2 Killing site(s)
Taras Ia., born in 1935: "The Jews were shot one by one on a plank placed across the pit. The shooter was sitting on a chair while firing. From time to time, he would drink something. I was watching the scene from the hill together with other boys of my age. In fact, there was some sort of rule that said it was possible to shoot until a certain time. If the entire group of Jews brought in was not killed, the survivors had to be brought back to the village to be shot the next day. During the night the pit remained open.” (Witness n°2338U, interviewed in Zabolotiv, on October 28, 2017)
Zabolotiv is a town located on the northern bank of the Prut River, about 20 km (14mi) east of Kolomyia and 65 km (40mi) southeast of Ivano-Frankivsk. Until 1772 it was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and from 1772 until 1914 of the Austrian Empire. From 1914 to 1919 the town was under the control of different countries, from the Russian Empire to the Western Ukrainian Republic from 1918 until May 1919. During the interwar period, it was taken over by Poland before being occupied by Soviet Union in September 1939. The first records of the town’s Jewish community date back to the early 18th century. In 1765, 986 Jews lived in Zabolotiv. They were mainly merchants or artisans. By 1890, the Jewish community had expanded and represented almost the half of the total population. In 1931 1,700 Jews remained in the town.
Zabolotiv was occupied by the Hungarian army on 5 July 1941. From September 1941 German Civil administration took over. On December 22, 1941, Aktion against the Jews was conducted. During this Aktion, about 900 Jews were rounded-up and killed in pits outside the town. According to local eyewitnesses, the Jews were shot one by one on the plank put across the pit. This Aktion was followed by the deportation of 250 Jews on April 11, 1942, to an unknown destination. At the end of April and beginning of May 1942 all the Jews from Zabolotiv were deported to the Kolomyia ghetto. They were killed along with other ghetto inmates during the massacres conducted in January 1943. The remaining Jews of Zabolotiv, who had not been deported, were about 20 people considered useful. On September 7, 1942, they were deported to Sniatyn, along with all the Jews in the district, and then deported to the Belzec extermination camp.
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