Roslavl

Jews began to settle in Roslavl, which lay outside the Pale of Settlement, in the mid-19th Century. During World War I, with the de facto abolition of the Pale of Settlement, Roslavl became a magnet for Jews from nearby towns. In the mid-1920s, about 100 local Jewish craftsmen belonged to craft cooperatives; some 150 were employed in government service; many were petty merchants, and there were also quite a few unemployed. A Yiddish school and a Jewish orphanage operated in the town. In January 1939, Roslavl was home to 2,935 Jews, who made up 7.1 percent of its total population.

Roslavl was occupied by the Germans on August 3, 1941, by which time many of the local Jews had fled. The remaining Jews were soon forced to wear a special badge, and at least two local Jews were murdered by the Germans. In late October 1941, a ghetto was set up on Trudovaya Street, and a total of 600-800 Jews were concentrated there. In the fall of 1941, the Jews of Roslavl were murdered in two operations that took place at the town’s Jewish cemetery. In September 1942, some of the surviving Jews of the area were incarcerated in a labor camp in the village of Oster, where most of them were later murdered.

Roslavl was liberated by the Red Army on September 25, 1943.