Aleksandrovka

Aleksandrovka was established in the first half of the 17th century. The first mention of Jews living in the village dates to the mid-18th century. In 1897 the Jewish population of Aleksandrovka was 3,213 or about 74 percent of the total number of residents. In 1919 the Jews of Aleksandrovka suffered several pogroms, during which houses was destroyed and 48 Jews were killed. During the Soviet period Aleksandrovka had a Yiddish school and various supplementary Yiddish-language activities were conducted in the building. In 1939 Aleksandrovka's 565 Jews comprised 20 percent of the total population. The town was occupied by German troops on August 5, 1941. A number of Jews had left the village with the evacuation organized by the authorities. Jewish men of military age had either been drafted or volunteered to fight. At the end of December 1941 the Germans established a ghetto in Aleksandrovka for 400 local Jews and 200 Jews from nearby villages. The ghetto inmates were shot to death together with Jews from Kamenka Shevchenkovskaya in early 1942 and later in the spring of 1942, together with the Jews from Ivangorod. Aleksandrovka was liberated by the Red Army on January 9, 1944.