Bilohirsk (until 1944 – Karasubazar, ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of

Bilohirsk Raion Bilohirsk Raion (, , ) is one of the 25 regions of Crimea, currently occupied by Russian Federation. Population: This landlocked region is situated in the foothills of the central Crimea. The raion's administrative centre is the historical town ...

, one of the raions (districts) of the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a ''de jure'' administrative division of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,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 ...

, but is occupied by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Population:

Geography

The city is located 25 miles east-northeast of

Simferopol Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...

on the Biiuk Karasu river. The city's both Russian and Ukrainian names literally are translated as "white mountains", and the Crimean Tatar name Qarasuvbazar means "

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

on the Karasu river". The site is low, but the town is surrounded by hills, which afford protection from the north wind. The town has a characteristic Crimean Tatar atmosphere. Placed on the high road between

and

Kerch Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of Founded 2,600 years ago as the Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, ancient Greek colony Pantik ...

, and in the midst of a country rich in

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

land,

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s and

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

s, Qarasubazar ('black water market') used to be a chief seat of commercial activity in Crimea; including a large slave market but it is gradually declining in importance, though still a considerable centre for the export of fruit. The

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s of Akkaya close by give evidence of early occupation of the area.

Climate

History

In Crimea, it was the capital of a separate kaimakamlik. In the 15th century, it became a significant city and by the end of the 16th century, it surpassed all the cities of the peninsula in terms of population. Since 1623, it was called Karasubazar (which translates from Crimean Tatar as "market on black water"). The Zaporozhian Cossacks conquered Karasubazar three times (in 1624, 1628, and 1630). In 1675, a group of Zaporozhian Cossacks led by the koshevoy otaman Sirk launched a raid on Karasubazar and liberated a thousand prisoners. In 1736, after the Russian field marshal Minich occupied and burned the Khan's capital of Bakhchisarai, the Crimean Khan Fetih Geray moved the capital to Karasubazar, and from 1737, the city was occupied by Russian troops under the leadership of General Douglas. In 1772, the Karasubazar Treaty was signed in the city, which formally defined the status of the Crimean Khanate as an independent state. When in 1736 Khan Fetih Giray was driven by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

from Bakhchysarayi, he settled at Karasubazar, but next year the town was captured, plundered and burned by the Russian army. In 1777, a Russian detachment led by A. Suvorov defeated Ottoman-Tatar forces in the vicinity of Karasubazar. From 1784, Karasubazar was the center of the main administration of the newly annexed Novoprisoedinyonny Krai. Since ancient times, it was a multicultural city, and until the 1770s, a significant part of its population was Armenian, which was one of the centers for the creation of Armenian manuscripts. According to the census of 1897, the population increased to 12,968 people (6,603 men and 6,365 women), of which 2,515 were Orthodox, 3,191 were Jewish, and 6,330 were Muslim. Since 1921, it has been a district center, and since 1926, it has been a city. Retreating

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

shot a number of local people in the streets in 1941. Qarasuvbazar was occupied by the German army from 1941 to 1944 during World War II. During the occupation, the Germans executed the town's Jews in an anti-tank trench. After the

deportation of the Crimean Tatars The deportation of the Crimean Tatars (, Cyrillic: Къырымтатар халкъынынъ сюргюнлиги) or the ('exile') was the ethnic cleansing and the cultural genocide of at least 191,044 Crimean Tatars that was carried out ...

, the town was renamed Belogorsk per Stalinist

detatarization The de-Tatarization of Crimea (; ; ) was initiated by the Russian Empire and perpetuated by the Soviet Union. Following the Russian Empire's annexation of the Crimean Khanate in 1783, a variety of legal and practical measures were implemented ...

policy.

References

External links

jewishgen.org

The murder of the Jews of Qarasuvbazar
during

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 ...

, at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilohirsk Cities in Crimea Bilohirsk Raion Crimean Khanate Cities of district significance in Ukraine Holocaust locations in Ukraine