Bratske (Bratskoye) | Mykolaiv 

The ravine called ‘Zhydivska Balka’ is located by the road. Today, there are no traces of the ravine. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum The memorial for the Jewish victims native from Bratske, Bessarabia and Western Ukraine who were murdered here in October 1941. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum A tombstone part of the memorial for the Jewish victims killed in Bratske. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Bratske

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Ravine called ‘Zhydivksa Balka’
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
Over 400

Soviet archives

«During the first days all Jewish families were taken by force to a destroyed building where they had nothing to eat. Later, they were brought in groups to the ravine, located outside of Bratskoye [today Bratske], in the direction of the village of Viktorovka. Among the local Jews there was Yakov Khodorkovskiy with the family, Grigoriy Krupnik with the family, Leiba Melamud with his daughter, Yefim Froimovich with his mother, and 21 other families. Besides the local Jews, 24 Jewish families native from Bessarabia and Western Ukraine found their death here. Although, the cannibals didn’t limit themselves with that. In January 1942, a school teacher Petr Ivanovich Kivshin was hanged. Then, the communist party members, all partisans, teachers, soviet activists and others were massively arrested. Shortly after that, 76 partisans were murdered on the other side of the forest, close to Novoolaksandrivka [Novooleksandrivka] […] » [Act n°2 drawn up by Soviet Extraordinary Commission (ChGK); GARF 7021-68-178, pp. 26-27]

Historical note

Bratske is located about 115km (71 miles) north of Mykolaiv. The first records about the Jews settling down in the village go back to the 19th century. In 1897 241 Jews lived here. The majority of them were involved in small scale trade or artisan manufacturing.  On the eve of the war 203 Jews remained in the village. 

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Bratske was occupied by the Germans on August 7, 1941. Unfortunately, during the field research Yahad-In Unum couldn’t find any older witnesses who would remember the event that happened under the occupation. According to what we know from the archives, in October 1941, after being gathered and confined into a destroyed building, two hundred local Jews along with 26 Jewish families brought from Bessarabia and Western Ukraine, were taken in groups to the ravine to be shot.

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