Svisloch | Grodno

/ Ievguenia M. remembered hearing the Jews being shot in the forest. ©David Merlin-Dufey/Yahad - In Unum The mass shooting site of the Svisloch Jews. ©David Merlin-Dufey/Yahad - In Unum ©David Merlin-Dufey/Yahad - In Unum Danuta S. described how her father worked for the Jews. ©David Merlin-Dufey/Yahad - In Unum Ivan S. recounted how he saw a Jewish man being beaten by the Germans in the street. ©David Merlin-Dufey/Yahad - In Unum Former synagogue in Golobudy. ©David Merlin-Dufey/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Svisloch

1 Killing site(s)

Investigated by Yahad:
2010
Kind of place before:
Forest
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944

Witness interview

Danuta S. (N°415): "The executioners had to drink alcohol during the shootings, otherwise it was unbearable for them." (Witness N°415 interviewed in December 2010)

Historical note

Svisloch is a small town located 70 km south of Grodno. In 1939, there were around 3,000 Jews living in Svisloch, along with refugees from western Poland who had settled there after the invasion of Poland.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

In July 1941, a ghetto was established in the old Jewish neighborhood, in the northwest part of Svisloch. Jews from the village of Golobudy were also resettled there. It was an open ghetto, and the western border of the ghetto’s territory ran along the Svisloch River. On November 2, 1942, the ghetto was liquidated, and the Jews were sent by train to the Volkovysk transit camp.

The remaining Jews, mostly elderly and sick, were killed in the Visnik Forest, just outside Svisloch. Ivan S., interviewed by Yahad In - Unum’s team, remembered that the shooting lasted for several hours. His father was requisitioned to fill in the pit after the shooting.

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