Batsevichi | Mogilev

Executions of Jews in Batsevichi

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:: Garden
Memorials:: No
Period of occupation:: 1941-1944
Number of victims:: About 100-150

Witness interview

Yekaterina Y., born in 1928: “I saw the shooting from the window of my house. About 40 people accused of being connected to the partisans were rounded up and escorted to the site by policemen. Once on the site, they were shot on the ground. There was no pit. The Germans didn’t let us to burn the corpses for two weeks. I remember the blood seeping into the river“. (Testimony n°700, interviewed on July 27, 2013 in Batsevichi)

Historical note

Batsevichi is located about 100km southwest of Mogilev and 35km north of Bobruisk. According to the witness, many Jews lived in the center of the village at the time of the invasion. The majority of them were merchants and artisans. There was a synagogue, but no Jewish cemetery. On the eve of the war, there were supposedly some 150 Jews living in Batsevichi. The Germans arrived in the region at the end of July 1941.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

During the first months of the occupation, the Jews continued to live normally in their houses. It was not until September 1941 that they were confined to the ghetto, which was liquidated in December 1941. According to the witness, who lived in Ustya back then (now a suburb of Batsevichi), one Jewish family, who were natives of Ustya, were murdered in the garden not far from their home. Their bodies were reburied at the cemetery. In February 1942, 47 local villagers were murdered as part of reprisals against the partisan movement.

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