Demievka

1900s Name: Demievka
1900s District: Kiev
1900s Province: Kiev
1900s Country: Russian Empire

Modern: Demiivka District, Ukraine
Modern Ukrainian:  
Modern Russian:  

1930s: Demievka, Kiev, Ukraine SSR, Soviet Union
1950s: Demievka, Soviet Union

Other names:

Coordinates: 50°24' 30°30' Mapquest Google Maps

Lost Town: Demievka was a small town just outside Kiev that has been swallowed by the big city.

The book "Kiev, Jewish metropolis: a history, 1859-1914" by Natan M. Meir states:

"The law required most Jews settling in Kiev to reside in outlying Ploskaia and Lybed, two of the poorest districts that lacked amenities such as running water and sewage systems. Kiev was the only place in the Russian Empire where Jews (or most Jews) were limited to specific neighborhoods, and it was for this reason that the city was often referred to as the only "ghetto" still existant in Russia. The Ploskaia Jewish ghetto actually included several blocks in Podol, which seem to have been considered a bit more desirable than the rest of the neighborhood. Ploskaia was home to a number of factories of various sizes —several breweries, a brickworks. a tannery, a candle factory— while Lybed had less industry, with two brickworks mid a distillery/brewery, all located at its outer limits. In 1874, Ploskaia, with almost 6,000 Jews out of the city's 13,800, was home to 43 percent of the city's Jews; with just under 2,400 Jews, Podol had 17 percent, and Lybed followed behind with 13 percent (1,900 Jews). Ploskaia also boasted the highest concentration of Jews: 29 percent of its residents, while the figure for Podol was 15 percent. Solomenka and Demievka, small neighborhoods adjacent to Kiev's two rail-way stations that were outside the bounds of Kiev proper but were actually extensions of Lybed, were also heavily (one-quarter) Jewish. Demievka, in particular, as well as Slobodka, a suburb across the Dnepr from Kiev, became very popular destinations because Jews were not required to hold residence permits to settle there; in his memoirs, Jewish communal activist Genrikh Sliozberg claimed that "only the May Laws [of 1882] stopped them from becoming huge Jewish cities," because their village status meant that no new Jewish settlement could be established there."