Lysyanka, Ukraine

Based on records I've found for my g-grandparents, Louis Lutsky and Lena Belinsky, they were both from Lysyanka, Ukraine. They married in America but apparently knew each other back in the old country. Lena's brother Louis Belinsky also gave Lysyanka as his last place of residence on his ship manifest.

Lysyanka (also spelled Lisianka, Lisinka, Lysanka, Lysjanka) is located 44 miles NE of Uman, 57 miles WSW of Cherkasy, and 83 miles S of Kyiv/Kiev. Prior to WWI, Lysyanka was located within the Zvenigorodka district, Kiev province. Since WWI, it is within the Kiev district/province. Several of my ancestors answered "Kiev" when asked where they were born or last lived, the same as I might say I live in Georgia instead of naming a city.

According to The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life, Jews settled in the town in the late 17th century. The Haidamaks looted Jewish property in 1702 and again in 1768 with a number of fatalities. In 1897, the Jewish population was 2,845 out of a total population of 7,207. On June 5, 1919, General Anton Denikin's White Army troops and the Petlyura gangs attacked the Jews, murdering 50 and seriously injuring 40. In 1939, under the Soviets, the Jewish population was 215. The Nazis captured Lysyanka on July 22, 1941, expelling all 593 Jews in the province to the Bodoshchy camp where they were forced to engage in road and farm work. All were soon murdered.

According to the RTR Foundation website, the only surviving records are:
-birth 1816, 1847-1853, 1855
-census 1816, 1834
-death 1846-1853

The Family History Library also has on microfiche a manuscript (written in Russian) containing information on civil registrations of birth, marriages, and deaths in Lysyanka for 1921-1924. They also have some church records for the local Roman Catholic congregation for the period 1878-1915.