Pisky | Sumy

Pisky is located on the banks of the Romen River, 110 km west of Sumy. Little is known about the Jews of Pisky. The biggest Jewish community of this area lived in Romny, a town situated 3,5 km north of Pisky. The first record of the Jews date back to the late 18^th century. In 1803, there were only 127 Jews but by 1897, the Jewish community numbered 6,378, almost the third of total population. At the time, many Jews owned local industries such as tannery, soap factory, tobacco house and distilleries. They owned about 300 local stores. In 1910, there were 9 synagogues, 1 Talmud Torah, 5 Jewish schools, consisting of 2 for men and 3 for women, a professional women's Jewish school, and a Jewish cemetery  in Romny. During WWI, the number of Romny Jews increased due to the refugees who arrived from expelled territories. In 1917, Jewish parties operated in Romny, including the branches of “HeHalutz”. The Jewish community suffered through several waves of pogroms, conducted in 1881, in 1905, and in 1918-1919, during which the Jewish houses and commerce were plundered and several Jews were killed. Under Soviet rule many Jewish cultural organization were forbidden and the synagogues were closed. The last one was closed in 1938. By 1926, the number of Jews had declined to 8,593 and dropped even further to 3,834 in 1939, comprising only 15% of the total population. This was due to the relocation of Jews during that time to agricultural colonies located in the Kherson region.

Pisky and Romny were occupied by the German troops on September 10^th, 1941. Almost 70% of the prewar Jews managed to evacuate by that time. According to the historical resources and Yahad’s research all Jewish population of Romny, situated 3,5 km north of Pisky, was resettled to the houses on Dimitrov street in the fall of 1941, where they stayed until the first execution, conducted in  mid-November. They were registered and marked with armbands. On November 10^th, 1941, they were brought in a column to Pisky. A local woman interviewed by Yahad, happened to see that column. According to her testimony, the Jews carried their belonging with them; they did not know they were going to be executed. The column was convoyed by the Germans assisted by the local police. Suddenly, they started to throw the Jewish children into the river. According to the witness, about 10 children were killed in that way. When the column arrived to the execution site, the Jews were forced to take off their shoes. After they had to undress to their underwear and wait for the execution in the cold weather. The shooting took place in two or three ravines on the hill. The Jews were shot in groups of 10-15 people. Some of them fell to the pit alive. In all, at least 1,000 people were executed  that day. Today, there is a monument, but, with the help of the head of local Jewish community, Yahad team discovered that the monument isn’t located on the exact place of the shooting, which took place 60 meters up on the hill. Besides the Jewish victims, Soviet prisoners of war were also executed in Romny.