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1 Execution site(s)
Dmytro S., born in 1926, remembers the execution: “The pit was 10 m long and 5-7 m large. The Jews were lined up at the edge of the pit in groups of twenties. They fell one above another. They had to undress. All their clothes were put on a pile.” (Testimony n°1378, interviewed in Mlyniv, on December 8th, 2011)
“On September 22th, 1942, the execution of the Jewish population took place in camps called “ghettos”. 980 people were killed 1km from the village of Mlyniv in a ravine near the dike of Muravitsa: women, men, and the elderly. On that day, the chief of the Gestapo from Dubno came to Mlyniv to join Sch. with four trucks full of policemen from Mlyniv. They went to the camps in these trucks. They loaded thirty people in each truck and beat them. They took them 1km from Mlyniv in a ravine near the dike of Muravitsa where a grave had been dug. They took them in groups of tens 10 meters from the grave, facing the ground, and shot them in the neck with four submachine guns while the Gestapo took pictures. ” [Act drawn up by the State Extraordinary Commission; RG.22-002M:Fond 7021, Opis 71, Delo 60]
Mlyniv is a small town situated on the banks of the Ikva River, 40 km southwest of Rivne. The earliest known record about it dates back to late 16th - early 17th century. In 1897, 209 Jews lived in the town and by 1897 its population rose up to 672, making up 60% of the total population. The majority of Jews lived off trade and craft. They also owned pharmacies. By 1921, the community decreased to 615 people according to the census. Between the two wars the villages were under the Polish rule, but in September 1939 they were annexed by the Soviet Union. In 1939 a Jewish kolkhoz was created in Mlyniv. On the eve of the war it is estimated that about 1,500 Jews, including 730 local Jews and refugees from Western Poland, lived in Mlyniv.
On June 24th, 1941, Germans occupied Mlyniv. Shortly after the occupation all the Jews were marked with yellow patches on their backs and chests while the members of the Judenrat and Jewish police were marked with white armbands bearing the blue Star of David. Shortly after the occupation about 200 Jewish men fit to work were displaced to labor camp in Smordva. The first execution was conducted in July 1941, when about 10 Jews, including the rabbi, alleged of being Soviet communists were shot along with 10-15 Poles. In fall 1941, about 50 Jewish men were taken to Rivne for forced labor where they were murdered afterwards. A closed ghetto was created on May 22nd, 1942 and existed until its liquidation in September 1942. The ghetto was fenced in with wooden planks, but it wasn’t guarded, according to the local witnesses. The liquidation took place on September 22nd, 1942 and was conducted by the Security Police and SD who arrived from Rivne for the occasion. On this day about 980 people were shot 1km outside the town in the direction of the Muravitsa village. According to the Soviet archives the 520 remaining Jews were shot dead in October 1942 on the territory of the ghetto. Their corpses were buried in five mass graves. From the field research, we found out that several Jews native from Mlyniv were hiding in the forest close to Klyn, but after a while they were found and shot on the spot. Unfortunately, it was impossible to establish when they were killed.
For more information about the killings in Smordva and Klyn please refer to the corresponding profiles.
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Read Yahad-In Unum’s report of the research trip in this area