Novoselitskoye

In 1939 the village of Novoselitskoye, like Novoselitskoye County as a whole, was part of the Ordzhonikidze Kray District, which before the Russian Revolution was outside of the Pale of Settlement. Consequently, no Jews lived in this area before World War II. However, with the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, the Ordzhonikidze Kray District became a desination of civilian flight and evacuation, including of many Jews from the western part of the USSR. With the summer offensive of the German military at the end of June 1942, the Wehrmacht started invading the North Caucasus. German forces occupied Novoselitskoye village on August 17, 1942. On October 13 of that year the occupation authorities sent at least three Jewish women to Pyatigorsk. Two or three days later German soldiers and local policemen murdered the remaining 60-65 Jews. The Red Army liberated Novoselitskoye on January 12, 1943.