Smela

Jews apparently lived in Smela since the early 18th century. In the 1750s and 1760s the Jews of Smela suffered greatly from attacks by the Haidamaks, who murdered a number of Jews in the town and looted Jewish property. After Smela became part of the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire, its Jewish population started to grow dramatically, in 1897 amounting to 7,675, which was 51 percent of the town's total population. On the eve of World War I Jews owned most of the shops in the town, as well as mills, warehouses, printing houses, and small-scale factories. In 1881, 1883, and 1904 there were pogroms in Smela, during which several Jews lost their lives and much Jewish property was looted or destroyed. At the turn of the century there were Jewish private schools for boys and girls in Smela and also a Jewish hospital. The Jews of Smela were active politically. In the early 20th century several Zionist organizations existed in the city, where they engaged in cultural and educational activity. The local Jews suffered greatly from the violence accompanying the years of revolution and civil war in Russia. In a series of pogroms, carried out in Smela in 1919 by the anti-Bolshevik troops of Nikifor Grigoryev and by Denikin's White troops, almost 100 Jews were murdered, Jewish women were raped, and Jewish property was looted or destroyed. The ban imposed by the Soviet authorities on private economic activity forced many Jews in Smela to search for new occupations. Many of them turned to agriculture or industry, or became integrated into government service. In the 1920s and 1930s Smela had a seven-year Yiddish school and two Jewish orphanages. During the Soviet period many Jews, especially younger ones, left Smela in search of educational and vocational opportunities. In 1939 3,428 Jews lived in the city, where they constituted 10 percent of the city's population. Apparently many Jews succeeded in leaving Smela before it was occupied by the Germans on August 5, 1941. Soon after the start of the occupation all local Jews had to wear armbands with the Star of David and to perform various kinds of work. They were also subject to a curfew. More than 1,000 Jews from Smela and Jews brought to Smela from nearby counties were murdered between 1941 and 1943,in or near the city, including an unknown number of Jews and of Roma from Smela who were shot in the forest between Smela and Belozorye in 1943. The Red Army liberated Smela on January 29, 1944.