Korostyshiv Old Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Historical overview
According to the Commission on the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, the gravestones and an ohel were demolished during the WWII. Until 1948, there was a market square, then a house and sheds were built. The remaining gravestones and burials were collected during the construction by Jew Kozak Mikhil and reburied in a new cemetery. The cemetery is not marked on maps. Presumably, it was established no later than the first half of the 20th century.
Jews first began to settle in Korostyshiv (Ukr. Коростишів, Rus. Коростышев, Yid. קאָרשעוו) in the late 16th century, and a synagogue is mentioned as early as 1602. The Jewish population grew from 316 in 1765, to 2,657 in 1847, and had grown to 4,160 Jewish residents (53% of the town) by 1897. As of 1885, the community maintained a synagogue and two prayer houses. In the early 20th century, the town had a Jewish hospital and a loan fund. During the Civil War of 1918–1921, the community survived several pogroms. Under Communist rule, Jews from Korostyshiv founded 2 agricultural communes and 2 collective farms in Kherson District. Yiddish-language schools operated in the 1920s and 1930s. There were 2,170 Jews (19%) in Korostyshiv in 1939. After the Germans arrived in July 1941, the majority of the Jews remaining in Korostyshiv and in the neighbouring communities were murdered. After the war, a number of Jews returned to the town and the synagogue was reopened in 1946. Most Jews emigrated to the USA or Israel in the 1980s and 1990s. As of 2001, there were 41 Jews in Korostyshiv and the neighbouring area.
It is not known when the cemetery was founded. It was demolished during WWII and built over later. Some of the tombstones were taken to the new cemetery.