Samgorodok

Jews started to settle in Samgorodok in the late 18th or early 19th century. 1,234 Jews lived in the town in 1897, when they comprised 92.5 percent of the total population. Samgorodok's Jews suffered greatly during the revolutionary years and civil war in Russia. 4 Jewish families from the town were killed in a pogrom carried out in March 1919 by the Ukrainian troops of Symon Petliura. Jewish life in Samgorodok changed during the Soviet period. Many Jews, especially the younger ones, left Samgorodok for larger towns and cities in search of new educational and vocational opportunities. In 1926 Samgorodok's 1,243 Jews comprised 28.6 percent of the total population. German forces occupied Samgorodok on July 22, 1941. Very few Jews managed to leave the town in time. Immediately after the start of the occupation all the remaining Samgorodok Jews were registered and forced to wear an armband with a Star of David; later the armbands were replaced by Stars of David sewn on the back and the front of clothing. The Jews were beaten, humiliated, and forced to perform hard labor and Jewish property was plundered. In May 1942 a ghetto was established in Samgorodok but it existed for less than a month. In early June 1942 the able-bodied Jews and Jewish skilled workers were sent to Kazatin, while the other 500 Jews were shot to death outside the town. Samgorodok was liberated by the Red Army on January 1, 1944.