How the Jews of the Caucasus Used an Epidemic to Trick the Nazis

During the Nazi occupation, Muslims aided efforts to hide the origins of the local Jews, preventing the extinction of a community. In July of 1942, the German Wehrmacht began occupying territories in the northern Caucasus. Although this occupation lasted only a few months, the Jewish communities of the area were severely impacted. In villages such as Bogdanovka and Menzhinsky, where there were collective kolkhozes of Caucasus Jews (or “Mountain Jews”) and Ashkenazi Jews, large scale massacres were carried out by firing squads.