Chernolesskoye

In 1939, the village of Chernolesskoye and the Novoselitsky County were part of the Ordzhonikidze Krai, which had lain outside the Jewish Pale of Settlement prior to the Russian Revolution. Therefore, no Jews lived in this area before the Second World War.

However, following the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, the Ordzhonikidze Krai came to house a large number of civilian evacuees, including many Jews from Soviet Ukraine, Bessarabia (present-day Moldova), and Belarus. With the beginning of the German summer offensive in late June 1942, the Wehrmacht launched its invasion of the North Caucasus, occupying the village of Chernolesskoye in mid-August 1942.

Shortly afterward, on August 23, German soldiers murdered 35 Jews.

The Red Army liberated Chernolesskoye in January 1943.