Trip Report – No. 21 in Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk Region

June 25, 2010 to July 10, 2010

After 14 days of research in Ukraine, the Yahad – In Unum team investigated 20 villages in the Dnepropetrovsk region north of the town of Nikopol. The team was able to locate and fix the exact GPS coordinates of about two dozen Jewish settlements of which nearly 85% had completely disappeared.

Some observations about the investigation by the Yahad – In Unum team in this region:

- an almost total absence of Soviet and German archives regarding the territory investigated;

- the disappearance of about 90% of villages where the Jewish population lived before the Second World War and therefore the difficulty of locating witnesses;

- the investigation was focused on the research of former German and Jewish settlements that had disappeared  thus requiring that it be conducted in Ukrainian villages surrounding the probable location of these settlements.

In the absence of archival records, the evidence collected by the Yahad – In Unum team adds important general information to an understanding of the region’s history.

The unusual aspect of the investigation: the lost Jewish settlements

The small amount of archival information on the area investigated and the specifics of the studied area, required that the Yahad – Unum team conduct a detailed investigation of the pre-war and war-time periods.

In the 1920s and 1930s, this area of central Ukraine was settled by a large number of Jews arriving from Belarus and Russia following an agreement between YCOR (Yiddish Colonization Organization in Russland) and the governing Soviet regime. Several witnesses recalled that organization. Dmitry M. (born 1926) said: “Even livestock had a YCOR brand.”

YCOR also provided money, wood and iron for the construction of entire settlements where the Jewish population was subsequently installed. The mode of settlement was as follows: the Jews arrived, settled in the Ukrainian villages neighboring the future colony and participated in building it with the local population. Fyodor P. (born in 1913) remembers: “They brought a family of Jews in our house and we were told that they would live with while the house was being completed a few kilometers from our village. It was even proposed to my mother to work on it. She agreed because it paid well.”

The Jewish settlements appeared soon, after a few months. They coexisted with German settlements as well as with Ukrainian villages. From the beginning they had no names, only numbers 1, 3, 8, 15, 23 to 25. Most witnesses rarely remember the names of the colonies Lenindorf, Fraïdorf, Ozetovka … for them, there were only numbers. Maria I. (Born 1930) told us: “The proper name? These villages had no proper names! Everyone said villages 16 and 17.”

Once installed, the Jews created kolkhoze collective farms and took care of the land given to them. Often the settlements were not far from each other, grouped in 2-3 villages. In most cases, these small clusters have a selsoviet (administration building), a Jewish school, a cemetery and even at times a kolkhoz. The daily life of Jewish settlements where there was no selsoviet was managed by the chairman of the kolkhoz and the brigadier. Teaching took place in Yiddish schools until 1937-1940. Ivan Yakovlevich (b. 1930) recalled: “When our family moved into the village No. 18, I could not go to school because education was in Yiddish and I did not understand. It was only in 1940 that I began my studies.“

The “dekulakization,” the Holodomor and the culmination of the creation of kolkhozes are intertwined in this part of the region. A witness, Maria, born in 1912, said in her exceptional testimony. Dekulakization took place in two stages. She said: “People from the selsoviet came and took all of our household goods and all our clothes. The same day the people of the recently created kolkhoze came and took our cattle and all our tools. We had to leave our house immediately.” Maria continued: “I was half an orphan, so I was allowed to go to the selsoviet to find some of my clothes.” Later all goods stored at the selsoviet were auctioned.

Following dekulakization families were forced from their villages and moved elsewhere. Often they settle in the Jewish settlements. It is important to note that the witnesses interviewed by the Yahad – In Unum team during this research mission fell into two new categories:

- Those who lived in the Ukrainian villages neighboring the Jewish settlements;

- Those who lived in the Jewish settlements themselves, after the massive removal of Jews in large cities like Dnepropetrovsk and Nikopol.

The second category of witnesses is the larger. These elderly people today remember the exact location of former settlements that have entirely disappeared. Maria M. (born 1932) told us in the middle of a field: “We moved into this Jewish village No. 20 before the war. Here there were two rows of Jewish homes spread over the length of approximately 2 kilometers. There were the buildings of the kolkhoze where Jews were kept before being shot.”

The mass extermination of the Jewish population through  clustering

The Germans occupied this part of the region in July-August 1941. Before their arrival, the wealthier Jewish families managed to evacuate to the east. The other Jews who were slow to leave the area, lacking means of transport, were caught by German troops on the banks of the Dnepr and forced to return to their colonies. On arrival, the Germans appointed a Ukrainian staroste and suppressed centralized management by clustering the Jewish settlements. Ivan, born in 1930, who lived in No. 18 before the war, recalls: “Before the arrival of the Germans there was no staroste in our village!” Then the Jewish men were taken to work on the construction of the Kryvy Rig – Dnepropetrovsk road.

Particularly cruel treatment was inflicted on the Jewish population with the installation of the German administration in the colonies. Maria Nikolaevna, b. 1929, a resident of Colony No. 14, says: “They burned a 5 pointed star on the forehead of every Jew in the village. … I saw these stars, it was awful.”

The Nazis took advantage of the clustering of villages to carry out mass killings. In this way, the Jewish settlements 18, 19 and 24 were combined and the inhabitants shot in the same pit; colonies 2 and 3 in the same pit; colonies 8, 4 and 5 in the same pit; colonies 16 and 17 in the same pit, and so on.

The policy of conserving ammunition was strictly enforced in the district. Often babies were not shot but rather killed with the bayonet or by beating their head against the ground. The shootings were in two categories: day and night. The second category was predominant in the district investigated.

The Ukrainian population was forced to watch the massacres. This was the case of Maria Petrovna, born in 1932, working in the field with her mother and other villagers, who was brought to watch the shooting of Jews and Roma. Maria, saw the Germans play the harmonica and a Roma woman dance before being shot.

Ivan, born 1933, was harvesting potatoes with his father when the Germans brought the Jews of colonies 18, 19 and 24 to be shot. The column was guarded by Germans on horseback with guard dogs, which was a recurrent experience in the district. The team visited the site of the execution with the witness and so we were able to reconstitute all stages of the massacre:

Recurrent executions of Roma

Following the investigation by the Yahad – In Unum team, three execution sitesof Roma and two common places of shootings of Jews and Roma were identified. A memorial was installed at only one of the five sites.

The killings of Jews and Roma by the Nazis were closely intertwined. Thus a score of Roma were caught, forced to fill the pit with the bodies of Jews and then thrown into in a pit nearby. Petro, born 1934, remembers: “The Germans brought the Roma in the truck. Even the children had filled the pit with the Jews. Once done, they were all thrown into a well there.”

At the completion of this research mission, the Yahad – In Unum team had identified 16 mass graves of which nearly 60% have no memorial and were therefore totally unknown, and interviewed 49 witnesses.