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1 Killing site(s)
Anna S., born in 1928: “We found out about the war from the radio. Once the Soviet Union was attacked by the Germans, many refugees passed by the village. Some of them even settled down in the village thinking that Germans would not arrive here. There were Ukrainians, Russians and Jews among the evacuees. They all spoke Russian. Those who stayed started to work in the local kolkhoz. Then, after a while, the Germans arrived into the village by car and on foot. We didn’t see them arrive because my mother hid us in the basement. I remember that some Germans stayed with the locals for a couple of days before going further.” (Witness n°847R, interviewed in Olkhovy Rog, on November 9, 2018)
“110 Jewish people including elderly people, women and children were shot on July 31, 1942, in the village of Balabanovka and Olkhovy Rog. All these Jewish families were evacuated from Zaporozhye and worked in the kolkhoz starting in September 1941. In the beginning of July 1942, when the Germans approached the village, all the Jewish families were about to evacuate to the East but were surrounded by the German troops. They were told to come back to the village. The day they returned to the village they were gathered under a pretext of a meeting, but in reality they were forced into a truck and taken outside the village to be shot. [Here follows the lists of the shot victims].” [Act n°190 drawn up by Soviet Extraordinary State Commission (ChGK); GARF : Fond 7021, opis 40, delo 5]
Olkhovyy Rog was created in 1946 as a result of a merge of two hamlets, Balobanovka and Olkhovyy Rog. Back in 17th century, Balobanovka was mostly populated by Germans who were deported to Siberia in 1946. From 1822 to 1932 there were about 102 households. Back then there were no Jewish people living in this area.
Before the village was occupied by Germans on July 12, 1942, about a hundred Jewish refugees from Zaporozhye arrived in the village. They settled down with the locals and worked in the kolkhoz. Shortly before the occupation, the Jewish families attempted to escape to the East, but were surrounded by the Germans and ordered to go back. Once they came back, they were summoned for a meeting during which they were rounded-up on a truck and taken to be shot. Among the victims there were mainly elderly people, women and children. Only one Jewish boy, Dekenstein Semion, survived the occupation.
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