Nikopol Old Jewish Cemetery

The cemetery is marked on the Red Army map from the 1930s. However, it is no longer marked on the city plan in the 1950s. According to the Commission on the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, it was founded in the 19th century. The date of the last known funeral was the late 1940s – early 1950s. The cemetery was demolished in the 1960s and overbuilt with a maternity hospital.

The earliest known Jewish community in Nikopol dates to the 1780s. According to the census of 1847, there were 322 Jewish residents and by 1867, there were 2 synagogues.
According to the census of 1897, the Jewish population had grown tenfold to 3,284 people (of the total population of 17,097).
The Jews of Nikopol were involved in crafting and trade. In 1905, the Jewish community suffered a pogrom. In 1910, there were 3 synagogues and a private Jewish secondary school, at this time the Jewish population numbered 2,981 people (12.5%). In 1913, Jews owned 3 drug stores, all 3 pharmacy goods warehouses, a hotel and over 40 big and small shops. In 1916 the rabbi was Pinchas Meerovich Kalamov.
By the 1930s the synagogues were closed and private minyans were used for worship. In 1933, the rabbi was Leib Halperin. By 1939, the Jewish population numbered 3,767 (2.9%).
Nikopol was occupied on August 17th 1941. The ghetto was established. On October 3rd, there were 130 Jews murdered, with another 570 being killed on October 5th. On February 28th 1942, about 20 Jews from Kamianka-Dniprovska were killed. Between March 24th and 25th, another few hundred Jews were murdered.
Some Jews returned to Nikopol after the war and the Jewish community was revived in 1996. In the 2000s, the religious community was reestablished. In 2005, there were around 1,100 Jewish residents.

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. According to the Commission on the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, it was founded in the 19th century. The cemetery is marked on the Red Army map from the 1930s of the region. However, the cemetery cannot be found on the city plan of the 1950s. The last known funeral dates to the late 1940s – early 1950s. There are no gravestones left. The cemetery was demolished in the 1960s and overbuilt with the housing complex and a maternity hospital.