-1 (Copy).gif&f=gif)
.gif&f=gif)
.gif&f=gif)
1 Execution site(s)
Yevguenia D., born in 1929: “Before the war, there were only two Jewish families here. One family managed to leave before the occupation, but the one was shot by the Germans. They were taken to the lumberyard and shot there. I didn’t see it because the Germans didn’t let anyone approach the area. A young Belarusian girl of about 20 years old was also shot. Her last name was Lotova. She was shot alongside the Jews.” (Witness n°1043B, interviewed in Sudilovichi, on November 1, 2019)
“In the spring of 1942, in March, I was arrested by the German gendarmerie and detained along with all of the residents of Jewish nationality from the village of Asintorf [Osintorf in Russian], among whom were my acquaintances, the Khanin family. In a single day, all the inhabitants of Jewish nationality were driven to a pit dug that evening where they were shot to death. Twenty people were shot, including seven women and five children aged less than 16 years old.” [Deposition of Stanislav Shmuglevskiy, given to the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission (ChGK) , on April 1, 1945; GARF 7021-84-10, pp. 454-455]
Osintorf is located in the Vitebsk region, 16 km from Dubrovno and 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Vitebsk. The village was founded in 1672. In 1879, 151 people lived there. According to historical sources, the first Jews settled there during the 1920s, when the village became an industrial center for peat extraction. Almost all of the Jews worked at the local power station.
Osintorf was occupied by the Germans in mid-July 1941. Several camps were rapidly built for POWs and Jews.The detainees were used as forced labor, mainly working on peat extraction. In the period covering July 1941 to June 1944, about 200 POWs were either shot or died as a result of inhumane living conditions and starvation. The Osindorf Jews were shot in March 1942. In all, circa. 20 Jews were shot. Local people and some people brought in from nearby villages were probably shot alongside the Jews.
Do you have additional information regarding a village that you would like to share with Yahad ?
Please contact us at contact@yahadinunum.org
or by calling Yahad – In Unum at +33 (0) 1 53 20 13 17