1 Execution site(s)
Yakiv G., born in 1929, remembers the shooting.
“Q: What happened to the children? Why did they stay in the village?
A: The children were hidden in the village. They were small. They were ready to do anything to stay alive. They begged Savka to keep them, promising they would graze his cows. But they were caught and killed at the end. Local elderly men were ordered to dig the pit. Children were lined up at the edge of the pit and shot.” (Testimony N°1763, interviewed on July 25, 2013, in Lisnyaky)
Lisnyaki is located about 90 km northeast of Lutsk. Little is known about the prewar Jewish community. According to the local witnesses, there were two Jewish families in the village who lived among the Ukrainians who comprised the majority of the population. The Jews worked in agriculture or were artisans, such as tailors and carpenters. The Jewish and non-Jewish children went to the same school. The Germans occupied the village around June 24 or 25, 1941.
Soon after the Germans’ arrival, the local police department was created. The local Jews continued to live in their houses until spring 1942, when they were moved to the ghetto located in the nearby village of Nova Vyzhva. They stayed there for about six months. On August 25, 1942, they were executed along with the local Jews, 6km outside the village. According to the witness interviewed by Yahad, many Jews managed to flee to the forest but some were found and shot dead on the spot. One of such isolated shootings, which has not been documented so far, was conducted against four Jewish children who were found hiding in the village. The pit was dug by the requisitioned locals and was about 2x2m. The shooting was conducted by a local policeman. There is no memorial at the killing site.
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Read Yahad-In Unum’s report of the research trip in this area