Tatarbunary | Odesa

/ © Aleksey Kasyanov - Yahad-In Unum Stepanida G had to dig the anti-tank trench. She saw the shooting, Rumanian soldiers killed  babies, they threw them in the grave alive © Aleksey Kasyanov – Yahad – In Unum © Aleksey Kasyanov - Yahad-In Unum Sergey S. saw the shooting. He heard the bursts. The shooting lasted 30 m, the shooters were Rumanian © Aleksey Kasyanov – Yahad – In Unum © Aleksey Kasyanov - Yahad-In Unum During the interview on the field © Aleksey Kasyanov – Yahad – In Unum © Aleksey Kasyanov - Yahad-In Unum Ivan V. saw the Jewish column walking to the execution site © Aleksey Kasyanov – Yahad – In Unum © Aleksey Kasyanov - Yahad-In Unum The Jews walked in this road to go to the execution site © Aleksey Kasyanov – Yahad – In Unum © Aleksey Kasyanov - Yahad-In Unum Location of the execution site © Aleksey Kasynaov – Yahad – In Unum © Aleksey Kasyanov - Yahad-In Unum Rural ambiance © Aleksey Kasyanov – Yahad – In Unum

Execution of Jews in Tatarbunary

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Field
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944

Witness interview

Ivan V. interviewed by Yahad explains: “Gendarmes entered the houses to take out the Jews. They took everything from them, in particular their rings. The abandoned Jewish shops were robbed. People broke windows and doors -- they took everything."
YIU: How did gendarmes know in which house the Jews were leaving?
W: They had a list. Everything was organized by the primar (the mayor). He showed them the Jewish houses and gendarmes entered and brought out the Jews.” (Witness N°1536, interviewed in Tatarbunary, on August 2, 2012).

Soviet archives

“I don’t remember the exact day, but it was in August. One Sunday I was about to go in the field to look for some wheat. Near the club, I was stopped by a gendarme. He ordered me to bring him 8 Jews for interrogation. Among the ill people, there were three men and five women. I had hardly taken twenty steps when he hailed me. I turned around and saw the Jews coming out, among them were a lot of women with babies, and also elderly people and children of different ages.” (Act drawn by the Soviet Extraordinary Commission, on April 1944, RG-22.002M/7021-63/315).

Historical note

Tatarbunary is located in the district of Odesa. There were a lot of Jews in the village before the war. Most of them were merchants and lived in the city-center. There were a synagogue, a rabbi and a Jewish cemetery.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

According to Yahad’s investigation and the testimony of Serguey S. the arrival of the Germans took place in July or August 1941. There were Romanians too. One day in August 1941, the Romanians gathered all the Jews of the village to take them to the execution site. It was near a place called Izmail. He saw the shooting and the Romanians were the shooters. Stepanida G. another Yahad’s witness, had to dig the anti-tank trenches where the Jews were shot. She saw the Jewish column with men, women, children and elderly people. On the execution site, she saw how the Romanians threw the children directly in the trench. The Jews had to kneel, to pray and were shot by 3 Romanians. According to her, the Jews were killed in Dmytrivka.

Jewishgen

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