Shpola
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Shpola (Шпола) is a city in the Cherkasy region of Ukraine. As of 2004, its population was 18,400.
Shpola is located at Template:Coor dm.
In 1847, Shpola’s Jewish population numbered 1,156. By 1897, that number had grown to 5,388 of a total population of 11,933, or about 45%. This level held steady until the Second World War.
In the 1800s Shpola was part of the Zvenigorod district in the Kiev region. With the overthrow of the Czarist regime Shpola became first a part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and then of the USSR.
During World War II, Nazi Germany invaded Ukraine, and the Jewish population of Shpola was destroyed in 1942. Today Jews make up around 0.5% of Shpola’s population.
Shpola may be best known as the birthplace and home of Reb Aryeh Leib, a.k.a. the Shpoler Zeyde (1725–1812), a tzaddik.