Holocaust in Borisov district

Borisovsky district was completely occupied by German troops in July 1941, and the occupation lasted more than three years - until the beginning of July 1944 ^[3] . The Nazis included the Borisovsky district in the territory administratively assigned to the general district of Belarus of the Reichskommissariat Ostland .

All power in the area belonged to the Sonderfuhrer , the German chief of the district, who was subordinate to the head of the district, the Gebitsomissar . In all large villages of the district, district (volost) councils and police garrisons from Belarusian and Ukrainian collaborators were created ^{[4] [5]} .

To carry out the policy of genocide and carry out punitive operations immediately after the troops, the punitive units of the SS troops, Einsatzgruppe , Sonderkommando , secret field police (HFP), security and SD police, gendarmerie and the Gestapo arrived in the region ^[4] .

Simultaneously with the occupation, the Nazis and their henchmen began the mass extermination of Jews. “Actions” (such as the euphemism by the Nazis called the massacres organized by them) were repeated many times in many places. In those settlements where Jews were not killed immediately, they were kept in ghettos up to complete extermination, using heavy and dirty forced labor, from which many prisoners died from excessive loads in the conditions of constant hunger and lack of medical care ^[6] .

During the occupation, almost all Jews in the Borisov district were killed, and the few who survived fought in the majority later in partisan units ^[7] .

The most massacres of Jews in the region occurred in Borisov ^[8] , Zembin ^[9] , Mstizh, the villages of Chernevka ^[10] , Brodovka ^[10] , Loshnitsa ^[11] , Kratsevichi ^[12] and other places.

The Germans, implementing the Nazi program of extermination of Jews , created 3 ghettos in the district.

The occupying authorities, on pain of death, forbade Jews to take off their yellow armor or six-pointed stars (identification marks on their outer clothing), leave the ghetto without special permission, change their place of residence and apartment inside the ghetto, walk on sidewalks, use public transport, be in parks and public places to attend schools ^[13] .

• In the ghetto of the city of Borisov (August 27, 1941 - October 21, 1941), about 9,000 Jews were killed.
• In the ghetto of the village of Zembin (July 1941 - August 18, 1941) 927 Jews were killed.
• In the ghetto of the village of Mstizh (autumn 1941 - winter 1941), more than 100 Jews were killed.

In the Borisov district, 14 people were awarded the honorary title “The Righteous Among the Nations ” from the Israeli Yad Vashem Memorial Institute “ as a sign of the deepest gratitude for the assistance provided to the Jewish people during the Second World War ”:

• Dubrovsky Alexander - he was saved Rolbin Maria and Zina in Borisov ^[14] ;
• Frying pan Konstantin - they saved Davidson Roza, Neiman Mera and Genya, Beininson Lucy, Lipkind Anna, Shakhrai Tolya and Olya in Borisov ^[15] ;
• Frolova Elena - she saved Rubenchik Roza (Fradkina Galina) in Borisov ^[16] ;
• Vorotchik (Schulz) Elena and Grenko Efrosinya - they saved the Vorotchik (Meilakh) Yakov in Borisov ^{[17] [18]} ;
• Mozheiko Wanda - she was saved by Rivkind Isaac in Borisov ^[19] .
• Mazurkevich Fedor - they saved Pekler (Shulman) Dora and other Jews in Chernevichi ^[20] ;
• Black Anna, Black Victor and Stelmashonok (Black) Valentina - they saved Epstein Maria and Paradise in the High Bank ^{[21] [22] [23]} ;
• The worker of Atil and Shumelov (The worker) Olga - they saved Bodnya (Usarova) Vera in the Packs ^[24] ;
• Miruk Maria - she was saved by Shalak Lyuba in Kratsevichi ^[25] ;
• Volkovets Lydia - she was saved by Shusterovich Khaya in Novoselki ^[26] ;

The main organizers of the killings in the Borisov region were the comedian of the city of Rosenfeld, Obersturmfuhrer Krafe, the head of the security department Egof, the burgomaster Stankevich, the chief of the police Kabakov, the head of the district police Kovalevsky and others ^[27] .

The Wehrmacht forces also took an active part in the murder of Borisov Jews ^{[28] [29]} .

Jews of the Borisov region were killed by both Latvian and Lithuanian accomplices of the Nazis. The special unit (“Latvian company at the SD ”) of the chief of the SS and the police (Hohere SS und Polizeifuhrer - HSSPF) of Ostland, stationed at the Minsk SD, was mainly staffed by Latvians. His main task was to assist in the fight against the anti-fascist underground and partisans, as well as to participate in actions to destroy the Jewish population of Belarus. So, to participate in the liquidation of the Borisov ghetto, Obersturmfuhrer Kraft arrived from Borisov in Minsk with translator Unterscharfuhrer Aikhe and 50 officers and soldiers of the SS troops — mainly Latvians, and Lithuanian policemen under the command of Impuliavicius ^{[30] [31]} .

In 2005, a memorial complex was erected at the site of the execution of the Borisov Jews ^{[32] [33]} .

In 2001, a monument was erected at the site of the execution of Jews by Zembin ^[34] .

In 2007, in Mstizh, a memorial sign was erected at the site of the murder of Jews ^{[35] [36] [37]} .

Incomplete lists of the dead Jews of the Borisov district have been published ^{[38] [8]} .

• G.P. Pashkoў, T. M. Dronava, G.K. Kіsyalyoў, S.P. Samuel, i inc. (redkal.), J.V. Gilevich (laying). “Memory. Barysaў. Barysaўski rayan. " - Mn. : “Belarusian encyclopedia”, 1997. - 800 p. - ISBN 985-11-0077-3 . (belor.)
• L. Smilovitsky. The ghetto of Belarus - examples of genocide (from the book "The Holocaust of Jews in Belarus, 1941-1944."
• G. K. K_syalyoў, A. E. Keysіk i insh. (redkal.), K. I. Kozak, A. I. Blacksmith (laying). “Memory. Pastaўsky rayan. " - Mn. : BELTA, 2001 .-- 688 p. - ISBN 985-6302-35-8 . (belor.)
• Mstizh - an article from the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia ;
• Viltovskaya S. V. "My Belarus in the fire of war, as I remember it"

• Smilovitsky L. L. The catastrophe of the Jews in Belarus, 1941-1944 . - Tel Aviv: Matthew Black Library, 2000 .-- 432 p. - ISBN 965-7094-24-0 .
• A. Rosenblum. Blood memory. Petah Tikva, 1998
• Botvinnik, Marat Borisovich. Monuments of the genocide of the Jews of Belarus. - Minsk: Belaruskaya Navuka, 2000. - 326 p., ISBN 9850804165 , ISBN 9789850804167
• Yitzhak Arad . The extermination of the Jews of the USSR during the years of German occupation (1941-1944). Compilation of documents and materials, Jerusalem, Yad Vashem Publishing House , 1991, ISBN 9653080105
• Chernoglazova R. A., Kheer H. The tragedy of the Jews of Belarus in 1941-1944: a collection of materials and documents. - Ed. 2nd, rev. and more .. - Mn. : E. S. Halperin, 1997 .-- 398 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 985627902X .
• Vinnitsa G.R. Holocaust in the occupied territory of Eastern Belarus in 1941-1944. - Mn. : Ark, 2011 .-- 360 p. - 150 copies. - ISBN 978-985-6950-96-7 .

• Monuments to the victims of the Holocaust in Belarus