# Berdychiv

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City in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine

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City in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine

Berdychiv Бердичів City Carmelite Monastery St. Barbara's Church District House of Culture Flag Coat of arms Interactive map of Berdychiv Berdychiv Location of Berdychiv Show map of Zhytomyr Oblast Berdychiv Berdychiv (Ukraine) Show map of Ukraine Coordinates: 49°54′0″N 28°34′0″E / 49.90000°N 28.56667°E / 49.90000; 28.56667 Country Ukraine Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast Raion Berdychiv Raion Hromada Berdychiv urban hromada Founded 1430 Government • Head of City Council Kolyada Bohdan Oleksandrovych (acting) Population (2022) • Total 73,046 Website berdychiv.com.ua

**Berdychiv** ([Ukrainian](/source/Ukrainian_language): Берди́чів, IPA: [\[berˈdɪtʃiu̯\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Ukrainian) [ⓘ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uk-%D0%91%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%87%D1%96%D0%B2.ogg); [Russian](/source/Russian_language): Берди́чев; [Polish](/source/Polish_language): *Berdyczów*; [Yiddish](/source/Yiddish_language): בערדיטשעוו) is a historic city in [Zhytomyr Oblast](/source/Zhytomyr_Oblast), northern [Ukraine](/source/Ukraine). It serves as the [administrative center](/source/Administrative_center) of [Berdychiv Raion](/source/Berdychiv_Raion) within the oblast. It is 44 km (27 mi) south of the administrative center of the oblast, [Zhytomyr](/source/Zhytomyr). Its population is approximately 73,046 (2022 estimate).[1]

The area has seen various cultural influences and political changes over time, from its early settlement by the [Chernyakhov culture](/source/Chernyakhov_culture) to its position within the [Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish-Lithuanian_Commonwealth) and later, the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire). Berdychiv was an important trading and banking center in its heyday, but the town became impoverished after the banking industry moved to [Odesa](/source/Odesa) in the mid-19th century. Berdychiv was also a significant center of Jewish history, with a large Jewish population and an important role in the development of Hasidism. However, during [World War II](/source/World_War_II), the Nazis and their collaborators brutally massacred tens of thousands of Jews in Berdychiv. Before the [Holocaust](/source/The_Holocaust), about 80 percent of the town’s population was Jewish.

The city has seen continued conflict, with damage sustained during the [Russian invasion of Ukraine](/source/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine) beginning in 2022.

## Name

In addition to the [Ukrainian](/source/Ukrainian_language) Бердичів (*Berdychiv*), in other languages the name of the city is [Polish](/source/Polish_language): *Berdyczów*, [Yiddish](/source/Yiddish_language): באַרדיטשעװ, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Yiddish): *Barditshev* and [Russian](/source/Russian_language): Берди́чев, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Russian): *Berdichev*.

## History

Historical affiliations

[Grand Duchy of Lithuania](/source/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania) 1430–1569 [Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth) 1569–1793 [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) 1793–1917 [Ukrainian People's Republic](/source/Ukrainian_People's_Republic) 1917–1918 [Ukrainian State](/source/Ukrainian_State) 1918 [Directory of Ukraine](/source/Directory_of_Ukraine) 1918–1919 [Soviet Ukraine](/source/Soviet_Ukraine) 1919–1920 [Second Polish Republic](/source/Second_Polish_Republic) 1920 [Soviet Ukraine](/source/Soviet_Ukraine) 1920–1922 [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union) 1922–1941 [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany) 1941–1944 (*occupation*) [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union) 1944-1991 [Ukraine](/source/Ukraine) 1991–present

### Early history

The territory on which the city is located was inhabited as early as the 2nd millennium BC. [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age) settlements and the remains of two settlements of the [Chernyakhov culture](/source/Chernyakhov_culture) were discovered here.

In 1430, Grand Duke of Lithuania [Vytautas](/source/Vytautas) (великий князь литовський Вітовт) granted the rights over the area to Kalinik, the procurator (намісник) of [Putyvl](/source/Putyvl) and [Zvenyhorodka](/source/Zvenyhorodka), and it is believed that his servant named Berdich founded a *[khutor](/source/Khutor)* (remote settlement) there. However the [etymology](/source/Etymology) of the name *Berdychiv* is not known.

In 1483, [Crimean Tatars](/source/Crimean_Tatars) destroyed the settlement. In 1545, Berdyczów was mentioned as a property of the Polish-Lithuanian magnate [Tyszkiewicz family](/source/Tyszkiewicz_family), and in a 1546 document settling the border between [Poland](/source/Crown_of_the_Kingdom_of_Poland) and Lithuania within the [Polish–Lithuanian union](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_union).[2]

### Polish rule

According to the [Union of Lublin](/source/Union_of_Lublin) (1569), Berdyczów passed to Poland within the [Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth). It was granted city rights in 1593 and was a [private town](/source/Private_town), administratively located in the Żytomierz County in the [Kijów Voivodeship](/source/Kij%C3%B3w_Voivodeship) in the [Lesser Poland Province](/source/Lesser_Poland_Province%2C_Crown_of_the_Kingdom_of_Poland).

