also known as: Kerecke (HU), Kerecky (CZ), Keretski (RU)
48°29' N / 23°13' E
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Keretsky
was part of the Kingdom of Hungary (11th century - 1920 and 1938-1944) with the name of Kerecke
in Máramaros megye (county), next part of Czechoslovakia (1920-1938) with the name of Kerecky
in Podkarpatská Rus (Sub-Carpathia), then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1945-1991) with the name of Keretski
and, since 1991, known as Keretsky, in the Svaliava rayon (district) of Zakarpats'ka oblast (county) of Ukraine.
Other spellings/names for Keretsky are Kerecke, Kerezky, Kerecki and Keregky.
Keretsky is located about 23 miles east of Mukacheve (Munkács) and 21 miles north of Khust (Huszt).
Jews probably settled in Keretsky in the first half of the 19th century.
In 1840, the Jewish population was nine.
By 1880, the Jewish population was 75 (of a total population of 1,561).
In 1921, during the Czechoslovak period, the Jewish population rose to 252.
By 1941, the Jewish population increased to 327.
Among the Jewish breadwinners were families that earned their livelihoods from commerce and farming.
With the Hungarian occupation of Keretsky in March, 1939, Jews were persecuted and pushed out of their occupations. In 1941, Jews from Keretsky were drafted into forced labor battalions and others were drafted for service on the Eastern front, where most died.
In August, 1941, a number of Jewish families without Hungarian citizenship were expelled to Nazi occupied Ukrainian territory, to Kamenets-Podolski, and murdered there.
The remaining Jews of Keretsky were deported to Auschwitz mid-May 1944.
A great many of the Jews from Keretsky were murdered in Auschwitz and a few survivors returned, but eventually settled elsewhere.
In 2001, Keretsky had about 4,324 inhabitants and no Jews live there today.
Sources (portions): The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, (2001), p. 615
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