Horodkivka New Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Historical overview
Given the oldest preserved tombstone is dated 1814, it can be inferred the cemetery was already in use by the early 19th century. It can be found marked on a Russian map from the 1900s.
Horodkivka was historically known as Myastkovka or Myaskovka, and Rotmistrovka. From 1569 the region belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The earliest known Jewish community was mentioned in the 17th century. In 1765, the Jewish community of Myastkovka and the surroundings numbered 898 taxpayers.
In 1793, after the Second partition of Poland, it came under control of the Russian Empire, and became a part of the Podolia Governorate (Podolskaya Gubernia). In 1847, the Jewish community of Myastkovka numbered 1213 people. In 1897 Jews comprised 26% (2105 of 7996) of Myastkovka’s population.
In the early 20th century Myastkovka had a mixed Jewish-Polish-Ukrainian population. The town had two Orthodox and one Catholic church, a synagogue and two Jewish prayer houses.
The Jewish population of Myastkovka suffered greatly during World War I and the civil war in Russia. In 1919-1920, 105 Jews perished in pogroms. After 1922, Myastkovka became a part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic within the USSR. In 1926 the Jewish population of Myastkovka was 1430 and in 1939, it had fallen to 832.
In 1941, some Jews fled to the East but some remained behind. Myastkovka was occupied by the Germans and Romanians in mid July 1941, and included in the Transnistria Governorate. Soon after a ghetto was established in the Jewish neighborhood. Many Jews were murdered or perished before Myastkovka was liberated in March 1944. In 1945, it was renamed to Horodkivka (Gorodkovka).
In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Horodkovka became part of the independent Ukraine.
The new Jewish cemetery of Myastkovka contains around 2000 gravestones, which date back to the early 19th century, and is still in use today.