Zamyslovychi | Zhytomyr

/ Nikolay B, born in 1932: "They forced the Jews to dance, even the elderly who could hardly walk. Id they didt dance they wre beaten". © Guillaume Ribot/Yahad-In Unum Nikolay B. shows the execution site of about 5 Jews at the edge of the forest © Guillaume Ribot/Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Zamyslovichi

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Forest
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
5

Witness interview

Nikolay B, born in 1932, remembers:
“Before the shooting, the Jews were forced to dance. I remember that very well.
YIU: Were they forced to dance to music?
W: What music? They were just forced to dance, there wasn’t any music. If not, they beat them. Some of them whistled a melody.
YIU: Did they dance in groups of twos or more?
W: They were forced to dance. You know how the Jewish dances are. But, the elderly, due to their advanced age could not dance, they only shivered.” (Witness N°244, interviewed in Zamyslovichi, on October 13, 2005).

Historical note

Zamyslovychi is located 170 km north from Zhytomyr. The Jews of the village were merchants, artisans or worked in the Jewish kolkhoz. The Germans occupied the village in the middle of July 1941.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Thanks to Yahad’s investigation, we managed to collect the information about the execution of Jews in Zamyslovychi. According to a witness, one day, the policemen gathered all Jews near the church and selected those who would be killed. They were taken to the forest and killed there in a small pit dug in advanced. The witness thinks that there were no Germans but only policemen on the execution site. Before the shooting, the Jews were forced to dance in order to be humiliated. Unfortunately, it was impossible to identify the exact number of Jews killed at this execution site. According to the witness 4-5 Jews were killed there.

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