The Jews of Simferopol

Introduction

The story of why I decided to write about the history of Simferopol is as follows. As many know I have written a few articles and organized a few websites[1]. All of these are in connection to the places in Eastern Europe that my extended family comes from.

A short while ago Professor Jerome Shapiro[2],who had previously sent me material about his family for my Sveksna website wrote me an email and mentioned that he would like to have an article written about the place where his wife's family comes from: Simferopol, Crimea.

Since I did not know anything about this place, I decided to take this upon myself as a challenge. This meant:

1.      researching a place that I am not emotionally attached to

2.      finding material about a place that is not well known

3.      finding a website for placement of the article

With the help of people that I know by way of my previous research[3], with the help of people I met while looking for information, and with the use of the internet (and with the help of G-d), I felt that I had enough information to write an article.

While researching for material for this article, I became acquainted with Dr. Mikhail Kizilov[4]. He has become my teacher and mentor in connection with many aspects regarding Simferopol.

If you happen to have more information, please contact me and I will try to add it to this article.

ESTHER (HERSCHMAN) RECHTSCHAFNER

Kibbutz Ein-Zurim,

ISRAEL

remarc@ein-zurim.co.il

08-8588281

050-7301393

 

 

Basic Information About Simferopol

Geography[5]

Simferopol is the largest city in the Crimean Peninsula.[6] It is part of the Crimea region of Ukraine Russia. It is the capital city and the administrative, economic, scientific and cultural center of the republic. The territory governed by the Simferopol city council is one of the twenty-five regions of the Crimean Peninsula.

It is located on the Salghir River near the northern lower parts of the Crimea Mountains. The city is located on a strategic interchange, not far from the international airport. Therefore, it is known as the "Gate of Crimea".

The population was 250,000 in 1970.

The population is 352,363, according to the 2014 Census.

The ethnic population, according to the 2001 Ukrainian census, was: Russians 49.4%; Ukrainians 23.5%; Crimean Tatars 22.2%; Belarusians 1.4%; Poles 0.2%; Moldovans 0.2%.[7]

The city municipality is subdivided into three urban districts/boroughs: Zheleznodorozhnyi District, Tsentralnyi District, and Kievskyi District. The region includes four towns: Hresivskyi, Aeroflotskyi, Komsomolske, and Ahrarne; and one village.

Its total area is 107 kilometers (41 square miles).

The elevation is 350 meters (1,150 feet) above sea level.

The climate is transitive, from dry-temperate continental plain steppe climate (hot summer and cool damp winter) to hill-forest mild-continental climate (warm and rather damp in the summer and cool and damp in the winter).

The location is: 44° 57' N, 34° 06' E

The time zone is-UTC+3 (MSK (de facto))

The postal code is: 295000 – 295490 (de facto)

The area is code: +7 3652

Sister cities are: Heidelberg, Kecskemét, Salem, Bursa, Eskişehir, Rousse, and Nizhny Novgorod

The website is: simgov.ru

The meaning of "Simferopol" can be explained as"city gatherer" or "good city". The "Coat of arms" emblem of the city can be explained as follows: The white line represents the main waterway of Crimea - the Salgir River . In the upper (blue) field of the shield, signifying the beauty of the city, there is a golden image of a flying bee , as a symbol of good (and usefulness[8]). In the lower (red) field is depicted a golden antique bowl from the legend of the appearance of the Scythians . It symbolizes the history of the city, originating from the Scythian Neapolis [9] This emblem also appears on the flag of the city[10].[11]

 

 

History[12]

Simferopol was the capital of the Scythian State which was known as Scythian Naples in the third century BCE. They occupied it from then, until the fourth century CE. The Tartars built their settlements at AK-Mosque, in the first century. Then this became the residence of Kalga Sultan who was the governor of the Crimean Khanate. The oldest building in the city is the Kebir-Jami Mosque, which was built in 1508. The Orontsov House was built in 1827

The name Simferopol has been used since 1784, when the modern city was founded by the Russians. Then it was annexed from the Crimean Khanate by the Russian empire at the time of the rule of Catherine II. Then it became the administrative center of the province Tavriya (Taurida).

The city has had the status of Capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, first as part of the Soviet Union, then from 1991 to the first quarter of 2014 as part of Ukraine. It remained as such, after the peninsula was annexed by the Russian Republic.

