Horodnya Old Jewish Cemetery

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. According to the Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia, the Old Cemetery of Horodnya was operational from the mid 19th century until 1910, with the oldest preserved tombstone dating to the 1850s. Today no visible traces of the cemetery or its boundaries remain.

Horodnya became a part of the Russian Empire in 1667. In 1764, more than 300 Jews lived there, mostly merchants and artisans. In 1845, a Jewish burial society existed in the town. A synagogue was built in 1863. According to the census in 1897, 1,249 Jews inhabited the town (28.9% of the population). From 1878-1900 the rabbi was Shmuel Lerner. In October 1905, attempted pogroms took place, but they were stopped by Jewish self-defence units. In the beginning of the 20th century, David Bukhdruker was appointed chairman of the burial society. The shochet was Abram Runin. There were 2 synagogues in Horodnya in 1910, one wooden and one stone (builtat the turn of the 19th century). There were also 2 Jewish cemeteries. In 1912, there was a Jewish savings and loan association. In 1918, the Jewish community withstood a pogrom by Petliura in which 2 Jews were killed. Between 1918 and 1920, there were several waves of pogroms (ataman Galaka committed pogroms in the the district). In 1921, due to activity of temporary Jewish self-defence units, further pogroms were prevented. There is a mass grave on the cemetery, containing pogrom victims from the nearby villages of Ivashkovka, Tupichev, and Khripovka, killed by White army soldiers in 1920. In 1939, 731 Jews lived in the town (8% of the population). Horodnya was occupied on August 28th, 1941, at which point many Jewish families were able to evacuate. In September 1941 21 Jews were shot by Sonderkommando 7b in the Horodnya area. On October 24th, there was a mass shooting of Jews near the village of Aleshinskoye (49 people were killed). Further Jews were shot by Germans in early November 1941. On December 20th, 1941, at least 82 Jewish women and children were murdered in the yard of Horodnya Prison No. 4. Horodnya was liberated by the Red Army on September 24th, 1943. Holocaust mass graves were dug near the old prison building. After the war, Jews returned to Horodnya. In 1948 were was an illegal minyan. The Jewish community was registered in the mid 1990s. The first Community Chairman was Azbel Iosef Davidovich (deceased), the second was Matvei Leonovich Tsadikovich (deceased), and the third was Lubov Borisovna Krutik (emigrated). As of 2014 only 10 Jews remain in Horodnya. Abram Isaakovich Katsnelson, famous Ukrainian poet and literary critic, was born in Horodnya in 1914. There were two cemeteries in Horodnya. The exact period of the old cemetery’s establishment is unknown. According to the Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia, the Old Cemetery of Horodnya was operational from the mid-19th century until 1910, with the oldest preserved tombstone dating to the 1850s. Nowadays, there are no visible traces of the cemetery or its boundaries.