Yarmolintsy

Jews began to settle in Yarmolintsy in the early 18th century. The Jewish population of the town suffered greatly during an attack by the Haidamaks in 1768. In 1897 the Jewish population of Yarmolintsy stood at 2,633, comprising 50 percent of the total population. In 1919, during the Russian civil war, a pogrom was carried out in the town. In the 1920s and 1930s Yarmolintsy had a Jewish rural council and a Jewish kolkhoz. In 1939 the Jewish population was 1,264. The Nazis occupied the town on July 8, 1941. According to one testimony, 16 Jewish men were shot to death on the next day on the outskirts of the town. The Jews were forced to wear Stars of David on their chests and backs and they were often abused. For example, a Ukrainian auxiliary policeman made a group of Jews form a moving human "bridge" so he could walk over them, while they were lying in the mud. According to the ChGK report, in April 1942 several old Jews were murdered by the Gendarmerie and then their bodies were hanged on trees. Apparently in the summer of 1942, a ghetto was established in the town. At the end of October 1942 the Jews from Yarmolintsy (that had become the regional administrative center of the German administration) and neighboring towns of Frampol, Gorodok, Mikhalpol, and Satanov were taken and held in the former military barracks located near the Yarmolintsy railway station. According to one testimony, during the murder operation that was carried out there several days later a group of Jews put up armed resistance, during which they killed several Ukrainian auxiliary policemen and Germans. Gebietskommissar (regional commissar) Emil Mertes was in charge of this murder operation. Yarmolintsy was liberated by the Red Army on March 27, 1944.