Tomachovka, Belarus
Brest regon

Yahad team investigation: April 2009

Witnesses interviewed:
4 including 2 eyewitnesses of the execution (N°126 & N°127).

Witness interview

Anton K.:(N°127) ” […] The six most sturdy Jews…one group was shot, people were falling down, wounded, still alive…and those six Jews covered them with soil, even if there were people who were still alive. Then the second group arrived, people were put in front of the ditch; they were shot and fell and another new group arrived…The ones who buried the bodies were shot too […]“

Soviet archives

RG 22.002M / 7021-83 / 14 : “The execution was directed by the policemen of the SD […]. There were 44 Germans armed with machine guns: 32 to guard the column and 12 to shoot. After the shooting, they brought the victim’s clothes back to Tomachovka, sold them at the market and spent the money for drinking.”

German archives

B162-7879 (p.35) : “The Jews were then brought from the village to a part of the forest outside the village and they were shot the same day (…). All the Jews living in the ghetto were shot outside the town of Tomachovka, 1.5km south east of the town, 500 meters on the right side of the Wladawa-Brest road. At the time, there was an anti-tank ditch there”.