MALAIA VISKA

Pre-1941: Malaia Viska, town and raion center, Kirovograd oblast’, Ukrainian SSR; 1941–1944: Mala Wiska, Rayon and Gebiet center, Generalkommissariat Nikolajew; post-1991: Mala Vyska, Kirovohrad oblast’, Ukraine Malaia Viska is located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) west-northwest of Kirovograd. In 1939, there were 207 Jews living in the town (2.56 percent of the total population). Another 101 Jews resided in the villages of the Malaia Viska raion. The town of Malaia Viska was occupied by German troops at the beginning of August 1941, five and a half weeks after the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22. During this period, some of the local Jews fled the town and managed to escape to the east. All men, Jewish or non-Jewish, of military age were drafted into the Red Army. A number of others joined the Soviet forces voluntarily. When German troops occupied Malaia Viska, only about one quarter of the pre-war Jewish population was still in the town. In the summer and fall of 1...