MAKAROV

MAKAROV, town in Kiev district, Ukraine. Jews were first mentioned in 1721, and in 1765, 217 Jews were counted there as paying poll tax. Jews were occupied in leasing and trade in alcoholic beverages. The Jewish community had grown to 848 in 1847. During the 1840s, R. Nahum twersky , the grandson of Menahem Nahum the Maggid of chernobyl , established his court in Makarov and the town became a center of Ḥasidism. The number of Jews had risen to 3,953 (c. 75% of the total population) in 1897. From the second half of the 19th century there existed within the town boundaries a Jewish farm colony with 32 families, but it was destroyed during the Civil War. Most of the shops were in Jewish hands. On July 6, 1919, a band of peasants invaded the town and looted it for eight days, also killing a few Jews. On August 15–18 the Matveenko band killed 20 Jews and looted and burned down 20 shops. When this was followed in September of the same year by a pogrom which claimed over 100 victims, perpetrated by the soldiers of denikin 's army, the Jewish population left for kiev and other towns in the vicinity. Only 152 Jews remained in Makarov in 1923. Some returned and in 1926 there were 585 (out of a total population of 2,943). In the 1930s many left for bigger cities, and in 1939 there were 269 Jews (out of a total of 3,368). Makarov was occupied by the Germans on July 10, 1941, and after a while 100 Jews were executed. The others hid but were found and 149 Jews were taken to Kiev and murdered, probably in Babi Yar. In 1970 the Jewish population was estimated at about 150 (30 families). The synagogue was unused, having been closed down by the authorities. (Yehuda Slutsky / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)