Smidovich

Smidovich, named after Pyotr Smidovich, a prominent Soviet political figure who promoted the program of Soviet Jewish colonisation, was a Jewish agricultural settlement established in 1926 by 5 families who came to Crimea from Roslavl in Russia. Later it became part of the Jewish kolkhoz "Sotsdorf" (Yiddish for "socialist village"). In 1932 320 Jews lived in Smidovich. Alhough the area was occupied by the Germans in October 1941, the first Germans appeared in the village only in mid-December. Most of the Jews succeeded in leaving the village before the Germans arrival. Soon after the occupation began Jewish houses in the village were marked with Stars of David. 31 Jews of Smidovich were murdered on December 27, 1941 on the village's outskirts. Smidovich and the area were liberated by the Red Army in April 1944.