The fortified [Carmelite monastery](/source/Berdychiv_Carmelite_Monastery) was built from 1627 to 1642 with funding from [Janusz Tyszkiewicz Łohojski](/source/Janusz_Tyszkiewicz_%C5%81ohojski). In 1643, Bishop [Andrzej Szołdrski](/source/Andrzej_Szo%C5%82drski) laid the foundation stone of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Saint Michael Archangel and Saint John the Baptist.[3] Berdyczów became a Catholic pilgrimage destination and an important defensive fortress on the eastern flank of Western Christian civilization.[3]

The monastery was captured and plundered by [Bohdan Khmelnytsky](/source/Bohdan_Khmelnytsky) in 1647.[4]

In 1687, Teresa Tyszkiewicz married [Krzysztof Stanisław Zawisza](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Krzysztof_Stanis%C5%82aw_Zawisza&action=edit&redlink=1) [[pl](https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Stanis%C5%82aw_Zawisza)], and Berdyczów passed to the Zawisza family of [Łabędź coat of arms](/source/%C5%81ab%C4%99d%C5%BA_coat_of_arms).[3] Krzysztof Stanisław Zawisza erected a new manor house in the city.[3]

Following the suppression of [Paliy uprising](/source/Paliy_uprising), [hetman](/source/Hetman_of_the_Zaporozhian_Host) [Ivan Mazepa](/source/Ivan_Mazepa) imprisoned its leader [Semen Paliy](/source/Semen_Paliy) in the underground [crypt](/source/Crypt) of Berdychiv's Carmelite Monastery.[5]

After the death of Krzysztof Stanisław Zawisza in 1721, the town passed to his daughter Barbara Franciszka, wife of Prince [Mikołaj Faustyn Radziwiłł](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miko%C5%82aj_Faustyn_Radziwi%C5%82%C5%82&action=edit&redlink=1) [[pl](https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miko%C5%82aj_Faustyn_Radziwi%C5%82%C5%82)], thus passing to the [Radziwiłł family](/source/Radziwi%C5%82%C5%82_family).[6] Berdyczów flourished during the rule of Kings [Augustus III of Poland](/source/Augustus_III_of_Poland) and [Stanisław August Poniatowski](/source/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski).[6] In 1760 a printing house was founded at the monastery,[7] which in 1777 printed the oldest Polish encyclopedia for children.

18th-century view of the Carmelite monastery (by Teodor Rakowiecki)

In 1768, [Kazimierz Pulaski](/source/Kazimierz_Pulaski) defended the city with his 700 men surrounded by royal army during [Bar Confederation](/source/Bar_Confederation).

The town underwent rapid development after king [Stanisław August Poniatowski](/source/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski), under pressure from the powerful [Radziwiłł family](/source/Radziwi%C5%82%C5%82_family), granted it the unusual right to organize ten [fairs](/source/Fair) a year. This made Berdychiv one of the most important trading and banking centers in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and later, the Russian Empire. At the time, the saying "Pisz na Berdyczów!" ('Send letters to Berdychiv!') had an [idiomatic](/source/Idiomatic) meaning; because merchants from all over Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and the rest of eastern and central Europe were sure to visit the town within two or three months of each other, it became a central [poste restante](/source/Poste_restante) (post office box) of the region. Later, because of the phrase being used in a popular poem by [Juliusz Słowacki](/source/Juliusz_S%C5%82owacki), "Pisz na Berdyczów!" acquired a second meaning as a brush-off; "send me a letter to nowhere" or "leave me alone".[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Ohel (tomb-prayer house) [Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev](/source/Levi_Yitzchok_of_Berditchev)

According to the census of 1789, [Jews](/source/Jews) constituted 75% of Berdychiv's population.[*[full citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources#What_information_to_include)*] In 1797, Prince [Radziwill](/source/Radziwill) granted seven Jewish families the monopoly [privilege](/source/Privilege_(legal_ethics)) of the cloth trade in the town. By the end of the 18th century, Berdychiv became an important center of [Hasidism](/source/Hasidism). As the town grew, a number of noted scholars served as rabbis there, including Lieber the Great, Joseph the Harif and the [Tzadik](/source/Tzadik) [Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev](/source/Levi_Yitzchok_of_Berditchev) (the author of *Kedushat Levi*), who lived and taught there until his death in 1809.[a] Berdychiv was also one of the centers of the conflict between Hasidim and [Mitnagdim](/source/Mitnagdim).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

### In the Russian Empire

In 1793, after the [Second Partition of Poland](/source/Second_Partition_of_Poland) and the annexation of Right-Bank Ukraine to the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire), Berdychiv became part of the Volyn Province as a town of [Zhitomirsky Uyezd](/source/Zhitomirsky_Uyezd). In 1798, it had 864 houses and 4820 people. The town was the administrative centre of the [Berdichevsky Uyezd](/source/Berdichevsky_Uyezd), a part of the [Kyiv Governorate](/source/Kyiv_Governorate) (1796–1925).

