Priluki

Jews probably began to settle in Priluki at the beginning of the 17th century. The Jews of Priluki suffered greatly from a pogrom during the uprising of Bogdan Chmelnitsky (1648-1649). From the mid-17th century until the 19th century Jews were officially banned from the town, although some in fact continued to live there. The town was a well-known trade center. Jews owned the largest local factory, which produced tobacco, and a large brewery. Jewish artisans in Priluki were famous for their textile production. A pogrom that damaged Jewish property took place in October 1917. In the course of the Russian civil war (1918-1920), the community endured many pogroms that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Jews. Under the Soviets a Yiddish court and Yiddish schools operated in the town, and a Jewish kolkhoz named Nayer Shteyger (New way of life) was established. In 1939, Priluki's 6,140 Jews comprised 16.7 percent of the total population. Priluki was occupied by the Germans on September 18, 1941. Many Jews of Priluki succeeded in leaving before the occupation started. The remaining Jews were ordered to wear a white armband with a yellow star and they were prohibited from going to the market and the cinema. They were recruited for forced labor, such as repairing roads, clearing demolished buildings, etc. On October 15, 1941 a murder operation that had several Jewish victims was carried out, probably by the German Secret Field Police unit no. 730. A ghetto was established at the beginning of 1942. From January 1942 groups of 30-40 young healthy men were systematically taken from the ghetto and executed at an unknown location. Most of the Jews of Priluki were killed in a mass murder operation in May 1942. Another mass murder was carried out by Germans in Priluki on September 10, 1942. The victims were Jews who had hidden or escaped from the previous killing operation. Jews from Polova, Ladan, and Linovitsa of Priluki County and from Kharitonovka, Podol, Radkovka and Malaya Devitsa of other counties of the Chernigov District were murdered in Priluki. Priluki was liberated by the Red Army on September 19, 1943.