The official status of Crimea is disputed between Russia and Ukraine as a result of the 2014 vote to join Russia, which was held during Russian military intervention, and the subsequent annexation. It is an independent City within Crimea.

 

Simferopol is an important political, economic, and transport hub of the peninsula and serves as the administrative center of both Simferopol Municipality and Simferopol District The State Archive[13] of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea in Simferopol (GAARK) is located here.

 

Many important people in all professions came from Simferopol.[14]

 

There are orchards in the area. There is a wide range of food processing industries. Canned fruits, wines and tobacco are produced here. In addition to the main industry, which is the production of automobiles[15] for the area, there are light-engineering and consumer goods industries. They produce machine tools, armatures, television sets, clothing, and footwear, etc.

There are also several educational institutes, and a few research institutions for agriculture and medicine. There are three theaters and museums in the city.

Tourist attractions[16]in the city today include: Churches and Cathedrals, Sacred & Religious Sites, a Children's Park and other parks, Scythian Neapolis (archelological site), museums[17] and theaters.

 

Jewish History[18]

 

The Community

There was a Jewish Community in Baliqlaghu (now Balaklava, within the municipal boundaries of Sevastopol), from the 1260's until the 1470's[19].

Crimean and Ashkenazi Jews from the "Pale"[20] settled here soon after the founding of the city. In 1803, 471 Jews were listed as paying taxes. Because of Jews leaving the "Pale" the Jewish population increased significantly to 9,000 in 1897, 18.3% of the total population. Crimean Jews (Krimchaks[21]), from other places in this region, also came to live here. Five-hundred of the latter Crimeans (Krimchaks) and about 1,000 Kariates[22] lived here then.

In 1905 there were about 50,000 Jews living in the city.

The Jews here were divided into three groups: Mitnagdim, Hasidim, and Reform Jews from Germany and Krimchaks. The members of these groups lived together in the same neighborhoods.

About 25% of Jews then worked as small merchants and craftsmen. Many of the tobacco factories and printing houses then belonged to Jews and some worked there.

There were nine Synagogues and prayer-houses. Seven of them belonged to the Mitnagdim and the others had one each. There were three Jewish elementary schools, two of which were private, a Russian elementary school, and two Talmud Torah[23] schools. One of these was supported by the city, and the other, which was founded in 1875, was supported by private donations. A Krymchak enlightenment influenced Talmud Torah, which was founded in 1902, but it was short lived. The city supported school had five teachers and about eighty pupils, and the other had two teachers and about fifty pupils. One was founded by Gabriel Jacob Gunzburg[24] in 1885. There also were a vocational school for girls, and a public library. In the 1920's a Jewish vocational school and several Yiddish elementary schools operated in the city.

The community had a community hospital, which was founded in 1845, a home for the aged and a hostel, which gave temporary residence to travelers and non-residents, and which were founded in 1887.

Afterwards the Kararaits had two Synagogues: Bet Jacob and Etz Haim, and a school for girls.[25]. The Kenasas[26], a new building, was built at the turn of the last century.

The Kenasas building was converted into the television and radio station, on March 5th, 1931, a short while after the Soviet Union came into power and religious life was suspended.

There was a riot on May 14, 1905 and 140 stores, which belonged to Jews, were destroyed. Pogroms broke out in October 1905 and 40 Jews were killed. At this time, there were pogroms in 64 towns, and 626 townlets and villages. These pogroms awakened a nationalist feeling among the Jews, resulting in the development of organized self-defense movements and Jewish immigration to the land of Israel as part of the second Aliyah[27].

In 1912 there were 7,500 Krimchaks, and about 2,485 lived in Simferopol. In the 1920's 25.5% of the Kymchaks lived here[28]. At the turn of the last century the Krimchaks in the land of Israel adopted the Sephardi prayer rite. They had a Synagogue in Tel Aviv until 1981. They intermingled with the other settlers. Those who went to the U.S.A., assimilated with the Ashkenazi Jews and did not retain a separate identity.[29].

During WWI and the Civil War years, Jews who fled or were expelled from the front or from riotous bands came here. There were 17,500 Jews here in 1926, 20 % of the local population. The Jewish population continued to grow and in 1939 there were 22,761 Jews in the city.

Simferopol was the center for Jewish farm settlers [30] who were dispersed in the area in the 1920's. Nine Jewish settlements with 324 families were organized in the area of the city, and were concentrated in two Jewish rural councils.

