Novo Mirgorod

In the 1770s some Jews attempted to settle in the Yelisavetgrad District but did not receive permission from the authorities. As a result many Jews settled in Novo Mirgorod, where they were engaged in commerce, mostly supplying items for the army. In 1821 the Jews were expelled from the town and probably moved to nearby Zlatopol; they returned to Novo Mirgorod in the late 1850s. In 1909 there were two private Jewish vocational schools in the town. In 1897 the 1,622 Jews living in the town comprised 17 percent of the total population. The construction of a railway line in the 1910s in the vicinity of Novo Mirgorod encouraged the growth of commerce in the town. The local Jews suffered two pogroms, in February and in May 1919. During the latter 105 (or, according to other sources, 200) Jews perished. During the Soviet period the Jewish population declined. In 1939 Novo Mirgorod's 315 Jews comprised 13 percent of the total population. German troops occupied Novo Mirgorod on August 2, 1941. In December 4 Jews were shot for violating the curfew. A ghetto was established in Novo Mirgorod for the 455 Jews of the town and the vicinity. According to some sources, 69 Jews were murdered by Ukrainian policemen on February 7, 1942. Most of the Jewish population of the town was murdered in the Mezhigorskaya Ravine. Simultaneously a number of Jews were deported to Zlatopol, where they were later murdered together with the local Jews. Some Novo Mirgorod Jews were murdered near Martanosha village in the summer of 1942. According to a Soviet estimate 986 Novo Mirgorod Jews were murdered during the war. Novo Mirgorod was liberated by the Red Army on March 11, 1944.