1 Killing site(s)
Ilia V., born in 1934, remembers: “It was in the early fall, in September, because the grapes were ready to harvest. I was in the vineyard gathering the grapes, when, suddenly, I saw a column of about 300 Jews being taken to the ravine. There were women, men, children, everyone, - entire families. They spoke Jewish languages between them, that is how I knew that they were Jews. When the Germans saw me, they ordered me to come closer and to give them the grapes. I came and put the basket near the shooter who put down with the machine gun. He was shooting and eating at the same time. I got scared and run away.” (Eyewitness n°117, interviewed in Cocieri, on August 13, 2013)
“We undersigned, the members of the commission […] opened a mass grave located 1,5km north from the village of Corjova, in a big ravine where an execution of Soviet citizens took place in September 1941. Once the mass grave was opened, the Soviet commission recorded: 17 male corpses, 1 female corps and one corps of a child aged 12 years old. After exhumation, ten corpses were identified. They were from the villages of Mahala, Molovato and Rogni.” [Act of Soviet Extraordinary Commission, drawn up on October 17, 1944 in Magala; 22.002M.7021-96/96]
Corjova is a village located on the eastern bank of the River Dniester, about 50km north-east from Chisinau. It consists of two villages, Corjova and Mahala. According to the census in 1924 1,548 Jews lived in the village.
Little is known about the fate of local Jews from Corjova. From the archives, we know that about 19 Jews from the nearby villages Mahala, Molovato and Rogni, were shot in Corjova in September 1941. However the eyewitness to the shooting, interviewed by Yahad stated that he saw about 300 Jews being killed by Germans. The column of Jews was marched until the ravine. Once lined up at the edge of the ravine several Germans fired at them with sub machine gun. There was a German officer who gave orders to shoot. There were men, women, children and elderly people.
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