Propoysk

Jews were first mentioned as living in Propoysk in the mid-18th century; by the end of the 19th century approximately 2,300 Jews lived there. In the 1920s many Propoysk Jews earned their living by crafts or petty commerce. Crafts cooperatives were set up there and an ethnically mixed kolkhoz named “October” employed 50 Jews. In the 1920s and 1930s a Yiddish school operated in the town until it was closed in mid-1938. In January 1939 the popu1ation of Propoysk included 1,038 Jews, 22 percent of the total population. With the outbreak of the Soviet-German war on June 22, 1941 many Jews of Propoysk succeeded in being evacuated or in fleeing to the Soviet interior. On August 15, 1941 the town was occupied by the Germans, who set up a ghetto in October. The Jews of the town were murdered in several operations in November 1941. Propoysk was liberated by the Red Army on November 25, 1943.