In about 1923, a Krymchak club was established, in which amateur theatrical group performed. In 1926, Simferopol was the main Krymchak center, with 25.5 percent of the community concentrated here.

Some Simferopol Jews were part of the Jewish Underground Movement in the USSR in the 1930's and 1940's[31].

Then, after WWI, the city became an important Zionist center. It was the center for helping Russian Jews get to Palestine by way of Constantinople.

Important Jews were:

1.      Gabriel Jacoh Ben Naptali Hirz Gunzburg was born in Vilna in about 1793 and died in Simferopol on May 2, 1853. He was a Lithuanian financier and a philanthropist. Gabriel married in Vitebsk and then settled in Kamenetz-Podolsk. Due to his business, he lived in various places, including St. Petersburg. He was a philanthropist in Vilna, Vitebsk, Kamenetz-Polilsk and Simferopol.[32]

2.         Abraham Ben Hayyim Lippe Goldfeaden was born in Starokonstantinov, Russia, July 12, 1840 and died in New York on January 9, 1908. He was a Hebrew and Yiddish poet and founder of the Yiddish drama. He was famous for his many plays and songs. He taught and founded a school in Simforopol and afterwards in Odessa. He founded the humorous Yiddish weekly "Yisrolik" in Lemberg.[33] He was well known for his arrangement of the Yiddish folksong "Almonds and Raisins"[34].

3.         Benjamin Mandelstamm was born in Zhagory about the end of the eighteenth century and died in Simferopol on May 8, 1886) He was a Russian Hebraist and author; He was employed by the Günzburgs, with some intervals, for more than forty years, and from 1864 until the time of his death he was their representative in Simferopol.[35]

4.         Hayyim Hizqiyahu Madini was born in Jerusalem in 1834 and died in Hebron in 1904. He was a rabbinical Scholar. After the death of his father, he moved to Constantinople. He was offered the Rabbinate in Simferopol and served there from 1867 to 1899)[36]

5.      Ephraim Deinard was born in 1846 and died in 1930) Books were the center of his life. He was a bookseller, biographer, publicist, polemicist, historian, editor, author, and publisher. He published 70 volumes, which include information about Jewish history, manuscripts, and antiques in the Simferopol area.[37]

6.      Alla Nazimova was born in 1879 in Simferopal and died in 1945 in the USA) She was a Russian actress who immigrated to the USA in 1905. She acted in Broadway plays and 23 films.[38]

7.      Marutha Sher-Menuhin [39]. She was born in Simferopol in 1896 and died in 1996 in the USA. She was from a Karaite family. Her beauty suggested Tartar or Circassian ancestry. Her mother took her to Palestine in 1904 to escape the pogroms. Life was then difficult, so they immigrated to the USA. She was the mother of the famous Yehudi Menuhin, Hephzibah Menuchin, and Yaltah Menuchin. Her goal in life was the promotion of her children's careers.

8.      David ben Eliezer Lekhno died in 1735. He was a scholar in the community and was very respected by the Karaites. His writings include information on Crimean Jewry, Hebrew grammar, and history of the area. [40]

9.      Samuil Marshak was born in 1887 and died in 1964. He was a Russian Jewish Soviet writer, translator, and children's poet. His works included pro-Zionist poetry. With the help of Baron David Gunzburg, he was allowed to study in St. Petersburg (outside of the Pale). He received many prizes for his works and his photograph was on a Soviet Postal Stamp. [41]

 

The Holocaust[42]:

On October 31, 1941, the Germans occupied the city. The next day — November 1, 1941, they captured the city. According to them, they then found 12,000 – 14,000 Jews. The Germans ordered the Jews to register and to wear a Star of David on their chests. On the third day of the German occupation, Sonderkommando 11b settled in the city and started executions; by December 13, 1941 Sonderkommando 11b had murdered more than 10,000 Jews and about 2,500 Krimchaks. The Germans worked very systematically. Between December 11 and 13, 1941, the Krymchaks of Simferopol were shot near the nearby village of Mazanki. Of the estimated 6,500 Krymchaks on the eve of the "WAR", at least 5,500 were exterminated[43].

