Murafa, Vinnytsia Oblast

Murafa (; ; ) is a village in Zhmerynka Raion, Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. It is located in the historical region of Podolia, approximately from Sharhorod. Murafa is the administrative centre of the Murafa rural hromada.

The village had a substantial Jewish population from the 17th century until the 20th century. During World War II, Murafa was incorporated into the Romanian-administered Transnistria Governorate and became the site of a large Jewish ghetto containing both local Jews and thousands of deportees from Bukovina and the Dorohoi region of Romania.

History Murafa developed as a settlement in Podolia. By 1629 it was a border town of the Podolian Voivodeship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The settlement historically consisted of Old Murafa and New Murafa, which developed as separate communities.

Following the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Murafa became part of the Russian Empire and was incorporated into Podolia Governorate. During the Soviet period, Old Murafa, New Murafa and neighbouring settlements were eventually combined. In 1949 the settlement was renamed Zhdanove (Жданове). Its historical name, Murafa, was restored in 1989.

Jewish history Jews settled in Murafa during the first half of the 17th century. The Jewish community is mentioned in a rabbinical responsum dating from 1647. The wars and violence accompanying the Khmelnytsky Uprising severely affected Jewish settlement in the area, and the community was disrupted for several decades before being re-established.

By the 18th century, Jews had again become an important part of the population and commercial life of Murafa. In the 1765 census, 221 Jews were recorded in Old Murafa and 115 in New Murafa. By the 19th century, Murafa had developed into a shtetl with a substantial Jewish population, synagogues and houses of prayer, and an active commercial and religious life. During the 19th century, Old and New Murafa maintained separate Jewish communities. Hasidism became influential among local Jews, and by the second half of the century both communities had synagogues. Jewish residents played a prominent role in the town's commercial and artisanal economy.

During the Russian Civil War, Murafa's Jews were subjected to a major pogrom. In June 1919, soldiers attacked the town over a period of several days, killing 64 Jews and leaving dozens of widows and orphans. Much of the Jewish quarter was devastated.

Jewish communal life continued during the early Soviet period. In 1923, 1,229 Jews lived in Murafa, while the 1926 census recorded 1,421. A Yiddish-language school operated in the town until the late 1930s.

The Holocaust German and Romanian forces occupied Murafa on 20 July 1941. Many Jewish residents succeeded in evacuating eastward before the occupation, but approximately 800 local Jews remained in the town. Murafa subsequently became part of the Romanian-administered Transnistria Governorate.

Beginning in the autumn of 1941, thousands of Jews deported from Romania were brought to Murafa. Approximately 3,500 Jews from Suceava, Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Rădăuți and Dorohoi arrived during the initial deportations. By March 1943, relief organizations recorded approximately 4,500 Jews in Murafa, of whom about 3,700 were deportees and 800 were local Ukrainian Jews.

The Murafa ghetto differed from many other ghettos and camps in Transnistria in that deportees were largely accommodated within the existing town. Many lived in the homes of local Jewish families, while others were placed in public buildings or the homes of non-Jewish residents. Severe overcrowding, inadequate food and poor sanitation nevertheless produced extremely difficult conditions. A typhus epidemic during the winter of 1941–42 caused numerous deaths.

A Jewish committee administered much of the ghetto's internal life and represented the Jewish population before Romanian and Ukrainian authorities. It organized welfare and medical services and was also responsible for supplying workers when the occupation authorities demanded forced labour. A Jewish police force operated under the committee. Welfare institutions included a soup kitchen that provided meals to approximately 1,400 people, medical facilities and a pharmacy.

Jews in Murafa were subjected to forced labour. During the winter they were ordered to clear snow in extremely cold conditions, and in 1942 Jewish men were employed in road construction and stone quarrying. Prisoners were also sent from Murafa to forced-labour sites elsewhere in Transnistria, including camps associated with German construction projects near the Southern Bug.

The Jewish community faced the additional threat of deportation to the Pechora concentration camp. Romanian authorities at one point ordered that 1,000 Jews from Murafa be transferred to Pechora, but the order was rescinded following intervention by the ghetto leadership.

Despite persecution and deprivation, religious and cultural activity continued in the ghetto. A synagogue remained in use, prayer services were also held in private homes, and some children received informal instruction. The survival of the Murafa ghetto has been studied in particular for the relationships between local Ukrainian Jews and deportees from Romania and for the role of the ghetto leadership and communal institutions in improving the population's chances of survival.

Romanian forces withdrew from Murafa in March 1944 as the Red Army advanced into the region. Soviet forces entered the town on 20 March 1944. Surviving deportees began returning to Romania during the following months.

Postwar period A Jewish community continued to exist in Murafa after the war, but its population declined during the following decades as residents moved to larger cities and later emigrated from the Soviet Union. By the early 21st century, no permanent Jewish community remained in the village.

Murafa, Vinnytsia Oblast

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