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1 Killing site(s)
“On October 13, 1942, during the German occupation of the village of Khokhol, the enemy command shot the Davydov family consisting of elderly disabled mother Aleksandra Davydova, 23-year-old daughter Galina, and 11-day-old granddaughter Nina. Here are the details of this heinous murder of the innocent Davydov family by the invading monsters: Aleksandra Davydova, being an elderly person, lived in the facility for disabled people in the village of Khokhol, opened on September 1, 1942. On October 13, Galina Davydova, [a] 23-year-old according to her own words, came to the facility with an 11-day-old baby looking for her disabled mother, Aleksandra Davydova, who lived there. Galina Davydova moved with her child to the collective farm worker at 16 [illegible word] and received food aid from the Russian administration of the facility for disabled people as a nursing mother. In particular, she had bread and butter like anyone else in the house with disabilities. Such attention made a certain Doktorov Nikolai Vassilievich, who lived there as [a] disabled [person] with his wife, jealous. Doctorov is a fairly well-known lawyer in Voronezh. Unhappy with the help given to Davydov’s family, he started shouting in the room in the presence of Aleksandra Davydov that he knew she was the former owner of a hat shop in Voronezh and that she was 100% Jewish. I was informed about that incident as the secretary of the handicapped house by the other disabled people who were present at that moment in the room. Right away, I ordered Mr. Doktorov [to] immediately stop harassing the Davydov family and shouting that they are Jewish. In response, he threatened to denounce the fact that I cover up and favor Jews. […] Two to three hours later, Maria Gueorguievna Alphierova met the Davydov family outside, being escorted, with all their belongings thrown on the ground near the Kommandantur and collected by the interpreter Muradian. Then, as it was impossible to remain indifferent to this situation, I asked E.N. Dolgopolova to go and learn the reasons for the arrest of Aleksandra Davydova. According to Dolgopolova, the interpreter Muradian replied very curtly in a cynical manner that they had "contributed to the production of soap." There was no doubt that the Davydov family was shot, we never saw them again in Khokhol." [Deposition of a witness regarding the denunciation and shooting of a Jewish family, taken by Soviet State Extraordinary Commission (ChGK) in September 1943; GARF: Fond 7021, opis 22, delo 500.]
Khokhol is located 37km (23mi) west of Voronezh. The first records about the Jews settling down in the area date back to the end of 19th century. With the construction of a railway line from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don, the local Jewish population began to grow. A big Jewish community lived in Voronezh. In 1897, 1,708 Jews lived there, comprising approximately 16% of Voronezh’s total population. The community had its own synagogue and cemetery. The majority of Jews lived off small-scale trade and crafts. On the eve of WWII in 1939, less than 3% of Jews lived in the town of Voronezh.
Khokhol was occupied by the Germans and Hungarians on July 7, 1942. During the occupation, which lasted six months, Jewish residents of Voronezh were rounded up and taken by truck to a ravine located north of the village of Khokhol, where they were murdered. The Aktion was conducted in September 1943, most probably by Wehrmacht Secret Services and the army. According to the Soviet archives, 77 corpses were found in the ravine during the exhumation carried out in May 1943.
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