The two murder sites were:

1. Simferopol-Feodosiya Road: The Jews were taken from four different collection points in the city. They were told that they would be resettled in the ghetto and that they should take enough food and clothing for eight days with them. Approximately 2,500 Krymahaks were taken from the collection point at the former Talmud Torah building on December 9. Their provisions and valuables were taken from them. Ten were shot to death on December 10 after their food and belongings were taken from them. On December 11, they were loaded on to trucks and taken to this site. There, at the anti-tank trench, which was about one kilometer long, they were murdered. Between December 11 and 13, about 9,500 Ashkenazi Jews (including women and children) were collected at three points:

A.    The Pedagogical Institute

B.     The Medical Institute

C.     The Regional Party Building

The few that arrived late were hung in the street with a sign on their chests that said "for not responding on time". After their provisions and valuables were taken from them, the others were loaded onto canvas covered trucks and taken to the murder site. They were forced to take off their outer clothing and shoes and some were stripped. The clothes of the dead were piled near that trench and taken away afterwards to be distributed to German forces. The shootings lasted from early morning until dark.

The victims were lined up at the edge of the trench, in groups of 100-300, and shot by machine and submachine guns. The bodies were covered with earth by POWs. Those that were only wounded were buried alive, for they had fallen into the mass grave. Little children were murdered in front of their parents, by the smearing of a poison under their noses and on their lips. Roma (Gypsy) residents of Simferopol were also shot to death here. The Jews who had been in hiding, children from mixed marriages (usually along with their non-Jewish parents), a group of Jewish artisans and craftsmen who had been kept alive by the Germans for their needs, along with Communists, partisans, and others, were taken in groups to the city prison between May and July 1942. There they were beaten and forced to undress and then were loaded in groups into black gas vans and asphyxiated immediately by a detachment of Einsatzkommando 12 (assisted by a Caucasian unit). Then the trucks drove to Simferopol-Feodosiya Road, where the bodies were thrown into anti-tank trenches. Several Jewish men were forced to unload the bodies from the gas vans and bury them. This was carried out mostly by Walter Kehrer, the commander of the detachment.  Later, Soviet military personnel and other civilians were murdered at this site as well.

The reports of the Soviet ChGK document a description of these mass murders; they also contain testimonies of local citizens.

 

2. Dubki: Between December 11 and December 13, 1941, a group of Jews were marched, under guard of the Auxiliary police, by way of Lenin Boulevard, to the railway station. They were taken to Dubki, which is two kilometers northwest of Simferopol, on the road leading to Nilolayev. There they were shot to death at an anti-tank trench and buried there. From 1942 to 1944 a concentration camp was located here. There were over 8,000 civilians (including women and children) and POWs[44] here. Many were murdered.

As commander of Einsatzkommando 11b, Braune[45] was responsible for ordering the death of thousands of Jews.

The mass-murderer Otto Ohlendorf had been in command of the Einsatzgruppen who were responsible for the massacre in Simferopol where over 14,000 people, mostly Jews, were killed (December 1941)[46].

These two mass murder operations were done by Sonderkommando 10b, Sonderkommando 11a and Sonderkommando 11b, as well as by the 683rd Motorized Military Police Detachment.

All the Jews who remained in Simferopol, after the Nazi occupation, were killed. However, thousands were evacuated previously, and many were recruited into the army[47].

There are lists of the Jews who were murdered by the Germans[48]:

These lists contain:

1.     A list of the 762 Jews who were shot by the German-fascist occupiers in Simferopol (pp. 193-231)

2.     A list of the Jews who were shot and tormented by the German-fascist invaders in Simferopol District (pp. 232-233)

3.     A list of the Jews who were shot by the German-fascist invaders in Central District of the city of Sevastopol (pp. 234)

4.     A list of the Jews who were shot by the German-fascist invaders in North District of the city of Sevastopol (pp. 234-235)

5.     A list of the Jews who were tormented by the German occupiers in Korabelni District of the city of Sevastopol (pp. 235)

There is a mass grave for the 14,000 Jews who were murdered by the Nazis outside the city.

There was no monument.

 

After the Holocaust[49]:

The Jewish community of Simferopol organized a mass visit of religious Ashkenazi and Krymchak Jews to the Simferopol-Feodosiya Road site to conduct a memorial service in August 1946. Some Jews tried to dig into the trench to find and identify murdered relatives. This exhumation attempt was the initiative of the Jewish community. The rabbi and the other representatives of the Jewish community were then warned that if further regulations were violated the community would no longer be recognized by the Crimean authorities.

