Vakhnivka (Vakhnovka, Vachnivka, Vachnovka, Wachnowka, Vichnifka) | Vinnytsia 

Execution of Jews in Vakhnivka

2 Sitio(s) de ejecución

Tipo de lugar antes:

Field close to the forest/Jewish cemetery

Memoriales:

Yes

Período de ocupación:

1941-1944

Número de víctimas:

300 (413)/50

Entrevista del testigo

Maria K., born in 1934, remembers the day of the shooting: « I remember that before the second Aktion when the Jews were taken to be shot at the cemetery, a starosta came to see my parents. He told them to lock up all children at home, because there would be a round-up in the village. That was done on purpose in order not to mix the Jewish population with non-Jews. However, on this day all the villagers who lived on our street went out of their homes to watch what would happen. My mother and I, along with some neighbors hid behind the bushes not far away from the road by which the Jews were taken to the shooting site. I remember that it was in summer and the Jews were dressed lightly. They were taken there from the very morning. There were women, men, elder people and children in the column. All walked calmly, but they weren’t arranged like soldiers. It was a crowd of people which moved slowly by the road, followed by the guards. Apparently, they were taken from the center of the town towards the Jewish cemetery.” (Testimony n° 2142 interviewed on November 04, 2016)

Archivos soviéticos

“At about 10 a.m., all the 413 citizens were brought to the execution site. Among the people arrested, there were 100 children, 150 women and 60 men. On the road, Germans began to abuse them: they beat them up and even killed 2 people. It is impossible to describe all of that. When we arrived, Germans and policemen ordered the fathers and mothers to undress themselves and do the same with their families, even 4 – 5 years old children. Fathers and their families lay under the armed threat inside the pit, 10 people by row and executioner shot them. Ten other people laid on them and were shot. All the 413 people were killed in the same pit. My wife and my daughter Nina, aged four, were shot in front of my eyes. And I was freed. Toddlers were thrown alive into the pit. I saw it personally. For a while after the shooting, the pit continued to move because almost the halves of the victims were buried alive. They weren’t shot dead, but only wounded.” [Deposition of Dmitri O., a local villager, Ukrainian, made to State extraordinary commission. RG22-022M: Fond 7021, opis 54, delo 1254]

Nota histórica

Vakhnivka is located 32 km northeast off Vinnytsia and 20 km away from Lypovets. The records about the first Jewish community dates back of the middle of 18^th century. According to the census 1926, 2,101 Jews lived in Vakhnivka. They mostly lived in the center. The majority of them owned stores, others lived off of handcrafts.  There was a Jewish kolkhoz close to nearby village Yasenky. But, Jews didn’t work there; they paid Ukrainians to do it. Between them, Jews spoke their own language. There were Jewish and Ukrainians schools, but there were cases when Jewish children went to Ukrainian school.  There was a synagogue but it was closed under the Soviet rule in 1920s-1930s.  There was also a catholic and a Ukrainian church. There were 2 Jewish cemeteries. In the older one, some Germans had been buried during the war and the newest was an execution site for Jews. The village was occupied by the German army in late July 1944. 

Holocausto por balas en cifras

Jewishgen

Pueblos cercanos

• Berestivka
• Lypovets

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