Plyskiv, Ukraine
Encyclopedia
Plyskiv is a village in Vinnytsia Oblast
, Ukraine
. The population is 1,439 (2006).
). In 1795, this place became part of the Russian Empire
( after the partition of Poland between Russia
, Prussia
and Austria-Hungary
), and was already named Pliskovo. The name “Pliskov” originates from the bird Pliska (Плиска) that lived in the woods around Pliskov.
Before the October 1917 Revolution, there were three synagogues, a bath house by the river, a cemetery, two drug stores, two hotels, four smithies, four mills, three water mills and a steam mill, two barber shop, a diner, and many stores and workshops inside the shtetel center. Once a week a big market was arranged at the Market Place, where peasants sold their goods and bought the goods that the Jewish shop owners and craftsmen were selling.
There were 220 houses in Pliskov, in which, according to the first census conducted in 1892, lived 1,320 Jews. The houses varied. Wealthy families lived in good quality brick houses with tin roofs. Poorer families lived in houses with thatched roofs. Pliskov was famous for its mineral spring named “Brover”. In the wintertime it did not freeze, and in the summertime, even during the hottest days, water did not disappear and was always cold. All year round the water-carrier delivered water from this spring to the customers who paid a small fee for the service.
For 300 years Pliskov was a small Jewish town (shtetl
), first in Poland
than Russia
, USSR and finally destroyed by Nazi Germany
and local Nazi collaborators during World War II
. The Jewish population of Pliskov and surrounding shtetls, such as Pogrebishche, Justingrad
, Lipovets, Shpicentsy, Zhivotovo, Dashev and Tetiev were often victims of Pogroms, assaults and persecution which took place from the days when these towns came into being and until their complete disappearance after World War II (1939-1945). Khmelnickiy’s Cossacks (1648-1654), Gaydamaks (1736-1768), Pogroms of late 19th and early 20th century (most notable Pliskov Pogrom of 1914), Russian Revolution
and Russian Civil War
(1917-1921) and finally World War II
are a few of the most notable events which made Jewish life difficult in Pliskov and in Eastern Europe
in general. There were pogroms organized by Petlura’s and Denikin’s gangs. Also pogroms and massacres of Jews in 1918-1919 organized by the White Armies as well as detachments of Red Army
soldiers. In the summer of 1920, Red Cossacks of the Budenniy Army also robbed Jews. All of these pogroms, robberies and murders forced many Jews
to seek refuge in the United States
.
Until 1929, there were private businesses in Pliskov, but in 1930 they were confiscated and all craftsmen were forced to work in Artels. In 1926, all Jewish schools (Cheders) were closed and the study of the Torah and the Hebrew language
were prohibited. The only school which taught in Yiddish was closed in 1936. Before 1930, many families and most of the younger generation of Jews had already moved to such big cities as Kiev
, Moscow
, Leningrad
, Kharkov.
On July 22, 1941, Pliskov was occupied by the German Army. All of the Jews of Pliskov stayed in the town, and most of the blame fell upon the Stalin regime. Before the war, when the treaty with Hitler was signed, the newspapers and radio discontinued all of the reports about the Nazi treatment of the Jews. This is the main reason the Pliskov Jews stayed in town, scared and waiting to see how the fascists treated the Jews. A German--Fric Nudel--was the Commandant of Pliskov, and he appointed a Ukrainian named Ivanko to be Head of Pliskov. Ivanko announced that all Jews of Pliskov would be deprived of all their rights and personal property, and every Ukrainian could take possession of that property except for gold, platinum, silver and other valuables which would pass to Germany. Fric Nudel formed a Ukrainian Police Force. The chief of police was a known criminal named Chirsky, who still lives in Australia after escaping from Pliskov in 1944. On October 22, 1941, Head of Gendarmery Shuster, his assistant Kinkel, officers Benkel and Kushner, together with Fric Nudel executed all of Pliskov's Jews. Together with the German fascists, the Ukrainian police took an active part in this massacre. Some of the Jews were able to hide in a basements and attics of gentile neighbors who were willing to risks their lives by doing so. Not that many people were willing to so. Some of the Jews of Pliskov were able to survive like that until 1944. But none of them were there to see the liberation of Pliskov by the Soviet Army later that year. After the War, none of the surviving Jews who fought in Soviet Army or left the town before the War returned to Pliskov. 300 years of the Jewish town of Pliskov was erased in a matter of one year. A village named Pliskov is located in the same place, but the shtetel of Pliskov is gone. Those who survived the Holocaust of 1941-1945 have moved to many countries. The Jews of Pliskov now live in Israel
, Australia
, USA, Germany
, and the big cities of the Former Soviet Union Republics.
Vinnytsia Oblast
Vinnytsia Oblast is an oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Vinnytsia.-Geography:The area of the region is 26,500 km²; its population is 1.7 million....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. The population is 1,439 (2006).
Pliskov History
Pliskov was first mentioned in Polish archive documents in 1552. Pliskov was settled on the banks of the river Rosen (Ros), by the German Jews who were given permission by the Polish King to settle in the Polish Kingdom (RzeczpospolitaRzeczpospolita
Rzeczpospolita is a traditional name of the Polish State, usually referred to as Rzeczpospolita Polska . It comes from the words: "rzecz" and "pospolita" , literally, a "common thing". It comes from latin word "respublica", meaning simply "republic"...
