1 Killing site(s)
Dmytro Sh., born in 1930: "In the summer of 1941, sixteen carts carrying Jewish families from Moldova arrived in Vasylivka. There was one family on each cart. They were hoping to reach the river crossing to be evacuated. They stopped for the night in a small strip of forest not far from here. The next morning, as they were getting ready to leave, they were stopped by the local police and taken to Snihurivka. That same evening, the sixteen men from the group were shot in the anti-tank trench near the river, at the place people here call “the bandits’ bridge.” I don’t know what happened to their wives and children." (Testimony N°YIU2195U, interviewed in Vasylivka, on May 16, 2017)
" […] After the occupation of the Snigirevka district [today Snihurivka] by the German fascist forces, they started to arrest and shoot innocent civilians. In August 1941 (I don’t remember the exact date), they brought a group of civilians to Snigirevka, some of whom were Jews. They took them to an anti-tank trench about 3 km from Snigirevka and shot them with machine- and submachine guns. At the time, I was passing by the site and saw German soldiers pushing people toward the trench and opening fire on them. […]" [From the interrogation record of witness Nikolai Grigorievich Petrenko, born in 1899. Dated September 24, 1944. GARF 7021-68-183 p. 225/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
" […] According to the statements of numerous witnesses, the executions of civilians continued throughout 1941–1942. During this period, the Germans exterminated the Jewish population of the Snigirevka district as well as Jews who had been evacuated from Bessarabia. They also shot prisoners of war and people suspected of having connections with partisans. […] Starting on August 1941, shootings were carried out at the anti-tank trench located 3 km from the town. The commission […] established that the trench was approximately 500 meters long and 3 meters wide. […]
This is what Solotenko M.S. wrote in his testimony:
“In September 1941, residents from nearby villages were brought to Snigirevka in closed trucks and left in the courtyard of the gendarmerie. The Germans began beating them with whips, sticks, and their boots, while unleashed dogs tore at the flesh of the victims. Terrible screams and cries echoed over Snigirevka — they could be heard even from inside the houses. That same day, all the Jews who had been brought there were taken to the anti-tank trench, undressed and shot." [Excerpt from Act No. 1, drawn up on March 20, 1944. GARF 7021-68-183 pp.145-146 /Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
"In September 1941 (exact date unknown), the commando carried out an execution of the Jewish population near the southern road in the Snigerewka area. At least 50 Jewish men and women were killed outside the locality, in the presence of the following witnesses. The accused Bock fired on the orders of the commando chief." [Report for the preliminary investigation in the trial of Sonderkommando 10a. BArch B162-1198, p.9.]
Snihurivka is a small town located 63 km (39 mi) northeast of Mykolaiv, in the Inhulets River basin. It was founded in 1812 by settlers from the Mogilev region of Belarus.
Most of the Jews in Snihurivka were artisans, such as tailors. However, some Jews worked on the kolkhoz alongside Ukrainians. Daria U., born in 1928 and interviewed by Yahad, recalled a Jewish shoemaker who repaired the kolkhoz workers’ shoes. A Jewish kolkhoz, Royter Putilovets, was founded near Snihurivka in 1931; it later became a joint Jewish–Ukrainian enterprise.
In 1939, the Jewish community of Snihurivka numbered 224 individuals, accounting for approximately 4.4% of the town’s population. On the eve of the German invasion of the USSR, only a small number of local Jewish residents were able to evacuate. Around the same period, the village also became a place of refuge for Jews escaping from Bessarabia.
Snihurivka was occupied by German forces on August 18, 1941. Shortly afterward, a new administration was established, including the formation of a local auxiliary police force.
In the following weeks, according to various eyewitness accounts, between 30 and 100 Jews from Snihurivka and nearby villages—particularly from the Jewish colonies—as well as Jewish refugees from Bessarabia, were killed in an anti-tank ditch near Snihurivka. The mass shooting(s) is generally dated to late September 1941, although some witnesses recalled it taking place in August.
Jewish residents were rounded up by members of Sonderkommando 10a of Einsatzgruppe D, aided by local Gendarmerie officers and auxiliary policemen. The victims were first assembled in the courtyard of the Gendarmerie headquarters in Snihurivka. There, according to Soviet archives, they were beaten and attacked by dogs before being taken to the anti-tank ditch located about 3 km east of the village, close to the Inhulets River. Jews from nearby settlements, as well as Jewish men from sixteen Bessarabian families—according to Yahad witness Dmytro Sh., born in 1930—were taken to the anti-tank ditch in covered trucks. At the site, the victims were forced to undress and led in small groups to the edge of the ditch, where they were shot. Around 100 Jews were killed during this Aktion. While members of Sonderkommando 10a carried out the operation, some eyewitnesses also reported the involvement of Wehrmacht soldiers. Presumably, several mass killings were conducted at this site.
Leonid Z. (born in 1928) and Dmytro B. (born in 1928) were both interviewed by Yahad and witnessed the killings of Jewish POWs at this same anti-tank ditch. While Leonid recalled seeing young Jewish men in civilian clothes—likely newly drafted conscripts—Dmytro saw several groups of Jewish POWs in uniform being shot. These men were apparently selected from among other prisoners held in the POW camp located in the church east of Snihurivka.
According to archival information, the killings of civilians continued throughout 1941–1942. During this period, the Germans exterminated the Jewish population of the Snihurivka district, as well as Jews who had been evacuated from Bessarabia.
As of 2006, during Yahad’s investigation in the village, no memorial had been erected at the killing site. According to the testimony of Daria U., born in 1928, only one Jewish woman she knew—a seamstress from Oktyabrskaya Street—returned to the village after the war.
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