Iaryshiv (Yaryshiv, Yaryshev) | Vinnytsia

/ Hanna H., born in 1932: "There was a border, on the border there was a sentry booth where two Germans stood watch. The Jews would cut firewood and bring it to the Germans to burn and warm themselves. " ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Hanna H., born in 1932: "Those stars would be sewn onto their chests and shoulders, so that it could be seen that they were Jewish, not Ukrainian." ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Petro Sh., born in 1930: “The Romanians came first. They stood in a circle, took down a mailbox, they played two flutes and asked if Moscow was far. They probably thought it was not far. And then the Germans came, after the frontline had moved further. Petro Sh., born in 1930 ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Hanna K., born in 1932: “People in the village said that one young Jewish young girl was taken behind the barn, raped and killed on the spot. Her name was Guena, and she was a friend of my sister.” ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The Yahad team during an interview. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The former ravine where 595 Jews from Iaryshiv were murdered. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum A memorial has been erected near the ravine, the execution site of about 600 Jews, murdered on August 21, 1942. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Sloboda Iaryshivska

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Ravine
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
595

Witness interview

Hanna K., born in 1932: "One month after the beginning of the war, a ghetto was created. It was located in a Jewish quarter and surrounded by a fence. The fence was built by Germans and local policemen. There were watchtowers and an entrance, all guarded by the Germans and policemen, all armed with machine guns and pistols. Local Jews were confined there and not allowed to leave. They could cook inside the ghetto, but there wasn’t enough food for everyone. Locals would bring food to the Jews. Some guards would let them give food to them, others would not, and they would beat those who brought food. One Jewish woman managed to escape to Slobodivka(-Iaryshivksa) and find refuge in the house of a local woman. This ghetto existed for a month, and then in autumn all the Jews were shot. A pit had been dug by policemen under German supervision three days before the shooting." (Witness n°2817U, interviewed in Iaryshiv, on October 16, 2020)

Soviet archives

"On August 28, 1942, Germano-fascist invaders from the SS division took 595 Jews out of the ghetto, mostly women, children aged 1 to 16 and the elderly, took them outside Iaryshiv and shot them at the edge of a ravine. The children were thrown into the pit and buried alive. Thus, the criminals in our temporarily occupied territory shot 595 inhabitants of the Iaryshiv commune. [...] " [Act drawn up by Soviet State Extraordinary Commission, on April 12, 1945; GARF7021-54-1263, p.35/Copy USHMM]

Historical note

Iaryshiv is a town, part of historical Podolia region, located 120 km (75mi) southwest of Vinnytsia. The first record of the Jewish community dates back to the 18th century. By 1897, their number had increased, and they comprised 41% of the town’s total population, with 1,499 Jews living in the town. The majority of the town’s Jews lived off small scale trade and handicraft. Some worked in agriculture, such as tobacco growing. During the 1930s, a Jewish collective farm was created. The community had a prayer house. Under Soviet rule, a seven-year Yiddish school was created. On the eve of the war, only 18% of the total population was Jewish, as many of the younger Jewish locals had moved to bigger cities in search of better jobs and economic opportunities. 

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Iaryshiv was occupied by German and Romanian troops on July 19, 1941. On the first day of the occupation about a dozen Jewish men came out to greet the troops. They were shot on the spot. From September 1941 Iaryshiv became part of Transnistria, which remained under Romanian occupation. Shortly after a ghetto was created in the Jewish quarter. It was surrounded with barbed wire and guarded by local police. The ghetto inmates were forced to sew Stars of David onto their clothes on the chest and the back. During the ghetto existence the Jews were humiliated, beaten, and forced to perform various types of labor. On August 12, 1942, the Jews of all ages and sexes were ordered to gather to be displaced. They were allowed to take their most necessary belongings. The column was taken to the outskirts of Iaryshivka, to a ravine behind the Ukrainian cemetery. Upon arrival, the victims forced to strip naked and before being murdered in groups of two. There was only one shooter who fired with an automatic weapon. The Jews’ clothes and belongings from the Jewish homes were taken away by the SS soldiers, who left the village the same day. The next day, Germans in yellow-green uniforms and policemen came to check the pit to make sure no one could get out. According to sources, the execution was carried out by German rural policemen from the Bar District, policemen from the Kamianets-Podilskyi, Security Police and local auxiliary policemen. The approximate number of victims ranged from 200, according to the report of the chief of the German rural police in the Bar district, to 595, according to Soviet archives. Able-bodied Jews were deported to the labor camp at Letychiv and murdered there in late 1942. Today there is a memorial bearing an inscription that 364 Jews were murdered there.

Other links

Nearby villages

To support the work of Yahad-in Unum please consider making a donation

Do you have additional information regarding a village that you would like to share with Yahad ?

Please contact us at contact@yahadinunum.org
or by calling Yahad – In Unum at +33 (0) 1 53 20 13 17