Pravokumskoye (Novo-Krestyanovka) | Stavropol

/ Anna K., born in 1927, had a Jewish friend. She lived in her neighbor’s house. Her family left the village before the Germans’ arrival. © Cristian Monterosso - Yahad-In Unum Ivan B., born in 1935, hid with two friends behind the old hut to watch the shooting: “They were shot in groups of 8.” © Cristian Monterosso - Yahad-In Unum Aleksandra D., born in 1930: “The Jewish family who lived with my grandmother was taken to the Klub. After staying there for 3 days, they were taken away in trucks.” © Cristian Monterosso - Yahad-In Unum Maria F., born in 1930: “One Jewish boy named Aaron jumped out of the truck, but he was caught by the Germans and put back.” © Cristian Monterosso - Yahad-In Unum Yahad team at the killing site with the eyewitness of the shooting of Jewish refugees © Cristian Monterosso - Yahad-In Unum Ivan, the eyewitness, points out the execution site without any memorial in the middle of the steppe © Cristian Monterosso - Yahad-In Unum The path towards the execution site © Cristian Monterosso - Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jewish refugees from Voznessenskoye in Pravokumskoye

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Abandoned basement
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1942-1943
Number of victims:
62

Witness interview

Maria F., born in 1930, remembered the day when the Jews were taken: “The Jews were told to present themselves under the pretext that they would be deported to their motherland. Once they came, they were loaded in the truck and their belongings were transported by the carts. The column, escorted by Germans on motorcycles, passed by our hamlet and went in the direction of the steppe. I remember that one Jewish boy, aged 10, whose name was Aaron, tried to escape. He jumped out of the truck and started to run, but the Germans stopped the truck and managed to catch him.” (Witness n°546, interviewed in Pravokumskoye, on August 21, 2015)

Soviet archives

“On September 11, 1942, under the order of German soldier K. and the starosta of the Krestyanskoye village, Ivan B., all the Jews living in the village of Novo-Krestyanskoye (62 people) were gathered in the Klub of the kolkhoz called ‘Put Lenina’ under the pretext of being sent for forced labor in Petropavlovka. They were authorized to take 32kg of belongings. Once gathered in the Klub, all the belongings were confiscated and they were taken by cart to the so-called Gorkaya Balka, which is situated about 4km away from the hamlet of Voznesenskiy. A pit had been dug at the site. Once at the site, the Jews were forced to get off the carts, disrobe to their underwear and were taken to the pit in groups of four or six people and shot. All the bodies were buried in a mass grave. “ [Act of Soviet Extraordinary Commission, made on July 14, 1943; RG-22.002M, 7021-17/10 (districts B-M)]

Historical note

The Novo-Krestyanskoye hamlet, formerly named Pokrovskiy, is a part of the village of Pravokumskoye today. Pravokumskoye is situated about 230km southeast of Stavropol. Historically home to Russians, there were no Jewish families living in the village before the war. Once the war broke out, many Jewish refugees passed by the hamlet and some of them settled down in the village as refugees. The Germans occupied the territory in August of 1942.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

As written in the Soviet archives and confirmed by Yahad’s research results, the Jewish refugees were first gathered in the Klub under the pretext of being taken for forced labor or of being deported to their motherland. According to witness n°547, there were about 30 Jewish refugees in the village. Later, the Jews were transported in trucks or carts towards the execution site, situated outside of the hamlet, close to the road. The execution was conducted shortly after the Germans’ arrival by a special German unit that arrived for this purpose.

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