Sirotino | Vitebsk

/ Nadeja C. remembers saving a Jewish woman who escaped to the forest. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum Iefrossinia K. remembers seeing a Jewish partisan being killed by the Germans. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum Nadejda K. remembers that locals were requisitioned to fill the ravine after the shooting. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Sirotino

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Ravine
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1943
Number of victims:
178

Witness interview

Dmitri D.: "One Jewish man from the camp was led away by a German to a field on a horse sleigh. He tried to escape, but he was caught. The German shot him at the end of the main road at the entry to the village." (Witness N°487 interviewed in June, 2011)

Soviet archives

"During the occupation period, 493 people were shot and hanged. Many of them belonged to the Jewish population." [Act of the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission, RG-22.002M/7021-84/12]

Historical note

Sirotino is a village located about 45 km northwest of Vitebsk. In 1939, the Jewish population numbered circa. 300 people. The village was under German occupation from 1941 to 1943.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

After their arrival, the Germans forced older Jews to burn their Torah scrolls and other religious literature in front of the rest of the Jewish commuity, in an act of brutal humiliation. In September 1941, about 30 or 40 Jewish men were shot at a location somewhere between Sirotino and Shumilino. An open ghetto was then created in 4 or 5 houses close to the Jewish cemetery.

On November 18, 1941, the ghetto was liquidated and the Jews killed in a ravine 2 km outside of the village.

Nearby villages

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