Trostyanets Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Information

Country
Ukraine
Region
Vinnytsia
District
Trostyanets'
Settlement
Trostyanets'
Site address
The cemetery is located opposite 3 Gogol street.
GPS coordinates
48.51673, 29.22802
Perimeter length
403 metres
Is the cemetery demolished
no
Type and height of existing fence
The east side of the cemetery is protected by a fence made of metal rods; the west side is protected by a concrete wall; and the north side is protected by a metal mesh fence. The south side is unfenced, but an overgrown ditch is visible.
Preservation condition
Fenced and protected Jewish cemetery
General site condition
The cemetery is covered by seasonal vegetation, but the grass is mown and it is otherwise well-maintained. According to KSEN, the monuments on the site are dedicated to Jewish soldiers and the victims of the Holocaust and Jewish soldiers. There is a marked mass grave.
Number of existing gravestones
300
Date of oldest tombstone
1902 (the earliest tombstone found by ESJF).
Date of newest tombstone
2000 (the latest tombstone found by ESJF).
Urgency of erecting a fence
Fence is not needed
Land ownership
Municipality
Preserved construction on site
No
Drone surveys
Yes

Historical overview

According to the Commission on Preservation of Jewish Heritage, the cemetery was established in the mid-19th century. The cemetery can be found marked on a map of Western Russia from 1900s, from which it can be seen that the perimeter was once significantly larger than it is today.

It is likely that Jews lived in Trostyanets’ in the 17th century. In the 18th century, in 1765 the Jewish population numbered 119 people. According to the census of 1897, 2,421 Jews lived in the town whose total population was 4,421.
In the late 19th century, Jews owned the majority of the 47 stores, there were a large number of artisans among Jews. In 1919, the Jewish community survived a pogrom on May 10, 1919, when 370 Jews were murdered and many others injured. In the early 1920s most of Jews were tradesmen. A Jewish school was opened in the mid-1920s and a Jewish council was active for many years.
By 1939, 878 Jews lived in the town.
Trostyanets’ was occupied on July 25, 1941, most Jews were murdered in the first months, the rest were sent to Ladyzhyn ghetto. Hundreds of Jews from Bukovina and Bessarabia were expelled to Trostyanets’. After the liberation on March 13th 1944, no more than a dozen of Jews returned to Trostyanets’.
In 1990 there were only 30 Jews remaining and in 1998, only 16 Jews.

The exact period of the cemetery’s establishment is unknown. According to the Commission on Preservation of Jewish Heritage, the cemetery was established in the mid 19th century. The cemetery is marked on the maps of the region from the 1900’s. There are around 300 gravestones. The earliest found gravestone dates to 1902, the newest dates to 2000. A part of the cemetery is built over and ploughed.