Rudki Old Jewish Cemetery

Information on the cemetery’s establishment is unknown, but according to the date on the only founded gravestone, it already existed in the middle of 19th century. It can be supposed that it was demolished after WWII and later built over.

In the late 18th century, about 30 Jews lived in Rudki. From the beginning of the settlement, the Jews worked in the trading of livestock, lumber and alcohol. A Jewish cemetery was established in the 18th century. A wooden synagogue was built in the early 19th century when the Jewish community emerged. In 1880, the Jewish population numbered 1352 (52.4% of the total population). In 1896, a stone synagogue was built. In the late 19th century, a Hassidic court founded by Pinhas Nasn Safrin (1855–1932) sat. The Jewish population is growing from 1722 in 1900 (53% of the total population) to 1968 in 1910 (53% of the total population). Before WWI, a synagogue of Chortkov Hasidim and two another Hasidic synagogues were built. In the 1920–30s, the Zionist organizations were active in town. The Tarbut and Beit Yaakov schools operated. In the 1930s, Haim Helberstam served as a rabbi. In 1931, the Jewish population increased to 1962. The Soviet regime was set up in 1939-41. Around 3000 Jews were inhabitants of Rudki in June 1941. On June 28, 1941, the Wehrmacht troops captured Rudki and in the first days of the occupation 39 Jews were shot. In November 1942, 821 Jews were deported to the Belzec Death Camp. On December 1, 1942, a ghetto was established. Around 500 ghetto prisoners died of hunger and typhus. On April 9, 1943, around 1700 prisoners of Rudki ghetto were executed. The remaining 300 Jews were expelled to Yanovsky concentration camp in Lviv.