Perevalsk (; ) is a city in

Alchevsk urban hromada Alchevsk urban hromada () is a hromada of Ukraine, located in Alchevsk Raion, Luhansk Oblast. Its administrative center is the city Alchevsk. The hromada contains 35 settlements: 4 cities (Alchevsk, Zorynsk, Kypuche, and Perevalsk), 12 rural s ...

Alchevsk Raion Alchevsk Raion (; ) is a prospective raion (district) of Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. It was formally created in July 2020 as part of the reform of administrative divisions of Ukraine. The center of the raion is in the town of Alchevsk. Population: ...

Luhansk Oblast Luhansk Oblast (; ), also referred to as Luhanshchyna (), is the easternmost Administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the n ...

(

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

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 ...

. Population: , Perevalsk borders immediately on the larger town of

Alchevsk Alchevsk (; ) is a city and the nominal administrative center of Alchevsk Raion in Luhansk Oblast, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. It is located from the administrative center of the oblast, Luhansk. Population: Alchevsk is one of t ...

which in 1961–1991 also was named after the Paris Commune as Kommunarsk. Perevalsk has been 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 ...

and its proxy the

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR; , ) is a disputed territory administered as a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk. The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitar ...

since 2014.

History

Perevalsk was founded in 1889 as Seleznyovsky Quarry, for the workers in

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

and it belonged to Podolian nobleman and Imperial Russian loyal subject Kazimierz Mscichowski. Over time it grew by incorporating similar miner's settlements. In 1924 it was renamed as imeni Parizhskoi Kommuny (after the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

) out of brevity was referred to as Parkommuna. In 1938 it adopted its shortened name, Parkommuna, as official, and in 1964 it acquired its present name. In 1964, it became the administrative center of the newly established

Perevalsk Raion Perevalsk Raion () was a raion (district) of Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine, between 1939 and 2020. The administrative center of the raion was the city of Perevalsk. The last estimate of the raion population, reported by the Ukrainian government, was ...

During World War II

During the

Second World War 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 ...

, in December 1941, the front line was around 20 to 30 kilometers away from the city. On 12 (or 13) July 1942, the

German army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

occupied the city. They occupied the city for almost 14 months. During the occupation, the German army carried out mass executions against both Soviet prisoners-of-war and local residents. The corpses of the 1,100 victims who were massacred by the Germans were ruthlessly thrown into a nearby mine shaft, where they were dumped and littered. The entire Jewish community of the city of Perevalsk was also massacred by the Germans. Around 1,180 residents from the city were also taken and forcibly deported to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

for hard labor. The city suffered great damage because of destruction caused by the Germans, who disabled the city's mines, and destroyed many buildings and institutions, turning them into large ruins. The city was ultimately liberated from German occupation by the Soviet troops on 2 September 1943. Many adult residents of the city went to the frontline and fought against the German troops in battles, for which they were awarded orders and battles. The title of

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

were awarded to the following three residents of the city, including: Alexander Pikalov, Soviet commander of a platoon and his comrade Vladimir Kosinov, a company party organizer, and

Nikolai Polyakov Nikolay Poljakov (born June 14, 1951) is a Soviet sailor. He won the silver medal in Soling in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of R ...

, a Soviet soldier who died while fighting against the German troops during the

Soviet Invasion of Hungary The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

in 1945.

During the conflict and war with Russia

Since 2014, Perevalsk has been administered as a part of the self-proclaimed

(LPR). Perevalsk Raion was abolished by the Ukrainian government in 2020. Following the

2022 annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine In late September 2022, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian-installed officials in Ukraine staged so-called referendums on the annexation of occupied territories of Ukraine by Russia. They were widely described as sham r ...

, Russia has declared the territory as their own, as part of their LPR.

Demographics

As of the

2001 Ukrainian census The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

and

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

account for more than 95% of the city's population, while

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

Moldovans Moldovans, sometimes referred to as Moldavians (, , ), are an ethnic group native to Moldova, who mostly speak the Romanian language, also referred to locally as Moldovan language, Moldovan. Moldovans form significant communities in Romania, It ...

and

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

form small minorities.

Notable people

* Anatoliy Yarosh (born 1952), Ukrainian athlete

References

Cities in Luhansk Oblast Alchevsk Raion Cities of district significance in Ukraine Populated places established in the Russian Empire Alchevsk urban hromada {{Luhansk-geo-stub