In the late 1940's, the Jewish community funded the erection of a stone monument after receiving formal approval from the authorities. The inscription on the monument is on a small white stone and states that this was a killing site of the Krymchak and Ashkenazi Jews of Simferopol. Since no specific day was chosen for the commemoration of the victims, several times a year, usually in the spring, summer, and in December, survivors, eyewitnesses, and relatives of the victims used to come by foot and in large groups to the murder site to honor the memory of the murdered Jews of Simferopol.

In the 1950s another monument was erected at the site by the state.

In 1973 a memorial complex was erected at Dubki by the state. [50]  The designers of the complex were the sculptors Smerchinskyi and Maksimenko. A description of the complex is as follows: the "alley of sorrow" leads to the memorial. The steps are on the hill above the anti-tank trench. At the center of the hill stands a seven-meter-high statue of a woman with raised arms and clenched fists and eyes glaring with hate for the murderers. The murder site itself, which is located directly behind the statue, has a memorial stone with bas-relief images — including a woman covering her mouth with her hands in order not to scream before her executioners, and a mother trying to protect her child before their death. The Russian inscription on the monument's plaque reads "Here, between 1941 and 1944, thousands of Soviet civilians were brutally murdered by the German-Fascist occupiers."

In the same year the bodies were reburied in a mass grave at the Simferopol cemetery. Until the late 1980s a memorial service was held in the city synagogue. In addition, the Krymchaks had their own memorial ceremonies that were held at the murder site and at their community office.

During the early 1980s, the anti-tank trench site on the Simferopol-Feodosiya Road was looted by "black archeologists", mainly people from the adjacent villages who were digging for valuables.

After visiting this place and learning about the desecration, the famous Soviet poet Andrei Voznesensky wrote his poem "Rov" (The Ditch), which was published in 1986. As a result, the criminals were put on trial and the authorities decided to protect the site and to build a new monument, which was erected in 1987. The Russian inscription is the same.

The Soviets erected a monument near the anti-tank trench on the Sinferopol Feodora Road in the 1980's. A monument was erected in 2002, on the Simferopol-Feodosia Road by the Crimean Jewish Community[51], 100 meters from the Soviet one. The new monument indicates that most of the victims at this site were Ashkenazi and Krymchak Jews from Simferopol. The construction was funded by the Crimean Jewish Community, the JOINT, and Jewish and non-Jewish donors from various parts of the Crimea. A description of the monument is as follows: The stone-paved alley leading to the black marble monument symbolizes the road by which the Jews of Simferopol were taken to the murder site. The monument's base has the shape of a Star of David. Next to it is a carved menorah. On top of the monument, on the right side, is a carved inscription in Russian translation from the Hebrew. It says: "God Almighty, shelter with your wings those who have passed away. May their souls be bound up in the bond of life. May You grant consolation to those who mourn". The inscription is continued at the bottom of the monument and is as follows: "Dedicated to the Ashkenazi Jews and Krymchak Jews who were shot to death by the Fascist occupiers in December 1941."
In October 2004 the Crimean authorities declared December 11 to be the official Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Crimean Autonomous Republic since the mass murder of Simferopol Jews, which began on that day in 1941, and was the largest one in the peninsula. On this day, every year, the flag of the Crimean District flies at half-mast; public celebrations are banned. Commemoration ceremonies are held at the murder site (the Simferopol-Feodosiya Road) with the participation of Crimean government officials, representatives from the Simferopol and other Crimean Jewish communities including the Krymchaks, students of Jewish schools, the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine or the first secretary of the Israeli embassy in Ukraine, and members of the international community.[52]

The commemoration is a distinctively Jewish ceremony with Jewish religious tradition: Heads are covered, traditional Krymchak food is distributed; songs in Judeo-Crimean Tatar are sung, even though most participants have a very vague, if any, knowledge of the language. Kaddish Yatom (the prayer for the deceased) is recited by a person who knows Jewish religious tradition. The collective memory keeps the community together [53].

Many of the Jews living in Simferopol today are Jews that either lived there before World War II or were their descendants. Many of those who were not there after the Nazi occupation, returned after the war[54].There are about 5,000 Jews living in Simferopol today[55].

After World War II, less than 500 Krimchaks lived in Simferopol (1/3 of the entire Krimchak population)[56]

According to the 1959 census 11,200 Jews lived in Simferopol. One Synagogue was closed down in 1959; but as of 1968 another was still functioning. Matzot were officially permitted to be baked. Several kolkhozes housed about 50% of the Jews of the area in 1970. Most of the city's Jews emigrated in the 1990s.

