Uman (Humań) | Cherkasy

Uman is located 190 km (118miles) southeast of Kyiv. The first records about a Jewish community in the town go back to the mid-18^th century. In 1750, 450 Jews lived there. During an attack in 1768, by the Cossacks, the majority of the Jews were killed after a non-successful defense. Their property and homes were looted. Over the next few decades, the Jewish population was renewed, and in 1801, 1,895 Jews lived in the town. By 1897, it grew to 17,945 Jews, comprising about 60% of the total population.  In 1910, 28,267 Jews resided in the town.  The majority of Jews lived off small scale trade or crafts. Uman was one of the first centers of the Haskalah movement in Ukraine. In 1822, Khaim Ber Hurwitz and his son Hirsh Ber established one of the first secular Jewish schools in Tsarist Russia. In 1810 Uman became home to a prominent Rabbi Naḥman of Bratslav. Today, many pilgrims travel to Uman to visit his tomb. In 1911the Jewish community suffered from multiple pogroms. Starting in 1937 as a result of an anti-religious Soviet campaign, the Hasidic movement in Uman went underground and the synagogue was transformed into a metalworking factory. On the eve of the war, 13,233 Jews lived in Uman, making up 30% of the total population.

Uman was occupied by German army on July 3, 1941. The first victims were members of intelligentsia and doctors, who were considered as dangerous, as they could provide resistance. They were shot or publicly hanged in mid-August, 1941. Shortly after that, all Jews were registered and marked with yellow or white Stars of David. The majority of the Jews were murdered in the fall of 1941 in the course of several mass executions. The first one was conducted on September 13, 1941, during which the Jews were randomly rounded-up, and taken to be shot near the airfield. The next aktion was conducted on September 21, 1941 and lasted for three days. During the first day, 1,000 Jews, mainly women and children, were confined into the cellar of the Pioneer house where some of them suffocated as there were not enough room. The women who didn’t die there were released, while men, along with other Jews rounded up in the meantime were taken to the prison and shot.  Thus, on September 22-23, 1941, 1,412 Jews were murdered by Einsatzkommando 5. Shortly after this aktion the remaining Jews were forced to move into the ghetto located close to the market place. According to a Jewish survivor interview by Yahad, they were placed in the empty Jewish houses, located in that area, as the owners were massacred during the September aktions. However, the Jews didn’t stay long in this ghetto because on October 8,1941 another aktion was carried out by German Police battalion 304, assisted by local police. During this aktion, about 5,800 Jews, including 400 Jewish prisoners of war, were gathered at the market place, then they were taken to the prison where they had to undress and hand over all their valuables. After this they were taken to the anti-tank trenches located in the Sukhoy ravine where they were murdered. After that, about 1,500 Jews remained in the ghetto until its liquidation in the spring of 1942. During this entire time, the Jewish inmates were subjected to perform different kinds of forced labor, like shoveling snow, and paving roads. Many isolated killings or public hangings of Jews were carried out in this period of time.

On April 22, 1942, the ghetto was liquidated by Lithuanian and Ukrainian police. During the liquidation, the inmates fit for work were taken to the labor camp in Haysyn, while those unfit to work were taken to the nearby forest and shot dead. The last victims were 50-60 artisans who survived until 1943. 

 For more information about the shootings in Haysyn please check the corresponding profile