Obodivka Jewish Cemetery

According to IAJGS, the cemetery was established in the 19th century.

Jews were first mentioned in Obodivka in the first half of the 17th century. The Jewish community was destroyed during the Haidamak Uprising. The community was reestablished in the middle of the 18th century. In 1765, there were 33 Jews in the town. According to the census of 1847, the Jewish population had grown dramatically to 854 people. In 1852, there were 29 registered Jewish artisans. In 1853, there was a wooden synagogue and a Jewish cemetery. The spiritual rabbi was Aaron Greenbars, and the official rabbi was Zelman Kluzman. In 1889, there were 2 synagogues. According to the census of 1897 the Jewish population had doubled to 1,676 people, which was 21% of the town.
At the beginning of the 20th century there were 3 synagogues and 2 registered communities (Old Obodivka and New Obodivka). The head of the one community was David Shmuel Erlich, son of Eliezer, and the head of the other was Abraham Schwartz son of rabbi Israel.
Most of the shops were owned by Jews. In 1919 the Jewish community suffered from a severe pogrom, between 150 to 300 Jews were killed. By 1923 there were 411 Jewish residents. The synagogue operated until WWII. In the 1920s the rabbi was Joseph Alberton of Bershad. Before WWII, Yitzhak of Ozaryntsi, son of Baruch Meir (tsaddik of the Chornobyl Hasidic dynasty, died on December 2nd 1941) lived in the town.
By 1939 the Jewish population numbered 535 (6%).
Obodivka was occupied on July 28th 1941, and a ghetto was set up. In November 1941 around 10,000 Jews were brought from Romania. In winter 1941-1942 many of the ghetto’s inmates died of typhoid (Yitzhak of Ozaryntsi and the family of the rabbi of Boyanov among them). According to the documentation around 11,000 Jews were killed in Obodivka. The village was liberated on March 14th 1944.
After the war, the head of the community was shochet rabbi Yosel.
At the beginning of the 1990s there were only 20 Jews and at the end of the 1990s there were only 3 Jews remaining.
The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. According to IAJGS, the Jewish cemetery was established in the 19th century. The cemetery could not be found marked on old maps of the region. The earliest gravestone found dates to 1898. The newest gravestone dates to 1998. The cemetery is well-maintained. There are around 600 gravestones.