Bershad (, ; ) is a city in

Vinnytsia Oblast Vinnytsia Oblast (, ), also referred to as Vinnychchyna (), is an oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in central Ukraine. Its capital city, administrative center is Vinnytsia. The oblast has a population of History Vinnytsia Oblast, first established on ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, located in the historic region of

Podolia Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...

. Until 2020 it was the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the former Bershad Raion.

History

The first extant mention of Bershad appears in 1459. It was a

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, owned by the families of Zbaraski and Moszyński. Polish

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

Piotr Stanisław Moszyński built a palace complex in Bershad. The only remaining parts of the complex are the park and the chapel of the Moszyński and Jurjewicz families. In 1648, during the

Khmelnytsky Uprising The Khmelnytsky Uprising, also known as the Cossack–Polish War, Khmelnytsky insurrection, or the National Liberation War, was a Cossack uprisings, Cossack rebellion that took place between 1648 and 1657 in the eastern territories of the Poli ...

under the

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

Maksym Kryvonis Maksym Kryvonis ( Ukrainian: ''Максим Кривоніс'', Polish: ''Maksym Krzywonos''; literally means "crooked-nose") was one of the Cossack leaders and a commander of the Ukrainian peasants against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. ...

conquered Bershad and slew many of the Catholics and Jews there. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the city had an important

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

community. Bershad was famous in the middle of the nineteenth century for its Jewish weavers of the

tallit A tallit, taleth, or tallis is a fringed garment worn as a prayer shawl by religious Jews. The tallit has special twined and knotted fringe (trim), fringes known as ''tzitzit'' attached to its four corners. The cloth part is known as the ''beged ...

, a ritual shawl worn by Jews at prayer. By the end of the century, the demand decreased, and the industry declined, leading many weavers to emigrate to America. In 1900 the Jewish population of Bershad was 4,500, out of a total population of 7,000. The Jewish artisans numbered about 500. The community possessed synagogues and several houses of prayer. One

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

survived World War II and was not closed during

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

times. It is still active. Many Jews worldwide bear a "Bershidsky/Bershadsky" surname referring to the town. During World War II, Romanian forces allied with the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

Germans transformed the Bershad area into a

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

as part of the Romanian-occupied

Transnistria Governorate The Transnistria Governorate () was a Romanian-administered territory between the Dniester and Southern Bug, conquered by the Axis Powers from the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. A Romanian civilian administration governed the territo ...

. Many of the ghetto victims were Jews brought in from

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

. Thousands of Jews were starved to death in the ghetto during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, including the writer and poet Mordechai Goldenberg.

Sports

Bershad is home to the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club

FC Nyva Bershad Nyva Bershad is a Ukrainian football club and currently competes in the Vinnytsia Oblast Football League is from Bershad, Vinnytsia Oblast. History From 1996 the team competed in the Vinnytsia Oblast Football League replacing FC Sportinvest Kry ...

Notable people

* Yury Kovalenko (1977–2014), a Ukrainian military leader,

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

Anatoliy Matviyenko Anatoliy Serhiyovych Matviyenko (, March 22, 1953 – May 22, 2020) was a Ukrainian politician, founder of several political parties in the country. Matviyenko was 6 times elected to the Ukrainian parliament. Biography Matviyenko was born on Ma ...

(1953–2020), a Ukrainian politician *

Witold Pruszkowski Witold Pruszkowski (14 January 1846, Bershad - 10 October 1896, Budapest) was a Polish painter and graphic artist in the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist style. Biography He spent his childhood in Odessa and Kiev. The family emigrated to Dieppe ...

(1846–1896), a Polish painter, was born in Bershad *

Roman Shvartsman Roman Markovych Shvartsman (; born November 7, 1936) is chairman of the Odesa regional Association of Jews – former prisoners of ghetto and Nazi concentration camps. He is Vice President of the Ukrainian Association of Jews - former prisoners ...

(born 1936), a chairman of the

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

regional Association of Jews – former prisoners of ghetto and Nazi concentration camps * Nadezhda Ulanovskaya (1903–1986), a Soviet intelligence

GRU Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series. Gru or GRU may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper * Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga'' Organizations Georgia (c ...

officer

History

Sports

Notable people

References

External links