Dunaivtsi (Dachna Street) Jewish Cemetery

The exact period of the cemetery's establishment is unknown. It could not be found marked on old maps of the region. Today, no visible traces of the cemetery or its boundaries remain. Between 1871 and 1872, the Jewish community purchased a plot for the Jewish cemetery. There was a Jewish presence in the region from the 17th century. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Jewish community engaged in trade, rent, and crafts (including weavers, shoemakers, and painters, among other trades). The Jewish community of Dunayivtsi was twice destroyed: first during the Khmelnitsky massacre from 1648 to 1649, and then during the Haidamaks invasions in the 1760s, but it recovered from each with the passage of time. In 1748, the Jews of Dunayivtsi faced accusations of "blood libel." In 1765, 1,129 Jews lived in Dunayivtsi. In 1847, the Jewish community of Dunayivtsi consisted of 2,020 people and maintained two synagogues. In 1890, the number of the synagogues increased to eleven. By this point, a Jewish hospital, a hospitage, a Talmud Torah, and heders were in function. A Jewish vocational school for girls was opened in 1903, and another for boys in 1907. Two printing houses operated in 1906. The Jewish population reached a peak of 9,221 (70.7% of the total population) in 1910. In the 1920s, clandestine Zionist youth organisations and Hehalutz were in operation. In 1926, the Jewish population reduced to 5,186 (60.5% of the total). This was presumably due to the emigration of over 200 Jewish families to an agricultural cooperative in the Crimea. 362 Jews were employed in the Jewish kolkhoz in 1933. Between 1932 and 1933, the Jewish population suffered from hunger. In 1939, the town was home to 4,478 Jews (68.2% of the population). During the Nazis' occupation in 1941, the Jews of Dunayivtsi and the neighbouring villages were confined in the ghetto. Over 7,000 Jews were executed or buried alive around the Solonich forest. Throughout World War II, nearly 12,000 Jews were murdered in the town. After the war, few Jewish families chose to return. In 1948, a clandestine minyan would gather. In the 1970s and 80s, the Jews of Dunayivtsi emigrated to Israel and the US.