Chuguyev

The earliest references to Chuguyev date to the 16th Century. From the late 18th Century, the town lay outside the Pale of Settlement, where Jews were allowed to live. Thus, Jews were excluded from this town. The only exception was the Cantonists, Jews who had been conscripted into the Russian Army as minors. They began to settle there as early as the late 1820s. The construction of the railroad connecting Chuguyev to Kharkov and Kupiansk led to an influx of immigrants to the town, and there were some Jews among them. In 1897, Chuguyev was home to 187 Jews, who made up 1.5 percent of the total population. At the turn of the century, most local Jews were either small-scale traders or artisans. In the early 20th Century, the Jewish socialist and anti-Zionist "Bund" organization was active in the town. During the early Soviet period, many Jews, especially the younger ones, left Chuguyev for larger towns and cities in search of new professional and educational opportunities. In 1939, there were 277 Jews in Chuguyev, comprising 1.5 percent of the total population. The vast majority of the local Jews were apparently able to leave the town before the arrival of German troops on October 29, 1941. The few Jews who had remained under the German occupation were murdered in early 1942 in the vicinity of the town. Chuguyev was liberated by the Red Army on February 8, 1943, but was abandoned to the Germans about a month later. The town was liberated by the Red Army for good on August 11, 1943.