1 Killing site(s)
Volodymyr S., born in 1926: "At the beginning, the Jews brought here from Mohyliv-Podilsk were placed in the pigsties that used to be part of a kolkhoz. Then, some Jews, mainly the artisans and their families, were taken in by the local Pryvitne Jews and stayed in their houses. Others moved into the houses of the former Polish manor. Before the war, the manor was used as a kindergarten, but it was evacuated just before the Germans arrived. Jewish refugees, men and women, worked in the field. They were paid the same as the Ukrainians. Some Jews would even go to Kopaihorod to exchange or buy things. As a result of bad living conditions and typhus, many Jews died during the winter of 1941-1942." (Witness n°2594U, interviewed in Pryvitne, April 18, 2019)
Pryvitne is located 78 km (48mi) southwest of Vinnytsia. There is not much information about the Jewish community living in Stepanky. Even though most of the population was Polish or Ukrainian, some six or seven Jewish family lived in Pryvitne before the war. They were mainly artisans or merchants. There was no synagogue or Jewish cemetery. Local Jews would go to Kopaihorod, 19 km (12mi) north of Pryvitne, which was home to a large Jewish community.
Pryvitne was occupied by German and Romanian troops in the middle of July 1941. The village remained under Romanian control and became part of the region of Transnistria from September 1941. In the summer or autumn of 1941, several hundred Jews were brought through the village from Bukovina and Bessarabia. According to local accounts, about two hundred were placed in the pigsties where a camp was created. Some Jews managed to find shelter with the local Jewish families, or in a former Polish manor. The Jews continued to work. Some of them were even paid for the farm work they did. Some Jews continued to work as artisans in exchange of food or a place to stay. In spite of the bad treatment, they received and a general lack of food, the Jews were not executed in Pryvitne, in contrast to what happened to the Jews in areas that remained under German occupation. During the occupation about 150 Jews died of hunger, bad living conditions, and typhus. They were buried in an anti-tank trench by local villagers who were requisitioned to transport the bodies. Today, the site remains without any memorial.
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