Kitaygorod

A Jewish presence in Kitaygorod is first mentioned in regard to 1765. 735 Jews lived in Kitaygorod in 1897, when they comprised 26.3 percent of the total population. The Jews of Kitaygorod, who were mostly artisans or small-scale merchants, played an important role in the economic life of the town, owning most of the shops and all of the lumber warehouses. During the Soviet period the occupational structure of Kitaygorod's Jews changed after Soviet authorities banned private economic activity. A number of the town's Jews became government clerks. The artisans united in cooperatives. In the late 1920s there was a Yiddish school in Kitaygorod. In 1926 1,571 Jews lived in Kitaygorod, comprising 34.5 percent of the total population. Kitaygorod was occupied by German troops on July 25, 1941. Almost immediately they began abusing the Jews. Many of the local Jews were forced to perform various kinds of hard labor. In October 1941 and early 1942 all of Kitaygorod's Jews were transported to the county seat Dashev and murdered there. Kitaygorod was liberated by the Red Army in mid-March 1944.