Malokakhovka (Malokahovka, Malokachovka) | Kherson

/ Local landscape © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Valentyna L., born in 1936: “First, the victims had to undress, after they were lined up at the edge of the pit and shot dead.” © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team with a witness at the execution site. © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum A well where the Kakhovka Jews had been murdered was located at this place © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Mykola N., born in 1933: “The Jews were brought from Kakhovka by truck. They had their belongings with them because they were told they would be displaced into another colony.”© Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Malokakhovka

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Well in the fields
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1943
Number of victims:
About 2,000

Witness interview

Valentyna L., born in 1936, recalls: “The Jews were taken to the hamlet named Terny where they were shot in a damaged well. The next day, I went to the field next to the execution site to harvest carrots. Around the well, there was a lot of blood and the Jew’s belongings. I saw a crutch. The well was very deep. There is a monument there today.”(Testimony n°2219, interviewed in Malokakhovka on May 25th, 2017)

Historical note

Malokakhovka is located on the bank of the Dnipro river 80 km east of Kherson. The first records of the village go back to 1855. According to the witness interviewed by Yahad’s team the Jewish population of Malokakhovka was not very large. The biggest Jewish community lived 4km away in Kakhovka, founded in 1791. According to the census of 1897, 3,003 Jews lived in Kakhovka making up 40% of the total population. Back then the majority of the Jews were engaged in various handcrafts and trade. The Jews also owned many small factories, likes iron foundry, a steam mill, a butter mill, a wool-combing factory, perfumery and chemical technology plants. From 1918 to 1920 the Jews suffered from several pogroms. According to the local witness before war there was a Jewish quarter in Kakhovka as well as a Jewish kolkhoz called “Faiarberta”. Due to relocation of many Jews to bigger cities, the Jewish community decreased. Thus, in 1939 only 9% of the population was Jewish (1,072 Jews lived in the town of Kakhovka). 

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Malokakhovka was occupied by German on September 1st, 1941. There was only one execution in Malokakhovka that occurred in mid or late September 1941. It is rather difficult to establish the exact date of the execution because different sources, such as Soviet archives and German reports, provided different dates. During this aktion about 2,000 Jews were brought by truck from Kakhovka, were they had been previously rounded-up, to the stadium and shot. The execution site is located in the field south-west of the village. After being forced to undress the victims were lined up at the edge of the well and shot dead by Einsatzgruppe D.

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