Drachyntsi (Drăcineț, Draczynetz, Drachintsi, Draczyńce) | Chernivtsi

/ Local ambiance © Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum Local woman takes water from the well ©Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum Mykola L., born in 1931: “A Jew named Mendel asked my father to hide him. For 5 days, he and his family hid in our stable. After, they decided to leave because they thought the shooting was over.” ©Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum Petro P., born in 1925:"Some Jews were deported while others were shot dead on the spot. Especially those who attempted to escape or were found hiding." ©Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team during an interview with the witness close to her house ©Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum Yevgenia K. leads Yahad’s team to the river where she saw an execution. ©Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum Yevgenia K., born in 1926: “During the shooting a woman called Barka fell into the river and stayed under water. That’s how she survived. ” ©Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum The execution site of 46 Jews murdered by Romanians. Their bodies were buried by the villagers at the place where today there is a monument. ©Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum Mykola L., Yahad witness, near the memorial of 46 Jews, including 10 children, murdered in Drachyntsi by the Romanian soldiers ©Kate Kornberg/Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Drachyntsi

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Ravine close to the river Hlynytsya
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
46

Witness interview

Mykola L., born in 1931, says: “The Jews were killed everywhere throughout the village, but most of them were shot near the mill next to the Hlynytsya river. I wasn’t there, but people said that the Jews were put in a line and shot one by one by the Romanians.
I arrived on the spot the next day, and there were still corpses there. I saw 5 or 6 bodies. There was blood everywhere: on the earth, on the clothes. There were no children, just adults among the victims. The locals took four or five carts and transported the corpses to the landfill site. I did not see the burial. Today there is a concrete monument with a Star of David in memory of the Jewish victims.” (Testimony n°1907, interviewed in Drachyntsi on July 1st, 2015)

Soviet archives

“In the beginning of August 1941, Romanian units shot 46 Jews including 10 children in a gutter between Drachyntsi and Hlynytsia. Then, the bodies were transported by local residents to the anti-tank trenches and buried there in two pits 500m from the village”. [Act of the State extraordinary commission (ChGK) drawn up in July 1945; RG22.002M; 7021-79-76]

Historical note

Drachyntsi is a village, located 25 km west of Chernivtsi. It was founded in 1459. The earliest known Jewish community dates back to the 16th century. In the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century the village was under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a part of Bukovyna. Then, in 1918 it was taken over by Romania.   In 1930, 232 Jews comprising 6% of the total population lived in Drachyntsi. The majority of them lived off small scale trade and handcraft. At that period there were 3 synagogues, 2 сheders and a mikvah in Drachyntsi. In 1940 Romania ceded the northern part of Bukovyna to the USSR but in July 1941 Romania troops occupied the village back.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

The testimonies recorded by Yahad confirm the execution of local Jews carried out by Romanian soldiers. According to the witnesses there were several shootings of Jews in the village but the main execution of about 50 people was conducted in the ravine close to the river Hlynytsya in the direction of Novi Drachyntsi where they were shot one by one. Before the execution the victims were gathered in a barn where they were detained for several days. Among the victims there were men, women and children, their corpses were buried the same day by the villagers in another place. There were several people who managed to escape; among them was the family of Mendel and a woman called Barka. Those who were not shot in Drachyntsi were deported to Transnistria.

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