Ghetto in Krupki

Before the war, in 1939, 870 Jews lived in the city of Krupki , to which many refugees from the western regions added. Most of them ended up in occupied territory ^[1] .

The city was captured by German troops on July 1, 1941, and the occupation lasted 3 years - until June 28, 1944 ^{[2] [3] [1]} .

Already in July 1941, the Germans, implementing a Nazi program of extermination of Jews , organized in the ghetto ^{[4] [1] [5] [6]} .

In total, at least 1900 (1975 ^[7] , about 2000 ^[8] ) Jews were in the ghetto - both from Krupki themselves and from neighboring villages ^{[1] [5]} .

Under pain of death, Jews were forbidden to appear without identification marks on their clothes ^[1] .

The murders of Jews began in Krupki already in July 1941, even before the creation of the ghetto ^{[4] [1]} .

The first major "action" (the Nazis called the massacres organized by them) was such a euphemism for the execution of about 100 Jews in a cemetery ^[1] .

September 18 (according to other sources, on October 5 ^[1] , in December ^[6] ) 1941 at 7 a.m. Germans and policemen drove Jews out of their homes on the market square near the city government building. People were checked according to the lists and the translator announced that they would now be allegedly taken on foot to Orsha , from where they would be transported to Palestine (according to other sources, they would be taken to work in Germany). The Jews were ordered to take with them only money and valuables; they were ordered not to lock the houses, but to hand over the locks and keys. The Nazis forbade all residents of the city to leave their homes ^{[9] [1] [5]} .

A convoy was led under convoy along Sovetskaya Street, and the doomed people calmly reached the highway. During the movement it was forbidden to stop and talk, and the “violators” were beaten with sticks. The Jews understood what awaited them only when they were turned around the bridge over the Strazhnitsa river towards the villages of Maisk and Lebedevo , and they saw German soldiers with machine guns ^{[9] [1] [5]} .

The column was stopped near the tract Panskoy near the village of Lebedevo near the field of the collective farm "May 1". Before the war, peat mining was carried out here, from which moats remained there. A wide board was thrown across the ditch, 10 Jews were brought there, forced to undress and stand on the board. A panic began in the crowd of doomed people and a terrible scream arose. A volley was fired at those standing on the board, nine people fell into the moat at once, and one old man was killed with a second shot. Then the next ten Jews were driven onto the board. The shooting was carried out not by SS punishers, but by units of the Wehrmacht - soldiers of the 354th Infantry Regiment. The collaborators stood in a cordon, but the head of the site Svitkovsky, military commandant Gebel, the head of the SD Ivanov, the head of the Baranovsky district and the police officer Bronislav Zakrevsky personally participated in the killings ^{[8] [9] [1] [5]} .

The bodies of the dead were piled in two pits, which were filled almost to the brim. Some of those who were there were still alive, and the Germans walked and shot at them with pistols ^[1] .

On this day, September 18, 1941, 1,500 (1,800 ^[6] ) people were killed ^[1] .

In February 1942 (in 1943 ^[1] ), the Germans tried to hide the traces of crimes, and drove about 200 Soviet prisoners of war, forcing them to unearth the mass grave of the Jews and lay the remains in a nearby pans estate for subsequent burning. After work, prisoners were also shot and their bodies burned ^[10] . In 1944, at the same place, the Germans killed and burned the bodies of prisoners from the Krupskaya and Borisov prisons ^[11] .

Local police in Krupki were led by former Red Army commander Timofey Svitkovsky. Baranovsky was appointed head of the district. Krupok's burgomaster were Karon, Pavkovets and Yevtyshevsky. The head of the board was Ivanov, the elders were Joseph Avginnikov and Peter Dranitsa. The military commandant was led by German officer Gebel. The police were Ivan Dranitsa, Vladimir Khvashchevsky, Mikhail Titovets, Vasily Koran, Daria Yurgulevskaya, Dmitry Molosai, Fedor Kondratenko, Vasily Balbas, Vasily Asipovets, Yulian Keizo ^[1] .

During the execution of September 18, 1941, several prisoners of the ghetto survived - Sofia Shalaumova and Maria Shpunt with their little son. After the shots, Sophia was not even injured and just fell into the moat. Among the peasants who buried the bodies, Sonya recognized her friend and asked her not to fall asleep. Then she got out of the pit and ran away with her son - the Germans shot her, but did not hit her ^[1] .

In 1966, a resident of Riga, Solomon Mikhalevich, gathered a group of enthusiasts who began raising funds to erect a monument to the victims of the Jewish genocide in Krupki. The authorities agreed, but with the condition that there would be no national symbols on the monument, citing the fact that Soviet prisoners of war were buried in this place. The monument was opened at the place of execution in 1969. It is a stele with a bas-relief of a grieving woman ^{[1] [5] [12] [13]} .

Incomplete lists of victims of the Jewish genocide in Krupki have been published ^[14] .

• G.A. Fatykhava, W.A. Zagorski, V.M. Tatarynaў, II Khitroў i insh. (redcal.); Dz. M. Khromchanka. (way.). “Memory. Yany praslavіli Krupshchynu ".. - Mn. : Paypico, 2008. - 584 p. - ISBN 978-985-90150-4-5 . (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.")
• Krupki - an article from the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia ;

Archival Sources

• National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (NARB). - fund 861, inventory 1, file 8, sheet 222a;

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 .

• Ghetto in the Krupsky district