Ulla

Jews apparently started to settle in Ulla at the beginning of the 18th century. According to the census of 1923 1,068 Jews were living in Ulla. During the early Soviet period a Yiddish elementary school operated in the town. Many local Jews worked on two collective farms. Under Soviet rule, as a result of urbanization and industrialization in the Belorussian Republic, the number of Jews in Ulla declined significantly. In 1939, there remained only 516 Jews, who comprised 20.4 percent of the total population. The Germans captured Ulla in July 1941. All the Jews were concentrated in a ghetto and were forced to wear a yellow patch on their clothes. The ghetto inmates were forced to perform hard labor, mainly digging for various purposes. The Ulla ghetto was liquidated in three murder operations. The last one took place in the winter of 1941-1942. Ulla was liberated by the Red Army on June 26, 1944.