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Economic Misery Drives Jews out of Ukraine Towns, Official Report

July 16, 1929
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A mass exodus of Ukrainian Jews from the small towns located on both sides of the Dneipr is reported by an official investigating commission, appointed by the Soviet authorities to inquire into conditions in that region.

The Jews are deserting the “shtedlach” located on the right bank of the Dneipr where the economic misery is growing with no hope for betterment in sight. The commission reporting on the Volynian region states that a considerable number of towns in the district of Shepetovka, have literally been deserted. Not a single Jew remains.

The same condition obtains on the left bank of the Dneipr. Even in cities like Zaslavl and Staro-Konstantin, centers of ancient Jewish communities, the Jewish population has decreased by one-half and the decrease is continuing.

The official commission admits that the migration movement under the present conditions in the towns is unavoidable, but urges that steps be taken to regulate this mass exodus by the working out of definite plans for directing the migrants.

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