International Jewish Cemetery Project
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ALTERNATE NAMES: MURAFA [RUS], STARAYA MURAFA, MORACHWA [POL], MRACHVA [YID], MURAVA-STARAYA, MURAVA. 48°47' N, 28°13' E, 33 miles SSW of Vinnytsya, 30 miles NE of Mohyliv-Podilskyy. In Transnistria during WWII. Jewish population: 1,350.

also may be buried at Shargorod

SOURCE with photos: "Murafa (also Morahva, Murahva, Heb. Mrahve), consisted of two towns: Old and New Murafa Murafa. Until 1923 Murafa - Yampolsky county town of Podolsk province, from 1949 to 1993 - Zhdanov village Shargorod region Vinnytsia region, uniting the old and new village Murafa and herbal. Jews settled in a fortified and placed on the trading path Murafa city in the first half XVII century. At that time (1629) was Murafa border town of Podolsk province. Compared with other settlements province, Murafa with more than three thousand population was a big city. Registry podymnogo 1629 tax register here 607 homes. Murafa first mention of the community in the responsa of Rabbi Abraham Cohen Lviv Rappoport dates from 1647 and is associated with an application on the Bara community Jewish informer ("Moser") of Murafa. According to some sources at the beginning of Cossack war 1648 - 1649 gg. Murafa confrontation line was divided Cossack and Polish troops: Cossacks settled in the territory of the future Old Murafa and Poles entrenched within New. In the martyrology destroyed Jewish communities "Titus gayaven" mentioned a town called Sharm (or Mrahva), where it was twenty Jewish householders they fled from the village, then their fate is not known. amid the ongoing hostilities, bloodshed and destruction (spring and fall 1654, spring 1655) no fortifications, no extensive network of underground tunnels were not reliable protection for Jews: the history of the Jewish community Murafa interrupted for several decades. With the end of the Turkish occupation of territory (1672-1699) in Murafa its owners are back Potocki. Probably at this time Jews settled here again and eventually made ​​up the majority of the "urban" population village: houses of the Jews formed a central shopping street in both its parts. From summer 1734 on Bratslavshchina frequent looting and riots; Murafa undergone robberies Haidamaks summer 1735 Owner of half the village of Count Potocki on its own behalf and on behalf of the heirs of dead Jews appealed to the peasants rioters in court Bratslav province. Censuses in 1765 in the Old and New Murafa were registered respectively 221 and 115 Jews, Jewish homes in Old Murafa - 90, in New - 49. In 1871 there were 175 Murafa Old and New - 266 houses. On the right bank of the river near Murafa Slobidka Murafskoy barracks were built and deployed army units. Their neighborhood subsequently fenced community Murafa pogroms that swept Ukraine in 1881-1882 and in 1905 - 1906 years. During the XIX century. in the Old and New Murafa were separate communities. Already at the beginning of the XIX century. Jews became followers of Hasidism Murafa.During the second half of XIX century. each of the two communities had stone synagogue and a house of prayer: in 1889 throughout Murafa were registered four "spiritual government." Almost all industrial and commercial activities carried shtetl Jews. in 1910-1914. in Old Murafa 180 Jewish families lived. Civil War turned Jews Murafa tragedy. June 17, 1919 (according to other sources, 15 -18 July), 1st Cavalry Regiment Lyubensk Directories arranged pogrom in the town, which lasted three days. Rioters killed 64 Jews and left behind a completely ruined town with lots of wounded and raped, 66 orphans and 33 widows. During the first half of the 1920s in Murafa, where about two thousand Jews were "pretty strong old traditions and customs." Most of the children were brought up in Heder, and open at the beginning of the 1920s almost no Jewish school was visited. Until the mid-1920s. community institutions in Murafa funded long established order - by means of shechita. Shoikhet Rabbi rented from the state slaughterhouse, and then Shoikhet p. Yitzhak Leib Genelis assigning price for slaughter, acted as a traditional "baltakse" - fundraiser for the needs of the community. To eliminate the old "box" and undermine the economic independence of these communities, local authorities in July 1925 terminated the lease with the former Shoikhet. Many residents have been combined into a production cooperative, the local village council there were 18 Jews. In 1923, lived here in 1229 Jews. German and Romanian troops occupied Murafa July 20, 1941 Many of the families were able to evacuate, but the fall of 1941 in the town had at least 800 Jews. In the autumn and winter months 1941 -1942 years. here were deported about 4,000 Romanian Jews. Most of them settled in the Old Murafa in homes of Jews and Ukrainians, as well as in public buildings. Due to the large population density in winter raging typhus epidemic. At the beginning of 1942 was created in Murafa community council, consisting of Romanian Jews, and Jewish police, these bodies were responsible for the selection of Jews for forced labor: clearing snow and road construction. On money sent from Romania and funds from taxes, which overlaid Jewish Community Council Murafa were organized free kitchen, a hospital for 25 beds, a pharmacy, a school and a kindergarten. In the autumn of 1942 was opened an orphanage with 30 seats, which is first placed in a room of an apartment house, and then - in several areas of the school building. spring of 1943, one of the villagers accused the local Jewish ritual murder of his daughter.Since the girl is really gone, peasants threatened to destroy all the Jews Murafa.Only thanks to the energetic measures Romanian gendarmes who received a bribe of considerable size, the girl was found. March 19, 1944 was busy Murafa guerrilla group led by two local Jews, and March 20 in Murafa entered the Red Army. Murafa Jewish community survived the years of occupation. In the postwar decades, Jews fled the village, leaving the cities and in the early 1990s. - Abroad.In 2012. Jews do not live in Murafa Lukin, "100 Jewish towns in Ukraine" Detailed  photos

