Lenino (Minsk) | Minsk

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Execution of Jews of Lenino

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before :: Orthodox cemetery
Memorials :: Yes
Period of occupation:: 1941-1944
Number of victims :: 140

Witness interview

Mikhail L. remembers : “The Germans had lists and a German called the Jews by name, then placed them at the edge of the pit. They were shot in the back. The pit was not covered before the end of the shooting.” (Witness N°752, interviewed in Lenino, on May 17, 2014)

Soviet archives

«During the occupation of the Slutsk district and Lenino, I lived in Lenino and I am aware about the execution of Jews which took place on July 12n 1942, at dawn. Only in Lenino, the Germans murdered 21 families. I can’t tell you exactly how many people were killed, but approximatively they were about 78. Moreover, 70 Jews brought from the nearby villages were executed at the same cemetery located in Lenino. Thus, 178 people, men, women, the elderly, children among them, were shot.” [Deposition of Arseniy R., born in 1894 in Lenino for the Soviet Extraordinary commission, made on September 27, 1944; RG-22.002M, 7021-91/24]

Historical note

Lenino is a small village situated around 100 km south of Minsk. Just before the Germans’ arrival, there were fewer than 100 Jews remaining in the village. There was one synagogue. The place was under German occupation from 1941 to 1944.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

In July 1941, all the Jews from Lenino and the surrounding villages were confined in a ghetto, composed of a street, guarded by local police, surrounded by barbed wire on one side, and a river on the other side. According to witnesses interviewed by Yahad, Jews were concentrated and forced to live in 3 houses. Jews had to perform forced labor like cleaning the streets. On June 12, 1942, the Jews were shot by the Germans, assisted by local police, in a pit near the orthodox cemetery.

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