Trade began to decline since 1798, however it revived during the [Napoleonic Wars](/source/Napoleonic_Wars) in 1812–1814.[7] Jews were a major driving force of the town's commerce in the first half of the 19th century, founding a number of trading companies (some traded internationally) and banking establishments, and serving as agents of the neighboring estates of Polish nobility ([szlachta](/source/Szlachta)). As the ideas of [Haskalah](/source/Haskalah) influenced parts of the Jewish communities, a large group of [Maskilim](/source/Maskilim) formed in Berdychiv in the 1820s. In 1847, 23,160 Jews resided in Berdychiv and by 1861 the number doubled to 46,683. Berdychiv became the city with the largest share of Jewish population in Ukraine and the Russian Empire. The [May Laws](/source/May_Laws) of 1882 and other government persecutions affected Jewish population and in 1897, out of the town's population of 53,728, 41,617 (about 80%) were Jewish.[4] 58% of Jewish males and 32% of Jewish females were literate. [*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

In 1840 the Carmelite printing house was moved to [Zhytomyr](/source/Zhytomyr).[7] In 1831 local schools were closed down by Tsarist authorities as punishment for the unsuccessful Polish [November Uprising](/source/November_Uprising), and in 1864 the Carmelite monastery was dissolved as punishment for the [January Uprising](/source/January_Uprising).[4][8] In 1837, the [Związek Ludu Polskiego](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zwi%C4%85zek_Ludu_Polskiego&action=edit&redlink=1) [[pl](https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwi%C4%85zek_Ludu_Polskiego)] [Polish resistance organization](/source/Resistance_movements_in_partitioned_Poland_(1795%E2%80%931918)) was founded in the city. The banking industry was moved from Berdychiv to [Odesa](/source/Odesa) (a major port city) after 1850, and the town became impoverished again in a short period of time.

Early 20th-century view of the city

Until the mid-19th century, Berdychiv was one of the biggest cities in Ukraine as centre of grain and cattle trade and small-scale industry, such as [mercery](/source/Mercery) and [shoemaking](/source/Shoemaking).[5] In 1846, the town had 1893 buildings, 69 of which were brick-made, 11 streets, 80 alleys, and four squares. [Honoré de Balzac](/source/Honor%C3%A9_de_Balzac) visited it in 1850 and noted that its unplanned development made it resemble the dance of a [polka](/source/Polka) as some buildings leaned left while others leaned right. In 1857, Polish-British writer [Joseph Conrad](/source/Joseph_Conrad), regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the [English language](/source/English_language), was born in Berdychiv.

During the second half of the 19th century Berdychiv's population stagnated due to the decline of fairs and emergence of [railways](/source/Railway).[5] Around the turn of the 20th century, Berdychiv counted some 80 [synagogues](/source/Synagogue) and *[batei midrash](/source/Beit_midrash)*,[9] and was famous for its cantors.[10]

### World War I and interwar period

By [World War I](/source/World_War_I), the city's population had reached around 100,000,[5] but the natural growth was balanced by the emigration. After the [February Revolution](/source/February_Revolution), during the [Russian Civil War](/source/Russian_Civil_War) and [Ukrainian War of Independence](/source/Ukrainian_War_of_Independence), in 1918–19, Berdychiv's mayor and chairman of its Jewish community was the [Bundist](/source/General_Jewish_Labour_Bund_in_Lithuania%2C_Poland_and_Russia) leader [David Petrovsky](/source/David_Petrovsky) (Lipetz). As mayor he managed to prevent a planned multi-day pogrom in Berdychiv by [haidamaks](/source/Haydamak) from the *Kuren Smerti* (Clan of Death)[*[clarification needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify)*], thus saving thousands of lives.[11]

Former Red Cross Hospital

After the fall of Tsarist Russia, the town was under control of the newly formed [Ukrainian People's Republic](/source/Ukrainian_People's_Republic) from 1917 to 1919. In early 1918 [German troops](/source/Reichswehr) [passed](/source/Operation_Faustschlag) through the city along with Ukrainian forces, including [Sich Riflemen](/source/Sich_Riflemen), and defeated the [Bolsheviks](/source/Bolsheviks).[5] After a short period of time under the rule of [Ukrainian State](/source/Ukrainian_State) in 1918, Berdychiv eventually fell to the Communists and was included within [Soviet Ukraine](/source/Soviet_Ukraine) in October 1919. On 26 April 1920, it was the site of a battle in which Poles defeated the Soviets and liberated the city during the [Kyiv offensive](/source/Kyiv_offensive_(1920)) and [Polish–Soviet War](/source/Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_War).[12] Polish troops also liberated dozens of Polish hostages, who were brought by the Soviets to the town from Zhytomyr.[12] After another battle, on 7 June 1920, it was lost by the Poles to the Russian [1st Cavalry Army](/source/1st_Cavalry_Army), which then carried out a massacre of hundreds of wounded Polish and Ukrainian soldiers plus [Red Cross](/source/Red_Cross) workers and nuns, who were burned alive in the local hospital.[13]