CEMETERY:

ADDRESS: ul. Pushkina, Sharhorodskyi Raion, Vinnytsia Oblast, UKRAINE

history and photos [Mar 2014]

  • US Commission No. UA01290101
  • Murafa is located in Vinnitskaya, Shargorodskiy region at 50º3 28º20, 2 km from Shargorod. Present town population is 1,000 - 5,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.
  • -- Town officials: Town Executive Council - Andriyets Josef Petrovich [Phone: 21251 21369].
  • -- Regional Jewish Community - Schmulevich [Phone: 22490 22205].
  • The earliest known Jewish community was 17th century. 1926 Jewish population (census) was 1421. Effecting the Jewish Community were 1648-51 Khmelnitski pogrom, liquidation of Jewish kahal, 1735 Haydamaytski pogrom, 1918 Petrovski pogrom and 1941 Ghetto shooting of Jewish population. The Jewish cemetery was established in the 16th century with last known New-Skvirskaya Hasidic burial was 1992. No other towns or villages used this unlandmarked cemetery. The isolated urban flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all. A broken fence with non-locking gate surrounds. 501 to 5000 stones, most in original location with less than 25% stones toppled or broken, date from 16th century. Location of any removed stones is unknown. The cemetery has special sections for men and women. Some tombstones have portraits on stones. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. Municipality owns site used for Jewish cemetery. Properties adjacent are agricultural. The cemetery boundaries are unchanged since 1939. Occasionally, local residents visit. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II. Regional/national authorities and local Jewish residents cleaned stones and fixed wall. There is no maintenance now. Within the limits of the cemetery are no structures. Vegetation overgrowth is a constant problem, disturbing both graves and stones. Water drainage is a seasonal problem. Serious threat: vegetation. Moderate threat: weather erosion and pollution.
  • Fuks M.L. [Phone: 358296] visited on 10/20/94 with Zemshtein Y.I. Interviewed was Zemshteim Y.I. Fuks completed survey on 10/20/1994. Documentation: Town Populations in the Podol Region . Kaments-Podol. A.Krylov 1905; History of Towns and Villages in Ukraine . Vinnitska Oblast. Kiev 1969; Jewish Encyclopaedia in 16 Vols. Brokgayz-Efron.