Memorial in Babi Yar, Kiev, Ukraine
Memorial in Babi Yar, Kiev, UkraineiStock

A special ceremony was held this week in the city of Nadvorna, Ukraine, on the occasion of dedicating a monument to Jews of the city who were murdered in the Holocaust.

The town of Nadvorna was famous thanks to Rabbi Mordechai of Nadvorna, head of the Nadvorna Chasidic dynasty.

Jewish men of Chasidic Nadvorna dynasty carry Torah scroll on Simchat Torah
Jewish men of Chasidic Nadvorna dynasty carry Torah scroll on Simchat TorahFlash 90

In Nadvorna there were more than 20 prayer houses, among them Kloizim of all the Chasidic communities in the region: the Kosov Chasidim, Vizhnitz, Chortkov, Otinya, and Belz.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Jews numbered approximately 6,000. At first the city was ruled by the Soviets. In 1941 the Nazis occupied the city and in several rounds of aktionen murdered all the Jews of the city who were concentrated in two ghettos and area Jews brought there. Few survived.

The monument was erected next to the Jewish cemetery where many saints are buried, among them the author of Tzemach Hashem l'Tzvi m'Nadvorna, a student of the Maggid of Zlotchov.

Old Jewish cemetery in Ternopil
Old Jewish cemetery in TernopiliStock
Jewish men pray in the Nadvorna (Hasidic dynasty) on Hoshana Rabbah
Jewish men pray in the Nadvorna (Hasidic dynasty) on Hoshana RabbahFlash 90