In the 1920s, the [Yiddish language](/source/Yiddish_language) was officially recognized and, beginning in 1924, the city had a Ukrainian court of law that conducted its affairs in Yiddish.[14] In 1923, Berdychiv became the center of the district and district of the same name, and in 1937 it entered the Zhytomyr region.

By 1926 Jews compised 55% of Berdychiv's population.[5] The Soviet authorities closed most of the town's synagogues by the 1930s.[9] All remaining Jewish cultural and educational institutions were suspended in the second half of the 1930s, before the beginning of [World War II](/source/World_War_II).[15]

The city suffered from the man-made famine [Holodomor of 1932-1933](/source/Holodomor). In 2008, the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide published the *National Book of Memory of the Victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine. Zhytomyr region*.[16] The book has 1116 pages and consists of three sections. According to historical records, more than 2,490 people died during Holodomor in 1932-1933.

In 1936, part of the Polish population was expelled by the Soviets to Kazakhstan.[17] By 1939 Berdychiv's population consisted of 66,000 inhabitants.[5]

### World War II and the Holocaust

German occupation in 1941

Most civilians from areas near the border did not have a chance to evacuate when the [Nazis](/source/Nazi_Germany) began their invasion on 22 June 1941. Berdychiv was occupied by the [German Army](/source/Wehrmacht) from [7 July 1941](/source/Operation_Barbarossa) to [5 January 1944](/source/Zhitomir-Berdichev_Offensive). An "extermination" German SS unit was established in Berdychiv in early July 1941 and a Jewish [ghetto](/source/Nazi_ghettos) was set up. It was stated in one of the [Einsatzgruppen reports](/source/Einsatzgruppen_reports) that on "Sept. 1, and 2, 1941, leaflets and inflammatory pamphlets were distributed by Jews in Berdychiv. As the perpetrators could not be found, 1,303 Jews, among them 875 Jewesses over 12 years, were executed by a unit of the Higher SS and Police Leaders".[18] The ghetto was liquidated on 5 October 1941, when all the inhabitants were murdered. Eyewitnesses stated that Ukrainian auxiliary police aided the 25-member shooting squad in corralling Jews into the ghetto, policing it, and killing those who attempted to escape.[19] One witness to a mass killing of Jews in Berdychiv said, "They had to wear their festivity-dresses. Then their clothes and valuables were taken. The pits were dug and filled in by war prisoners who were executed shortly after."[20]

According to figures from the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission, a total of 10,656 individuals had been murdered here by the end of 1943.[21]

The Nazis likely killed 20,000 to 30,000 Jews in Berdychiv, but a 1973 Ukrainian-language article about the history of Berdychiv says, "The [Gestapo](/source/Gestapo) killed 38,536 people." ([Ukrainian](/source/Ukrainian_language): "Гестапівці стратили 38 536 чоловік.")[22]

Although this photograph is often identified as *[The Last Jew in Vinnitsa](/source/The_Last_Jew_in_Vinnitsa)* it is now believed to show an unknown Jewish man—probably on 28 July 1941 in Berdychiv—about to be shot dead by [Jakobus Onnen](/source/Jakobus_Onnen), a member of *[Einsatzgruppe C](/source/Einsatzgruppe_C)*.

The Germans operated a Nazi prison, a [forced labour](/source/Forced_labour_under_German_rule_during_World_War_II) camp, a Jewish forced labour battalion and temporarily the Stalag 339 [prisoner-of-war camp](/source/German_prisoner-of-war_camps_in_World_War_II) in the town.[23][24][25][26]

An infamous photograph from [the Holocaust in Ukraine](/source/The_Holocaust_in_Ukraine) is believed by researchers to have been made at Berdychiv. The photo is known as *[The Last Jew in Vinnitsa](/source/The_Last_Jew_in_Vinnitsa)*, showing an unknown Jewish man—probably on 28 July 1941—about to be shot dead by a member of the *[Einsatzgruppen](/source/Einsatzgruppen)*, a mobile [death squad](/source/Death_squad) of the German *[SS](/source/Schutzstaffel)*. The victim is kneeling beside a [mass grave](/source/Mass_grave) already containing bodies; behind, a group of *SS* and [Reich Labor Service](/source/Reich_Labour_Service) men watch.[27] Recent research has suggested that the photograph was probably taken at the abandoned Berdychiv Carmelite Monastery, which can be seen in an alternative print of the photograph, and not in [Vinnytsia](/source/Vinnytsia).[28]

