1 Killing site(s)
Yosyf T., born in 1932: "When I was a kid, there were quite a few Jews living in Staryi Yarychiv. My father worked for one of them; he used to saw wood for old Mr. Kopsky. I remember some of our other Jewish neighbors too. Beyva lived near the church, just three houses down from us. Later, the Soviets built the club right where his house used to be. Moshko lived across from the school, and Sender lived a bit farther on, in the direction of the forest. On Saturdays, for the Sabbath, Moshko would always come and ask us kids to help out; to light the fire in his house, clean the ashes from the stove, things like that. In return, he’d give us candy. A lot of the Jews ran little shops. I only remember that they sold candies there, that’s all I cared about when I was little. There used to be a Jewish cemetery here too, right where the kolkhoz (collective farm) brigade was later built. It’s gone now, and the gravestones were used for construction." (Testimony YIU3018U, interviewed in Staryi Yarychiv, on December 6, 2021)
"In the village of Staryi Yarichev, there was a camp where Jews from Zhovkva, Kamenka-Strumilova, Lviv, and other districts who were able to work were put. Most were educated people who had previously held positions of responsibility. Under German guard, they were forced to work on the road.
During the camp’s existence, from spring 1943 to July 1943, Jews who became too weak to work were taken and shot in the forest in the “Myakovinets” area near Stary Yarichev and in an area of Filvarok (Manor farm).
Around mid-July 1943, the prisoners organized a mass escape. All those who were caught were executed and buried in Filvarok. In total, around 150 people were shot.
Local Jewish residents of Stary Yarychev were deported to the Novy Yarichev camp, where they, along with other Jews, were executed by the Gestapo. The victims were forced to descend into the pit in groups: one group was shot, and then the next was brought down and shot in turn.
Witnesses reported that in the Stary Yarychev camp, one Jewish prisoner was hanged by the Gestapo from the beam of a well’s shadoof."
[Testimony of Mykola Mykhailovych Tys, born in 1899, head of the village council of Stary Yarychev. Given to the State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK) on September 10, 1944; GARF 7021-67-82/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M; pp. 58–59]
Staryi Yarychiv is located 15 km (9 mi) northwest of Lviv. Part of Eastern Galicia, the village came under the control of various powers at different times, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Poland. In September 1939, Staryi Yarychiv was taken over by the Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
According to The Black Book of Localities Whose Jewish Population Was Exterminated by the Nazis, in 1921, 35 Jews lived in Staryi Yarychiv. A larger Jewish community was located in nearby Novyi Yarychiv, where the synagogue, Jewish cemetery, and kahal were also situated. The Jews made their living from small-scale trade and handicrafts.
Under Soviet administration, beginning in September 1939, all private businesses, including Jewish-owned stores, were nationalized. Craftsmen were forced into cooperatives, and all religious and cultural organizations were banned.
This period also saw large-scale movements of Jewish refugees eastward. Between 1939 and 1941, Staryi Yarychiv and its surrounding localities received many displaced Jewish families from Poland, increasing the total Jewish population in the area. According to available sources, about 150 Jews lived in Staryi Yarychiv on the eve of the German invasion.
Staryi Yarychiv was occupied by German troops on June 30, 1941. Anti-Jewish measures were quickly implemented, including the humiliation of the Jewish population. When the ghetto was established in Novyi Yarychiv in December 1942, Jews from Staryi Yarychiv were relocated there. They later shared the fate of the other ghetto inmates and were shot in the forest and at the Jewish cemetery of Novyi Yarychiv.
In March 1943, a forced labor camp, an annex of the Lviv Janowska camp, was established in Staryi Yarychiv. The Jews were forced to work on road construction. During the camp’s existence, from spring 1943 to July 1943, Jews who became too weak to work were shot in two separate locations — in the forest in the “Myakovinets” area near Staryi Yarychiv and in the “Filvarok” (Manor Farm) area.
In July 1943, presumably after an attempt by Jewish workers to escape, the camp was liquidated. According to archival sources, during this Aktion, all those who were caught were killed and buried in the Filvarok area. In all, around 150 Jews were shot.
During an investigative trip to the area, the Yahad team identified a killing site in the forest south of Staryi Yarychiv. A commemorative plaque currently standing at the site is dedicated to over 1,500 Jewish men, women, and children who were killed by the German occupiers. Given that the plaque was installed by a local resident, it is likely that both the reported number of victims and the identification of their categories, including children, may be overestimated.
For more information about the killing of Jews in Novyi Yarychiv, please refer to the corresponding profile.
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