Kalihórka Mokra (Polish), Мокрая Калигорка, Mokraya Kaligorka (Russian)
Mokra Kaligorka is town of the Katerinopol district, Cherkassy region. It has been known since the early XVIII century, at which time it was incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It has been a part of the Russian Empire since 1793. In the XIX-early XX centuries, it was the town Kaligorka Mokraya of Zvenigorod uyezd, Kiev gubernia.
Most information for this article was provided by teacher of the local school Ludmila Diduk.
We don’t know when Jews first appeared in Mokra Kaligorka.
In 1896, a Jewish almshouse was functioning in Mokra Kaligorka. In 1914, Jews owned a drugstore, bakery, and 52 stalls including 13 factories and two grocery stores.
There was also a landlord’s mansion, a Jewish synagogue, a bakery, the Jew Benia’s inn (he was mentioned in the book “Black Raven” by Vasyl Shkliar), various shops, workshops, and houses in the centre of the village.
Jews were tailors and shoemakers, hiring their assistants from the peasants and offering part-time jobs to children. They washed bottles, carbonated water, and did all the dirty work to earn their living.