Naroulia is the center of the eponymous district of the Gomel region of Belarus. Received city status in 1971. The population in 2018 was more than 8 thousand people.

The Jews in the village have been known since the 18th century. In the 1760s, 316 male Jews lived here, who paid taxes.

In 1793, Naroulia, along with the rest of Belarus, became part of the Russian Empire and fell into the Pale of Settlement. Jews settled here, who were engaged in small craft and trade. After a century of being a part of the empire, Naroulia became a predominantly Jewish town. According to the census of 1897, more than 1,000 Jews lived here, who accounted for 92.5% of the local population.

It is known that a synagogue functioned in Naroulia since the middle of the 19th century. From the beginning of the 20th century, a Jewish cemetery appeared in the town, which operated until the 2010s. There are about 292 graves on it. There is a mass grave of those killed during the Second World War.

At the beginning of the twentieth century in Naroulia, pharmacies, a warehouse of pharmaceutical goods and 12 trade shops belonged to Jews. A Jewish savings and loan partnership operated here.

In 1919, the settlement was captured by the Polish army and organized a Jewish pogrom, during which four people died. By the time of the establishment of Soviet power, Naroulia continued to remain a Jewish shtetl. In the course of the transformations carried out by the Soviet government, as well as as a result of natural migration of the population, the share of Jews in the mass of Naroulia residents decreased to 53.9% by 1926.

The Soviet government organized a Jewish agricultural artel in Naroulia, a sewing artel of Jewish handicraftsmen and a Jewish library, which contained more than 500 books, mainly in Yiddish. The local Jewish school attended 40% of schoolchildren.

In 1939, 1.1 thousand Jews lived in the town, accounting for 29.8% of the population. At the beginning of the Nazi invasion, part of the Naroulia Jews were evacuated, and some were mobilized into the ranks of the Red Army. The town was captured in July 1941. It is known that the Nazis forced Jews to wear insignia and confiscated food from them. In October 1941, local Jews were forced to attend a meeting at Abram Friedman's home. When the Jews arrived, the police broke into the house and beat those present. A month later, the Jews were forced to gather in the same house, and then they were taken to the Jewish cemetery and were shot. About 100 people died. In the 1980s, a monument to the victims was erected using funds raised by local residents.