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1 Execution site(s)
Vyacheslav G., born in 1930: "The Jews of Ivye lived in perfect harmony with the local population, there were also many Tartars living alonside them.” (Eyewitness N°727 interviewed, on April 24, 2014)
"Near the village of Stanevichi, on the border of the forest, 2 km outside Ivye, 3 mass graves were discovered. The first pit contains 220 corpses, among which there are 219 men and a 20-year-old woman, whose surname is Lopata. The bodies were thrown randomly into the pit, in disorder, facing down, the legs at the top." [Act of the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission, RG-22.002M.7021-91-5 (Part1)]
“On May 10, a Sunday morning, the Jewish quarter was encircled and everybody had to stay in their apartments. We had already heard that mass shootings were happening, but we thought that only old and sick people were concerned.” [Testimony of Elimelech M., a Jewish survivor, Tel-Aviv, January 1962, Baranovichi KDS trial, BALAR-Z94/59Vol.III-B162-3420]
Stanevichi is a small village, close to the city of Ivye, situated 110 km west of Minsk. Before the war, there were around 3,000 Jews living in Ivye (known also as Ewie, Ivie, Iwie, Ive and Iwje), but there were no Jews in Stanevichi. They lived off of trade and handicraft. German forces occupied the town at the end of June 1941.
As soon as they arrived in Ivye, the Germans selected and shot 200-220 (according to different sources and Yahad research) Jewish skilled workers. Other Jews were registered and subjected to different kinds of forced labor. In October 1941, the Jews were gathered in a special quarter of the town composed of houses at the beginning of Novogrudok street.
By April 1942, all the Jews from the smaller surrounding villages of Lipnishchki, Traby, Bakshchty, Subotniki, and other settlements were also gathered in the Ivye ghetto, with a total of 4,000 persons interned there. The ghetto was fenced in with barbed wire.
On May 11, 1942, all the Jews were gathered on the market square. During that process, lots of them were shot on the spot. The Germans proceeded to carry out a selection. 2 groups of 200 or 300 Jews were set apart and later sent to the Lida ghetto.
The rest were subjected to another selection. Circa. 2,500 people were escorted from the church to pits dug in advance on Stanevichi Forest. The last Jews had to perform forced labor for the Todt organizsation in different camps, and were later transferred to other ghettos.
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Go to the LitvakSIG website, whose mission is to preserve Litvak heritage by discovering, collecting, documenting and disseminating information about the once vibrant Jewish community of Lithuania.