Yavoriv | Lviv

Yahad’s team looking for witnesses © Erez Lichtfeld – Yahad-In Unum Yevgenia B., born in 1929, remembers going to the ghetto to get her jacket repaired by the Jews © Erez Lichtfeld – Yahad-In Unum Irina S. saw a shooting of Jews during the war © Erez Lichtfeld – Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team headed by Father Desbois during the interview. Inside the church © Erez Lichtfeld – Yahad-In Unum Ballistic expert searching for bullets at the execution site © Erez Lichtfeld – Yahad-In Unum The memorial to the Jewish Holocaust victims in Yavoriv © Erez Lichtfeld - Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Yavoriv

2 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Forest/Jewish cemetery
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944

Witness interview

Maria G. recalls: "The carriages came and left, but why they came, nobody knows. And when they [the Germans] took the Jews, they didn’t take ours [the Ukrainians], that’s why nobody knew anything. The Germans said: “Weg! Weg!, no discussion was possible." (Witness N°741, interviewed in Yavoriv, in January 9, 2008).

Soviet archives

«During the shootings, the Jews were put in rows of 10-15 persons on the edge of the graves and were shot with machine-guns. After the shootings, they were covered up with earth ». [Deposition of Gruschko, policeman, made in September 1944, RG22.002M/7021-67/135].

Historical note

Yavoriv is located 57 km from Lviv. The Jews of the village were merchants or artisans. There was a synagogue. The Germans arrived in June 26, 1941. 

Holocaust by bullets in figures

As written in the archives of the Soviet Extraordinary Commission, a Jewish ghetto was established in fall 1942. Before the creation of the ghetto, 1,200 Jews were deported to Belzec. Maria G. (Witness N°741, interviewed in Yavoriv, in January 10, 2008) saw a Jewish column going to the train station. As 200 Jews resisted and tried to escape , they were shot on the spot and buried later in the cemetery. Grygori M. (Witness N°742, interviewed in Yavoriv, in January 10, 2008) saw a Jewish column walking to a hill called “Lisaya Gora”. There was a big grave of 40-50 meters wide. The Jews had to get undressed and were shot at this site. According to the Soviet Extraordinary Commission, in April 16, 1943, the Jews of the ghetto were taken to the forest. 4,400 Jews were shot in four graves. 

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