Slukhovichi | Grodno

/ Ivan V. remembers that it was difficult to get close to the ghetto in Novogrudok. ©Victoria Bahr/Yahad - In Unum The path leading to the mass shooting site in Slukhovichi. ©Victoria Bahr/Yahad - In Unum The Yahad team during an interview. ©Victoria Bahr/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of the Novogrudok Jews in Slukhovichi

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Woods
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941 - 1944
Number of victims:
5500

Witness interview

Ivan V., born in 1932: "The pit had been filled in really badly. It was during the summer and there was a dreadful stench that spread into the fields. So two weeks after the first shooting, the residents were requisitioned to put some lime and sand on the pit.” (Witness N°737 interviewed on April 29, 2014)

German archives

“We anticipated that an Aktion was going to be carried out in the ghetto because the workshops were hermetically sealed. We went out and lined up in rows. Meanwhile, the Germans entered the workshops and conducted an inspection to look for hidden children. I saw them taking out approximately 10 children and throwing them in a truck by their hands or feet, like pieces of wood. The blood flowed in streams from the children’s heads.” [Deposition of Mordechaj M., a Jewish survivor, December 1960, BALAR-Z94/59Vol.II-B162-3409]

Historical note

Slukhovichi is a small village 3 km north of the city of Novogrudok. There were no Jews living in Slukhovichi before the war. About 13,000 Jews lived in Novogrudok, representing around half of the population. It was home to the Novardok Yeshiva, an internationally recognized and respected Talmudic school. The majority of Jews were artisans or owned small businesses. The Germans occupied the village at the end of June 1941.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

On August 7, 1942, most of the remaining Jews in the Novogrudok ghetto were killed in pits in a forest south of the village of Slukhovichi. According to a witness interviewed by Yahad, several men from the village were requisitioned to dig the pit. Another killing took place at the same location on February 4, 1943, during which several hundred Jews working in military barracks in Novogrudok were killed.

For further information about the execution of the Novogrudok Jews, please consult the Novogrudok profile.

Nearby villages

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