Novy Pikov

The first reference to a Jewish presence in Pikov dates back to the beginning of the eighteenth century. The Jewish community of Pikov suffered heavy losses during World War I, including a severely deflated economy. The civil war struck another blow to the Jews of Pikov. A pogrom broke out in July 1919, and fifty Jews were murdered. In 1924, under the Soviet regime, the Jewish "Trud" kolkhoz was established. In 1936, another Jewish kolkhoz was formed. In 1926, the town had a Jewish population of 1,644, accounting for half of the total population. The local Jewish council promoted a Yiddish-language Jewish education for the children and youth of Pikov. During the 1920s and '30s, Pikov had an active Jewish school. Two synagogues operated in the town through the beginning of the 1930s. The Germans occupied Pikov on July 16, 1941; the town’s Jews were ordered immediately to wear a white armband marked with a yellow Star of David. In September 1941, the local Jews were forced into a ghetto, along with other Jews from the vicinity. The Jews of Pikov were murdered in three murder operations from May-June 1942. The town was liberated in March 1944. In September 1941, the Jews of Pikov were concentrated in a ghetto in Novy Pikov. Although the ghetto was not fenced in, anyone who attempted to leave its confines was severely punished. There was a Judenrat in Pikov headed by Yankel Yosifovich. Jews were driven to work, building the road from Pikov to Uladovka. Local Ukrainian policemen regularly looted Jewish houses. In early 1942, when Pikov’s Jews discovered that the Jewish population in the area was being liquidated, a group of youths organized a resistance movement in the ghetto. They revealed their plan to the Judenrat, which opposed it on the grounds that the Ukrainian authorities had vowed to leave the Jews of Pikov unharmed. Nevertheless, the resistance group remained active, and attempted to establish contact with Soviet POWs working in the area, as well as partisans that had begun to operate nearby.