Holocaust in Miorsky district

Miorschina was completely occupied by German troops on July 5, 1941, and the occupation lasted 3 years - until July 4, 1944 ^[3] .

The Nazis included the Miorsky district in the territory administratively assigned to the headquarters of the rear of Army Group Center ^[4] . All power in the area belonged to the Nazi military occupation administration, acting through the field and local commandant’s offices created by the Wehrmacht. 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 Gestapo arrived in the region ^[5] .

The territory of the district since September 20, 1941 has been assigned to the Glubokoe okrug (gebit) ^[6] . The district was ruled by the Gebite Commissioner Paul Gahman. In all large villages of the district, district (volost) councils and police garrisons from Belarusian collaborators were created . In Braslaw there was a district council headed by the burgomaster, in Miory and Disna there was a rural municipality ^{[7] [4]} .

Simultaneously with the occupation, the Nazis and their henchmen began the mass extermination of Jews ^[8] . “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 ghetto conditions until they were completely destroyed ^[5] .

The mass killings of Jews in the Miory district were led by: the commandant of the gendarmerie of Cuba, his assistants Chur, Franke Wilhelm, Lieutenant Ernst Brodsky, the gendarmes Gamber and Tram, and others ^{[9] [10]} .

During the occupation, almost all the Jews of the Miory district were killed. The most mass killings took place in Disna , Miory , the villages of Bloshniki (now Kalinovoe) ( Yaznensky Village Council ), Leonpol , on the Lipovo-2 Farm (Lipovka-2) ( Uzmensky Village Council ) ^[11] .

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 ^[12] .

The Germans, implementing the Nazi program of extermination of Jews , created 2 ghettos in the district.

• About 4000 Jews were tortured and killed in the ghetto of Disna (July 25, 1941 - June 14, 1942).

• In the ghetto of Miory (summer 1941 - June 2, 1942) more than 2,000 Jews were killed.

23 people from the Miory district 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 ”.

• Kodis family (Kodzis): Boleslav, Thekla, Maria (Balabay), Maria (Piotrovskaya), Josef and Felicia - for saving Fuchs (Zelbst) Fani in the village of Vasilenki ^[13] .
• Ivanov Vasily and Levikina (Ivanova) Irina - for saving Bokman Geni in the village of Zacherevye ( Perebrodsky Village Council ) ^[14] .
• Voronov Fedor and Voronova Mystridia - for saving Bokman Geni in the village of Zalesye (Zapolosie) ^[15] .
• Denisov Savastey, Denisova Irina and Kirilova (Denisova) Efrosinya - for the salvation of Shelmor (Nomkina) Pesi in the village of Struba (Strupka) ( Novopogostsky village council ) ^[16] .
• Pashkevichi Vladislav and Marilya, Sokolovsky Vladimir, Lydia and Stefa - for saving Levitanas Liba and Meyer in the village of Patashnya (Potashnya) ( Povyatsky village council ) ^[17] .
• Demeshko Vladimir, Stefanida and Valentina - for the salvation of Zalman and Moisha Katz in the village of Zabolotye ^[18] .
• Sedlovsky Dmitry and Alexandra - for the salvation of Zelbst (Fuchs) Fani in the village of Lipatino ( Nikolaev Village Council ) ^[19] .

In Disna, three monuments were erected at the site of the execution of Jews ^{[20] [21] [22]} .

In Miory, a monument was erected at the site of the murder of Holocaust victims ^{[23] [24]} .

Incomplete lists of murdered Jews in the region have been published ^[25] .

• G. M. Manyak, V. I. Martsinovich i insh. (redcal.); L.A. Matelenak. (way.). “Memory. Myersky Ryan. " Gistoryka-documentary chronicle of garadoў and raѐnaў Belarus .. - Mn. : "Belarusian Navuka", 1998. - 632 p. - ISBN 985-08-0260-X . (belor.)
• Miory - an article from the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia ;
• Disna - an article from the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia ;
• Mass graves of the Disnensky district

• 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 .
• 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 .

• Monuments to the victims of the Holocaust in Belarus