Rosokhach | Ternopil

/ Maria S., born in 1933: “They would come to   the village from time to time. But this time they came to conduct   the Aktion, then they left. ” ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Maria S., born in 1933 interviewed by Yahad. The only witness encountered in Rosokhach.  ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Former brewery that belonged to a Jewish man called Dudio. He lived at the same location. The building is original, and at some period was used as a maternity ward. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Former building of the Polish estate. Today it is a private property.  ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Former building of the Polish estate. Today it is a private property.  ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The house that used to belong to a Jew called Kielman. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum Former house of a Jew named Shmelko. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The barracks where the Jews were placed is located on the former Polish estate. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The Yahad team with Maria S. visiting the execution sites. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The Yahad team during the interview. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The execution site of about a hundred of Jews who were killed most probably in November 1943. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum The execution site of about a hundred Jews who were murdered in Rosokhach during the war. ©Les Kasyanov/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Rosokhach

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Ravine
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
About a hundred

Witness interview

Maria S., born in 1933: “The Jews lived in the former barracks where the tobacco was dried. During the day, they worked in the fields. The local population, Ukrainians, and Poles, also worked in the fields alongside them. The Jews weren’t guarded, there was just a brigadier, the main one, who showed them what to do and supervised them. For lunch they could take a one-hour break. The supervisor’s name was Iuzia, he was Polish. He was just a supervisor and treated the Jews in the same way as the others.” (Witness n°2355U, interviewed in Rosokhach, on March 20, 2018)

Historical note

Rosokhach is located 90 km (56mi) south of Ternopil. Little is known about the Jewish community in Rosokhach. It was rather small compared to the community in the nearby town of Tovste, located 19 km (12mi) south and Chortkiv, located 10 km (6mi) northwest. According to local testimonies recorded by Yahad, eight Jewish families lived in the village, including Esther, Dudio, Kielman, Ionna who owned a mill. The Jews lived in the center and mainly owned shops, but some of them were artisans. The majority of the population was Ukrainian and Polish. The villagers worked for a rich Pole who owned the land and the filwarok (Polish manor). When the village was taken over by Soviet Union in September 1939, a collective farm was created. Fearing for their lives, most of the Jews left the village.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Rosokhach was occupied by German and Hungarian troops on July 7, 1941. According to the Soviet archives a labor camp was created in the former Polish manor in 1943. A group of about a hundred Jews or more, men, women, children, were taken there and placed in some barracks located on the former Polish property. It wasn’t fenced and the Jews could leave its territory freely. The inmates were subjected to forced labor in the fields where potatoes, wheat and barley were cultivated. The local population, Ukrainians, and Poles, also worked in the fields. Part of the harvest was given to the working locals, part to the Jews, and part to replant for the following year. There is no exact date when the Jewish inmates from the camp were killed, but according to a testimony recorded by Yahad, it might have been conducted November 1943. On the day of the Aktion, the camp was surrounded by Germans, and the inmates were shot dead. Their bodies were thrown in a ravine located nearby.

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