Skvyra

Skvyra Сквира
Coat of arms
Skvyra Location of Skvyra Skvyra Skvyra (Ukraine)
Coordinates:49°43′0″N29°40′0″E
Country	Ukraine
Oblast	Kyiv Oblast
Raion	Bila Tserkva Raion
Hromada	Skvyra urban hromada
Founded	no data (XI - XIV century)
Magdeburg Rights	1791
First mention	1390
Government
•Mayor	Valentyna Levitska
Area
• Total	63.28 km2(24.43 sq mi)
Population (2022)
• Total	15,165
Postal code	09000
Area code	+380 4568

Skvyra(Ukrainian:Сквира,pronounced[ˈskʋɪrɐ]) is acityinBila Tserkva Raion,Kyiv Oblast(region) of centralUkraine.Skvyra has an area of 6,328 km²(2,443 sq mi). It hosts the administration ofSkvyra urban hromada,one of thehromadasof Ukraine.Its population is approximately15,165 (2022 estimate).

Name

In addition to theUkrainianСквира(Skvyra), the name of the city inYiddishisSkver,סקווער.

History

The Skver synagogue in Skvyra, which was restored in 2004

The ancient town of Skvyra was completely destroyed at the end of the 16th century. In 1736, Skvyra was mentioned as a village (selo) leased by aJewishlessee. According to the census of 1765, there were 124 houses in Skvyra, 51 of which belonged to Jews. In 1775, 116 Jews lived in Skvyra, in 1784 there were 204, and in 1787, 144.

After Skvyra was included in thePale of Settlementthe town's Jewish community increased. Its Jewish population was 2,184 in 1847 and grew to 8,910 in 1897 — 49.5% of the general population. At the end of the 19th century Skvyra had sevensynagogues,a parochial school, a hospital, a pharmacist and a district doctor. Many Jews were engaged in grain and timber export. By 1910 the town had aTalmud Torah,a Jewish private boys’ school and two private girls’ schools.

There were twopogromsin the town in 1917 and a wave of six pogroms in 1919, some of which lasted for several weeks. There were rapes, houses were burnt down, and Jewish property was seized and destroyed or sold to local peasants. 191 people were killed and hundreds injured. After the pogroms an epidemic in the town killed up to 30 people a day. The Jewish population fled toKyiv,OdesaandBila Tserkva.

Under theSoviet Unionthe religious and communal life of the Jews of Skvyra was dissolved. The town's Jewish population fell to 4,681 by 1926 (about 33.6% of the population) and 2,243 by 1939, but even so it remained among the biggest Jewish communities of Ukraine at that time.

InWorld War IIGerman forces occupied the town in September 1941. For a time theSonderkommandoheadquarters was in Skvyra. On 20 September 1941, 850 Jews were shot in Skvyra. A few days later, over 140 more were executed. According to the head of Skvyra's Jewish community, there were mass shootings of Jews in the area of the market, the secondary school and in Bannaya Street. Skyvra's remaining Jewish population was about 1,000 after the War and fell to about 500 by 1960. It has continued to decline, and in 2009 numbered about 120.

Until 18 July 2020, Skvyra was the administrative center ofSkvyra Raion.The raion was abolished that day as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kyiv Oblast to seven. The area of Skvyra Raion was merged into Bila Tserkva Raion.

Population

Language

Distribution of the population by native language according to the2001 census:

Language	Percentage
Ukrainian	97.62%
Russian	1.9%
other/undecided	0.48%

Skver Hasidim and New Square

The TwerskySkver Hasidic dynastyline emanating from Skvyra eventually settled in theUnited Stateswhere part of the community founded their own incorporated village calledNew Square(Skvyra being called "Skver" inYiddish) inRockland County,New York.In 2004 the Skvyra synagogue and thetzaddik’s court, now a hotel for Hasidic visitors, were restored.

Notable people

• Asher Ginzberg (better known by his pen nameAhad Ha'am), writer and publicist, founder ofCultural Zionism,was born in the city.
• Rustam Khudzhamov,Ukrainian goalkeeper
• David Margulis( David son of Lev/ Leyba Margulis),Hero of the Soviet Union.He was born on March 10, 1914, in Skvira, Kyiv gubernia.

See also

• History of the Jews in Ukraine
• Skver (Hasidic dynasty)

Sources

• Slutsky, Yehuda (2007). "Skivra". InBerenbaum, Michael;Skolnik, Fred(eds.).Encyclopaedia Judaica.Vol. 18 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. pp. 662–663.ISBN978-0-02-866097-4.

• "Skvyra Jewish Cemetery".Lo Tishkach.