Pustoshka

According to some sources Jewish settlement in Pustoshka began in the mid-19th century. There was a temporary ban on Jews living there from 1882 to 1903. The village of Pustoshka, where Jews comprised most of its population, benefited first from its location near the old Kiev – St. Petersburg road and later from the construction of a railway line to Moscow. In 1919 a kindergarten for 50 Jewish children and a primary Yiddish school were opened in Pustoshka. In 1925 Pustoshka was granted the status of a town. Numerous Jews migrated from Pustoshka in the late 1920s and the 1930s. The number of Jews declined from 931, or 57 percent of the total population in 1926 to 308, or 12 percent, in 1939. Pustoshka was occupied by the Germans on July 16, 1941. However, many Jews managed to flee before the occupation began. In February 1942 a ghetto was established in Staraya Pustoshka (the older part of the town) to hold the town's remaining 70 Jews. Although the ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire, the inmates maintained contact with the outside world while performing various kinds of forced labor. The ghetto inmates were shot to death in early March 1942. The town was liberated by the Red Army on February 27, 1944.