1 Killing site(s)
Maria Ia., born in 1923: “Hundreds of Jews were brought here shortly upon the occupation. I can’t tell you exactly when it was, but I remember it was still warm outside. The Jews were placed in the stables and remained there until they disappeared. I remember two Jewish girls Nina and Tsylia who used to come to our house to ask for food. The poor things, they had nothing to eat there, and it was forbidden to leave the ghetto’s territory. So, on a sly, taking all the risks, they would sneak out of the ghetto, and come to our house. By night, they would come back to the ghetto.” (Witness n°2698U, interviewed in Chetvertynivka, on November 1st, 2019)
Chetvertynivka is located 108km(67mi) southeast of Vinnytsia. It is unclear whether the Jews lived in the village before the war. According to the testimonies, only one Jewish woman lived here. She worked as a tailor. The village was home to Ukrainians. There were three collective farms. Agriculture was the main occupation. The Jews lived in the nearby town of Ladyzhyn, located about 20km away, where the Jewish population represented 13% of the total on the eve of the war.
Chetvertynivka was occupied by German and Romanian forces at the end of July 1941. The village remained under the Romanians and became part of Transnistria in September 1941. Even though the village wasn’t mentioned in the archives, from the field research with the help of the local witnesses, Yahad-In Unum managed to establish that a temporary ghetto for the Jewish refugees was created here under the occupation. In the fall of 1941, hundreds of Jews - men, women, and children among them- were brought from Bessarabia and Bukovina and placed in the stables that belonged to the collective farm. One month or so later, some Jews were taken in the direction of Ladyzhyn. The remaining Jews were resettled in Bershad later. According to the witnesses, several Jews died here, but the number of victims was not as important as in other ghettos, camps, created throughout the area. The bodies were buried in the pit near the river, located about 200m away from the stables. Today, there is no memorial at the place.
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