Mykolaiv, Ukraine
Mykolaiv is a port on the Black Sea coast, Mykolaiv district, Ukraine. The town was founded in 1789 and Jews settled there from its earliest days, engaging in commerce and crafts. Many of them moved there from Galicia. In 1830, among the inhabitants of the town were 24 Jewish families of merchants, 691 families of townsmen, and 424 individual Jews. In 1829 a government order prohibited the residence of Jews (with the exception of those serving in the army) in Mykolaiv and Sevastopol, using the existence of naval bases in the two towns as a pretext. The Jews were allowed two years to arrange their departure. The local authorities opposed the decree, arguing that the expulsion of the Jews would harm the development of the town; the expulsion was therefore postponed until 1834. At the beginning of the reign of Alexander II, the right of residence in the town was granted to Jewish merchants and industrialists (1857), and later also to craftsmen (1861). Many Jews lived in the villages and estates in the vicinity of Mykolaiv, where they conducted their commerce. In 1866 all restrictions were lifted and the Jewish community of Mykolaiv developed rapidly. In 1880 there were 8,325 Jews in Mykolaiv, and in 1897 the number rose to 20,109 (21.8% of the total population). A native of the town, Moshe Katz, described Mykolaiv in the early 20th century in his memoirs, A Dor Vos Hot Farloren di Moyre (1956). Jews suffered in the pogroms of May 1881 and April 1899. The pogrom of 1905 was averted by Jewish self-defense units. In the early 20th century the community supported 15 schools. During the Civil War (1919–20) the Jews of neighboring towns suffered severely. In 1926 there were 21,786 Jews (about 20.8% of the total population) in Mykolaiv. A court held its sessions in Yiddish in the 1920s, and 5 elementary schools, a vocational school, and a high school existed
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.