Berdychiv was the hometown of Soviet novelist [Vasily Grossman](/source/Vasily_Grossman), who worked as a war correspondent. Grossman's mother was murdered in the massacre. He wrote a detailed description of the events for publication in *[The Black Book](/source/Black_Book_(World_War_II))*, edited by Grossman and [Ilya Ehrenburg](/source/Ilya_Ehrenburg), which dealt with the German treatment of [Soviet Jews](/source/History_of_the_Jews_in_the_Soviet_Union) in the [Holocaust](/source/Holocaust). Originally meant for publication in the Soviet Union, it was banned there; one volume was eventually published in [Bucharest](/source/Bucharest) in 1947. The original manuscript is in the archive of [Yad Vashem](/source/Yad_Vashem), Jerusalem.[29] A detailed account of the massacre as told by the narrator's mother appears in a fictionalized context in Grossman's novel *[Life and Fate](/source/Life_and_Fate)*, which is widely available in an English translation by [Robert Chandler](/source/Robert_Chandler_(translator)).

### Postwar era

Under the [Soviet rule](/source/Soviet_Union) Berdychiv developed as a centre of [sugar industry](/source/Sugar_industry), [machine building](/source/Machine_building) and [light industry](/source/Light_industry), and served as an important railway hub. Several establishments of higher education were active, as well as a theatre and a historical museum. The territory of the Carmelite Monastery was transformed into a historical reserve.[5]

### 21st century

#### Russia invasion of Ukraine

During the [Russian invasion of Ukraine](/source/Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine) that began in 2022, on 16 March 2022, Berdychiv was damaged by Russian air strikes. A few buildings were torn down.[30]

## Demographics

Year Total population Jewish population 1789 2,640 1,951 (75%) 1847 ? 23,160 1861 ? 46,683 1867 52,563 41,617 (80%) 1926 55,417 30,812 (55.6%) 1941 ? 0 1946 ? 6,000 1972 77,000 15,000 (est) 1989 92,000 ? 2001 88,000 1000

### Ethnicity

Distribution of the population by ethnicity according to the [2001 Ukrainian census](/source/2001_Ukrainian_census):[31]

Ethnic groups in Berdychiv percent Ukrainians 84.83% Russians 8.74% Poles 4.73% Jews 0.46% Belarusians 0.43% Moldovans 0.10% Gypsies 0.10% Armenians 0.09% Germans 0.08%

### Language

Distribution of the population by native language according to the [2001 census](/source/2001_Ukrainian_census):[32]

Language Percentage Ukrainian 88.96% Russian 10.59% other/undecided 0.45%

## Notable people

Alphabetically by surname. Pseudonyms treated as one word.

- [Honoré de Balzac](/source/Honor%C3%A9_de_Balzac) (1799–1850), French novelist and playwright, married in Berdychiv

- [Joseph Conrad](/source/Joseph_Conrad) (1857–1924), Polish and British writer

- [John Demjanjuk](/source/John_Demjanjuk) (born Ivan Mykolaiovych Demjanjuk; 1920–2012), Ukrainian-American accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out while serving as a guard at Nazi extermination camps during World War II

- [Der Nister](/source/Der_Nister), pen name of Pinchus Kahanovich (1884–1950), Yiddish author, philosopher, translator, and critic

- Charles Joachim Ephrussi, the patriarch of the [Ephrussi family](/source/Ephrussi_family) grain dynasty

- [Lipa Feingold](/source/Lipa_Feingold) (1878–1945), American jeweler and composer

- [Abraham Firkovich](/source/Abraham_Firkovich), [Karaite](/source/Karaite_Judaism) hakham

- [Polina Gelman](/source/Polina_Gelman), member of the [Night Witches](/source/Night_Witches)

- [Abraham Goldfaden](/source/Abraham_Goldfaden) (1840–1908), considered the father of the Jewish modern theatre

- [Israel Grodner](/source/Israel_Grodner) (c. 1848 – 1887), one of the founding performers in Yiddish theater

- [Vasily Grossman](/source/Vasily_Grossman) (1905–1964), Soviet Russian writer and journalist

- Hessye Halperin, mother of actor [Jacob Pavlovich Adler](/source/Jacob_Pavlovich_Adler) (1855–1926)

- [Felix Lembersky](/source/Felix_Lembersky), fine arts, painter (1913–1970), born and raised in Berdychiv, worked as theater stage designer

- [Osip Mikhailovich Lerner](/source/Osip_Mikhailovich_Lerner) (Y. Y. Lerner), writer, critic, and folklorist

- [Raquel Liberman](/source/Raquel_Liberman) (1900–35), Jewish-Polish victim of [human trafficking](/source/Human_trafficking_in_Argentina) who broke up the notorious [Zwi Migdal](/source/Zwi_Migdal) [forced-prostitution](/source/Forced_prostitution) ring in [Argentina](/source/Argentina).

