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1 Execution site(s)
Viktoria T., born in 1930, says: “The first victim was Sabinka’s mother. Her name was Khamtsia. It happened in the summer. A local villager armed with a rifle entered Sabinka’s house, took her mother by the hand and took her to the yard. Sabinka and I ran to my house. Afterwards, we heard a shot. When we came back for Sabinka’s grandmother, we saw Khamtsia’s body lying on her back in the yard in the rain. Sabinka’s grandmother stayed two weeks with us. We hid her in a coffer; she was locked up in there. My father asked one man to go to the village to see whether everything was calm. He wanted to take the woman to her house. The man returned and said that everything was calm, there was no danger. I heard that. The woman returned to her house. The next day there was an order to gather all the Jews. 25 armed local men including one who said everything was calm started to round-up the Jews to shoot them. 5 or 6 people came to get Sabinka, her father Ison and her grandmother. But Sabinka managed to escape to Chernivtsi.” (Testimony n° 1873, interviewed in Vaslovivtsi on June 20th, 2015)
“As soon as they arrived in the village, Romanian soldiers began to mistreat the local population. 21 Jews were gathered in a cellar. The next day they were brought outside the village where they were all shot in a ravine. Among the victims there were people of all ages, from 8 to 80 years old.” [Act of State Extraordinary Commission (ChGK), drawn up on July 9th, 1945; RG22.002M 7021-79-74]
Vaslovivtsi is located 24 km north of Chernivtsi. It has been part of the historical region of Bukovina of the Moldavian Principality since its foundation. On November 28th, 1918, the village fell under the control of Romania and became part of the Chernivtsi County. Back then, most of the population consisted of Ukrainians, but there was also a Romanian community. In 1940 Romania ceded the northern part of Bukovina to the Soviet Union. Right after the kolkhoz was created. Twenty wealthy Ukrainian families fearing deportation to Siberia voluntarily joined the kolkhozes. The Russians also appointed a new village chief. He was a Ukrainian. The Jewish community wasn’t significant in the village. At that time the majority of Jews lived off small trade and handcraft. In 1941 Vaslovivtsi became a battlefield between the Romanians and the Russians, but no houses were destroyed. Romania reestablished its control over the village in early July 1941.
The witnesses’ testimonies recorded by Yahad-In Unum totally confirm the archives. As soon as the Romanian soldiers arrived in the village, they started to persecute the Jewish population. According to the local woman the first victim was the woman taken out of her house by a local villager and shot in her yard. Later, there was an order to gather all of the Jews. About 25 Jews aged from 8 to 80 years old were rounded-up by the police and brought to the pit dug in the pasture by local villagers, although in the Soviet archives it was mentioned that the Jews were shot in a ravine. The execution was conducted by Romanian soldiers.
Read Yahad-In Unum’s report of the research trip in this area
Go to the Bukovina Jewish Heritage website
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