Ostrozhets (Ostrozec) | Rivne

/ An abandoned Jewish cemetery with some burial stones © Guillaume Ribot - Yahad-In Unum © Guillaume Ribot - Yahad-In Unum © Guillaume Ribot - Yahad-In Unum One of two execution sites (Execution site N°1) © Guillaume Ribot - Yahad-In Unum The location of the mass grave of Jewish victims at the place of destroyed Jewish cemetery (Execution site N°2)  © Guillaume Ribot - Yahad-In Unum This site was identified through Yahad’s research and is now memorialized and protected through the Protecting Memory initiative. © Protecting-Memory.org

Execution of Jews in Ostrozhets

2 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Jewish cemetery
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944

Witness interview

Leonid Kh. answers: "YIU : Was there a mass shooting of Jews?
L. Kh.: Yes, there was. They were brought in trucks. First, they went to take them from their houses and gathered them all in a so-called ghetto situated in the place where the public bath is nowadays. Then, they brought them dressed in trucks here. There were four machine guns. People were taken here to dig the pit. Then, at the place where there is a river they had to undress completely. All their belongings -- they put on the cart." (Eyewitness N°78, interviewed three times in 2004, 2007 and 2013)

Historical note

Ostrozhets, founded around 1528, is located about 75 km (47 miles) south of Kovel, near Lutsk. On the eve of the war, according to the census of 1939, 624 Jews lived in Ostrozhets. The village was occupied by Germans at the end of June 1941.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

The first anti-Jewish actions started at the end of summer beginning of autumn 1941. All Jews were forced to wear distinguishing badges. They were subjected to force labor, assaults and robbery. The first shooting of 40 Jews was conducted by German security forces in August 1941. A closed ghetto was established in the spring of 1942 and existed till 9th October, 1942 when it was liquidated by a detachment of the Sipo and SD from Rivne assisted by German gendarmerie and Ukrainian police. In total, around 700 Jews were murdered during this action. The lasting Jews were shot in the autumn of 1942 at the Jewish cemetery.

Jewishgen

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