Kilikiyev

By the early 18th century Jews were living in Kilikiyev. In 1897 the town had 576 Jews, who comprised 29.9 percent of the total population. Under the Soviets a 3-year Yiddish school opened in 1924 and operated in the town until the end of the 1930s. In 1926 the town' 380 Jews comprised 18 percent of a total population. On July 9 or 10, 1941 the German occupied Kilikiyev. The Jews were ordered to wear armbands with yellow Stars of David. Apparently in the early August (according to one testimony, September), 1941 some Jewish men - Communists and members of the Komsomol (Communist Youth organization)- along with several non-Jews, were shot to death by an SS murder squad outside the town. On March 4, 1942 a group of about 35 Jews (mainly women and several old men) was shot to death outside the town, near Kutki village. Over 200 Jews of the town were killed during these two murder operations. Also on March 4 the remaining Jews of Kilikiyev (young people, teenagers, and children) were taken via the town of Berezdov, along with this town's Jewish residents, to the Slavuta ghetto. According to one testimony some young Jewish girls were sent from the Slavuta ghetto to the labor camp located between the towns of Shepetovka and Slavuta. Apparently during this period some Kilikiyev Jews were taken back to Berezdov, along with Jews from this town, to perform forced labor; in June they were returned to the Slavuta ghetto. On June 25 or 26, 1942 the remaining Jews of Kilikiyev, along with the others inmates of Slavuta ghetto, were murdered outside the town. Kilikiyev was liberated by the Red Army on January 13 or 14, 1944.