Slobidka (; ), historically known as Slobidka-Romanivka or Slobodka-Romanovka, is a historic neighbourhood of Odesa, Ukraine. The settlement developed on the outskirts of Odesa during the 1820s. During the Romanian occupation of Odesa in World War II, the neighbourhood was the location of the Slobidka ghetto, in which thousands of Jews were confined before being deported to other parts of the Transnistria Governorate.
History Slobidka-Romanivka developed in the 1820s as a settlement outside the central part of Odesa. Many of its early residents were workers employed at the city's port. Small plots of land were allocated to settlers, resulting in the narrow blocks characteristic of the older neighbourhood. By the end of the 19th century, Slobidka had developed into a substantial suburb of Odesa.
Slobidka ghetto Following the Romanian capture of Odesa on 16 October 1941, the city became part of the Romanian-administered Transnistria Governorate. Romanian authorities and German forces carried out a series of mass killings of Odesa's Jewish population during the following weeks.
Jews who survived the massacres around Odesa and Dalnyk were among approximately 25,000 Jews confined in a newly established ghetto in Slobidka by 25 October 1941. Conditions were severe, with overcrowding, hunger and exposure to cold weather.
In late December 1941, Romanian leader Ion Antonescu ordered the removal of the remaining Jewish population from Odesa. Acting on these orders, the governor of Transnistria, Gheorghe Alexianu, ordered their deportation to rural areas of the governorate. On 10 January 1942, Romanian authorities ordered all Jews remaining in Odesa to report to the Slobidka ghetto within two days. The ghetto thereafter functioned principally as an assembly and transit camp for deportations from Odesa.
Romanian gendarmes, sometimes assisted by German guards, marched groups of prisoners more than from Slobidka and other assembly points to railway stations. Deportees were transported in unheated railway cars, principally to Berezivka County, approximately north of Odesa. More than 31,000 Jews were deported from Odesa during January and February 1942. Severe winter conditions, deprivation and the confiscation of clothing contributed to large numbers of deaths during the deportations.
Many of those who survived transportation to Berezivka County were subsequently taken toward makeshift camps and killing sites. Thousands were murdered by ethnic German militia units in the county. Smaller deportations from Odesa continued during the spring of 1942. By April, only 701 registered Jews remained in the city. The Slobidka ghetto was closed on 10 June 1942, and the last deportation train from Odesa departed on 23 June.
The Red Army recaptured Odesa on 10 April 1944.
See also The Holocaust in Romania
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