HOW DID THE JEWISH COMMUNITY APPEAR IN DERAZHNE?
Updated: Jun 7, 2021
General information about the origin of the Jewish community in Derazhne with references to available historical sources.
Map of Derazhne, 1916 (3676, G6480, S75, A8, Library of Congress)
A Brief Story
The first question that arises when studying the Jewish community of the town of Derazhne is how they got here. The migration of Karaites from Lutsk to Derazhne took place no earlier than 1662. Hence, in the census of the Jewish population for June 7 of that year, there are data on Jews being together with Karaites in Lutsk (40 dimes and 64 zlotys) and only about Jews in Derazhne (3 dimes, 4 zlotys, 24 hroshy).
Population census of 1765 showed the presence of 239 Jews (35 houses), the one of 1778 showed only 37 people. Why? What happened to the rest?
As it is known from the history of Ukraine, in the second half of the 18 century, an uprising burst on Right-Bank Ukraine, which was called Koliivshchyna. The uprising of 1768 began near the Motroninsky monastery near Chyhiryn. The leaders of the dissatisfied people were the Zaporizhzhia Cossack Maxim Zalizniak and the centurion from Uman Ivan Honta. It is known that the uprising seized the Kyiv region, Podillia, Bratslav region and Volyn. The haidamaks were dealing with the Polish and Jewish populations. It is possible that Jewish towns also were affected during the revolt.
The end of the 18-19 centuries, both for Ukraine as a whole and for Volyn in particular, was a time of important political and social changes. They begun at the end of the 18 century as a result of 3 divisions, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist. The further life of Volyn was connected with the Russian Empire. The region became part of the Empire after the second and third divisions of Poland (1793-1795).
According to the first All-Russian population census conducted in 1897, the national structure of the population of the region, there were 70% of Ukrainians out of the whole population of the Volyn region. The second place was occupied by Jews with a percentage of 13.2%. They were followed by Poles (6.16%), Germans (5.73%), Russians (3.5%) and Czechs (0.92%). A small percentage of the population was made up of Belarusians and Tatars (0.13% each).
During the First World War and the revolution (1914-1918), significant damage was caused to the Ukrainian economy. The intention of Ukrainians to create their state remained unfulfilled. The Polish state called the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth revived as a result of the collapse of the Russian Empire, took advantage of the defeat of the liberation struggle and annexed a significant territory of western Ukrainian lands, including Volyn. Poles introduce a new administrative division: voivodeships, counties, gminas.
The structure of the population of the Volyn Voivodeship during this period was not smooth. As evidenced by the statistical data for 1929 over 70% of its inhabitants were Ukrainians, Poles were only 13%, Jews living in Volyn - 12% of the population of the Voivodeship. Small amount was to Germans (2.4%), Czechs (1,3%) and Russians (0,5%).
The territory of the modern Rivne region was a part of two voivodeships, formed in 1921, Volyn (Lutsk) and Polissya (Brest). In the difficult conditions of September 30, 1921, the Polish authorities conducted a population census. In particular, 10,311 people lived in the Derazhne gmina, which included 57 localities, of which 80.8% were Orthodox; 1,221 were Roman Catholics (9.56%); 787 Jews (6.17%) and others. According to the census results, there were 778 Orthodox, 90 Roman Catholics and 624 Jews in the town of Derazhne.
The name Derazhne is quite justified because the structure of the village has a clearly defined centre and exactly separated streets from it. Moreover, the town of Derazhne was granted Magdeburg rights by Yanush Ostrozkyi, the son of Vasyl-Kostiantyn Ostrozkyi.
Text and charts: Kateryna Kryvko Translation: Solomiia Kotiai
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