Tysmenytsya (Tishminitza, Tysmenica) | Ivano-Frankivsk

/ Roman P., born in 1927, saw a column of around 100 Jews passing by his house. The Jews had bags with them. The Jews were quiet but when they arrived at the cemetery, they began to understand and screamed. © Markel Redondo – Yahad – In Unum Petro K., born in 1927, explains that the Jews had to get undressed before the shooting. There were two Germans with machine – guns at each end of the grave. © Markel Redondo – Yahad – In Unum Ivan K., born in 1929, saw the shooting of the Jews in the cemetery. Before being shot, the Jews were forced to walk on a plank placed across the pit © Markel Redondo -Yahad-In Unum Before the interview Yahad-In Unum investigators ask some details about the shooting © Markel Redondo – Yahad – In Unum Execution site © Markel Redondo -Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Tysmenytsya

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Jewish cemetery
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944

Witness interview

Roman P. remembers: “The Jewish quarter around the two synagogues was surrounded by a fence. The Jews wore a white armband with a yellow star. It was forbidden to enter the ghetto, but when we went to school, I threw little pieces of bread on the ground. The Jewish doctors wore an inscription with “Arzt” written in red and they could leave the ghetto.” (Witness N°1838, interviewed in Tysmenytsya, on September 10, 2013).

German archives

According to the plan for the execution perpetrated in the villages and towns in the Stanislau region (today Ivano-Frankivsk), some 1,850 Jews were deported to Stanislau and executed afterwards. [Deposition of Hans Erich K., taken in Dortmund, on October 01, 1965; B162-4681]

Historical note

Tysmenytsya is located 10km east of Ivano-Frankivsk. Prior to the war, approximately 1,850 Jews lived in Tysmenytsya. A part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire province of Galicia, the town was under Polish administration until September 1939. The town was known for its fur and clothing manufacturers, owned by Jews, as well as for several mills. It was occupied by Hungarian forces in early July 1941, but it remained under German administration.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

The anti-Jewish measures began from August 1941 and were carried out by the Security Police, helped by Ukrainian local police.  The majority of Jews were deported to the Ivano-Frankivsk ghetto and killed there or were deported directly to the Belzec camp during the liquidation of the ghetto, which occurred from spring until August 1942. Some Jews from the ghetto were transferred to the Tlumach ghetto.  As it was rather common, the specialists were purposefully left in the ghetto and were later deported to Ivano-Frankivsk.  According to different sources, 1,500 Jews passed through the Tysmenytsya ghetto and about 70 were shot or died from hunger and disease.  According to the eyewitnesses Roman P. (Witness n°1838), Petro K. (Witness n°1839) and Ivan K. (Witness n°1840), the Jews were shot at the Jewish cemetery. The Jews were called one after another according to the official lists, forced to undress and to get on the plank placed across the pit. The Germans fired at them with submachine guns. The first two witnesses told us that the pit was situated inside of a destroyed house on the territory of the Jewish cemetery.

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