Podgornaya | Stavropol

/ Matriona S., born in 1939: “About ten Jewish refugees stayed for a week in my house. ” © Cristian Monterroso/Yahad-in Unum Piotr D., born in 1924: “One girl was saved by the locals. The Germans wanted to take her away but an old woman hid her. Afterwards, people passed the girl off as a Russian and this is how she was saved. ” © Cristian Monterroso/Yahad-in Unum The witness shows the place where 54 Jewish refugees were shot. Before the war there was a gravel quarry at this site. © Cristian Monterroso/Yahad-in Unum

Execution of Jewish refugees in Podgornaya

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Gravel pits
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1942-1943
Number of victims:
54

Witness interview

Matriona S., born in 1939, recalls: “There were many refugees in our village; most of them were Jews from the Moscow region. On the day of their arrival they were gathered in the village center in front of the selsoviet. There were a lot of trucks and the refugees’ children ran around trying to find houses of nice and rich people to settle down, or they asked for food since they were all starving. About ten refugees stayed for a week in my house. When the Germans approached Nevinnomysk, Stavropol had been already occupied by then, the Jewish people started to leave. But the evacuation wasn’t organized properly. I befriended a Jewish girl Emma who wrote me after her family’s departure. They managed to evacuate further. ” (Testimony n°571 interviewed in Podgornaya on October 23rd, 2015)

Historical note

Podgornaya is located on the banks of the Kuma river 180 km south-east of Stavropol. The settlement was founded in 1754 by runaway peasants. Podgornaya is the oldest Russian settlement in the region. In 1831 it became a Cossack stanitsa. According to the census 2,832 residents lived in Podgornaya in 1886. There was only one Jewish family in the prewar period.  However, many Jewish refugees evacuated to Podgornaya from the Moscow region in July-August 1941.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Podgornaya was occupied by the German troops in August 1942. 54 Jewish refugees were executed shortly after, in September 1942. According to the local witnesses interviewed by Yahad-In Unum, they were taken outside the village to the gravel quarry where they were shot dead.   

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