 YVA 205DO3.JPG&f=jpg)
 (2).jpg&f=jpg)
2 Killing site(s)
Olga I., born in 1931, remembered the columns because they passed by the front of her house: "Several times in a day, there were columns of Jews who passed by. We stayed inside the houses because it was forbidden to go out, but I could see them through my window. It lasted several days. There were women, men, elder people and children in the column. The mothers carried their babies in the arms and toddlers walked near holding the hands. Some Jews carried small bundles or handbags with them, and others walked empty-handed. The columns were guarded by Germans. They were taken in the direction of the chalk factory, located about 100m away from the exit of the village. Since it wasn’t far, we could hear the gunshots. Sometimes the shooting lasted for up to two hours, that was the time they shot all the Jews.” (Testimony n°1436, interviewed in Lukiv, on April 23rd, 2012).
Lukiv (former Maciejów or Matsiov) is located about 100 km northwest of Lutsk. The first records of the Jews in dates back to the 17th century. In 1897, 2,337 Jews lived in the town of Lukiv comprising about 60% of total population. In 1921, its number dropped to 2,206. The majority of Jews were artisans or merchants, who owned their shops. There were several religious and cultural movements, such as Bund, Zionism and Hassidism. There was a synagogue and a Tarbut school in Lukiv. However, in 1939, under the Soviet rule all religious and cultural movements were forbidden and the school was closed. On the eve of the war there were about 2,600 Jews in Lukiv. Chornoplesy was occupied by Germans on June 24th, 1941 along with Lukiv and other nearing villages.
Shortly after the Germans’ arrival a Judenrat was established and the local police was formed. All Jews were registered and marked with yellow distinguishing badges. They were subjected to perform different types of forced labor, for instance cleaning the streets or work at the sawmill. The first Aktion took place three weeks after the occupation. On July 18th, 1941, 400 Jewish men under the pretext of registration were taken to the former nunnery which served and Germans headquarters, where 325 Jews were shot while others were released because of their skills, which might be useful for the Germans. About four weeks later another group of 300 women were shot at the same place. These executions were conducted by SD unit from Kovel, Police Bataillon 314 who were assisted by local police. In August 1941, the second Aktion was conducted against 1,000 Jews who were killed in the limestone quarry outside of the town. According to some witnesses prior to be taken to the shooting, the Jews were confined in the synagogue while all the Jews were gathered. Many Jews went into hiding but were found and killed during isolated shootings. Supposedly, at the end of 1941, the ghetto was established in Lukiv and it was liquidated in mid-September 1942. During the liquidation, conducted by SD unit from Lutsk and German Gendarmerie, between 1,500 and 2,500 Jews were shot in the limestone quarry outside the town. Several isolated shootings of Jews who managed to stay in hiding but were found lasted until 1943. From field research Yahad found out that a part of Jews from Lukiv were taken to be shot in Okunyn.
For more information about the execution of Jews in Okunyn, please, refer to the corresponding profile.
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
Read Yahad-In Unum’s report of the research trip in this area