Shpykiv Old Jewish Cemetery

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 17th century.

Jews first settled in Shpykiv in the first half of the 18th century and in 1765, 21 Jews lived there.
According to the census of 1847 there were 349 Jews. In 1852, there were 24 artisans among the Jewish community. In 1885, in Spykiv settled the Hasidic tzaddikim of Chornobyl. Menachem Nochum Twersky blessed the cemetery.
According to the census of 1897, the Jewish population numbered 1,875, out of the total of 4,901. In 1923 there were 1,126 Jewish residents. In 1920-1930s there was a Jewish elementary school. By 1939, the population numbered 895 Jews, which was 18% of the population.
Shpykiv was occupied on July 22nd 1941. Jews were concentrated in a ghetto and on December 18th 1941, the Rumanians expelled the Jews of Shpykiv to the Rogozna camp and from there to Pechera. On August 19th 1943, 539 Jews were tortured and murdered.
As of 1998, the Jewish population numbered 13 people and by 2012 no Jews lived in Shpykiv.
Johanan Twersky, a writer, was born in Shpykiv in 1900.

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. It was founded no later than in the early 20th century, as the earliest tombstone found dates to 1904. The cemetery is marked on maps from the 1900s of the region. There are around 3,500 gravestones and 3 Ohels (there are several graves in one of them). The most recent gravestone dates to 2000. The cemetery is fenced and protected.