Shklov

Town in the government of Moghilef, Russia; situated on the right bank of the Dnieper. Jews settled there at an early period,probably in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Its location on the boundary-line between Russia and Poland often subjected Shklov to the devastations of war, and the Jews, who constituted the greater part of the population, were generally the greatest sufferers. In 1655 the town was destroyed by the Cossacks; in 1708 it was sacked by the Swedes under General Löwenhaupt; and in 1812 it was invaded and pillaged by Napoleon's army.

The Jews of Shklov at the present time (1905) number about 12,000, or nearly 88 per cent of the total population. The city has two synagogues, twenty-seven Jewish prayer-houses, a government school for Jewish children, a Jewish hospital, and a number of other educational and charitable institutions. The Jews carry on an extensive trade in wheat and other merchandise.

Bibliography:

  * Entziklopedicheski Slovar;
  * Geograficesko-Statisticheski Slovar Rossiskoi Imperii, vol. v.



S. J. Go.