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1 Execution site(s)
Evgeniy A., born in 1932: “There was a kind of ravine near the barracks, a clay quarry where they shot the Jews. I saw the column being escorted there. Mothers held the hands of their children. My mother offfered to take the children of a Jewish woman but they answered: “No, they will die with us”. The column had guards armed with sub-machine guns. It took place around midday.” (Testimony n°695, interviewed on July 22, 2013 in Yelizovo)
Yelizovo is located about 150 km northwest of Mogilev. The first known records of the Jewish community date back to the end of 19th century. In 1926, 90 Jews lived in the village. The majority of them were artisans or worked at the local glass factory. On the eve of the war, there were 303 Jews in the village, comprising only 6% of total population. The Germans occupied Yelizovo on June 30, 1941. About 5-10% of the prewar Jewish community had managed to evacuate by that time.
The first Aktion was conducted against about a hundred local residents, Jews and non-Jews, during the first days of the occupation as a reprisal. One month later, an open ghetto was created. All Jews were marked with yellow distinguishing badges and subjected to perform forced labor, like road construction. The second and the third Aktionen were carried out in October and November 1941 respectively. During these Aktionen several dozen Jews were killed. On January 21, 1942, as a reprisal following a partisan attack, 28 men, the majority of whom were Jewish, were shot. They were forced to dig a pit, undress, and line up on the edge of it before being shot. On April 5, 1942, the remaining Jews from the ghetto were exterminated. Before the shooting, all Jews were gathered in the local Klub where all their belongings were confiscated. A small number of Jews managed to flee and join the partisans.
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