Makhnovka (Komsomolske Village)

Makhnovka (Komsomolske) (Yiddish: מאכניווקא Makhnifka; Ukrainian: Махнівка Russian: Комсомольское (Махновка)) is a village in the Kozyatynskyi Raion of the Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine, located on the Kremenchuk Reservoir, along the west bank of the Gnilopyat River. The town is near a wide spot in the river, where several small streams feed into it from both sides.

Makhnovka is in western Ukraine, 13 miles SSE of Berdychev, 96 miles SW of Kiev. On maps you may find it by its Soviet-era name Komsomol's'ke. Coordinates: 49°43′N 28°40′E / 49.717°N 28.667°E / 49.717; 28.667

Name

The name of the town was changed entirely in 1935 to Komsomol's'ke (or Komsomolskoye), which was a very common town name during the Soviet era (meaning something like "young communist league town"). In 2001, the village council elected to return to their historic name of Makhnovka.

History

The region of western Ukraine was part of the Crown lands of Poland. The first mention of Jews in Makhnovka comes in 1648 in an account from the Cossack-Polish War (1648-57), when Chmielnicki's Cossacks attacked the local fortress and murdered a number of Poles and Jews. Over 100 years later, in 1765, six Jews are recorded in Makhnovka^[1].

Upon the Partition of Poland (circa 1793), territories including western Ukraine were annexed into the Russian Empire. Orthodox Tsarist Russia, which was intolerant of Jews, suddenly acquired a significant Jewish population in the territories annexed from Catholic Poland. As a result, the Pale of Settlement was created, generally restricting Jews to living in the new territories, but not in "Russia proper". Jews during this period had a generally harder time, at best being isolated, and at worst being visited with pogroms. In the census of 1897, the village of Makhnovka had 2,435 Jews out of a total population of 5,343 (about 45%)^[1].

On an 1845 Russian map, "Machnowka" was the chief city of the Machnowka uyezd in Kiev guberniya, while "Berdyczow" was just a small town in Zhitomir uyezd of Volhynia guberniya. When the railroads were developed (some time after 1860), the railroad went through Berdychev and Kazatin (7 miles east of Makhnovka), but bypassed Makhnovka. This caused Makhnovka to decline, while both Berdychev and Kazatin grew. Sometime around the turn of the century, Berdychev was separated from Volhynia guberniya and joined to Kiev guberniya, replacing Makhnovka as the chief city of the uyezd (which was renamed from the Machnowka uyezd to the Berdychev uyezd).

By the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Jewish population of Makhnovka had dwindled to 843. The Germans captured the town on 14 July 1941 and on 9 Sept. executed 835 Jews in the Zhezhlevsk forest 3 miles (5 km) from Komsomolske^[1].

A Hasidic dynasty was established in Makhnovka in the early 20th century. It continues to survive in Israel.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (Avotaynu)

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