Alexandrovsk

Zaparozhe District

In 1911, many Jews lived in the town of Alexandrovsk (5,248)

Alexandrovsk, a town in Ekaterinoslav gubernia

Booklets: "The History of the Jews in Zapporojhe"

By Lori Miller

In August, 1999 my husband and I traveled to the Ukraine in search of my roots. One of our stops was at Zapporojhe, which is 317 miles SE of Kiev and whose coordinates are 4657 3503.

In 1912 when my grandparents immigrated to the US, it was known as Alexandroskov. While we were there, the Chief Rabbi gave us 3 booklets which were called "The History of the Jews in Zapporojhe", by Shimon Orlyansky (whom we met). A Russian friend of mine translated a few parts so that I could ascertain the importance of the book. 

The three books are divided by dates: Book #1 is 1775-1719; Book #2 is 1917-1920; and Book #3 is 1921-1941. 

Some of the important points of the books:

In the 17th Century, Peter the Great took back from Turkey, the land that is now Ukraine. This land remained largely "wild". Then in 1765, Catherine the Great admitted Jews from Poland, Hungary and Germany into the Western Ukraine to "tame" the "wild" land. In 1793, Jews were given citizenship with full rights. 

In 1808, there were 15 men and 27 Jewish women living in Zapporojhe (Alexandroskov). In 1807, the first Jewish mayor was Froim Braslavsky. In Alexandroskov in 1844, 3% of the population were Jews. In 1850, of 171 businessmen, 63 were Jewish, and of 1329 people in the middle class, 70 were Jewish. In 1863, 6% of the population was Jewish, while in 1880, over 10%. To the end of the 19th century, there were close to 1/3 Jewish. In 1917, almost one third of the population was Jewish. In 1917, the Jewish mayor was Shimon Isakovich Gurovich. 

There are many, many lists in the three booklets. The following are just a sampling. Please remember when reading these lists that they are translated from the Cyrillic Russian alphabet and therefore are subjective in spelling. Also realize that many of these names include the patronymic, a type of variation of their father's given name.

Lori Miller; Northridge, California. LBubby at aol.com

Surnames: Pevsner, Pevzner

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