Introducing Berdychiv
You’d never guess today that this sleepy town on the southern edge of Polissya was once an important intellectual centre and hotbed of Jewish culture. At the turn of the 19th century, Berdychiv’s population was more than 80% Jewish. The Nazis took care of that, executing just about every one of the city’s 39, 000 Jews and burying them in mass graves on the town’s outskirts. These days Berdychiv’s Jewish community numbers only several hundred, but the city remains an important pilgrimage site for followers of revered Hasidic master Levi Yitzhak (1740–1810) who is buried in the town’s remarkable Jewish cemetery.
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The website www.berdichev.org is a good resource for information on the city.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
Thorn Tree forum discussion
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RE: Just returned from Ukraine - a few comments
by gbloom4 25 January 2011
Entering this conversation late here. I wrote the section on Donetsk and the Soledar box in LP, so thanks for the added details on getting…
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RE: Minibus from Kiev to Zhitomir and Berdichev
by jmbfrance 23 July 2008
Thanks for your answers ! Berdichev is a well-known jewish place, but also a litterary one. The French writer Honoré de Balzac, being…
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RE: Minibus from Kiev to Zhitomir and Berdichev
by slav 23 July 2008
E40 highway runs from Kyiv to Zhytomyr, about 130 km. Zhytomyr to Berdychiv is another 40 km south. These are good roads. Usd uz.gov.ua…
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