Dzhuryn Jewish Cemetery Pre-War Section

Cemetery Information

Country
Ukraine
Region
Vinnytsia
District
Sharhorod
Settlement
Dzhuryn
Site address
Starting at 20 Shevchenko Street, travel east for 80 metres, before continuing straight along the dirt road for 160 metres, at which point the cemetery can be found to the left.
GPS coordinates
48.67427, 28.298
Perimeter length
405 мetres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
The cemetery is surrounded by a masonry wall, which is broken in places.
Preservation condition
Unfenced Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The cemetery is severely overgrown with trees and bushes. The cemetery is severely overgrown, rendering it impossible to navigate the entirety of the site. The team were only able to locate 10 tombstones. According to residents from Derebchin, there were once Jews buried here.
Number of existing gravestones
Approximately 10. The older stones may have sunk into the ground.
Date of oldest tombstone
1912 (the earliest tombstone found by ESJF).
Date of newest tombstone
1950 (the latest tombstone found by ESJF).
Urgency of erecting a fence
High
Land ownership
Municipality
Preserved construction on site
No
Drone surveys
Yes

Historical overview

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. Given the oldest preserved tombstone is dated 1912, it can be inferred it was founded no later than the early 20th century.

Dzhurin (also known as Dzhurilov, Churilov, Churintsy) was founded in the place where Churilov fortress and town, mentioned in 1547, existed. From 1569 the region belonged to The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Between 1672 and 1699 Dzhurin belonged to the Ottoman Empire as a part of Braclaw Voivodeship, and a Turkish garrison was established there. Jews are believed to have first settled there in 1699, after Dzhurin was returned to the Polish governorate.
In 1765, 84 Jews lived in Dzhurin, belonging to the Murafa Jewish community. In 10 years, by 1775, the Jewish population of Dzhurin had doubled to 160 Jews. In 1793, after the Second partition of Poland, Dzhurin came under control of the Russian Empire, and became part of the Podolia Governorate (Podolskaya Gubernia). In 1847, the Jewish community of Dzhurin numbered 972 Jews. In 1852, in Dzhurin there were 26 Jewish craftsmen, in 1853 the community had a synagogue and a beit midrash for 1004 members. In 1871 the town contained 292 households, approximately half of them were Jewish. In 1889 there still were 2 synagogues and by the beginning of 20th century the third one was established.
In 1897, Jews comprised 34% of Dzhurin’s population: 1585 of 4656. Most Jews were craftsmen, many of them worked in sugar refineries,which existed from the 1880s, and in the brickyard which was built in the early 20th century. Jews owned all 30 small shops, all hostelries and the only pharmacy and pharmaceutical stores. The Jewish medic organized small clinics at the sugar refinery.
In 1919, Dzhurin Jews suffered pogroms. After 1922, Dzhurin became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic within the USSR. A Jewish council and Jewish elementary school were set up in the Soviet period. In 1924, a Jewish kolkhoz was founded, supporting 50-60 Jewish families. Dozens of other Jewish families earned their livelihoods in a local sugar refinery. In 1939, the Jewish population was 1027 (19%).
Dzhurin was bombed in the first days of the war, one of the synagogues was destroyed and 10 people died. On July 22nd 1941, the German and Romanian troops captured the town, and soon after it was included in the Transnistria Governorate. A ghetto run by a Judenrat and Jewish police was established in Dzhurin. Thousands of Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina were deported to it. Many died of starvation or disease. A few Jewish families still lived in Dzhurin after the war.
The Jewish cemetery of Dzhurin evidently divides into two parts, making up two cemeteries. The old one which is overgrown, contains a few matzevot dated to the first half of the 20th century and is fenced with an authentic masonry wall.