Holocaust in Chervensky district

Chervensky district was completely occupied by German troops by July 3, 1941, and the occupation lasted more than three years - until July 1944 ^[3] . The Nazis included Chervensky district in the territory administratively assigned to the army rear zone of Army Group Center . The commandant's offices - field (field commandant's offices) and local (ortskommandatura) - possessed all the full power in the region ^[4] .

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 Russian collaborators were created ^[5] .

To carry out the policy of genocide and conduct 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 ^[6] .

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 immediately killed, they were kept in ghettos until they were completely destroyed, using heavy and dirty forced labor, which caused many prisoners to die from excessive loads in the conditions of constant hunger and lack of medical care ^[7] .

During the occupation, almost all the Jews of the Chervensky region were killed, and the few who survived fought in the majority later in partisan detachments .

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 ^[8] .

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

• In the ghetto of the village of Smilovichi (August 1941 - October 14, 1941), more than 2,000 Jews were tortured and killed.
• In the ghetto of Cherven (autumn 1941 - February 1, 1942), about 2,000 Jews were killed.

In the Chervensky district, 2 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 ”:

• Kholodinsky Theodosia - for the salvation of Melonaits (Goberman) Dora in Smilovichi ^[9] ;
• Lubochkina Aleksandra - for saving Krol Bluma (Maria Lubochkina) in Smilovichi.

Incomplete lists of victims of the Jewish genocide in Chervensky district have been published ^[10] .

Two monuments to the murdered Jews of the region were erected in Cherven ^{[11] [12]} , and two in Smilovichi ^{[13] [14] [15]} .

Books and articles

• G. K. Kisyalyo, N. I. Kraўtsova i inns. (redcal.); G. M. Aўlasenka, Z. I. Maleyka (structure). “Memory. Chervensky Ryan. " Gistoryka-documentary chronicle of garadoў and raѐnaў Belarus .. - Mn. : BELTA, 2000 .-- 623 p. - ISBN 985-6302-21-8 . (belor.)
• St. S. Godў, A. I. Zaleski i iнш. (redcal.); S.V. Shaiko. (way.). “Memory. Sennensky Ryan. " Gistoryka-documentary chronicle of garadoў and raѐnaў Belarus .. - Mn. : “Paligrafafarmlenne”, 2003. - 614 p. - ISBN 985-6351-18-9 . (belor.)
• Adamushko V.I., Biryukova O.V., Kryuk V.P., Kudryakova G.A. Directory of places of forced detention of civilians in the occupied territory of Belarus 1941-1944. - Mn. : National Archive of the Republic of Belarus, State Committee for Archives and Record Keeping of the Republic of Belarus, 2001. - 158 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 985-6372-19-4 .
• L. Smilovitsky. The ghetto of Belarus - examples of genocide (from the book "The Holocaust of Jews in Belarus, 1941-1944.")

Archival Sources

• National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB):
  • fund 4683, inventory 3:
    • Case 943, sheet 183;
    • Case 953, sheet 22;
• State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF). - fund 7021, inventory 87, case 17, sheets 9-10, 14, 16-17;
• Archive Yad Vashem , M-33/435; 0-53 / 24;
• Archive Yad Vashem , M-33 fund, file 433, sheet 9;

additional literature

• L. Smilovitsky , "The Holocaust of Jews in Belarus, 1941-1944.", Tel Aviv, 2000
• 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