1 Execution site(s)
Pavlo F., born in 1929: "In the village of Hlybochok, a Jewish labor camp was established, where Jews from neighboring villages were gathered and held in a store building. Each morning, the inmates of the Jewish labor camp were marched to nearby fields, where they endured agricultural forced labor under the supervision of German guards. Periodically, the Jews ventured into the village to request sustenance from local residents. Tragically, as the Germans prepared to withdraw, Jewish workers were transported by truck to an execution site where they met their untimely end through acts of violence." (Testimony N°YIU173U, interviewed in Hlybochok, on August 10, 2005)
Hlybochok, situated approximately 25 km (16 mi) southwest of Chortkiv in the Ternopil region, has roots dating back to 1469. In 1772, the village came under the jurisdiction of the Austrian Empire, retaining this status until 1918, when it was subsequently annexed by Poland. Following the outbreak of war in September 1939, Hlybochok became part of the Ukrainian Social Soviet Republic, a consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. There is no available information about the Jewish residents of Hlybochok, but there were thriving Jewish communities in nearby localities such as Ozeriany, Chortkiv, and Borshchiv.
Hlybochok fell under the occupation of German and Hungarian troops on July 7, 1941. Following a brief period of military administration, the village transitioned to German civil administration. Yahad field research was able to confirm that two Jewish labor camps were established in the vicinity during this occupation.
The first camp was situated in Hlybochok itself, within a store building, where Jews from nearby villages, deemed suitable for labor, were confined. Every morning, the camp inmates were marched to the surrounding fields, engaging in forced labor on plantations under German supervision. The second camp was established in a hamlet linked to the nearby village of Konstantsiya, on the former property of the Folwark farm that once belonged to a Polish landowner. The detainees in this camp were Jewish families who had survived the deportation Aktion to the Belzec extermination camp, conducted in Ozeriany on September 26, 1942. Some Jews from Ozeriany sought shelter in a nearby forest, while others were confined to barns on the farm, tasked with agricultural work in the fields.
As per Yahad research findings, both camps’ detainees met a tragic end in the summer of 1943, just before the German withdrawal. The farm inmates, including women and children, were directly shot in the barns during lunchtime by several dozen Germans arriving in two trucks. Local residents, requisitioned for the task, collected the bodies and transferred them to a nearby pit, a natural ravine, for burial. Similarly, the Hlybochok camp detainees were transported to the same site by trucks, where they faced execution and were interred in the same pit. The location of the mass grave is now easily identifiable due to ground subsidence.
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