Dzhankoi

Etymology

The name Dzhankoi (Ukrainian and ; ; ; ) means 'new village': canköy

Geography

Dzhankoi serves as the administrative centre of the Dzhankoi Raion. It is located about 93 km from the Crimean capital, Simferopol. Two railroad lines, Solionoye ozero-Sevastopol and Armiansk-Kerch, cross Dzhankoi.

Climate

Dzhankoi's climate is mostly hot in the summer, and mild in the winter. The average temperature ranges from -2 °C in January, to 23 °C in July. The average precipitation is 420 mm per year.

History

Dzhankoi was mentioned for the first time in 1855, and it received city status in 1926. About 1,400 Jews lived in Dzhankoi on the eve of the Second World War.

In 1941, during the war, Dzhankoi was occupied by German troops. During the occupation, 720 Jewish members of the local collective farm were shot in the city. Other accounts mention 7,000, which could include Jews brought from elsewhere. From late 1941 to September 1942, the Germans operated the Dulag 123 transit prisoner-of-war camp in the town. Dzhankoi was recaptured by Soviet troops on April 13, 1944.

In 1954, as part of the Crimean region, it became part of the Ukrainian SSR. Since 1991, it has been a part of independent Ukraine. In February 2014, it was annexed by Russia. On the night of March 20, 2023, explosions caused by drone attacks were reported in the area.

Transport

Dzhankoi is a transport hub. Through the city pass two major railways of the peninsula as well as two major European highways. It has two railroad terminals - the central one, where only passenger and fast trains stop and the suburban one - where only suburban trains, known as elektrichkas, are allowed.

Dzhankoi air base of the Russian Navy is nearby.

Population

Demographics

As of the 2001 Ukrainian census, 59.75% of the population identified as Russians, 25.91% as ethnic Ukrainians, while Crimean Tatars made up 8.09% of the population. The town is also home to smaller Belarusian, Polish, Moldovan and Armenian communities.

In the 2014 census conducted by Russian occupation authorities, the town had a population of 38,622, of which 25,787 () were Russian, 6,401 () were Ukrainian, 2,807 () were Crimean Tatar and 829 () were Tatar.

In popular culture

Dzhankoi is the subject of a popular Yiddish song "Hey! Zhankoye" (Yiddish: "Dzhankoye" "דזשאַנקויע"), as popularized by The Limeliters, Pete Seeger, the Klezmatics, and Theodore Bikel, a Soviet-era song praising the life of Jews on collective farms in Crimea.

Notable people

• Oleksandr Mitrofanov (born 1977), Ukrainian football player
• Denys Vasyliuk (1993–2024), Ukrainian fighter pilot and Hero of Ukraine

References

References

1. "6 Kilogrammes of Mercury Found Out in the Centre of Jankoy in Crimea".
2. "Places where Mennonites lived in Russia up to 1943".
3. (2009). "The Holocaust in the Soviet Union". Yad Vashem.
4. "Крым".
5. (2012). "The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos. Volume II: Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe, 1933-1945". Indiana University Press.
6. (2022). "The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV". Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
7. (March 21, 2023). "Ukraine says Russia Kalibr missile cargo hit in transit to Crimea". Al Jazeera.
8. "Національний склад міст".
9. "Crimea (occupied by Russia) - Ethnic composition: 2014 census".
10. Kann, Kenneth L.. (1993). "Comrades and Chicken Ranchers". Cornell University Press.
11. Silverman, Jerry. (2010). "Songs of the Jewish People". Mel Bay Publications.
12. "Video Archives: Yosl Kogan, Bershad Ghetto". Indiana University (Bloomington), College of Arts and Sciences.