Kortelisy

In 1921, under Polish rule, 195 Jews lived in the village of Kortelisy. During the interwar period this number declined to about several dozen. Most of the Jews were petty merchants or craftsmen. An elementary school of the Tarbut Zionist educational network operated in the village. The Gordonia Zionist youth movement was active there as well. In September 1939, with the arrival of the Red Army in the village following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Kortelisy became part of Soviet Ukraine.

Germans occupied the village in late June 1941. From the outset of the occupation Jewish houses had to be marked with a Star of David. Jews from 12 years old had to wear a yellow Star of David on their outer clothes – on their chests and backs. Jews also had to perform various kinds of hard labor. Jewish property was expropriated by the Germans for the "war effort." During this period Ukrainian gangs murdered several Jews in the village and raped Jewish girls and women.

Apparently by the late spring or early summer of 1942, many Jews from the village of Kortelisy moved to the town of Ratno and probably were killed with its Jews in August. The remaining Jews were shot to death, apparently in the same summer, on the outskirts of Młynowo village, together with the Jews of this village. In late September 1942 during German retaliation against Soviet partisans, all the remaining residents of Kortelisy, including women and children, were shot to death and the village was burned down.

Kortelisy was liberated by the Red Army in July 1944.