Sebezh | Pskov

/ © Miguel Maldonado - Yahad-In Unum Olga M, born in 1930, saw the shooting of the Jews at the beginning of 1942. They had to go across the frozen lake to go to the execution site. They were then shot in groups of three behind the Jewish cemetery©Miguel Maldonado – Yahad-In Unum © Miguel Maldonado - Yahad-In Unum Nadeja C. explains that her mother saw the Jewish shooting. They were killed behind the Jewish cemetery. Some of them were alive when they fell in the pit©Miguel Maldonado – Yahad-In Unum © Miguel Maldonado - Yahad-In Unum Execution site for the Jewish victims © Miguel Maldonado – Yahad-In Unum © Miguel Maldonado - Yahad-In Unum In the Jewish cemetery © Miguel Maldonado – Yahad-In Unum © Miguel Maldonado - Yahad-In Unum Zineida P, born in 1931, remembered that the Jews were burned after the shooting. They were burned together with Soviet prisoners near the castle©Miguel Maldonado – Yahad-In Unum ©Miguel Maldonado – Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Sebezh

1 Execution site(s)

Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944

Witness interview

Zineida S. recalls: "So, against my will, by pure coincidence, I found myself walking in the column with the Jews who were going to be taken to be shot. My Jewish friend’s mother told me to escape. So I hid at the corner of the road, close to the lake." (Witness N°167, interviewed in Sebezh, on June 1, 2011).

Historical note

Sebezh is located 130 kilometers west-southwest of Velikie Luki on the main railroad from Moscow to Riga. According to the 1939 population census, there were 845 Jews living in Sebezh.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

The SS Division “Totenkopf” arrived in the town on July 7, 1941. Lots of Jews managed to escape during this period. During the entire occupation, which lasted from July 1941 to July 1944, there was a Ortskommandantur in the town. There was a Ordnungsdienst too. A ghetto was created in September 1941 and existed until March 1942. After that, it was liquidated. During the liquidation, more than 100 Jews were shot in pits. The perpetrators of the shooting were local Russian policemen.

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