Ruzhin

The first reference to Jewish settlement in Ruzhin dates to 1765, when there were 230 Jews living in the town. In 1897 Ruzhin's 2,917 Jews constituted 67 percent of the total population. The Hasidic rebbe Israel Friedman of Ruzhin lived in the town in the first half of the 19th century. In August 1918 an armed gang, apparently of Cossacks, appeared in the village, looted Jewish property, and abused and beat local Jews. The following year another pogrom, which lasted for several days, was perpetrated by either some local gangs or by troops of Symon Petliura. During the pogrom Jews were beaten and robbed. In 1920, in another pogrom, perpetrated this time by Red Army troops, a number of Jewish homes were burned down. As a result of the pogroms several dozen Jews left Ruzhin for other places. Some of them went to Palestine. In 1939 the 1,108 Jews in the town constituted 26 percent of the total population. Ruzhin was occupied by German troops on July 16, 1941. From the first days of the occupation the Jews were abused and had to perform forced labor, as well as to wear special round yellow patches on their chests and backs. The first mass murder of local Jews was carried out in September 1941. Only Jewish specialists and their families were left alive. The following day a ghetto was set up in the village and all Jews were settled in twelve houses surrounded by barbed wire. Jews from nearby villages were taken to Ruzhin to be incarcerated in the ghetto there. The total number of ghetto inmates was about 500. Jewish craftsmen, such as tailors, shoemakers, and barrel makers, were forced to work for the Germans. The rest of the inmates were used for less specialized jobs. The second mass murder took place in early May 1942, when most of the family members of the artisans were killed. The remaining Jews continued to live in the ghetto but then were killed in small groups. Thus, groups of Jews from Ruzhin and from nearby villages were murdered in July (according to another source in October 1942). The last murder operation was carried out either at the end of 1942 or in September 1943, in the vicinity of Balamutovka village. Ruzhin was liberated by the Red Army on December 28, 1943.