1 Killing site(s)
Oksana G., born in 1913, explains: "The Jews were confined in the ghetto, located on the Nagora street. It was in the center. The ghetto was not surrounded with barbed wire; however the Jews could not communicate with the local population nor leave its territory. All the Jews from the nearby villages were brought to the ghetto, for example the Jews from the Kropelniki village." (Testimony N°1447U, interviewed in Shatsk, on April 26th, 2012).
"In May or June of 1942, Uhde, the leader of the Gendarmerie, went with his men to Shatsk, and in two days they liquidated all the Jewish skilled workers. There were between 100 and 120 victims."[Deposition of Mosche B., Jewish survivor, made in Tel-Aviv, on February 8th, 1961, B162-2059].
Shatsk is located about 160 km northeast of Lutsk. The Jewish community of Shatsk was big. The majority of the Jews were merchants. They hold their shops where one could buy different things, from commodities to clothing and fabric. There was a synagogue. It was wooden. There was no cemetery. According to the estimation about 300 Jews lived in the village on the eve of the war.
The German forces occupied Shatsk on June 30th, 1941. Shortly after the Germans’ arrival all Jews were marked with yellow distinguishing patches. There are no records of the ghetto in the historical sources. However, during field work, Yahad found out that all Jews from Shatsk and nearby village were gathered in several houses located on the Nagora street around October 1941. The Ukrainians who lived there before were forced t moved out. The ghetto was not fenced in but was, in fact, guarded by the police. According to the witness, Jewish men and Jewish women were separated. The information about the number of victims is confusing, because according to the memorial there were over 1,000 Jews, men, women, elder and children, slaughtered in October 1942. However, the prewar population numbered only 300 Jews. Most likely the victims were native from Shatsk and the surrounding villages. The execution site was located close to the lake. Today’s there is a stadium near that place. Besides this major execution, supposedly there was another one, mentioned by the German archives during which 100-120 skilled workers were murdered in May-June 1942.
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Read Yahad-In Unum’s report of the research trip in this area