Sobolivka Jewish Cemetery
Cemetery Information
Historical overview
Given the cemetery can be found marked on a map of the region from 1917, it can be inferred it was already in use by the early 20th century.
In 1765 there were 12 Jews in Sobolivka, however it wasn’t until the 19th century that a community fully developed. According to the census of 1897, the Jewish population numbered 1,121 Jews, out of the total population of 5,745. Jews worked in artisan cooperatives and in the sugar refinery.
In the 1930s, 75 families worked in the kolkhoz. During the Soviet period before WWII there was a Jewish council and Jewish elementary school, of 4 grades.
By 1939 there were only 434 Jews remaining in the town.
Sobolivka was occupied on July 28th 1941. On May 27th 1942, 382 Jews were executed.
Skilled workers were left alive and murdered later. The total killed numbered 405 Jews.
Alman Shmuel, a composer and conductor, was born in 1877 in Sobolivka.
The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. The cemetery is marked on a map from 1917. Therefore it is likely that it was founded in the early 20th century. There are around 70 gravestones left, the inscriptions are unreadable. The cemetery is abandoned and neglected.
