Keretsky Jewish Cemetery

Presumably Jewish Cemetery in Kerecky was established in the early 19th century. Oldest one among of existing gravestones relates to 1820 and latest one to 1842.

Jews are believed to have arrived in the area of Kerecky in the first half 19th century. In 1840 and 1851 there were 9 Jews. In 1880 the Jewish population had increased to 75 (4,8% of the total population). By 1921, during the Czechoslovakian period, the Jewish population had increased to 252. Jews were involved in the day-to-day life of Kerecky: they were tradesmen and farmers. Hungarian forces arrived in the town in March 1939, with the consequence that the Jews were persecuted and forced out of their occupations. There were 327 Jews living in Kerecky in 1941. Some Jews were drafted into forced labour battalions. Others were sent to the Eastern front, where most perished. In August 1941 some Jews without Hungarian citizenship were expelled to Kamyanets’-Podils’kyy in Nazi-occupied Ukrainian territory and murdered. The remaining Jews of Kerecky were deported to Auschwitz in mid-May 1944. No Jews live in the town today.