg, held a better economic position due to privileges received from the government. The relationship between the Jewish and German populations of Artsyz was always strained and become worse after Jews were granted equal civil rights in 1917. In the 1920s, the Jews of Artsyz provided relief for refugees from Ukraine, despite the economic crisis. At the same time, Tarbut primary and secondary schools, as well as a kindergarten, were opened. Two Jewish libraries and an orchestra were functioning in Artsyz. By the late 1930s, the antisemitic mood in society had increased, and the Jewish community was subjected to persecution by the German authorities as well as their German neighbours. In the late 1930s, several dozen youth left for Palestine. The majority of local Jews was murdered in June 1941. The remaining Jewish population found their deaths after being deported to Transnistria. According to epigraphic data, after WWII, a Jewish population existed in Artsyz at least until the 1970s.