Zhlobin | Gomel

Zhlobin is a city located 80 km northwest of Gomel. It is a district center, as it was before the war. According the 1939 census, 3709 Jews lived in Zhlobin, making up more than 19% of the total population. The Jews mostly lived in the city center and were storekeepers. There was a synagogue and a Jewish elementary school. The city was occupied by German forces at the beginning of August 1941.

Before the German arrival, an significant part of the Jewish population managed to escape, mostly on foot. Zhlobin was the seat of an important police station where there were about 150 men. At the end of 1941, 31 Jews were shot in town by a squad of Einsatzgruppe B, accused of being saboteurs.

In October 1941, 2 ghettos were established. The first was in a school dormitory. The second was in different huts near the railway line and near the bakery. Jews from surrounding towns and villages were also brought to the Zhlobin ghetto. Notably, Jews from Streshin, a big village situated south of Zhlobin, were moved from the Streshin ghetto to Zhlobin on March 30, 1942.

Early in the morning of April 12, 1942, the Germans, assisted by local policemen, loaded the Jews into several trucks and drove them 1 km away between the city and the village of Lebedevka. The Jews had to undress and were killed in a pit dug in a field by local villagers. The police brought the victims to the edge of the pit, where there was a plank, and shot them.

The killing of the Jews of Zhlobin continued from April 12 to April 15, 1942. The Jews of Streshin were also killed at the same location. According to an eyewitness interviewed by Yahad, the Jews were also taken by trucks and shot at the crossroads of Pervomayskaya Street and Kozlova Street in Zhlobin. It is estimated that more 1600 Jews were killed in all. More than 10 Jewish women with children from mixed marriages were also killed.