The Kenassa building was used for a television center. The Karaits have a Sukkot celebration, every year, in front of the Kenassa building. In September 2012 new facilities were constructed for the Television center, and after 82 years the building was used for regular services on Sukkot 2012. The prayers were organized by I. Shaitann[57].

Many Zionist youth made Aliyah in the 1990s[58].

Many have now intermarried with Armenians, etc.

There is Anti-Semitism, though it is not official, ideological, or very strong. It is called "bytovi", which means everyday Anti-Semitism.[59]

Jewish Organizations that help the Jewish community are:[60]

1.      Hesed Shimon: This organization is funded by The Claims Conference, which helps Holocaust victims. There are food and medicine deliveries. Telephone assistance is available around the clock.[61].

2.      The Jewish Agency does help, but is not officially functioning in Crimea, since Israel did not recognize its return to Russia.[62]

3.      Chabad[63]: The services that Chabad provides here are: the Chabad House and synagogue, a children's club, checking and lending Muzuzot and Tefilin, activities against missionaries, visiting the sick and old people and prisoners, Brit circumcision, preparation for Bar/Bat Mitzvah and wedding ceremonies, afternoon activities, lessons for adults in groups and private lessons, koshering kitchens, funeral and burial services, Shabbat and holiday programs, guests.[64]

There was a Reform Movement until 2014. Up to then the Reform Movement was perhaps the strongest Jewish movement in Crimea. There were groups and communities in every large city. Now there is only one Reform (progressive) community in Kerch. All others have ceased to exist (or joined Orthodox Communities). The main cause for closing the Reform Synagogue was the lack of funding, for the British sponsors no longer helped economically. There were also ideological matters. The organizer of the Reform congregation was Anatoliy Gendin.[65]'[66]

Orthodox and Reform Jews had a few conflicts. The main reason was the quarrelsome and disagreeable nature of Gendin.[67]

Until 2017, the "Ner Tomid Synagogue" was the only remaining historical Synagogue.

A large percentage of the Jews do not need welfare. The entire community is known to be on a very good educational level. There are many Jewish physicians, journalists, scholars, public figures, etc. They mix freely with the local population and are treated as equal citizens, both officially and naturally. Many Jews are middle class, or even wealthy. Wealthy Jews are Epstein, Shusterman, Faingold, Finkelstein, and the late Mirimki. Faingold, Finkelstein, and Mirimki came to Simferopol in 2014.

The Jews that were very Zionists went on Aliyah to Israel during the 1990s and the 2000s. The Jews of today respect Israel. There is a local "Hillel[68]" organization[69].This is a small Hillel organization with few services, but it does exist.[70]

Some of the important people in the Jewish community today are:

1.      Anatoli Gendin, the head of the Reform community[71].

2.      Yan Epstein, the head of the Crimean Jewish Congress[72].

3.      Grigory Rikman, the head of the Jewish Cultural Autonomy in the Crimea[73].

Among the wealthiest businessmen are:

1.      Beim[74]

2.      Epstein[75]

3.      Shusterman[76]

4.      Faingold[77]

5.      Finkelstein[78]

6.      Mirimskii[79]

Nearby Jewish communities are: Bakhchysaray (29 kilometers southwest), Bilohirs'k (41 kilometers east-northeast), Yalta (50 kilometers south), Sevastopol (59 kilometers southwest), and Balaklava (64 kilometers southwest).[80]

 

 

Conclusion

 

The writing of this article took time. The reason for this was that since I did not previously know anything about this Jewish Community, I wanted to make sure to give every important topic the attention that is due to it.

Now that there is so much information on the internet, it was reasonably easy to find information that I needed.

It was interesting to learn that so many well-known people originated from Simferopol. I learned much in the gathering of information and in the writing of this article. It is my hope that others will also find the information in this article useful and interesting.

I wish the Jewish community of Simferopol today much luck in surviving and for the future. I trust that the Jewish Community that was in existence in Simferopol, before the Holocaust, will be remembered.

 

Appendix

Research on Cherkassy 31 pp.

Rezekne: The History of the Jews in the City of My Roots 22 pp.

The Connection Between Rezekne and Ein Zaitim 17 pp.

Sveksna: Our Town 50 pp.

