2 Execution site(s)
Stepan B., born in 1925, remembered, “Can you see over there? There was a fence of barbed wire built around there. It was 3m high. No one could climb over the barbed wire! There was an entry, from this side. The Jews were taken in and out from the building which you can see over there [witness points to the building]. There was a building where, before the war, the Russians chopped the cereals and, in the pit nearby, they tempered the lime. When there were no Russians here, instead of using the pit to temper the lime, the Germans used it to torture the Jews. They took a group of Jews from the enclosure and made them get inside the pit. Once they were inside they poured water over them and beat them with whips. The whips were made from four knotted ropes. I saw the whips with my own eyes. When the first group got enough, they were forced inside the building and another group was taken instead. In the same way, first they poured water over them and then started to whip them. The water was brought by the Jews. That is how they tortured them.” (Testimony N°1770, interviewed on July 27, 2013, in Pereslavychi)
Kuchkiv was a hamlet located close to Pereslavychi and is presently integrated into the village of Pereslavychi, which is located about 70km northwesy of Luts, the county capital. Nothing is known about the prewar Jewish community. According to the local witnesses, some Jews lived in Kuchkiv. It is likely that they lived off small scale trade and handcraft. The Germans occupied the village in late June 1941.
Little is known from the archives about the execution in Kuchkiv, but thanks to the testimonies collected by Yahad, we could reconstruct the missing parts. Supposedly, according to the witness, the Jews continued to live in their homes until spring or summer of 1942. Then, one day, all of the Jews were assembled in an enclosure, fenced in with barbed wire, where they remained for a couple of days. While being detained, they were subject to different kinds of abuses and tortures. Then, they were taken to the anti-tank ditches located in the fields 2km outside the village and shots in groups inside the trenches. The execution was conducted by Germans. In all, 2,000 Jews were killed in Kuchkiv. There were men, women, and children among the victims.
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