Orynyn Jewish Cemetery

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. The oldest gravestone relates to the second half of the 19th century, so it can be assumed that the cemetery emerged during that period. It appears on a Russian map of the 1870s and Austrian map of the 1880s.

The Jewish community was organized in 1582. Many Jews fled or were murdered during the Khmelnytskyi massacres. A synagogue existed in the 18th century. In 1757, a dispute between orthodox rabbis and Jakob Frank led to the confiscation of the Talmud books in Orynyn and other towns around. Subsequently, these books were burned at the square in Kamyanets’-Podil’skyy. In 1765, 386 Jews resided in Orynyn. In the 19th century, Jewish charities and a Hevra Kadisha were in operation. Many Jews were employed on a tanyard manufactury, built by the Jewish merchant Gutherz, or were engaged in crafts. In 1889, five synagogues existed. In 1897, the Jewish population stood at 2,112 (42% of the total population) and reached a peak of 2,839 in 1902. In 1911, Pinchas Kremer and Israel Drackler headed the Zionist groups in Orynyn. The property of ten Jewish families was destroyed during a 1914 pogrom. Several pogroms were staged by the by troops of the Ukrainian People’s Republic army in 1919-1920, it claimed lives of 57 Jews. In the 1920s, the Zionist organizations were restricted and worked secretly. In 1923, it dropped to 1,630 people. Since 1925, Orynyn was a centre of the Jewish rural council. A Yiddish school with a library functioned during the Soviet period. In 1939, 1,508 Jews (48,6% of the total) were inhabitants of the town. In 1941, after the Wehrmacht occupation of Orynyn, a ghetto was established. On June 21, 1942, over 1,700 Jews were murdered. The rest of 300 Jews were transferred to Kamenetz-Podolsky.