). In 1795, this place became part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
( after the partition of Poland between Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
), and was already named Pliskovo. The name “Pliskov” originates from the bird Pliska (Плиска) that lived in the woods around Pliskov.
Before the October 1917 Revolution, there were three synagogues, a bath house by the river, a cemetery, two drug stores, two hotels, four smithies, four mills, three water mills and a steam mill, two barber shop, a diner, and many stores and workshops inside the shtetel center. Once a week a big market was arranged at the Market Place, where peasants sold their goods and bought the goods that the Jewish shop owners and craftsmen were selling.
There were 220 houses in Pliskov, in which, according to the first census conducted in 1892, lived 1,320 Jews. The houses varied. Wealthy families lived in good quality brick houses with tin roofs. Poorer families lived in houses with thatched roofs. Pliskov was famous for its mineral spring named “Brover”. In the wintertime it did not freeze, and in the summertime, even during the hottest days, water did not disappear and was always cold. All year round the water-carrier delivered water from this spring to the customers who paid a small fee for the service.
For 300 years Pliskov was a small Jewish town (shtetl
Shtetl
A shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until The Holocaust. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania...
), first in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
than Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, USSR and finally destroyed by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and local Nazi collaborators during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Jewish population of Pliskov and surrounding shtetls, such as Pogrebishche, Justingrad
Justingrad
Justingrad , Kiev, Russian Empire . The Justingrad shtetl was created after Jews were forced out of their homes in the village of Sokolivka...
, Lipovets, Shpicentsy, Zhivotovo, Dashev and Tetiev were often victims of Pogroms, assaults and persecution which took place from the days when these towns came into being and until their complete disappearance after World War II (1939-1945). Khmelnickiy’s Cossacks (1648-1654), Gaydamaks (1736-1768), Pogroms of late 19th and early 20th century (most notable Pliskov Pogrom of 1914), Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
and Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
(1917-1921) and finally World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
are a few of the most notable events which made Jewish life difficult in Pliskov and in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
in general. There were pogroms organized by Petlura’s and Denikin’s gangs. Also pogroms and massacres of Jews in 1918-1919 organized by the White Armies as well as detachments of Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
soldiers. In the summer of 1920, Red Cossacks of the Budenniy Army also robbed Jews. All of these pogroms, robberies and murders forced many Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
to seek refuge in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Until 1929, there were private businesses in Pliskov, but in 1930 they were confiscated and all craftsmen were forced to work in Artels. In 1926, all Jewish schools (Cheders) were closed and the study of the Torah and the Hebrew language
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
were prohibited. The only school which taught in Yiddish was closed in 1936. Before 1930, many families and most of the younger generation of Jews had already moved to such big cities as Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Kharkov.
On July 22, 1941, Pliskov was occupied by the German Army. All of the Jews of Pliskov stayed in the town, and most of the blame fell upon the Stalin regime. Before the war, when the treaty with Hitler was signed, the newspapers and radio discontinued all of the reports about the Nazi treatment of the Jews. This is the main reason the Pliskov Jews stayed in town, scared and waiting to see how the fascists treated the Jews. A German--Fric Nudel--was the Commandant of Pliskov, and he appointed a Ukrainian named Ivanko to be Head of Pliskov. Ivanko announced that all Jews of Pliskov would be deprived of all their rights and personal property, and every Ukrainian could take possession of that property except for gold, platinum, silver and other valuables which would pass to Germany. Fric Nudel formed a Ukrainian Police Force. The chief of police was a known criminal named Chirsky, who still lives in Australia after escaping from Pliskov in 1944. On October 22, 1941, Head of Gendarmery Shuster, his assistant Kinkel, officers Benkel and Kushner, together with Fric Nudel executed all of Pliskov's Jews. Together with the German fascists, the Ukrainian police took an active part in this massacre. Some of the Jews were able to hide in a basements and attics of gentile neighbors who were willing to risks their lives by doing so. Not that many people were willing to so. Some of the Jews of Pliskov were able to survive like that until 1944. But none of them were there to see the liberation of Pliskov by the Soviet Army later that year. After the War, none of the surviving Jews who fought in Soviet Army or left the town before the War returned to Pliskov. 300 years of the Jewish town of Pliskov was erased in a matter of one year. A village named Pliskov is located in the same place, but the shtetel of Pliskov is gone. Those who survived the Holocaust of 1941-1945 have moved to many countries. The Jews of Pliskov now live in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, USA, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and the big cities of the Former Soviet Union Republics.
Pliskov in America
Pliskovers are the descendants of the shtetel of Pliskov. Many of the former residents of Pliskov relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There is an organization in Pittsburgh called the Pliskover Cemetery Association. Former residents of Pliskov started an organization to help each other and people still in Pliskov. Founded in 1908, its first name was Pliskover Free Loan Association, where interest free loans were given to needy members/Pliskovers. In 1917, they bought some land in Coraopolis, to serve as a private cemetery. By joining the organization and paying dues, the member has a plot where they can be buried. Free loans are no longer given out, that is why the name changed to Pliskover Cemetery Association. The cemetery is still open to members and membership, and is the resting place for some of the former residents of the shtetel of Pliskov and their family members.External links
- Pliskover Cemetery Association http://www.pliskover.com/