Cherven

Jews first settled in Cherven (known until 1923 as Igumen) probably in the second half of the eighteenth century. Most of the local Jews worked in commerce and clothing manufacture. During the Soviet era, the number of Jews declined gradually, and in 1939 the Jewish population numbered 1,491, approximately 23 percent of the total inhabitants. In the 1920s and 1930s, a Yiddish school operated in Cherven. Dozens of local Jewish families earned a living working in agriculture in nearby kolkhozes. The Germans conquered Cherven on July 2, 1941. In the autumn, all the Jews of the town were concentrated along a single street in a ghetto with other Jews from the vicinity, as well as refugees from more distant areas. The non-Jewish occupants of the street destined to become the ghetto were transferred to Jewish-owned homes in other parts of Cherven. A few Jews, including patients at the municipal hospital, remained outside the ghetto. The murders of the Jews in Cherven began during the first days of the occupation, in the summer of 1941, and came to an end on February 1, 1942, when between 1,500-1,750 Jews who had been incarcerated in the local ghetto were shot dead. The Red Army liberated Cherven on July 2, 1944. In the autumn of 1941, all the remaining Jews in Cherven were concentrated in a ghetto along a single street in a suburb, along with Jews from the vicinity and refugees from more distant areas. The non-Jewish occupants of the ghetto area were transferred to Jewish-owned homes in the center of the town. A few Jews, including patients at the municipal hospital, remained outside the ghetto. Belarussian police periodically murdered Jewish ghetto inhabitants near the municipal cemetery.