1 Killing site(s)
"[…] The third site of the mass shooting of Jews is located in a small forest near the village of Yelikhovichi. There, approximately 4,000 Jews were shot in four pits. […]" [Interrogation report of witness Alter Lazarevich Bomse, born in 1885; Drawn by State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK), in Zolochev [today Zolochiv] on September 16 1944. GARF 7021-67-80 p.21/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
"[…] On April 3, 1943, the ghetto, which had been created on December 1, 1942, was liquidated. This is what took place during that period: all the Jews who were in the ghetto were gathered on the square known as ‘Zeliony Rynok’ (Green Market) of the city of Zolochev. All their valuables were confiscated, and the annihilation began with the children, who were placed in large sacks and buried alive. About 300 children were killed in this manner. The remaining adults, men and women, were loaded onto trucks and transported to Yelikhovichi, where about 3,000 persons were stripped naked and shot. After the shooting of these 3,000 persons, daily shootings followed. Each day, 150–200 persons were shot. The shootings were carried out behind the village of Yelikhovichi, in a field. […]" [Interrogation report of witness Rozen Abram Volfovich, born in 1908. Drawn by State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK), in Zolochev on September 16 1944. GARF 7021-67-80 p.12/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
"[…] The village of Yelokhovitse is situated 6–7 km from Zolochev on the road leading to Brody. At a distance of 3 or 4 km from the roadway, in a locality called Zozuli, in a young pine forest, approximately 10 meters from a path crossing the forest, eight graves were discovered. The distance between the pits varies from 10 to 40 meters. […] The pit designated as number 1 was opened. […] The opening of the pit made it possible to determine that the pit contains the bodies of civilian victims destroyed en masse by the German fascists, the majority being women and children. Before the murder, the victims undressed and were then shot, mainly in the back of the neck or in the temple. […] The volume of the grave and the number of layers of bodies indicate that it contains approximately 600 bodies. These data allow us to estimate that the total number of bodies of civilians killed in the graves located in the forest of Zozuli amounts to 3,500." [Protocol of the Expert Medico-Legal Commission on the City of Zolochev and Its Surroundings. Drawn by State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK); GARF 7021-67-80 pp. 106–113/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
The village of Yelykhovychi is located in Lviv Oblast, approximately 13 km (8 mi) from the town of Zolochiv (formerly Złoczów). The village is first mentioned in historical documents dating to 1447.
No specialized historical sources attest to the existence of a distinct Jewish community in Yelykhovychi prior to the Second World War. At that time, the village formed part of the broader Zolochiv region, whose urban center supported a well-established Jewish community characterized by synagogues, educational institutions, and numerous Jewish religious, cultural, and social organizations.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Zolochiv region, including the village of Yelykhovychi, was initially occupied by the Soviet Union in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Soviet rule lasted from September 1939 until July 1941. In July 1941, German forces invaded the region during Operation Barbarossa, rapidly dismantling Soviet authority and establishing Nazi control. Under German occupation, the area was incorporated into the District of Galicia, where civil and police administrations implemented German occupation policies toward the local population, including the Jewish communities.
During the period of German occupation, Yelykhovychi became an important site of mass violence against Jews from the Zolochiv Ghetto. According to archival records, eyewitness accounts and testimonies from Jewish survivors of Zolochiv, during the liquidation of the ghetto—beginning on April 2 (or April 3 or 4, according to different sources) 1943—at least 3,500 Jews from Zolochiv and surrounding villages were murdered. Some sources estimate the number of victims to be as high as 5,000. The killings were carried out in mass shootings by German forces and their auxiliaries in a forest known as Zozuli, near Yelykhovychi. The victims, including men, women, and children, were killed over the course of several days and buried in mass graves at the site, which subsequently functioned as a large-scale killing ground. According to some sources, the killing site, a vacant plot / a clearing in the forest, is said to be a former Jewish cemetery of Yelykhovychi.
Some scholarly sources, including the research of Ilya Altman, also indicate the existence of a Jewish forced labor camp in Yelykhovychi, which reportedly operated during 1942–1943.
A memorial monument was erected near Yelykhovychi to commemorate the thousands of Jews from Zolochiv and surrounding areas who were murdered there during the Holocaust.
For more information about the killing of Jews in Zolochiv please follow the corresponding profile.
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