Stalino

In the early 20th Century, there were about 3,100 Jews in this city, which underwent several name changes in the course of its history. It was named Yuzovka in 1869-1924, Stalin in 1924–1929, and Stalino in 1929–1961. During the Soviet era, it developed into an important industrial center, attracting many Jews. On the eve of the German invasion, Stalino was home to 25,000 Jews, who made up about 5 percent of the total population. Most of the local Jewish employees held blue- or white-collar jobs at factories, quarries, and state institutions. Some Jews, however, were skilled artisans, primarily tailors and shoemakers. There was a Jewish public school in the city, which taught in both Russian and Yiddish. In the period between the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941 and the occupation of Stalino by the Wehrmacht on October 20, 1941, most of the city's Jewish inhabitants were either evacuated, or managed to flee into the Soviet interior on their own. The Jews who had stayed behind in the occupied city were abducted for forced labor, and often abused and murdered. In November 1941, the Germans ordered the establishment of a Jewish council responsible for collecting ransoms from the community under the supervision of the local police, and for mobilizing Jews for labor. The Jews were forced to wear white armbands. In March 1942, they were concentrated in a ghetto in the suburb of Belyi Karier [White Canyon]. According to German statistics, the ghetto housed approximately 3,000 inmates. It was fenced off with barbed wire and guarded by the police. Its inmates were deprived of food and medical assistance. Many were denied shelter altogether. These harsh conditions resulted in hundreds of deaths on a daily basis. The major murder operations against the Jews of Stalino and nearby settlements took place from late November 1941 until early April 1942, when the ghetto was liquidated. Stalino was liberated by the Red Army on September 8, 1943. In 1961, the city was renamed Donetsk.