Dyakovtsy

Jews started to settle in Dyakovtsy in the first half of the 18th century. In 1897 Dyakovsy's 395 Jews comprised 16.5 percent of the village's total population. On the eve of World War I Jews owned all of the groceries in the village, as well as an inn. There was at least one synagogue in Dyakovtsy in that period. In 1926 327 Jews lived in Dyakovtsy, comprising 10 percent of the total population. From the 1920s until the late 1930s Dyakovtsy had a four-year Yiddish school. Many young Jews left Dyakovtsy during the early Soviet period for large towns and cities in search for vocational and educational opportunities. Dyakovtsy was occupied by German troops in mid-July 1941. Few Jews managed to leave before the arrival of the Germans. In December 1941 Jews from Dyakovtsy were tranported to Litin and murdered there, together with local Jews. Dyakovtsy was liberated in mid-March 1944.