Pavoloch (also known as ''Pavolitsh'' in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, ''Pawolotsch'' in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Па́волочь in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and ''Pawołocz'' in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

) is a selo in

Zhytomyr Raion Zhytomyr Raion () is a raion (district) of Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. Its administrative centre is located at Zhytomyr. The raion covers an area of . Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the numbe ...

Zhytomyr Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast (), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna (), is an Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northwestern Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Zhytomyr. Its population is approximately H ...

in central Ukraine. It was a town of the

Cossack Hetmanate The Cossack Hetmanate (; Cossack Hetmanate#Name, see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (; ), was a Ukrainian Cossacks, Cossack state. Its territory was located mostly in central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwest ...

and an administrative seat of Pavoloch Regiment (province).

Jewish history

It is estimated that Pavoloch was founded sometime in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, but it first appeared on

Ruthenia ''Ruthenia'' is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term ''Rus' land'' referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. ''Ruthenia' ...

n chronicles in 1503. The majority of Pavoloch's inhabitants were

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. The Jews in Pavoloch, as in many other

shtetls or ( ; , ; pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The term is used in the context of former Eastern European Jewish societ ...

, were victims of constant prejudice. When they got fed up with being harassed, the citizens build a wooden fort around their shtetl, which gave Pavoloch's inhabitants increased protection against invaders. It was a good thing that the people of Pavoloch built their fort, because their settlement was a constant pit-stop for advancing and retreating armies. Aside from the occasional prejudice, the Jews of Pavoloch lived in harmony with one another, with no fights breaking out among themselves. In 1736, a rebellious paramilitary group, the Haidamakas, carried out a massacre against the Jews of Pavoloch, killing 35 people. When they finished pillaging the shtetl, the killers hastily left. Ironically, only 3 decades afterwards, Pavoloch's population began to increase, with a total population of 1,041 in 1765. In 1910, Pavoloch's population swelled to 15,454 people. During the Russian Civil War of 1917-1923, most of the inhabitants of Pavoloch left, most likely in fear of the encroaching

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

army. The brave, remaining Jews stayed in Pavoloch, throughout the war. The population continued to decline, up to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, when a Nazi

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the imp ...

(SS) squad drove into Pavoloch. The Nazis rounded up all the Jews, and killed them in what is known as the Pavoloch Massacre, making them dig their own graves before shooting them. To this day, there are no Jews in Pavoloch. Today, Pavoloch remains a historic community, visited by tourists, descendants of men and women who lived in the shtetl, and people who are interested in its history.

Location

Pavoloch is 100 km southwest of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, in the

Geography

Pavoloch's geography is fairly flat, with forested plains. It is on the Rostovista River, also known as the Dnieper Basin.

Notable people

* Franciszek Kowalski (1799–1862), Polish poet

References

{{Zhytomyr Oblast Historic Jewish communities in Ukraine Jewish Ukrainian history Holocaust locations in Ukraine Villages in Zhytomyr Raion Zhytomyr Raion