1 Execution site(s)
Maria Sh., born in 1929 : ”It was announced that the war had broke out and shortly after the Romanian troops arrived to the village. The village across the river was occupied by Germans. The river was the border between the Romanian and German occupations. We were able to cross the river to go from one village to another without any specific authorization. The borders were guarded, but it was very easy to bribe Romanians with vodka. Once the Romanians installed their power, the local police was created, but in our village, there were only two policemen. Shortly after the occupation, a big group of Jews were brought to the village. It must have been in the early fall, because it was still warm outside, but I won’t be able to tell when it exactly happened. There were about fifty people in the column, including elder, women and children.” (Witness n°2645U, interviewed in Pryshchanytsia, on September 9, 2019)
Prymoshchanytsia is a village in the Bar district located 83km (51mi) south east of Vinnytsia. It is located on the banks of two rivers Liadova and Moshchanka. According to the local witnesses, the majority of the population was Ukrainian. About 10 Jewish families lived in the village of Verkhivka across the river. They were either merchants or artisans.
Prymoshchanytsia was occupied by the German and Romanian troops in the second half of July 1941. The village remained under the Romanians and became part of Transnistria in September 1941, while the village of Verkhivka, located just across the river, was occupied by Germans. With no available archival material for this village, Yahad-In Unum was able to find out about the existence of the camp or ghetto where about 50 Jews brought from Bukovina or Bessarabia were confined. They were brought by Romanians in the fall 1941. After having spent one month in the house, they were transferred to two different houses located close to the vegetable garden ; today it is a forest. Many Jews died while living in these two houses. Their bodies were buried in the mass grave located in the forest. Supposedly, those who didn’t die were taken away by truck and shot. Today, there is a memorial on the site.
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