Gorodishche | Brest

/ Former Jewish houses. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum Location of the ghetto. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum Vladimir P., born in 1920, "I saw the Jews being gathered in the ghetto. All their gold jewellery and valuables were taken away.” ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum Mikhail P., born in 1926, remembered that in 1943 there was an execution of Jews from Gorodeya in Gorodishche. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum Yosif O. recalled how the Jews were gathered in the main square before going to the shooting. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum The team conducting an interview with the witness Nikolay D. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum The sand pit where the Gorodishche Jews were killed. ©Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Gorodishche

2 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Forest/Sand pit
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
1200

Witness interview

Yosif O.: "From the window of my home, I saw columns of Jews being taken by foot to their deaths. They walked calmly and were escorted by policemen, the ’Vlasov’ soldiers, under German command." (Witness N°248, interviewed in Gorodishche, in March 2010)

Soviet archives

"Around November 1941, under the command of the German administration, a big area near Slonimski street was surrounded with barbed wire. The Germans called this place a "ghetto". The rest of the Jews and the Gypsies were put inside. The civilians weren’t allowed to enter this ghetto." [Act of the Soviet extraordinary commission; RG-22.002M/7021-81/102.]

Historical note

Gorodishche is a small town located about 40 kilometers north of Baranovichi. On the eve of the German occupation, there were probably around 1,000 Jews living in the town.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Having been gathered in the central square in order to pay contributions, 80 Jewish men were killed on October 20, 1941 in the Mishnovshina forest, after having dug a pit. On October 21, 1941 circa. 1,000 Jews were killed in groups. A ghetto was then established in Slonim street for the surviving Jews. When the ghetto was liquidated, 35 Jews were killed in a sand pit in May 1942, near the Orthodox Church. And approximately 100 others in August 1942.

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