Troitskoye | Kalmykia

/ Memorial in memory of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, exterminated by Nazis on October 6, 1942 © Victoria Bahr - Yahad-In Unum The Buddhist temple recently built and inaugurated by lamas came from Nepal© Victoria Bahr - Yahad-In Unum Local inhabitants during the ceremony of the inauguration of the Buddhist temple © Victoria Bahr - Yahad-In Unum The inauguration ceremony of the Buddhist temple © Victoria Bahr - Yahad-In Unum Yahad team, headed by Father Desbois, during the interview © Victoria Bahr - Yahad-In Unum Raisa K ., born in 1927, was able to recognize Sarah’s name from the list of the victims. This Jewish girl was hidden for a while by her mother-in-law. © Victoria Bahr - Yahad-In Unum Ivan L., born in 1930, remembered that one Jewish boy managed to escape © Victoria Bahr - Yahad-In Unum Aleksandr, a witness’s son, showing the execution site of 29 Jews to the Yahad team. © Victoria Bahr - Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jewish refugees in Troitskoye

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Steppe outside of the village
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1942-1943
Number of victims:
29

Witness interview

Raisa K., born in 1927, remembered: “The Jewish refugees arrived before the Germans. I don’t remember where they were from, but they spoke Russian. One Jewish couple rented a part of our house. Like most of the Jews, the head of the family worked in the kolkhoz.” (Witness n°512, interviewed in Troitskoye, on June 06, 2015)

Soviet archives

“In early October 1942, under the order of the Gestapo chef of Elitsa, the starosta of Troistkoe drew up a list of Jews living in Troitskoe. Following this list, 28-29 people, women, children and the elderly, were gathered in the shed situated in the yard that belong edto the starosta. After having kept them there for two hours, the Jews were loaded in the truck and taken 1km away from the village towards the deep ravine. There was no pit there. The perpetrators exterminated them before the eyes of the local population. The adults were shot. The children were poisoned with a product put above their lips. They fell down dead.” [RG 22.010, File 1, Pages 23-28, 39-40, Act of Soviet regional commission, made on 16 July 1943]

Historical note

Troitskoye is located, on the banks of the Bulgun River, 14km north of Elista. Historically home to Russians and Kalmyks, there were no Jewish families living in the village before the war. According to the witnesses and Soviet sources, about 28 Jewish refugees moved here once the Germans started to occupy the Soviet Union. Some of Yahad’s witnesses stated that the Jewish refugees worked in the kolkhoz; others stated that they didn’t work. The Germans entered the village in August 1942.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

According to Ivan L. (Witness n°514), the anti-Jewish aktions started one month after the Germans’ arrival. 28 Jewish refugees from Troitskoye and 1 brought from sovkhoz were locked up in the school on the eve of the Aktion. 29 Jewish refugees were exterminated on October 6, 1942.  From the Soviet archives, we know that the adults were shot and the children were poisoned. The witnesses interviewed by Yahad heard about this but were not able to confirm if it was true.

Nearby villages

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