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2 Execution site(s)
Lidia S., born in 1921, remembers: “One summer day, soon after the beginning of the war, the Germans separated the Jews into two groups. The Jewish women fit to work were locked up in the school building while elderly people and children were shot in the ravine. The day of the shooting, I was hiding behind the house with my mother. Amongst the victims, we saw our neighbor, my mother’s friend. She told us to go to her house and take her cow because she would not need it anymore. The Jews were escorted by two armed Germans in green uniforms. One of them walked in front and the other behind the column. They went to the ravine that was 1 km from the village. The Jews in the column nodded to the villagers bidding them farewell. After the shooting, the Germans filled in the pit with a thin layer of soil. The women who had been locked up in the school building were forced to work in the fields for a few days. They had to harvest vegetables because it was the harvest season. Once the work was done, those women were also shot at the animal burial site.” (Testimony n°2200 interviewed in Lvove on May 17th, 2017)
“On October 10th, 1941, I was in my yard when I saw about 76 local Jews being brought somewhere. They were guarded by six Germans armed with batons. I saw a German hitting an elderly woman with his baton because she was walking slowly. It was beyond my strength to look at this, I went back into the house. When they passed by my house and went in the direction of the ravine, I went out to see where they were taken. I saw three cars parked in front of the ravine and the Germans standing at the edge of the ravine. I saw the dust rise over the ravine; I think the Germans were burying the corpses. Those Germans did not station in our village; they came that day on purpose to conduct the shooting. They left just after it.” [Deposition of Natalia P. given to the State Extraordinary Commission on October 1st, 1944; RG 22.002M. 7021-77-404]
Lvove is situated on the Dnipro river bank 55 km north-east of Kherson. The settlement was founded in 1841 as a Jewish agricultural colony following the decision of the Russian Empire to resettle the Jews so they couldm cultivate the deserted land. The first 119 families, who came from Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces, received houses, land, agricultural implements and got other benefits such as exemption from taxes and military service. However, despite the benefits, the colony was poorly developed, the settlers had difficulty adapting to the new conditions of life because they did not have any experience in agricultural work. The German settlers were set up in the same colony in order to teach the Jews how to cultivate and farm, but the relations between the Germans and the Jews was quite tense. According to the census of 1897, 1,402 settlers lived in Lvove 95% of which were Jews. In the early 1900s, there was a Jewish school, synagogue, library and private pharmacy. From 1900 to1915, the Jews lived off agricultural work, breeding, vegetable gardens, vineyards, small industry and small-scale trade. In 1919-1920, the Jewish population suffered from several pogroms. After the Civil War, the population suffered from famine, and epidemics of typhus and cholera. As a result, in 1922, the colony was almost deserted. With the help of American JOINT the colony managed to survive. In 1928, the local population numbered 1,448 inhabitants. That year a Jewish agricultural professional high school was opened. In 1929-30, the private estates were united in kolkhoz called “Pobeda”. The collectivization followed by dekulakization resulted in the mass moving of Jewish peasants to the bigger cities. In 1931, the Jewish population decreased to 908 residents comprising only 59% of the total population. In 1932-33 the famine caused by collectivization took place in Lvove.
Lvove was occupied by the German army on August 24th, 1941. By that time, the majority of Jews had already been evacuated. Those who stayed behind were murdered in two major aktions. On October 10th, 1941, 76 Jews, the majority of whom were children and elder people who were shot in the ravine close to the village. The remaining 87 women were kept alive, for about one month more, and used as forced laborers for farm works. On November 2nd, 1941, they were killed in the animal burial pits. The both execution were most likely conducted by Einzatgruppe D who arrived specifically for these executions.
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http://www.yahadinunum.org/ukraine-48-10-27-may-2017/