Zhuravskoye

In 1939, the village of Zhuravskoye and the Novoselitsky County were part of the Ordzhonikidze District, which had lain outside the Pale of Settlement prior to the Russian Revolution. Thus, no Jews lived in this area prior to World War II. However, in the wake of the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, the Ordzhonikidze District came to house a large number of civilian evacuees, including many Jews from Ukraine and Belarus. With the beginning of the German summer offensive in late June 1942, the Wehrmacht launched its invasion of the North Caucasus. German troops occupied the village of Zhuravskoye in August 1942. In October that year, local collaborationist policemen murdered eleven Jewish evacuees on the outskirts of the village. The Red Army liberated Zhuravskoye on January 13, 1943.