Kamin-Kashyrskyy Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Ukraine
Region
Volyn
District
Kamin-Kashyrskyi
Settlement
Kamin'-Kashyrs'kyy
Site address
On the hill opposite 31 Haharina Street.
GPS coordinates
51.636943, 24.951507
Perimeter length
353 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
yes
Type and height of existing fence
No fence
Preservation condition
Unfenced Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The majority of the cemetery was demolished, although a few gravestones do remain on the site. The territory was cleared and is used for cattle grazing. Fencing is required.
Number of existing gravestones
5 gravestones were found on the side of the hill. 3 of them are illegible.
Date of oldest tombstone
1921
Date of newest tombstone
1940
Urgency of erecting a fence
High
Land ownership
Municipality
Preserved construction on site
Drone surveys
Yes

Historical overview

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. It is estimated that the cemetery was established in the late 19th century. Given it appears on Russian maps from 1907 it can be assumed the cemetery already existed during that period. The oldest preserved tombstone is dated to the early 20th century.

The presence of a Jewish community in Kamin’-Kashyrs’kyy was first recorded in the mid 16th century. By 1897, this population had risen to 1,189 (98% of the total population). The community consisted of Trysk and Kobrin hasids. By the beginning of 20th century, an illegal department of Zionist-socialists had been set up in the town. During WWI, Jewish refugees from the southern regions of Volyn’ arrived in Kamin’-Kashyrs’kyy. In September 1915, the retreating Russian army destroyed the town. The Jews were forced to flee to the nearby forests. Their self-defence group, set up in 1918, helped prevent two pogrom attempts. Nevertheless 120 Jews were murdered in 1920. During the 1920s and 1930s, the town housed a Tarbut school (teaching in Yiddish from 1939), a Talmud Tora, and a library. A department of the national Jewish bank also operated in the city during this period. From the 1930s, antisemitism led to attacks on the stores owned by Jews. Nazis troops arrived on August 2, 1941. In May 1942 a ghetto was set up in which 3,000 Jews from Kamin’-Kashyrs’kyy and the surrounding villages were confined. On August 10, 1942, 1,700 Jews were murdered in the Jewish cemetery. More than 600 Jewish workers remained in the ghetto until November 2, 1942. Around 400 attempted to escape, but only 100 survived, joining the partisans. In July 1992, a monument of black granite was installed on the former ghetto site. In the same year, two more monuments were set up on the sites of mass executions.

3D model