- [Viacheslav Mishchenko](/source/Viacheslav_Mishchenko) (born 1964), Ukrainian photo artist and painter

- [Mendele Mocher Sforim](/source/Mendele_Mocher_Sforim), pen name of Sholem Yankev Abramovich, Jewish author and one of the founders of modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature

- [Vsevolod Nestayko](/source/Vsevolod_Nestayko) (1930–2014), Ukrainian children's writer

- [Pedotser](/source/Pedotser), whose real name was A.M. Kholodenko (1828-1902), a [Klezmer](/source/Klezmer) violin virtuoso

- [David Petrovsky](/source/David_Petrovsky) (1886–1937) — the mayor of the city and the chairman of the Jewish community of Berdychiv in 1918–1919, a member of the Central Committee of the [General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia](/source/General_Jewish_Labour_Bund_in_Lithuania%2C_Poland_and_Russia), a member of the Central Committee of the [Jewish Socialist Federation](/source/Jewish_Socialist_Federation) and the [Socialist Party of America](/source/Socialist_Party_of_America), the editor of the *[Jewish Daily Forward](/source/Jewish_Daily_Forward)* newspaper in New York, journalist, political and economic scientist, the statesman of the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union).

- [Antoni Protazy Potocki](/source/Antoni_Protazy_Potocki), szlachta (owned and organized several factories in the village of Makhnivka, near Berdychiv)

- [Anatoliy Puzach](/source/Anatoliy_Puzach) (1941–2006), Soviet football player and Ukrainian coach

- [Sholem Aleichem](/source/Sholem_Aleichem), pen name of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (1859–1916), leading Yiddish author and playwright, lived here doing research for his novels in the 1880s

- [Boris Sidis](/source/Boris_Sidis) (1867–1923), Ukrainian American psychologist, physician, psychiatrist, and philosopher of education

- [Valeriy Skvortsov](/source/Valeriy_Skvortsov) (1945–) Soviet high jumper; European champion

- [Stempenyu](/source/Stempenyu), stage name of Iosef Druker (1822–79), a klezmer violin virtuoso and bandleader

- [Dmytro Tymchuk](/source/Dmytro_Tymchuk) (1972–2019) Ukrainian Army Reserve colonel, *"informatsiinyi sprotyv"* group coordinator

- [Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev](/source/Levi_Yitzchok_of_Berditchev) (*Levi Yosef Yitzhak of Berdichev*; 1740–1809), Torah commentator, chassidic rabbi, leader, religious songwriter, and leader of the [Berditchev](/source/Berditchev_(Hasidic_dynasty)) [Hasidic dynasty](/source/List_of_Hasidic_dynasties).

Some sources erroneously claim that the pianist [Vladimir Horowitz](/source/Vladimir_Horowitz) was born in Berdychiv. Horowitz's birth certificate unequivocally gives Kyiv as his birthplace.[33]

## Gallery

		- Church of St. Barbara

		- Carmelite monastery

		- Carmelite monastery

		- A dwelling house in Berdychiv

		- Former commercial college

		- Former hospital building

		- Grossman's Mansion, Berdychiv

		- Synagogue

		- Saint Nicholas Church

		- Jewish cemetery

## Berdychiv on stage

- *See: [Abraham Ellstein](/source/Abraham_Ellstein)*

## See also

- [History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union](/source/History_of_the_Jews_in_Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union)

- [Berdichev machine-building plant](/source/Berdichev_machine-building_plant)

## Notes and references

### Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** See [Berditchev (Hasidic dynasty)](/source/Berditchev_(Hasidic_dynasty))

### References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ua2022estimate_1-0)** [Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022](http://db.ukrcensus.gov.ua/PXWEB2007/ukr/publ_new1/2022/zb_%D0%A1huselnist.pdf) [*Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022*] (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: [State Statistics Service of Ukraine](/source/State_Statistics_Service_of_Ukraine). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20220704164521/https://ukrstat.gov.ua/druk/publicat/kat_u/2022/zb/05/zb_%D0%A1huselnist.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** *Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I* (in Polish). Warszawa. 1880. p. 134.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-sgk135_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-sgk135_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-sgk135_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-sgk135_3-3) *Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I*. p. 135.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-EB1911_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-EB1911_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-EB1911_4-2) One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the [public domain](/source/Public_domain): [Chisholm, Hugh](/source/Hugh_Chisholm), ed. (1911). "[Berdichev](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Berdichev)". *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 767.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ency_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ency_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-ency_5-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-ency_5-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-ency_5-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-ency_5-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-ency_5-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-ency_5-7) Cite error: The named reference ency was invoked but never defined (see the [help page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_references_no_text)).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-sgk136_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-sgk136_6-1) *Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I*. p. 136.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-sgk137_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-sgk137_7-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-sgk137_7-2) *Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I*. p. 137.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** *Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I*. pp. 137–138.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-YIVO2_10-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-YIVO2_10-1) Lukin, Benyamin (15 July 2010). "Berdychiv." *[The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe](/source/The_YIVO_Encyclopedia_of_Jews_in_Eastern_Europe)*. "During the 1920s and 1930s, almost all of the synagogues and prayer houses (about 80) were closed." Retrieved 11 April 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** "[Berdychiv: History](https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/b/835-berdyczow/99-history/137052-history-of-community) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200726213510/https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/b/835-berdyczow/99-history/137052-history-of-community) 26 July 2020 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)". *Virtual Shtetl*. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Retrieved 11 April 2020. "In 1907, there were 78 synagogues and a beit midrash in Berdyczów; cantors from the town were famous all around Ukraine."

