Baryshevka

Jews apparently began to settle in Baryshevka in the second half of the 19th century. 462 Jews lived in the town in 1897, when they comprised 25.8 percent of Baryshevka’s total population. Most of Baryshevka's Jews were small-scale merchants or craftsmen. The Jews of Baryshevka suffered from the violence of the revolutionary years and civil war in Russia. During the 1920s and 1930s many young Jews left Baryshevka for cities in search of educational and vocational opportunities. Only 134 Jews lived in Baryshevka in 1939, when they amounted to 5.6 percent of the town’s total population. Apparently some of Baryshevka's Jews managed to leave the town before it was occupied by German troops on September 17, 1941. However, the Red Army succeeded in retaking the town the very next day. The Germans reoccupied Baryshevka on September 21, 1941. Soon after the start of the occupation all the Jews of Baryshevka were registered, required to sew yellow patches on their clothes, and forced to live in one part of the town. They also had to perform various kinds of hard labor. In November 1941 about 100 Baryshevka Jews were shot to death on the outskirts of the town. The Red Army liberated Baryshevka on September 23, 1943.