Bakhchisaray

Krymchaks were already living in Chufut-Kale (now part of modern Bakhchisaray) in the early 13th century. A Karaite community existed there starting in the 15th century. In 1793, after the conquest of Crimea by the Russian Empire ten years previously, Bakhchisaray's Jewish population (consisting of Krymchak Jews and Karaites) numbered 1,162 and was comprised mostly of merchants and artisans. In 1897 the Jewish population dropped to 210 Krymchak Jews and 967 Karaites, out of a total population of 12,959. At the beginning of the 20th century the number of Jews in the town continued to drop due to their migration to other cities of Crimea. In 1926 there were 275 Krymchaks and 144 Karaites, as well a small number of Ashkenazi Jews. In 1939 228 Jews - Krymchaks and Ashkenazi Jews - lived in the town and 310 in the whole county (the census of 1939 did not include separate data on the different Jewish groups). The Germans arived in Bakhchisaray on November 2, 1941. About 120 Jews had managed to leave Bakhchisaray and another 40 left the surrounding area. The Germans did not consider the Karaites to be Jewish and, therefore, did not murder them. On December 13, 1941, according the German reports, troops from Sonderkommando 11a murdered about 90 Jews (40 families, apparently mostly Krymchaks) outside the town; Soviet testimony refers to 200 Jews. In February 1942 another 18 local Jews were killed by a German field gendarmerie unit. On February 28, 1942 the town was proclaimed by the Germans to be "free of Jews." Bakhchisaray was liberated by the Red Army on April 14, 1944.