1 Execution site(s)
Lidia I.: “The Jews of Zaretche were killed near the Putiniki cemetery in a trench, which had been dug in order to prevent cattle from escaping. The day of the shooting, probably in October 1941, I saw a little child running in the fields and a German capturing him and killing him with a bayonet. The soldier carried the corpse away on his shoulders. I also heard isolated gunfire. I went to the execution site after the shooting. The pit hadn’t been filled in very well. The next day, some locals filled in in properly. When they left, the Germans burnt some of the houses in the village.” (Eyewitness N°655, interviewed in Putniki, on June 22, 2013).
Putniki is located about 45 km north of Minsk. The Jews were merchants or traders. There was no synagogue in the village.
According to Yahad’s investigation, there was only one execution site in Putniki, but there were several shootings. Pyotr B. (Witness N°654) remembered that the Jews were taken from Shklov to Putniki on foot or by truck. They were probably rounded up at night and taken to the old cemetery. The witness saw the shooting of approximately 20 Jews in 1941. The children were shot first, then the women and men. They were killed fully dressed, one by one, on the edge of the grave, in isolated bursts. Jewish men had to fill the grave in with dirt after the shooting. They were shot afterwards. In August or September 1941, 482 Jews from Skhlov were shot in anti-tank trenches at the same site. The Germans then killed 96 Jews of both sexes. On October 3-4, 1941, members of the EK8 shot 1,459 Jews from Shklov who had previously been interned in the Ryzhkovichi ghetto.
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