Maryivka (Maryevka) | Kirovohrad

Maryivka is located about 100 km west from Kirovohrad. Historically, it was the village with a Ukrainian population. However, many Jews lived in Dobrovelychkivka, located about 3 km away from Maryivka. The first record of a Jewish community in Dobrovelychkivka dates back to the 19^th century. By the end of the 19^th century, over half of the population was Jewish, at 1718 Jews. There were 2 synagogues, a Yiddish school and about several dozen Jewish shops. The majority of Jews were merchants. There were also a big number of artisans among them. During the Soviet period the synagogues were closed, but Jews continued to gather for religious holidays in one house. In the 20^th century the Jewish population dropped due to resettlement of Jews to bigger towns. On the eve of the war, only 366 Jews lived in Dobrovelychkivka. The German forces occupied the village in the early August 1941. By that time, about 25% of Jews managed to evacuate to the East. 

Shortly after the Germans’ arrival, all Jews were registered and marked with armbands and their houses were marked with Stars of David.  They were subjected to different kind of forced labor such as road construction.

The ghetto was established in the fall 1941. All the Jews were confined in the ghetto for a couple of months. They couldn’t leave the territory and buy food from locals and as a result, people suffered from hunger. The ghetto was liquidated during the Aktion conducted on December 23. Before being taken to the shooting, all the Jews were gathered in a vegetable warehouse. Later, they were driven by cart or marched to Maryivka village, 1km away from Dobrovelychkivka, where they were shot in a pit for dead cattle. According to the local witness interviewed by Yahad-In Unum, the shooting was conducted during 3-5 days by Germans who were helped by local collaborators. And it seemed that the shooting wasn’t organized well.  Once on the site, the policemen forced the Jews to get off the carts claiming that they wouldn’t be shot. They were shot on the spot while trying to escape from the execution site and their corpses were dragged and thrown into the pit by policemen. Those who were still moving were finished off inside the pit. According to some sources there were 207 Jews killed in Maryivka, however on the monument on the execution site the number of victims is 167.