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** *Archive of Jewish History*, Volume 8, p.p. 156-177 ([Rosspen](/source/Rosspen), Moscow, 2016)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-wr_13-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-wr_13-1) Rupniewski, Włodzimierz (1929). *Zarys historji wojennej 61-go pułku piechoty wielkopolskiej* (in Polish). Warszawa: Wojskowe Biuro Historyczne. p. 10.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Łukasz Zalesiński. ["Lato z czerwonym terrorem"](https://www.polska-zbrojna.pl/home/articleshow/31771). *Polska Zbrojna* (in Polish). Retrieved 25 October 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** "[Berdychiv: History](https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/b/835-berdyczow/99-history/137052-history-of-community) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200726213510/https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/b/835-berdyczow/99-history/137052-history-of-community) 26 July 2020 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)". *Virtual Shtetl*. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-YIVO_16-0)** Lukin, Benyamin (15 July 2010). "Berdychiv." *[The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe](/source/The_YIVO_Encyclopedia_of_Jews_in_Eastern_Europe)*. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["National Book of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine. Zhytomyr region. — Zhytomyr: «Polissia», 2008. — 1116 pp"](https://holodomormuseum.org.ua/hololomor/natsionalna-knyha-pam-iati-zhertv-holodomoru-1932-1933/). 3 October 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Wyrwa, Maciej (2010). "Zapomniana deportacja". *Kombatant* (in Polish). No. 6 (234). Warszawa: Urząd do Spraw Kombatantów i Osób Represjonowanych. p. 11. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0867-8952](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0867-8952).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["Einsatzgruppen Operational Situation Reports #88 www.HolocaustResearchProject.org"](http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/einsatz/situationreport88.html). Holocaustresearchproject.org. Retrieved 8 May 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Carol Garrard and John Garrard (17 October 1996). ["Ukrainians & the Holocaust"](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1996/oct/17/ukrainians-the-holocaust/). *New York Review of Books*. Retrieved 20 January 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** ["Yahad-In Unum Interactive Map"](http://yahadmap.org/#village/berdychiv-zhytomir-ukraine.12). *Execution Sites of Jewish Victims Investigated by Yahad-In Unum*. Retrieved 20 January 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Tyaglyy, Mykhaylo; Burmistr, Svetlana. ["Голокост у Бердичеві і пам'ять про нього"](http://www.holocaust.kiev.ua/Files/zah_pam/Berdichev.pdf) (PDF). */www.holocaust.kiev.ua*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** [A Soviet article about the history of Berdychiv](http://www.ws.net.ua/berd/berdichev/doc/berdichev/berdichev.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20050425131133/http://www.ws.net.ua/berd/berdichev/doc/berdichev/berdichev.html) 25 April 2005 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (1973, in [Ukrainian language](/source/Ukrainian_language): *Історія міст і сіл УРСР (житомирська область) Бердичів* Є. Громенко, О. О. Павлов)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** ["Gefängnis Berdyciv"](https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=740). *Bundesarchiv.de* (in German). Retrieved 3 December 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** ["Arbeitserziehungslager Berditschew"](https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=403). *Bundesarchiv.de* (in German). Retrieved 3 December 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** ["Jüdisches Arbeitsbataillon Berdyciv"](https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100002174). *Bundesarchiv.de* (in German). Retrieved 3 December 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022). *The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV*. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 335. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-253-06089-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-253-06089-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-pa5355_28-0)** ["Photograph Number 64407: German soldiers of the Waffen-SS and the Reich Labor Service look on as a member of an Einsatzgruppe prepares to shoot a Ukrainian Jew kneeling on the edge of a mass grave filled with corpses"](https://web.archive.org/web/20191122164608/https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa5355). *Collections Search*. [United States Holocaust Memorial Museum](/source/United_States_Holocaust_Memorial_Museum). Archived from [the original](https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa5355) on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Matthaus2023_29-0)** [Matthäus, Jürgen](/source/J%C3%BCrgen_Matth%C3%A4us) (Winter 2023). "'The last Jew in Vinnitsa': Reframing an Iconic Holocaust Photograph". *Holocaust and Genocide Studies*. **37** (3): 349–359. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/hgs/dcad053](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fhgs%2Fdcad053). [Project MUSE](/source/Project_Muse) [918306](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/918306).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** Grossman, Vasily (1944). ["HOLOCAUST IN BERDICHEV"](http://www.berdichev.org/holocaust.html). *The Berdychiv Revival*. Retrieved 22 March 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-31)** ["Ворог завдав авіаудару по Бердичеву, доруйновує Маріуполь, але отримує відсіч ЗСУ - ситуація в регіонах"](https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/03/16/7331800/). *Українська правда* (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 16 March 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** ["Національний склад міст"](https://datatowel.in.ua/pop-composition/ethnic-cities). *Datatowel.in.ua* (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 1 June 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** ["Рідні мови в об'єднаних територіальних громадах України"](https://socialdata.org.ua/projects/mova-2001/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-34)** ["Полновластный король, вечный странник-артист… - Владимир Горовиц - Музыка и театр - Знаменитые киевляне - Интересный Киев"](https://web.archive.org/web/20111018001822/http://www.interesniy.kiev.ua/znamenitye-kievlyane/lyudi-iskusstva/vladimir-gorovits/polnovlastniy-korol-vechniy-strannik-artist/). Archived from [the original](http://www.interesniy.kiev.ua/znamenitye-kievlyane/lyudi-iskusstva/vladimir-gorovits/polnovlastniy-korol-vechniy-strannik-artist) on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2011.

