Baran | Vitebsk

/ Landscape of Baran town. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Old abandoned factory in Baran. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Nikolay N. points out the location of the ghetto on Ialtinskaia street. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum There were two houses in the ghetto surrounded with barbered wire. The ghetto existed for a year. The house in the picture (rebuilt after the war) was the part of the ghetto. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Aleksey B., a Belarusian, born in 1929 in Baran. He saw the column of Jews being taken from the ghetto to the antitank ditch. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Today, the grave where the Jews from Baran were killed is in the local cemetery, which was smaller at the time. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Yahad research team with the witness at the killing site. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Baran

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Anti-tank ditch near the local cemetery
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944

Witness interview

Nikolay N., born in 1935, followed the column to the execution site: "I saw the mass shooting from about 100 meters away. The Jews were supervised by 5 gendarmes and policemen. The perpetrators were put together in a special unit of 6 people. They had black uniforms and machine guns. The policemen threw the Jews in front of the grave. They were then shot, family by family." (Eyewitness N°559, interviewed in Baran, on October 23, 2011)

Historical note

About 80 Jews lived in Baran before the war. Some of them managed to evacuate to the east.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Soon after the arrival of German troops, the Jews were forced to wear badges and perform hard labor. A ghetto was created in September 1941 on Yaltinskaya street. In April 1942, the ghetto was liquidated. Approximately 50 Jews were killed in a ditch near the local cemetery.

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