(My original article contains a synopsis of the history of the Jews of Lithuania) 60 pp.

Vitebsk 38 pp.

Pictures of Vitebsk That Was 28 pp.

Pictures of Sveksna (appears on the Sveksna website) 26 pp.

The BUND in Vitebsk 19 pp.

Sharsheret HaDorot, June 2011, Volume 25

The Story of Oscar Herschman and his Family 23 pp.

Enjoying the IGRA Occupation Databases, by Esther Rechtschafner

Genealogy

The Bund in Rezekne

The Domiciles of My Direct Forebears

From Rachel's Tomb to Billion Graves: The Inscriptions on Jewish Tombstones

KehilaLinks: Rezekne SHEMOT: The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Britain, 4.16, V.24, 1

Louis Golding, my mother's uncle: SHEMOT: The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Britain, December 2016, vol 24, 2-3

Hebrew Translation of Naftali Sieff's Testimony (Ziv from Sveksna) Yad VaShem

File: 77013168

My Relationship with the Yankel and Miriam Herschman Family

העמותה למחקר גנאלוגי בישראל IGRA

העמותה למחקר גנאלוגי בישראל IGRA

Manishma.22.8.16 (Israel Archives Magazine) together with Rose Feldman

MORDECHAI and JERUSALEM DAY Ammunition Hill Archives, File: Additional Material on the Six-Day War

הסיפור של המשפחה של מרדכי רכטסשפנר בשואה

YadVaShem file: 77161737

Rechtschafner - Holocaust (English)

YadVaShem file: 77161737

Vitebsk website

Sveksna website

Cherkassy website

Rezekne website

 

Bibliography

Encyclopedia Hebraica, Encyclopedia Publishing Company, Israel, 1974, Editor-Professor Joshua Prover V.15, pp.804-5. EH

Encyclopedia Judiaca, Keter, Jerusalem, 1972, Editor-Professor Cecil Roth, V. 14, p.1568 EJ

La Judée Criméenne: histoire du judaïsme en Crimée / Mikhaïl Kizilov ; traduction du russe: Jean-Claude Fritsch LJC

Internet:

Attractions — g298048 — Activities-Simferopol.html AAS

http://dbpedia.org/page/Krymchaks EU

http://historicsynagogueseurope.org/browser.php?mode=treefriend&id=6901&f=origin HS

http://www.ambergh.com/learn-russian/simferopol/about-simferopol AC

http://www.berdichev.org/mappaleofsettlement.htm BM

http://www.claimscon.org/2014/03/ukraine-update/ CO

http://www.crimeahistory.org/simferopol-the-capital-of-crimea/ CH

http://www.digento.de/titel/104476.html DD

http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Krymchaks YE

Karaite Community in Aqmescit Simferopol

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Simferopol#/media/File:Flag_of_Simferopol.png CWS

https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/simferopol BT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Goldfaden WAG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alla_Nazimova AL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Hezekiah_Medini CHM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephraim_Deinard ED

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaite_Judaism WKJ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkhoz WK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuil_Marshak SM

Simferopol Famous People

Simferopol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simferopol_Raion WSR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud_Torah WTT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Braune WB

https://genealogy.org.il/ IGRA

https://he.chabad.org/centers/default_cdo/aid/117973 CHO

Britannica.com: Simferopol EB

https://www.chabad.org/ CL

lekhno-david DL

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/image/pale-settlement FC

https://www.google.co.il/maps/place MP

https://www.google.co.il/search?q=crimea+map GM

https://www.hillel.org/ HO

https://www.hillel.org/college-guide/list/record/simferopol HS

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=simfero pol&commit=searchJewish JE
https://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/community.php?usbgn=-1054041&scale=K JG

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/krimchaks JVLK

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/simferopol JVL

https://www.google.co.il/search?q=crimea+map MC

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3_%D0%9A%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%BC%D0%B0 RF

https://www.sefer.ru/upload/Alumni%20Kizilov%20eng.pdf SF

https://www.ushmm.org/ USM

https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/commemoration.asp?cid=646 YSC

https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/homepage.asp YS

https://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/chgkSovietReports.asp?cid=646&site_id=821 YSS

http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Krymchaks YE

 

Emails:

Mikhail Kizilov 19.3.19 MKI

20.3.19 MK2

22.3.19 MK3

2.4.19 MK 4

 

 

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