Letychiv Old Jewish Cemetery

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. According to IAJGS, the cemetery was presumably established around 1760. The site was marked on Russian maps of the 1870s. The cemetery was built over in the 1970s by the Soviet government.

Jews are first mentioned in 1581. In the mid-17th – early 18th century, the Jewish community was attacked by the Cossack troops. 21 Jewish families resided in Letychiv in 1707. In 1765, Jews owned 87 houses, 12 distilleries and eight shops. The plague in 1770 and the raid of the Haidamaks in 1777 claimed many of the Jewish lives. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Jews were engaged in trade and crafts. In 1793, a synagogue was built. By 1838, the number of synagogues had increased to four. A bathhouse, mikvah, Bikur Holim organization, Hevra Kadisha society, Jewish hotel functioned. In 1851, a state Jewish school was opened. On March 30 and 31, 1882, a pogrom was staged. The Jewish population grew from 1,403 in 1839 to 4,108 (57% of the total population) in 1897. In 1910, when a Jewish population reached a peak of 5,911 people, seven synagogues and two Jewish cemeteries operated. In 1914, Yoel Malkiman fulfilled the duties of a rabbi. After the February Revolution in 1917, the Jewish parties became active. In 1919, during the pogroms staged by the Ukrainian People’s Republic army, the Jewish houses and shops were pillaged, and many Jews were killed. In the 1920s, a Jewish kolkhoz was established. A kindergarten and Yiddish school were in operation as part of the F. Engels Jewish Children town, opened in 1925. The Jewish population decreased to 2,434 (34% of the total) in 1926. In 1939, 1,946 Jews (36,4% of the total population) were residents of Letychiv. On July 17, 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied the town. On September 22, 1941, a ghetto was created. In May 1942, a concentration camp was created for the Jews of Bessarabia, Derazhny and Medzhybizh. The ghetto was liquidated in September 1942, and the concentration camp in November 1942. On January 30, 1943, the last Jewish artisans were shot in the ravines near the village. Over 7,000 Jews died in the village during the occupation. Several Jewish families returned after WWII. In the late 1980s, a dozen of the Jewish residents were in Letychiv.