Urechye

Jews apparently began to settle in Urechye in the late 18th or early 19th century. When the Polish army withdrew from the area during the Polish-Soviet war (1919-1921), Polish soldiers robbed, raped, and murdered locals, mainly Jews. During the early Soviet period, there was a Yiddish elementary school in Urechye. Some of the town's Jews worked at a local kolkhoz. In 1939, Urechye was home to 979 Jews, who made up 17.5 percent of the total population. The Germans occupied Urechye on June 28, 1941. The local Jews were murdered in two murder operations, in 1942 and 1943. Urechye was liberated by the Red Army on July 7, 1944.