Makeyevka

The late 17th - early 18th centuries saw the emergence of several villages in the area of present-day Makeyevka, while the settlement of Makeyevskaya (later Makeyevka) itself (which has since become one of the neighborhoods of modern Makeyevka) dates to 1787. In 1892, the village of Dmitriyevsk was established nearby, and Makeyevka was attached to it in 1923. In 1931, Dmitriyevsk was renamed Makeyevka. Coal mining enterprises began to develop in the area in the mid-19th century, and by the early 1940s Makeyevka was a large and rapidly growing industrial center. Little is known about the early Jewish presence in Makeyevka. In 1939, it was home to 3,074 Jews, who made up a mere 1.27 percent of the total population. Makeyevka was occupied by the Germans on October 22, 1941. The local Jews were shot in two murder operations, in late 1941 and early 1942. Three Jews from the village of Voykovskiy (in the Amvrosiyevka County) were shot in the city in early September 1942. Makeyevka was liberated by the Red Army on September 6, 1943.