Ilyincy
Vinnitsa Region
Ilyincy, 2012, 2015
A Jewish presence in Ilyintsy is first mentioned in the second half of the 18th century. In 1897 4,993 Jews lived in the town, comprising 49.7 percent of the total population.
The Jewish community suffered greatly from the calamities of the revolutionary years and civil war in Russia. In October 1920 Red troops from Semyon Budyonnyi's 1st Cavalry Army assaulted Ilyintsy three times, looting a total of 40 Jewish houses.
During the early years of Soviet rule the occupational structure of Ilyintsy's Jews changed significantly. Soviet social policy forced many Jews, especially those who worked in commerce, to seek new occupations. Some Jews found work at the local sugar factory. A number of Jews of Ilyintsy found employment in agriculture, including in the Jewish kolkhoz Produkt Arbet,that was established in the town.
In the 1920s and 1930s Ilyintsy had a Yiddish school, that was initially located in the building of a former synagogue.
In the 1920s Ilyintsy was the seat of a Jewish rural council.
In 1939 Ilyntsy's 2,217 Jews comprised 63.6 percent of the town's total population.
After German troops invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, some of Ilyintsy's Jews fled eastward into the Soviet interior. At the same time Jewish refugees from western regions of the Soviet Union that were overrun by Germans arrived in the town.
The Jewish community suffered greatly from the calamities of the revolutionary years and civil war in Russia. In October 1920 Red troops from Semyon Budyonnyi's 1st Cavalry Army assaulted Ilyintsy three times, looting a total of 40 Jewish houses.
During the early years of Soviet rule the occupational structure of Ilyintsy's Jews changed significantly. Soviet social policy forced many Jews, especially those who worked in commerce, to seek new occupations. Some Jews found work at the local sugar factory. A number of Jews of Ilyintsy found employment in agriculture, including in the Jewish kolkhoz Produkt Arbet,that was established in the town.
In the 1920s and 1930s Ilyintsy had a Yiddish school, that was initially located in the building of a former synagogue.
In the 1920s Ilyintsy was the seat of a Jewish rural council.
In 1939 Ilyntsy's 2,217 Jews comprised 63.6 percent of the town's total population.
After German troops invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, some of Ilyintsy's Jews fled eastward into the Soviet interior. At the same time Jewish refugees from western regions of the Soviet Union that were overrun by Germans arrived in the town.
More detail you can read on the Russian-language version of the site, as the English version in the process of finalizing
The Germans occupied Ilyintsy on July 23, 1941. The start of the occupation was marked by a wave of looting of Jewish homes by German soldiers and by local Ukrainians. About a month after the start of the occupation a four-member Judenrat was established, headed by Gersh Usyatinskiy (or Gusyatinskiy). This Judenrat was hated by local Jews due to the corruption of its members.
In August 1941 Ilyintsy Jews were forced to enter a ghetto established in the poorest neighborhood of the town, close to the river Sob, and ordered to wear white armbands with Stars of David. The ghetto inmates were humiliated, beaten, robbed of their possessions, and forced to perform various types of hard labor. Many of the girls and women were raped. The Jews in the ghetto were forced to appear every morning at the building of former synagogue for a roll-call carried out by Germans and local auxiliary policemen.
In early November (or September, according to some testimonies) 1941 about 40 Jewish men were shot outside the town.
In the late fall of 1941 able-bodied Jews from Ilyintsy were transferred to the site of a state farm near the village of Balakhovka, where a labor camp was established.
Most Ilyintsy Jews were murdered close to the town in several massacres in the course of 1942. Some Jews from Ilyintsy went into hiding.
On December 15, 1942 the Germans set fire to one of the houses which had served as one such hiding place. Most of those inside were burned to death. The murders of Jews from Ilyintsy and of the surrounding area continued into the first half of 1943.
Today in Ilyincy live a few Jewish families
In August 1941 Ilyintsy Jews were forced to enter a ghetto established in the poorest neighborhood of the town, close to the river Sob, and ordered to wear white armbands with Stars of David. The ghetto inmates were humiliated, beaten, robbed of their possessions, and forced to perform various types of hard labor. Many of the girls and women were raped. The Jews in the ghetto were forced to appear every morning at the building of former synagogue for a roll-call carried out by Germans and local auxiliary policemen.
In early November (or September, according to some testimonies) 1941 about 40 Jewish men were shot outside the town.
In the late fall of 1941 able-bodied Jews from Ilyintsy were transferred to the site of a state farm near the village of Balakhovka, where a labor camp was established.
Most Ilyintsy Jews were murdered close to the town in several massacres in the course of 1942. Some Jews from Ilyintsy went into hiding.
On December 15, 1942 the Germans set fire to one of the houses which had served as one such hiding place. Most of those inside were burned to death. The murders of Jews from Ilyintsy and of the surrounding area continued into the first half of 1943.
Today in Ilyincy live a few Jewish families
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| Sob River | Old watermill | Local mermaid. The tail dropped) |
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| Former synagogue | This is one of the few remaining synagogues of this type in the Vinnytsia region | ||
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| Next - a complex of other Jewish buildings | Once upon a time it housed a cheder, Talmud Torah and a mikveh |
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| Memorial on the mass grave of victims of the Holocaust | |||
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Jewish Cemetery, photos travel.creature.biz.ua
My shtetl
My shtetl
Jewish towns of Ukraine
Jewish towns of Ukraine