Shtetlach

(known as Pogrebishche up to 1945, referred to by the jews as Pohorbishch and in Polish documents as Bohybryszcze), town in Vinnitsa oblast,Ukraine. Jews settled in Pogrebishchenski at the beginning of the 17th century, and it is listed among the communities destroyed during the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648. The community, restored at the end of the 17th century, suffered severely from the uprisings of the Haidamacks in 1736 and 1768. There were 664 Jews in Pogrebishchenski in 1765 and 1,726 in 1847; the census of 1897 showed 2,494 Jews (39.5% of the total population).The 17th-century wooden synagogue, whose construction and appurtenances were renowned for their original artistic execution, attracted the attention of researchers of Jewish art. During the years of the civil war (1918-19), a Jewish self-defense group was maintained, which prevented bands of peasants of the region from attacking Jews. In the summer of 1919 troops of Petlyura conquered the locality and ordered the self-defense group to be disarmed. A few days later (on Aug. 22, 1919) an armed band of peasants entered and gained control of the town, carrying out a massacre of the Jews which lasted several hours. About 400 people were murdered, many were wounded, and property was looted. There were 2,881 Jews (30% of the total) in the town in 1926. The Jewish community was destroyed during the German occupation in 1941.

Illustration shows a drawing of the synagogue of Pogrebische, built during the 17th century. After first seeing this drawing I spoke to my father on the phone one day and asked him if he knew anything about the synagogue in Pogrebishche. I was looking at the drawing as he described it in perfect detail. The structure had been buried for centuries, he said, until it's rediscovery. -Brian

Skvira

city in Kiev oblast, Ukrainian S.S.R. Skvira was an ancient town which was completely destroyed at the end of the 16th century. In 1736 it was mentioned as a village leased by a Jewish lessee. In 1789 there were 37 Jewish houses out of a total of 197 houses counted that year. In 1847 Jews registered in Skvira numbered 2,184. During the 1340s the zaddik R. Isaac Twersky (of the Chernobyl dynasty) settled in Skvira. The Jewish community was primarily engaged in the trade of grain and other agricultural products. In 1897 there were 8,910 Jews (49.5% of the total population) in Skvira. During the Civil War, Jews suffered severely from beligerent armies and during the pogroms which frequently occurred, several hundred Jews were killed. The number of Jews decreased considerably after World War I and in 1926 there were only 4,681 Jews (33.6% of the population) remaining. Under the Soviet regime the religious and communal life of the Jews of Skvira was dissolved. The Germans entered the town in September 1941. Almost 1,000 Jews who did not succeed in escaping were murdered. The Jewish population was estimated in the late 1960s at about 500. The Twersky hasidic line emanating from Skvira eventually settled in the U.S. where they founded their own township called New Square (Skvira) in Rockland County, New York.

Zguritsa

(Rum. Zgurita), Jewish agricultural village in N. Moldavian S. S. R., in the region of Bessarabia. Zguritsa was founded in 1853 on an area of over 1,000 acres rented by settlers from Bessarabia. In 1878 the new owner, a Jew, canceled the lease of the estate and Zguritsa lost its status as a Jewish agricultural colony. Its residents were then registered as burghers. From 1890 to 1903 further Jewish settlement in Zguritsa was prohibited by virtue of the May Laws issued on May 3, 1882. In 1897 Zguritsa's Jewish population was 1,802 (85% of the total population). In 1899, 36 families rented 370 acres in the area, mainly for growing vegetables. Agrarian reform in Rumania in 1922 granted plots of land to 150 Jews of Zguritsa. In 1925 the 193 members of the local loan fund included 40 farmers, 25 artisans, and 113 tradesmen. In 1930 there were 2,541 Jews in Zguritsa (83.9% of the total population), supporting a kindergarten and an elementary school both of the Tarbut organization.

Courtesy of:

"Encyclopedia Judaica"

©1972, Keter Publishing House Jerusalem Ltd

Jerusalem, Israel

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