Yelsk is the center of the eponymous district of the Gomel region. It has been mentioned in sources since the 16th century. Received city status in 1971. Since the 19th century, it has been reported about the residence of Jews. There is information that at the beginning of the 20th century there was a synagogue in the city where Rabbi Shmuel-Dovber Beregovsky worked.

In the 1920s, over 600 Jews lived in Yelsk. By 1939, their number had increased to 1231. They made up about a third of the urban population.

With the outbreak of World War II, the male part of the Jewish population was drafted into the army. Some managed to evacuate. In the book ‘Memory is knocking in my heart’, Bella Kapusta recalled that with the outbreak of the war, her family tried to get out of the city on foot. When it did not work out, the opportunity presented itself to go on a freight train to the rear, to Mordovia, where the family survived the war.

Some of the residents followed the example of the Kapusta family. Another part ended up in the partisan movement. It is known that several partisan detachments operated near Yelsk, in which Jews played significant roles. Therefore, with the beginning of the war, Khaim Perlov became the commissar of a fighter battalion of 600 fighters who guarded the city, and after the occupation became a partisan detachment.

The Jew Moisey Gonkin commanded another detachment called «Bolshevik». Zusya Chernoglaz headed the underground district committee of the party. Hirsh Kaplan and Iosif Kravets were in charge of publishing underground newspapers.

In August 1941, the Nazis occupied the city. About 400 Jews remained in it. Until September 1941, they were allowed to live in their own homes, but they had to register daily with the city government. The destruction aktions took place in three stages: in the fall of 1941, in the winter and in the spring of 1942. In March 1942, the invaders exterminated the remaining Jews, family members of partisans and communists.

After the war, according to Bella Kapusta's recollections, several Jewish families lived in the city. The synagogue was no longer there, but the believers gathered in a prayer house. Local Jews were active and for several years sought from the authorities to perpetuate the memory of the victims. As a result, Yelsk became one of the few cities in Belarus where a monument to Jews appeared not due to donations from the community, but due to budget funds.

By the 2000s, several Jews remained in the city, who gathered and defended their own interests. Despite the absence of a registered Jewish community, they managed to get the authorities to improve the cemetery.