1 Execution site(s)
Eva B. evokes: “The Jews were shot in autumn 1941. I saw a column of Jews (around 100 people) surrounded by Germans and policemen. The Germans were at the end of the column. They asked me to go to the edge of the road and let the column go by. This scene took place near Voronino. The Jews seemed to be tired.” (Witness N°662, interviewed in Voronino, on June 25, 2013).
« In September 1941, the Oberleutnant Mertus decided to gather 4679 Jews in a castle. After seven days in this place without food or water, they were taken by truck to the edge of the Dniepr and were shot in an anti-tank trench. The children under 10-12 years old weren’t shot, and instead the Germans threw them alive into the trench and buried them ». [Act drawn by the Soviet Extraordinary Commission, on December 1944, RG22.022M/7021-88/35].
Voronino is located 58 km away from Mogilev. According to Eva B. (Witness n°662) interviewed in Voronino, on June 25, 2013), there was no Jews in the village before the war. There were a lot of Jews in the neigboring village of Bykhov.
In November 1941, an Aktion was carried out in Voronino concerning the Jews of Bykhov. The remaining Jews from Bykhov were rounded up in a castle for one week, without water or food. The survivors were then sent to Voronino, 6 km from Bykhov, and were shot in an anti-tank ditch. According to Soviet sources, 4 679 Jews perished there. In December 1943, the Germans came back to Voronino in order to exhume the bodies and burn them.
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