Horokhiv Jewish Cemetery

The date of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. The earliest preserved tombstone dates from 1896, the latest from 1937. The cemetery was demolished and gravestones were used for road construction. Horokhiv’s central market was built on the cemetery site. Gravestones were located near the cemetery until 1965, and removed by local authorities afterwards. Some gravestones were broken in half and used as road paving.
In April 2018, around 40 gravestones that had been used as such were discovered and placed close to the former cemetery area. The local Jewish community constructed a memorial to the destroyed cemetery from these gravestone fragments with the help of local authorities. The memorial is located 60 metres to the south from the former cemetery territory at the crossroad of Students Street and Halana Street, (50.50142, 24.77455). The memorial also includes a tziyun to Itzchak Drubitscher, constructed under supervision of Yisrael Meir Gabay.

Jews settled in Horokhiv in the 16th century. The first records of Jewish settlement here date back to 1536. In 1765, 752 Jews lived in Horokhiv and, by 1897, their number had increased to 2,571. The Jews suffered gravely in the times of Khmelnytskyi uprising. In 1700, the meeting of the Volyn’ Province Committee of the Council took place in Horokhiv. Famous rabbis of the town include Rabbi Abba’le and Rabbi Raphael Meizlisch, the author of a “Tosefot Shabbat.” During WWI, Jews suffered from war and the rule of the Petlyura forces. In the interwar period, diverse Zionist organizations, including He-Halutz and Beitar, were active in Horokhiv. Olyka, Trisk, Stolin Karlin Hasidic trends influenced the local community. In 1937, the Jewish population had reached 3,120. On June 24, 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied the town and set up a ghetto in early October 1941. Concentrating the Jews of Horokhiv and those from nearby villages, it was liquidated on September 8, 1942. In 1990, on the spot on which 300 Jews were murdered in August 1941, a monument was erected.