Mass Holocaust Gravesites In Bratslav, Ukraine
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom HaShoah, so I thought I’d mention some of the tragedies of the Holocaust that occurred in one of my very favorite spots, Bratslav, Ukraine. Our family was very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend the Passover holidays in Uman, Ukraine this year (my first time ever not at home) and despite quite cold winter weather and main roads in the countryside that are full of deep potholes, we rented a van and a driver and made the trek to Bratslav (one of those places in the world where time seems to have mostly just stood still) with the primary intention of visiting the gravesite of the very great Rabbi Nosson Sternhartz (referred to as “Reb Nosson” or “Rebbi Natan” ) the primary student of Rebbi Nachman of Breslev.
If one takes a moment to consider Jewish History, and in this case Eastern European Jewish history, where there were Jews there was ongoing fear, tragedy and senseless murder in great numbers even long before the Holocaust. I’ll admit that I didn’t even know about the presence of the Nazis in Bratslav until I started doing some research to add extra meaning to my photos, and now I feel downright foolish for having been there just last week, without even giving it a thought. Sigh.
Above: The Southern Bug River, site of the town of Bratslav
One of the first documented evidence of Jewish settlement in this area of the Ukraine was at the beginning of the 16th century, in the form of a lease dated November 1506 involving the Jew Michel Shimonkovichem, in which he was rendered responsible for the collection of customs duties in Bratslav, and it appears that a Jewish settlement developed in the town from that time.
At the time of the Chmielnicki massacres, a number of Jews from Bratslav were murdered in Nemirov and Tulchin, where they had taken refuge. The community, however, was reconstituted soon afterward. In 1664, when the Cossacks invaded the land on the western side of the Dnieper River, they massacred the Jews in Bratslav.
The community numbered 101 according to the census of 1765 (195 including Jews in the surrounding areas) and 221 in 1790 (398 including those in the surrounding areas). After Bratslav’s incorporation into Russia (1793), and in 1797, 96 Jewish merchants and 910 townsmen lived in the district. The Jewish population numbered 3,290 according to the census of 1897 (43% of the total population).
In the beginning of the 19th century, most of the industrial enterprises and workshops in the town were owned by Jews. On the eve of World War I more than 6,000 Jews lived in Bratslav. Between May 1919 and March 1921, there were 14 pogroms in Bratslav, over 200 Jews were killed, 600 children became orphans, and 1,200 people were left without livelihoods. As a result of the pogroms, many Jews left for the bigger towns.
And that is just a very brief history of what the Jews endured BEFORE the Holocaust.
This information was taken from a website called History of Jewish Communities of the Ukraine, and the specific information can be found here.
Many Jews succeeded in leaving Bratslav before it was occupied by German and Romanian forces on July 22, 1941. Soon after the start of the occupation Jews were forced to wear yellow Stars of David on their clothes. The killings of Jews also started during the first weeks of the occupation.
Above: The Southern Bug River, site of the town of Bratslav, with the old Jewish owned Soliterman Mill
Here is a list of some of the mass graves that mark the horrific killings of Jews in Bratslav during the Holocaust. I feel compelled to post this so that somehow by remembering the atrocious crimes committed against these innocent Jews we can gather within ourselves the strength to fight evil in the world today.
Pechora Pits: In the summer of 1942, a SS unit murdered a large number of camp inmates, consisting mostly of children and elderly people. After being separated from the able-bodied prisoners, the victims were told they were going to Tulchin to dig peat but instead were loaded onto trucks and taken to large pits near Pechora and either shot to death or thrown into the pits alive.
South Bug River: In the second half of 1941 an unknown number of inmates of the Bratslav ghetto were taken by local auxiliary policemen to the bank of the South Bug River and shot there. The bodies were thrown into the river.
On December 31, 1941 or January 1, 1942, during the deportation of the inmates of the Bratslav ghetto to the Pechora camp, about 20 Jews who had tried unsuccessfully to hide in Bratslav were caught. They were also murdered on the bank of the South Bug River and their bodies thrown into the icy water of the river some time around February 1942.
Also in February 1942, 250 Jewish orphans selected from Bratslav orphanage were drowned in the Bug River. In the same place 50 Jews from Bratslav ghetto were murdered.
In early 1942 three siblings with the last name Pekar were also shot near the bridge over the South Bug River and their bodies thrown into the river.
Marksovo Forest: According to the report of the Soviet Extraordinary Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, 8 Bratslav Jews, 2 men and 6 women, who were being taken from Bratslav to the Pechora camp in March 1942, were shot at the edge of the forest near the village of Marksovo, west of Bratslav, by Romanian gendarmes.
Marksovo Silage Pits: According to the report of the Soviet Extraordinary Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, 4 Jews from Bratslav, three women and a child, were shot in April 1942 in silage pits outside Marksovo village, west of Bratslav, by Romanian gendarmes who were taking them to the Pechora camp.
Grinenki Forest: Apparently in the second half of 1942, about 10 or 18, according to various survivors’ testimonies, or 6, according to German documents, young Jewish inmates of one of Bratslav’s labor camps, mainly deportees from Bessarabia and Bukovina who had either tried to escape or engaged in resistance activities were murdered in the forest near the village of Grinenki, south of Bratslav.
Bratslav Camp: According to some testimonies of former inmates of the Bratslav labor camp and to German documents, a group of Jews who tried to escape the camp, apparently in the second half of 1942 or in early 1943, were shot in a pit they were forced to dig, either right outside the camp or inside the camp itself.
Raygorod: The inmates of Bratslav labor camps incapable of work, mostly elderly people or children, were taken in groups over time out of the camp and shot in large pits near the town of Raygorod, northeast of Bratslav. Thus, about 200 inmates, half of them children, were shot in June 1942. Another group of between 300 and 500 Jewish inmates was taken by truck on September 21, 1942 to the vicinity of Raygorod and either shot or thrown into pits alive. In January, August and, again, in late 1943 a total of about 400 more Jewish inmates of the Bratslav camp were murdered near Raygorod.
In the memory of the Jews from Bratslav, Ukraine, and all Jews murdered in the Holocaust, may we find the strength and courage to make the world a better place, amen.
Above: Dirt road that leads to the site of Reb Nosson Sternhart’s gravesite in the old cemetary in Bratslav
