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1 Execution site(s)
Maria M.: "1,200 or 1,400 Jews were shot in Zhirovichi. After the mass shooting, I saw people moving into the Jewish houses. People had no shame." (Witness N°311, interviewed in May, 2010)
"During this execution, 1,200 to 1,400 Jews of the ghetto were shot. During the Aktion, groups of 500 Jews were brought on foot to the execution site and were exterminated by the commando. I was Schutzmann. The grave was 4 meters wide, 5 meters deep and 60 to 80 meters long. I remembered that a few days before the execution, we had to train to shoot at the site. The population could hear the shooting and were probably very frightened." [Deposition of Alfred M. in September, 1947, interpreter and driver, B162-3408]
Zhirovichi is a village situated west of Baranovichi. Before the war, an significant proportion of the population was Jewish. There were also a significant number of Jewish refugees from western Poland. The village was under German occupation between 1941 and 1944.
In the autumn of 1941, the whole population of the village was gathered at the village square. Mikhail R., interviewed by Yahad - In Unum, explained that a German punitive commando squad came early in the morning to initiate a selection process. The Jews were selected and taken to a nearby forest to be killed in a pit dug in advance.
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