Staraya Ushitsa

Jews began to settle in (Staraya) Ushitsa in the 18th Century. In 1897, the town was home to 1,583 Jews, who made up 14 percent of the total population. In 1910, two private Jewish schools were operating in the town. Under the Soviets, two cooperatives were organized, one for shoemakers and one for tailors. A Jewish council and a Yiddish school named after Sholem Aleichem were functioning in 1926. That year, Ushitsa had 1,009 Jewish residents. In 1929, a Jewish collective farm, Der Yidisher Poyer ("the Jewish peasant" in Yiddish), was established in the area; it was later renamed KIM, after some Ukrainians had joined it. In 1939, the Jewish population of the town stood at 753, comprising 17.4 percent of the total population. The county as a whole was home to 1,107 Jews. The Germans occupied Staraya Ushitsa on July 7, 1941. On July 22 or 23, 1942, the Jews were assembled in the town square. They were informed by the chiefs of the SD and the Gendarmerie that they would be taken to Kamenets-Podolsk. A selection was carried out on the spot. The skilled workers were separated from the rest and, together with their families, taken to the ghetto in Kamenets-Podolsk. The rest, including the Jews from the nearby town of Studenitsa, were taken outside the town and shot dead. The victims' clothes and valuables were removed from the murder site and from the Jewish homes by the SD; the remainder was handed out to the Germans' accomplices. Staraya Ushitsa was liberated by the Red Army on March 29, 1944.