“Paradise Lost”: The Depopulation of the Jews of Narol in 1648
“Paradise Lost”: The Depopulation of the Jews of Narol in 1648

Summary/Abstract: This article attempts to revise previous findings, largely speculative, regarding the extent and, above all, the composition of the demographic losses of the Jewish population during the Khmelnytsky Upris- ing. In general, it can be said that research difficulties are due to the lack of an adequate source base or to the use of an overly sim- plified method of calculation. The unique result of the archival research is a Hebrew manuscript recording the murder of the Jew- ish population of the town of Narol by Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s army; a version, with translation, is given in the appendix. The demographic analysis of this center, based on a fairly well-preserved collection of documentary and narrative sources, gives an insight into its pre-war population poten- tial, its ethnic structure, then the course of events in the tragic year of 1648 and their consequences in terms of personal losses, with particular emphasis on theJew- ish population. It also considers the issues of deportation into slavery (yasir) and, as a result of the threat of war, migration and emigration.

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