Pskov

Jews apparently first settled in Pskov, which was located outside the Pale of Settlement, in the mid-19th century. The majority of Pskov's Jews were soldiers or artisans. In 1926 a 4-year Yiddish school began operating in the city. In 1939 the Jewish population of Pskov was 1,068 or about 1.8 per cent of the total population. Pskov was occupied by the Germans on July 9, 1941. Probably half of Pskov's Jews managed to flee or were evacuated. The Jews who remained were required to wear a Star of David on their chests and backs. In August 1941 a ghetto was established and Jews from the city and its environs were forced to move into it. The ghetto was liquidated in January 1942 or, according to other sources, in October – November 1941. Most of its inmates were shot to death in the Vaulin hills. Additional places where a number of Pskov Jews were shot were located not far from Zheleznitsa village, near a former fat-boiling site in the vicinity of Androkhnovo village, near Moglino village, and in the area of the Podborovye peat processing plant. In the winter of 1941-1942, according to German sources, 400 Jews from Estonia were also shot near Pskov. The exact date and location of this murder operation remain unknown. The last Jews of Pskov - who were doctors employed in a hospital for prisoners of war - were murdered in June 1942. Pskov was liberated by the Red Army on July 23, 1944.