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Jewish cemetery in Uzda

The small district center Uzda in the Minsk region, located near the river Uzdyanka, was once a shtetl densely populated by Jews. According to the surviving information, in the early 1880s there were 134 households in Uzda, 102 of which belonged to Jews. And by the end of the 1890s, more than 2,000 Jews lived in the town, while the total number of inhabitants did not exceed 2,700 people.

As in other shtetls, Uzda had its own Jewish cemetery, which was located where now the center of modern Uzda is. And if in many other Jewish places in Eastern Europe they are reminded of at least a few tombstones that have survived over several centuries and decades, then in Uzda the fate of the old Jewish cemetery is sad. The place where it once was, today is located at the intersection of Pobedy and Shkolnaya streets. At one time it was leveled and at this place the Victory Square was laid out, about 600 meters long, and not having a fence.

Presently, few people remember that this place was a Jewish cemetery, because there is not a single tombstone in the park. A mention of this can only be found in the city archives. However, Jews remember it, whose ancestors were buried there at different times. But in order to honor the memory of the Jews of Uzda who died and were buried at this place, it is necessary, at a minimum, to install a memorial sign.

It is worth noting that in Uzda there is another cemetery, which is called new and which also contains Jewish burials. It is located a few hundred meters from Pekarevicha Street. On its flat, fenced territory, about 150 meters long, there are about 50 tombstones related to Jews, of which there are very few left in Uzda today. The last of the confirmed burials is dated 2014, but these data require clarification.

On the territory of the new cemetery there is also a mass grave-memorial of Jews and Gypsies shot by the German invaders during the Second World War.