NOVOZYBKOV, town in Oriol district, Russian Federation. Before the 1917 Revolution, Novozybkov was a district town in the province of Chernigov in the *Pale of Settlement. Although the town was founded at the beginning of the 19th century, it was not until the middle of that century that Jews were permitted to live there. In 1847 they numbered 446, and in 1897 there were 3,836 Jewish residents (about 25% of the total population). A talmud torah existed there. In October 1905 the town was subjected to pogroms. In 1926, 4,825 Jews (22.4% of the total) lived there, with the number dropping to 3,129 in 1939 (13% of the total population.). The Germans occupied the town on August 16, 1941, and on February 18, 1942, they murdered the 950 remaining Jews in a forest near the railway station. There is no subsequent information on any Jewish life in the town.
[Yehuda Slutsky /
Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)]
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.