Pre-1941: Chernobyl’, town and raion center, Kiev oblast’, Ukrainian SSR; 1941–1944: Tschernobyl, initially in Gebiet Nowo-Schepelitschi, then Gebiet Chabnoje, Generalkommissariat Kiew; post-1991: Chernobyl’, Kiev oblast’, Ukraine Chernobyl’ is located 101 kilometers (63 miles) north-northwest of Kiev. In 1926, the Jewish population of Chernobyl’ numbered 3,165 (39 percent of the total population). According to the 1939 census, there were 1,783 Jews living in Chernobyl’ (21 percent of the population).1 The significant decline in the Jewish population by almost 1,400 in the years 1926–1939 is explained by the resettlement of Jews to other areas, as well as by the Holodomor famine of 1932–1933 and political repression. German armed forces occupied the town on August 25, 1941, two months after the invasion of the USSR on June 22. During this time, many Jews were evacuated or fled to the east, and reservists born between 1905 and 1918 were called up for military service. Less than one t...