Svyatsk

Apparently Jews were already living in Svyatsk at the end of the 17th century. In 1926 the Jews of Svyatsk numbered 588, amounting to about 2 percent of the total population. David Dragunsky (1910-1992), who became a colonel-general in the Soviet Army and was twice decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union, was born to a Jewish family in Svyatsk. The village was occupied by the Germans in September 1941. The local Jews were killed in two murder operations - in October 1941 and in January 1942. Svyatsk was liberated by the Red Army in September 1943. After the year 2000 the village ceased to exist due to the depopulation that followed the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A monument devoted to Dragunsky that had been erected in 1952 was removed to the county center of Novozybkov.