## Further reading

- *From Berdichev to Jerusalem* by [Miriam Sperber](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miriam_Sperber&action=edit&redlink=1), 1980

- *The Bones of Berdichev: The Life and Fate of [Vasily Grossman](/source/Vasily_Grossman)* by John Garrand, 1996

## External links

- ["My Berdychiv" – history, present, people](http://berdychiv.in.ua/) (in [Ukrainian language](/source/Ukrainian_language))

- [Jewish History of Berdichev, Part 1](https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/berdichev/berdichev1.html) and [Part 2](https://web.archive.org/web/20050529143638/http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/berdichev/Berdichevhistory.html) at Jewishgen.org

- [Berdichev](https://web.archive.org/web/20050414101516/http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/pages/t007/t00719.html) at [Simon Wiesenthal Center](/source/Simon_Wiesenthal_Center)

- [Berdychiv lands from the earliest times to the beginning of the 20th century](https://web.archive.org/web/20050528122102/http://www.ws.net.ua/berd/berdichev/doc/markov/main.htm) (1999, in [Ukrainian language](/source/Ukrainian_language): *Бердичівська земля з найдавнішших часів до початку ХХ ст.*)

- [PBS *Independent Lens*: "Berdichev"](https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lastletter/town.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200918034934/https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lastletter/town.html) 18 September 2020 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

- [The murder of the Jews of Berdychiv](http://www.yadvashem.org/untoldstories/database/index.asp?cid=339) during [World War II](/source/World_War_II), at [Yad Vashem](/source/Yad_Vashem) website

- [Berdychiv, Ukraine](https://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/community.php?usbgn=-1035347) at [JewishGen](/source/JewishGen)

- [Holocaust and Remembrance in Berdychiv](http://www.holocaust.kiev.ua/Files/zah_pam/Berdichev.pdf), at [http://www.holocaust.kiev.ua](http://www.holocaust.kiev.ua)

v t e Administrative divisions of Zhytomyr Oblast Administrative center: Zhytomyr Raions Berdychiv Korosten Zhytomyr Zviahel Hromadas Andrushivka Andrushky Baranivka Barashi Berdychiv Berezivka Bilokorovychi Brusyliv Cherniakhiv Chervone Chopovychi Chudniv Chyzhivka Dovbysh Dubrivka Hladkovychi Hlybochytsia Horodnytsia Horodok Horshchik Hryshkivtsi Irshansk Kharytonivka Khoroshiv Kornyn Korosten Korostyshiv Krasnopil Kurne Kvitneve Liubar Luhyny Malyn Myropil Narodychi Nova Borova Novohuivynske Olevsk Oliivka Ovruch Pishchiv Popilnia Potiivka Pulyny Radomyshl Raihorodok Romaniv Romanivka Ruzhyn Semenivka Shvaikivka Slovechne Stanyshivka Starosiltsi Stryieva Teterivka Ushomyr Vchoraishe Vilshanka Volytsia Vyshnevychi Vysoke Yarun Yemilchyne Zhytomyr Zviahel Cities Andrushivka Baranivka Berdychiv Chudniv Korosten Korostyshiv Malyn Olevsk Ovruch Radomyshl Zhytomyr Zviahel

Authority control databases International VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Czech Republic Israel Geographic MusicBrainz area Other IdRef Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine Yale LUX

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Berdychiv](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berdychiv) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berdychiv?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.