3 Execution site(s)
Ievgen H., born in 1930: “[…] We had had a German camp here. All the Jews were taken to the camp. My friend, who was three years older than me, came and said we should to go to the town and see. When we go there, we saw a couple of bodies lying on the ground. I told my friend, who was Polish: “Stakho, where did you bring me?”. We continued walking to the camp. We joined a crowd of women passing by. We were walking along with the women to the dam, where the lake is. The women turned, and we continued further on. I saw a German coming out with a young lady. They went in the direction of the synagogue, the one I will show you later. Then we heard her screaming: “Nein!” He pulls out a gun. She begs: “Nein! Nein!” We could hear and see everything as it was in winter, and everything was covered in snow. He fired once – she didn’t fall. He fired the second time, she didn’t fall. Only on the third time she fell dead. She was the daughter of a watchmaker. She was so beautiful! Nobody could even tell that she was Jewish.” (Witness n°2607U, interviewed in Zaliztsi, on July 8, 2019)
"In June 1941, I don’t remember the exact date, but it was the day the German army arrived in Zalozhtsy, the Germans caught 36 Jews and shot them in the village. I knew that among them were David Mais, Izal Gaingorn, Merkus Levinter, Samol Levinter, Salomon Pechannykh, Izak Dubovy and others.
In October 1942, the Germans moved 1,000 Jews from Zalozhtsy to the Zborov camp. I heard that they were shot… Only a few managed to escape. That year, my sister and her two children [...] were shot. As for me, I ran away and hid until the Red Army arrived. In addition, three German gendarmes arrived at the end of 1942 from Tarnopol to Zalozhtsy and shot 20 civilians including my brother and his wife [...]. In 1943, the head of the camp in Zborov, Kliaus, arrived in person from Zborov and personally shot 18 civilians. He returned on December 8, 1943 and shot 8 people including my brother’s wife Rosa Zilberg and her sister Anna Zilberg." [Deposition of a Jewish survivor, Ikon Zilberg, born in 1906, given to the State Extraordinary Commission (ChGK), GARF 7021-75-96, p.72-73]
Zaliztsi is a town located in Western Ukraine, 30 km (19mi) northeast of Zboriv, and 36 km (22mi) north of Ternopil. The town was created in 1483. The first records of a local Jewish community date back to the 17th century. In 1765, 644 Jews lived in Zaliztsi. By 1890, the Jewish population had grown and represented 35% of the total population. The majority of Jews lived off trade, with trade fairs being held on a regular basis. Many were artisans, some were lawyers or doctors. The Kandel family owned land and lived off farm work. According to a local witness, there were at least three synagogues in the town. During the inter-war period, Zaliztsi was under Polish rule. In 1921, the Jewish population declined rapidly to just 524 individuals, making up only 11% of the total population. In September 1939, the town was taken over by the Soviet Union following the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact.
Zaliztsi was occupied by German troops on July 9, 1941. On the first day of the occupation, about 36 Jews were rounded up and killed next to a synagogue. For a while, Jews continued to live in their houses, but an open ghetto was eventually created. According to a local witness, it happened in the winter of 1941-1942. The remaining Jews were gathered in five or six houses. The territory was not fenced in. The Jews were allowed to leave the ghetto territory under the condition that they wore the armband bearing the Star of David. The ghetto existed for less than a year. In October 1942, circa. 1,000 Jews were rounded up and deported to the labor camp in Zboriv. During the deportation, some Jews were killed on the spot. Their bodies were buried at the cemetery a couple of days later. Isolated shootings were conducted until 1943. In the winter of 1942 a group of Germans who had arrived from Ternopil shot at least 20 civilians. In the winter of 1943, another 20 civilians were shot by a camp chief who arrived in Zaliztsi from Zboriv. Many Jews were hidden by the local population. For example, in the nearby village of Reniv, a Polish family sheltered 11 Jews. Unfortunately, they were discovered and shot dead in a field.
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