Markhlevsk

The town of Dovbysh was founded in the early 19th century. In 1823 a Polish owned china-producing factory was established in Dovbysh and its numerous employees were Jews. In 1897 there were 92 Jews living in the town; they comprised about 11 percent of the total population. In 1925 Dovbysh was renamed Markhlevsk, in honor of a Polish Communist activist, and became the center of a newly organized Polish national county, where Poles comprised the majority of the population. The following year there were 159 Jewish residents of the village, who amounted to 8 percent of the total population. In 1938 the county was abolished and many Poles were exiled. The county was renamed Shchors, but the town's name Makhlevsk was retained. In 1939 the 513 Jews living in the town comprised 12 percent of its total population. The town was occupied on July 10, 1941. On that day a Jew who presented armed resistance to the Germans was shot. Later, local Jews and Jews from nearby towns were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of young people capable of work, who were used for road repairs. The second group consisted of the rest of the Jews. Both groups were liquidated in two major murder operations in August (or September) - October 1941. The remained Jews that the police found in hiding were collected in the town and murdered there. The town was liberated by a partisan unit on November 7, 1943 and remained under partisan rule until the entry of the Red Army on January 2, 1944. In 1946 the original name of the town, Dovbysh, was restored.