Kagarlyk

Jews lived in Kagarlyk from at least the second half of the 18th century. Only in the course of the 19th century, after the town became part of the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire, did the Jewish population of Kagarlyk start to grow significantly. In 1897, 1,414 Jews lived in the town, where they constituted 21.1 percent of Kagarlyk's total population. Most of the local Jews engaged in small-scale trade, crafts, or agriculture. In 1910 Kagarlyk had a Jewish school (that was not officially recognized) with Russian as the language of instruction. In 1905 a pogrom-like atmosphere prevailed in Kagarlyk, but a Russian military unit prevented an actual pogrom. The Jews of Kagarlyk suffered greatly from the violence that accompanied the years of revolution and civil war in Russia. Several Jews were murdered in pogroms carried out in 1918-1919 by various warring parties and Jewish property was looted or destroyed. The pogromists also destroyed the town's Jewish cemetery. In 1939 Kagarlyk's 325 Jews constituted 3.6 percent of the town's total population. German troops occupied Kagarlyk on August 3, 1941. About half of the Jews apparently managed to leave before the entry of the Germans. Those who remained had been murdered by the end of 1941. Kagarlyk was liberated by the Red Army on January 7, 1944.