Genealogy: Zvenigorodka, Ukraine

According to The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life, a single Jewish lessee was present in 1765. In 1897, the Jewish population was 6,389. Jews set up a candle factory and a tobacco plant. Many worked on the estates during the grain harvest. Zvenigoridka was the birthplace of Baron Horace Gunzberg/Guenzburg and the Hebrew writer Natan Agmon Bistritski/Bistritsky. In 1924, under the Soviets, 360 Jewish artisans were organized in unions. A few dozen Jewish families founded a kolkhoz (cooperative agricultural enterprise) nearby. Two Yiddish-language elementary schools and a vocational school were opened in the town. An education institute for needy children (aged 4-8) was founded in 1927. In the same year, a Jewish law court began operating and in 1931 a Yiddish-language agricultural school was established. The Jewish population in 1939 was 1,957. The Nazis occupied Zvenigorodka on July 29, 1941, setting up a ghetto where the Jews of Katerynopol were also confined. On June 14, 1942, at least 1,500 Jews were executed in the Oforny forest.
Genealogy: Zvenigorodka, Ukraine