Chechelnyk

The Synagogue of Chechelnyk, late 18th century

Chechelnyk or Chechelnik (earlier also Chichelnik; alternate spellings Chetschelnik, Chitchilnik, Cicelnic, Czeczelnik, Tschetschelnik^[1]) (Ukrainian: Чечельник, Russian: Чечельни́к) is a town on the Savranka River (a tributary of the Southern Bug) in Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine (before the Russian Revolution in the Podolia Gubernia of the Russian Empire), near Odessa Oblast. In 2001 it had 5,590 inhabitants. The economy is based on the food industry, especially alcohol production.

Chechelnik was founded "as a refuge from Tatars and landlords"^[2] in the early 16th century and achieved the status of a town in 1635. Between 1795 and 1812 it was renamed Olgopol. In 1898 the population was 7,000, of whom 1,967 were Jews. Like most of Podolia, the town suffered terribly during the Russian Civil War; during the summer of 1920, "the south of Podolia seethed with counterrevolution... and Olgopol County, where Chechelnik is located, was the most unstable area in all of Podolia."^[3]

The Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector was born in the town on December 10, 1920, during a pause in the family's journey to escape Russia.

External links

• Chechelnik at JewishEncyclopedia.com
• Chechelnyk.com (in Ukrainian)

Coordinates: 48°13′01″N 29°21′00″E / 48.217°N 29.350°E / 48.217; 29.350

References

1. ^ Gary Mokotoff, Sallyann Amdur Sack, and Alexander Sharon, Where Once We Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust (Avotaynu, 2002: ISBN 1886223157), p. 57.
2. ^ Benjamin Moser, Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector (Oxford University Press US, 2009: ISBN 019538556X), p. 32.
3. ^ Moser, Why This World, p. 32.