The area is notable for its arid, rocky terrain due to its proximity to theCrimean mountains. DuringByzantine times, the town was calledAlouston (Ἄλουστον) meaning "Unwashed".[2] Vestiges survive of a Byzantine defensive tower from a fortress from which the town's name was derived, as well as a 15th-centuryGenoese fortress. During Genoese rule, the name was modified toLusta.Adam Mickiewicz dedicated two of hisCrimean Sonnets to Alushta.
In 1910, 544 Jews lived in Alushta, comprising 13% of the town's population. By 1939, they made up only 2.3% of the town's overall population, numbering 251 individuals. On 4 November 1941, the Germans occupied the town. On 24 November 1941, a unit ofSS-Sonderkommando 10b murdered 30 Jews by shooting along with captured communists and partisans. In early December 1941, about 250 Jews from Alushta were shot to death by SS-Sonderkommando 11b in the park of Trade Union Sanatorium No. 7, which is today part of the local center for children and creativity.[3]
^Variants are Ἄλουστος (masc.), Ἀλοῦστον (neu.), Ἀλούστα (fem.) The feminine form,Alusta, is consistent with application to a city rather than a fortress. The anhydrous climate likely gave rise to a satirical, anthropomorphic appellation of “unwashed” to the place from resident(s). Χαραλαμπάκης, Παντελής. “Σκέψεισγια δυο Μεσαιωνικα Τοπωνυμια της Κριμαιαs, (Αλουστου, Παρθενιται)” [Reflections on two medieval names of Crimea (Aloustou, Parthenitai],Βυζαντινά Σύμμεικτα 23 (2013): 201–216; esp. 203, note 7.
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