Orsha | Vitebsk

Orsha is a city located in the Vitebsk Oblast, in northeastern Belarus. It is located on the banks of the Dnieper River, about 80km (50mi) south of Vitebsk. In the second part of the 16th century, when the Republic of Two Nations had integrated Orsha into its territory, the city’s Jewish community was among the largest in the country. In 1765, 368 Jewish people lived in the town. A decade later, in 1776, the city was incorporated into the Russian Empire. The community grew exponentially over the course of the 19th century. It increased from 1,662 individuals in 1847 to 7,383 in 1897, comprising 56% of the total population of the city. The majority of Jewish inhabitants were merchants or artisans. During this period, the city housed four Jewish schools and a Talmud Torah. In October 1905, the community was the target of violence for the first time, when 30 Jews were killed in a pogrom.

In 1910, 9,842 Jews were living in Orsha. In 1922, the city was included in the Socialist Republic of Belarus. Under the Soviet rule, the growth of the Jewish community was very slow. During the interwar period, 95% of Jewish artisans were assembled into cooperatives and two Jewish elementary schools were closed. Some Jews worked in factories or government institutions. On the eve of the Second World War, some 7,992 Jews lived in Orsha, making up only 21% of the total population.

Orsha was occupied by the Germans, more precisely by the 2nd German Armored Group, on July 16, 1941. Before the German arrival, many of the Orsha Jews had managed to escape deeper into the Soviet Union by train, by cart or on foot. From August 1941, Orsha was under the control of Feldkommandantur 683 and Ortskommandantur I/842. Its commander, Baron von Ascheberg, and his deputy, Paul Karl Eick, played a central role in the genocide of the Jews in the region. Immediately under the occupation, anti-Jewish measures began to be implemented. Jews were marked with armbands bearing the yellow Star of David, and, in some cases, star-shaped badges were placed on their backs. They were forbidden from buying food at the markets alongside other Belarusians. Moreover, they were subjected to paying taxes and perform hard labor such as cleaning the streets.

In early September 1941, a ghetto was created on Engels Street, also known as Gorodnyanskaya Street. It was enclosed by the Orshitsa River on one side, and by barbed wire on the other. The ghetto was guarded by local auxiliaries. Due to overcrowding, malnutrition, and diseases such as typhus, many Jews died inside the ghetto. The Jewish inmates were also subjected to robberies and rapes by the Germans and local auxiliaries. 

The extermination of the Orsha Jews started in August 1941, when the Einsatzkommando 9, part of the Einsatzgruppe B unit, executed 43 people. In September 1941, another group of Jews was shot by Einsatzkommando 8, on its way to Mogilev. The ghetto was liquidated on November 26-27, when some 1,873 Jews were taken in groups of 100 to 150 to the Jewish cemetery and shot dead in the pits dug in advance by Soviet POWs. Before being shot on the edge of the pit by automatic weapons, the Jews were forced to undress. Several dozen artisans and their families remained in the ghetto until April 1942, when they were taken and shot at the cemetery. The isolated shootings continued throughout the occupation. In September 1943, the Nazi authorities attempted to erase the traces of these massacres by burning all the bodies. The Soviet archives estimated the number of the victims as high as 6,000 people, although some vicitms were not of Jewish origin. The local civilian population was systematically exterminated over the course of several isolated killings, along with Soviet POWs.

Two camps for non-Jewish civilians, who were supposed to be sent to Germany for forced labor, were also created in the town. One was located in the eastern part of the town and the other on Novy But street.