Alternate names: Berdyans'k / Бердянск [Rus], Berdiansk / Бердянськ [Ukr], Osipenko [Rus, 1939-1958], Berdjansk [Ger], Berdiańsk [Pol]. (1827-30 Kuturogly, 1830-42 Novo-Nogaisk, 1939-58 Osipenko) 46°45' N, 36°48' E, on the N coast of the Sea of Azov. 1900 Jewish population: 3,048. Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), I, p. 134: "Berdiańsk". JewishGen Ukraine SIG. Founded in 1827, the city is a holiday and health resort. 2005 population: 121,692. [August 2009]

Holocaust Memorial outside of the town. ShtetLink. photo gallery 'The Vanishing World of Ukrainian Jewry'. Berdyansk was founded as a village by the governor-general of Novorossia, Count M.S. Vorontsov, who was fairly liberal with Jews, who were tailors and merchants . In 1842, it became district capital. Jewish population: 572 in 1847, 703 iIn 1864 (and 744 in the district); 1897 3,306 (including 258 Karaites) or 12.9% with 9,171 (3% ) in the district. During WWI and the Civil War Berdyansk Jews suffered. 1926 - 2,138 Jews,  and 1939 - 2,393 (4.6%). Berdyansk was occupied by German troops in October 1941. About a thousand Jews were shot in a gorge near the town; the rest were annihilated in 1942. Little is known about Jewish life under subsequent Soviet rule. However, in the early 1990s a Jewish cultural society was founded and a synagogue congregation was active. According tothe *Jewish Agency there were 2,000 Jews in Berdyansk in 1994 (1.3% of the total population).

[August 2009]