Pyatigory

Jews apparently started to settle in Pyatigory in the early 18th century. Until the mid-19th century the number of Jews living in Pyatigory was relatively small. Only with the economic development of the area did the Jewish population of Pyatigory start to grow significantly, reaching 1,385 or 31.6 percent of the town's total population in 1897. Many Jews, especially younger ones, left Pyatigory during the early Soviet period in search of educational and vocational opportunities. German troops occupied Pyatigory in mid-July 1941. Some local Jews managed to leave the town before the entry of the Germans. Soon after the start of the occupation the Jews of Pyatigory were forced to wear armbands with a Star of David and to perform agricultural work. The Jews suffered from frequent raids of the auxiliary policemen of Tetiev County, who looted Jewish property. The murder of Jews also started soon after the occupation began. In the summer of 1941 (in late 1942, according to the inscription on the monument) about two dozen Jewish men and teenagers were shot to death. In the spring of 1942 young, able-bodied Jews both from Pyatigory and from other localities in Tetiyev County were transported from Pyatigory to the Antonovka labor camp in Buki County. The rest of the Jews, between about 100 (according to the testimonies of the perpetrators) and 300 (according to Soviet reports) Jews from Pyatigory and various villages of Tetiyev County were shot to death on the town's outskirts in mid-November 1942. The Red Army liberated Pyatigory in early January 1944.