Pidhorodtsi (Pidgorodtsi, Podgorodtsy) | Lviv

/ Myron D., born in 1927: “I only saw men [being shot],   I didn’t see when the women were shot 2 weeks later.” ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Myron D., born in 1927: “They had to dig the pits, before being shot in groups of three. We, with other boys, watched it from a distance. The Germans were drinking while they were shooting.”©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The location of the former warehouse on the outskirts of the village where the Jews were rounded up. Today it is a hotel, still located on the outskirts of the village. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The bodies of the murdered Jews were reburied in 1976 next to the village’s "People’s and Education House". There is a monument indicating the period when shootings took place in the village (July 7 to August 23, 1941). Alongside the Jewish victims, two Poles and two Ukrainians are also buried. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The site where the men, women and children of 30 Jewish families from the village of Pidhorodtsi were executed and buried. This pit was located to the right of the former warehouse where the Jews had been assembled. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Pidhorodtsi

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Warehouse grounds
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
Hundreds

Witness interview

Myron D., born in 1927: “All the Jews were rounded up.
There were about 30 Jewish families in the village.
They were arrested and gathered near the warehouse.
First, the men were shot. Women were shot two weeks later.
They had to dig the pits, before being shot in groups of three.
We, with other boys, watched it from a distance. The Germans were drinking while they were shooting.” (Testimony n°2449U, interviewed in Pidhorodtsi, on July 14, 2018)

Historical note

Pidhorodtsi is a village located about 100 km (68mi) southwest of Lviv. Part of Eastern Galicia, the village was under Polish rule until 1772, when it was taken over by the Austro-Hungarian Empire where it remained until late 1918. During the interwar period, it came back under Polish rule until September 1939, when the village was taken over by the Soviet Union following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Little is known about the prewar local Jewish community. According to the only testimony recorded by Yahad - In Unum, there were at least thirty Jewish families living in the village. The majority of the Jews lived of commerce, they had small shops, stalls, and kiosks where they sold different kinds of goods. Others were craftsmen. The Jewish children went to the same school as non-Jews. There was neither a synagogue nor a cemetery in the village. The nearest town with a big Jewish community was Skhidnytsia.  

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Pidhorodtsi was first occupied by the Hungarian Army in July 1941, followed by German troops. Little historical sources are available about the village, although there is a monument to the victims erected in the 1970s. The only witness interviewed by Yahad provided few details. However, according to him, when the Germans arrived, thirty or so Jewish families who lived in the village were arrested and locked up in a warehouse building. They subsequently shot the men before shooting the women two weeks later. The bodies were buried in a pit at the execution site. With the help of the local witness Yahad, was able to identify both sites, the initial site where the victims were shot, and the place of reburial. It was impossible to establish the exact date of the execution, but according to the monument, the shootings took place from July to August 1941.

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