Jewish settlement of Transcarpathia began in the XV century, but most of the Jews moved to our region in the XVIII century. They moved here from Galicia, where overpopulation, political unrest and constant persecution made their life unbearable. Transcarpathia at that time was very depopulated due to the war of 1703-1711 and could accept a large number of immigrants. As early as 1787, 6,311 Jews inhabited the komitata of Ung, Bereg, Ugocha, and Maramorosh. In the first half of the XIX century, immigration from Galicia took place on an even larger scale. Further growth of migration processes and a high birth rate led to a significant increase in the Jewish population. In 1910, the Jewish communities of the above-mentioned four comitates numbered 128,791 people.
Nikolai shugay was born in Kolochava on April 3, 1898. He was the eldest son of a woodcutter's family. Illiterate, didn't go to school. The villagers remembered him as a cheerful guy, but considered him a bully. In 1917, he defected from the army. Soon he was caught and sent back to the army, from where he managed to escape again. Once shugay killed two Czech gendarmes who were going to catch him. Since that time, for Nikolai and his younger brother Yuri, the forest has become home. Soon, the pregnant wife of Nicholas Ergy arrested, and hamlet Kolochava Lazy put a contribution in the amount of 15 thousand Koruna. In the vicinity of the village, a pass regime was introduced, and all the farmers were issued personal identification cards. All crimes in the vicinity were automatically attributed to the Shugai. At the end of 1920, Nicholas was suspected of killing a kolochavsky gendarme, in February 1921, he was credited with killing a fellow villager, and in March – 4 Jews from the village of soyma. The investigation proved that shugay killed his neighbor Ivan Derbak and burned down his house.
Sightseeing in Khust should start with the Church of St. Elizabeth, which is located at the intersection of Constitution and Carpathian Sich streets. The reformed Church of the XIII-XIV centuries consists of three parts: an independent tower, a nave and an apse organically United with them. The walls of the temple are decorated with Gothic Windows. During the restoration in 2005, interesting frescoes of the XV century depicting knights in armor were found inside the temple. A similar Church of the XIII-XIV centuries was preserved in the village of Vyshkovo in the Khust district.
