Tsuman (Cuman) | Volyn

/ Yahad’s team during an interview. © Guillaume Ribot /Yahad-In Unum Anastasia P., born in 1936: “The detainees could walk freely inside the territory but if they tried to cross the fence they would be shot dead on the spot.” © Aleksey Kasyanov /Yahad-In Unum Antonina H., born in 1932. © Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Pavlo K., born in 1921: “About 25-30 Jewish specialists were taken to the local factory where they were forced to work along with the local non Jewish population on production of carts.” © Aleksey Kasyanov /Yahad-In Unum Anastasia P. points out to the place where the Jews were detained along with the local population prior to the execution. © Aleksey Kasyanov /Yahad-In Unum Here about 500 victims including 300 Jews were shot in late August 1941. © Aleksey Kasyanov /Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Tsuman

2 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Near the flour mill
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
300

Witness interview

Pavlo K., born in 1921 remembers: “Many Jewish men were subjected to perform manual work. They were not only Jews from Tsuman, but also those who were brought from the nearby village of Zofiivka, located 15km away from here, and from Sylne. I know that about 25-30 Jewish specialists were taken to the local factory where they were forced to work along with the local non-Jewish population on production of carts. They worked 10 hours a day. I don’t know if they were guarded, but I think they were, otherwise they would have escaped. There was a person in charge who gave them tasks and showed them how to work. “(Testimony N°1777, interviewed in Tsuman, on July 29th,2013).

Historical note

Tsuman is a village located 45 north west of Lutsk. There is little information about the Jewish community before the war. Supposedly, the first records of Jewish community date back to the mid-17th century. In all, there were about 30 households, 10-15% of which were Jewish.  The Jews owned their shops or lived off tailoring and shoemaking. Between the two wars the village was under Polish rule, but in 1939 it was taken over by the Soviet Union.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Germans occupied Tsuman between late June and early July of 1941. According to the local witnesses interviewed by Yahad, shortly after the occupation all the Jews were marked with yellow distinguishing badges. Jewish men were subjected to perform forced labor, for instance they worked at the local factory on cart production. The execution of the local Jewish and non-Jewish population was conducted on August 28th, 1941 by the Security Police and SD members who arrived from Lutsk for this occasion. Prior to the shooting, all the victims were confined into the house, most likely in the territory of the flour mill, located not far away from the execution site, for a small period of time. There were three mass graves. After the war, the corpses were exhumed and reburied.

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