Vyazma

Jews were first mentioned in regard to Vyazma in 1638, during negotiations between Poland and the Russian Empire, when the Polish government insisted on granting the Jews permission to travel and trade at least as far as Vyazma, while their entrance to Russia was generally forbidden. In October 1905 there was a pogrom in Vyazma. In 1939 the Jewish population of Vyazma of 641 comprised 1.9 percent of the town's total population. Vyazma was occupied by the Germans on October 10, 1941. Most of the local Jews apparently fled before the arrival of the Germans. According to German sources six local Jews, who were accused of being Communists or of making derogatory remarks about the German army, were murdered before December 17, 1941. The site of this shooting is unknown. Apparently most of the remaining Jews were murdered later at the local Jewish cemetery. The town was liberated by the Red Army on March 12, 1943.