1 Execution site(s)
Tetiana K., born in 1931: “The Jews were taken in a column with their belongings in the direction of the school. There were about 150-200 Jews in the column, escorted by Germans and policemen with dogs. I didn’t know any of the policemen, they must have not been locals. The Jews didn’t know where they were going, they must have thought they were going to be deported. That is why they were walking so calmly without resisting. I didn’t see the shooting myself, but I heard the gunshots coming from the clay quarry. All the Jews were taken there to be shot. The Germans only spared a dozen craftsmen, but later they were shot as well.” (Testimony n°2880U, interviewed in Pokotylove, on December 5, 2020)
"During the night, my husband and I didn’t sleep because the village was surrounded by policemen, and something was going to happen. Around 2-3 a.m., we heard a distant noise at the door and windows, and cries of ’open up’. When I opened two gendarmes and three policemen burst into the house, my husband was lying on the stove. The policeman grabbed him by one foot, pulled him off the stove, and pushed him outside half undressed. I asked them to let my husband at least put something on. But a policeman I didn’t know put his pistol in my chest and I fell down scared. I never saw my husband again. As they left the house, one of the policemen told me to not follow my husband, because if not they would kill me and let my husband free. But as soon as they came out, I immediately ran to the window and heard gunshots and screams in the village. In the morning I learned that my husband and other inhabitants of the village of Pokotilovo [Pokotylove] had been shot at the clay quarry, and the executions continued until the next day."." [Deposition of a local witness Evdokia B., given to the Soviet State Extraordinary Commission, GARF 7021-66-123/ Source USHMM RG.22-002M]
Pokotylove is located 56 km (34mi) northeast of Uman. Jews began to settle there in the late 18th century. In 1897, 55% of the total population was Jewish. Their main occupation was agriculture and farming, although many Jews lived off trade and handicraft. The only mill of the village was owned by a Jew. The community had two synagogues, a cheder and a cemetery. In 1928, four agricultural cooperatives were formed in Pokotylove. One year later, two collective farms were created. One was Ukrainian and another Jewish, but in 1930 it was merged. According to estimations, in 1931 circa. 1,000 Jews lived in the village.
Pokotylove was occupied on August 8, 1941. The Jewish population of Pokotylove, excluding those who had managed to evacuate before the Germans’ arrival, was annihilated in one major murder operation carried out in February 1942. Until that time the Jews continued to live in their houses. During the murder operation, all the jews were rounded up in their homes and taken to the school from where they were marched to the clay quarry on the outskirts the village. At the site, the victims, men, women, children, and elderly, were shot dead. The Aktion was conducted by the German gendarmerie assisted by local police. Jews who managed to hide during the main shooting were hunted down and shot over the next days and weeks. According to the Soviet archives, 494 Jews were killed during this operation.
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