Okny Jewish Cemetery

Information on the cemetery’s establishment is not known, but it was marked on a Russian maps of 1914 and 1916-17. Presumably, the cemetery was operating in the 19th century. The earliest gravestone found by ESJF dates from the 1860s. Presumably, the cemetery was demolished after WWII. Since 1995, the cemetery has been almost fully demolished, and almost all gravestones are destroyed.

The first mention of the Jewish community of Okny dates back to the late 19th century. In 1847, 182 Jews lived in Okny. In 1882 the Jewish community suffered from a pogrom. In 1889, three synagogues operated. By 1897, the Jewish population had increased to 1,530 (63% of the total population). The most common Jewish occupation in Okny during the 19th century was trade. The peak of the town’s Jewish population, when 1,972 individuals were living in the town, was under Soviet rule in 1926. During the 1930s, many local Jews (88 families) entered kolkhozes or worked in communes (264 families). By 1939, the Jewish population had decreased to 1,258 Jews (27% of the total population). On August 7, 1941, Wehrmacht units occupied the city. By October 1941, 290 local Jews were murdered. In September 1941, more than 2,000 Jews were deported to Dubossary in Transnistria and murdered.