Yudendorf

Yudendorf ("Jewish village" in Yiddish) was a Jewish agricultural colony established in 1871. During a Soviet period a "Smidovich" kolkhoz was established in the village. The village's population suffered during a Great Famine in Ukraine of early 1930s. In 1939 the name of village was changed to Chkalovo after famous Soviet test pilot Valery Chkalov who died in a crash in 1938. Chkalovo was occupied by German forces in August 1941. In mid-September of the same year Jews of Chkalovo were among about 400 Jews of Frayleben rural council who were murdered at the well near Chkalovo. Chkalovo was liberated by the Red Army in mid-March 1944