also known as: Nagybereg (HU), Berehy (CZ), Velikij Beregi (RU)
48°14' N / 22°45' E
~ Introduction ~
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Velyki Berehy
was part of the Kingdom of Hungary (11th century - 1920 and 1938-1944) with the name of Nagybereg
in Bereg megye (county), next part of Czechoslovakia (1920-1938) with the name of Berehy
in Podkarpatská Rus (Sub-Carpathia), then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1945-1991) with the name of Velikij Beregi
and, since 1991, known as Velyki Berehy, in the Berehivskiy rayon (district) of Zakarpats'ka oblast (county) of Ukraine.
In Yiddish, Velyki Berehy was known as Bereg.
Other spellings/names for Velyki Berehy are Brehy, Nagy-Bereg, Veľký Bereg and Welyki Berehy.
Velyki Berehy is located about 5 miles ENE of Berehove (Beregszász), 15 miles S of Mukacheve (Munkács).
Jews probably settled in Velyki Berehy around the turn of the 18th century.
The Jewish population was 72 in 1880.
In 1921, the Jewish population was 142 of a total population of 2,001.
In 1930, Josef KUNSTLER operated the mill in Berehy, then in 1938, Alexander KUNSTLER.
Then by 1941, the Jewish population rose to 176.
With the Hungarian occupation of Velyki Berehy in March, 1939, Jews were persecuted and pushed out of their occupations. In 1940-41, dozens of Jews from Velyki Berehy were drafted into forced labor battalions and others were drafted for service on the Eastern front, where most died.
In 1944, a few Jewish families without Hungarian citizenship were expelled to Nazi occupied Ukrainian territory, to Kamenets-Podolski, and murdered there.
The remaining Jews of Velyki Berehy were deported to Auschwitz 18 May 1944.
A great many of the Jews from Velyki Berehy were murdered in Auschwitz and any survivors settled elsewhere.
In 2001, Velyki Berehy had about 2,540 inhabitants and no Jews live there today.
Sources (portions): The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, (2001) p. 113
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