- Bershad
Bershad ( _uk. Бершадь, translit., "Bershad’"), is a small
city in theVinnytsia Oblast (province) of westernUkraine . It is the administrative center of theBershadsky Raion (district).The population is around 13,300 (as of 2001).
Bershad is home to the football club
FC Bershad in thePersha Liha (season 2005-06).In 1900 the
Jew ish population of Bershad was 4,500, out of a total population of 7,000. The Jewish artisans numbered about 500. The community possessed onesynagogue and six houses of prayer. In June, 1648, during the uprising of theCossack s under Chmielnicky (Bohdan Khmelnytsky ), the most bloodthirsty of his leaders—Maksim Krivonos—conquered Bershad and slew all theJew s andCatholic s .S. A. Bershadski , the celebrated historian of theRussia nJews , descended from aCossack family at Bershad, where his great-grandfather officiated as a Greek Orthodox priest (Greek Orthodox Church ).Bershad was famous in the middle of the nineteenth century for its
Jew ish weavers of thetallit (scarfs used by theJew s during prayer in the day-time). But at the end of the century the demand decreased, and the industry declined, leading many of the weavers to emigrate to America.In 1941, the Romanian forces transformed this city into a
ghetto , where thousands of Jews were starved to death, including local Yiddish writer Mordechai Goldenberg. Many of the victims were brought in fromBessarabia .External links
* [http://bershad.com.ua/ Unofficial city portal]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.