Zamozhne (Zamojne, Zamozhnoye) | Kherson

/ The former Jewish colony n°33. One of few colonies that still exists © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Petro Z., born in 1937, participated in the exhumation of victims’ remains © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team during an interview at the execution site © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum The witness shows Yahad’ team the place where the corpses were reburied © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum In this well, about 16 Jews were killed © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews from Jewish colony n°33

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Well in a field
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
16

Witness interview

Petro Z., born in 1937, remembers the exhumation: “A local Jewish man named Sovransky Isak Samoylovych was at the front during the war. When the war finished he returned to the village and found out that his wife and children were killed, along with other Jews, in the well located in the field. That is why he asked the villagers to help him exhume the victims’ remains. They agreed since they needed that well for water. The Jewish man also owned a little shop so he promised to pay them back with candies and cigarettes. I also participated in the exhumation. I helped put the remains in boxes and later we buried them at the cemetery corner. There is no monument.” (Testimony n°2193 interviewed in Zamozhne on May 14th, 2017)

Historical note

Zamozhne is located 100 km north-east of Kherson. It was created in 1928 as the Jewish agricultural colony n°33 following the policies of Alexander I and Nicholas I to bring the Jews to cultivate the deserted land in southern Ukraine. At the beginning, the colonists had trouble adapting to their new living conditions due to lack of agricultural experience. But with the help of Jewish international organizations such as Agro-Joint and Jewish Colonization Association the colony began to prosper.  There is no exact information of how many Jews lived in the village on the eve of the war. Several building from that period still exist in the village today, something that is rather exectional for this region since the majority of Jewish colonies were destroyed.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Zamozhne was occupied in September, 1941. According to historical resources, in September 1941 16 Jews were executed in Zamozhne. Local witness who participated in the exhumation and reburying of the bodies after the war confirmed this information by showing the well where the victims were killed. Unfortunately, we have not found any other older witnesses who could tell us more details about the shooting itself.

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