Voznesensk (Wosnessensk) | Mykolaiv 

A photograph of Grisha (sitting in the center) with other musicians from his ensemble. From personal collection ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Raisa L., born in 1935: “Grisha was the last to be killed. A couple of days before the Germans retreated he was taken away and shot.” ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum / A photograph of the musical ensemble. From personal collection ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum The prewar picture of a school class. From personal collection ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum At the entrance to the town of Voznesensk. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Raisa L., born in 1935, remembers the last victims killed in Voznesensk just days before the German left. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum The railway station of Voznesensk. Hundreds of Jews were brought here from Odesa. The building is the same. ©Aleksey Jewish cemetery of Voznesensk. Until 1990 many Jews lived in Voznesensk before moving to Israel. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum An old part of the Jewish cemetery with a couple of remaining tombstones. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum An old part of the Jewish cemetery with a couple of remaining tombstones. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum The school building located at 205 Matrosova Street. The column of Jews were marched by this street towards the sand quarry where they were shot. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum The Yahad-In Unum team with a witness near the execution site of the Voznesensk Jews ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum Raisa L., born in 1935 : “There was a Jewish dentist here. Her last name was Baklazhanova She was a dental technician. The Germans spared her life, but later on they decided to kill her. It happened in the final days of the war.” ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-I The execution site, located in the Northwest of Voznesensk. Back then there were ditches dug in the sand quarry. Besides the Jews, prisoners of war were also executed here. Today, this is part of the military base. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum A big Soviet memorial built in the memory of Jewish and non-Jewish victims murdered under the occupation. ©Aleksey Kasyanov/Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Voznesensk

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Sand quarry
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
Over 200

Witness interview

Raisa L., born in 1935: “The shootings started from around 1942. Although, they [the Germans] would not bring them [the Jews] massively, but rather little by little. That is why some people already knew that the Jews were being shot while others didn’t. But, when they began to bring them by train to the railway station, to get them off the wagons and to round them up, everyone already knew. There were many of them, thousands of people. So, when they started bringing them in big columns, at that time everybody knew that the Jews were being shot. Our village was quite small, so everybody knew. […]
Y.U.: Do you know if the Jews had been previously rounded up somewhere or if they were taken straight from their houses and brought to the execution site ?
Witness : The local [Jews] were taken straight from their houses to be shot. But I don’t know that for sure. I didn’t see it myself; it was my grandfather who told this. And when the convoys started to arrive, they [the Jews] were detained at the railway station. There were storage facilities where they were confined. And afterwards, all of them were marched towards the execution site.” (Witness n°2728U, interviewed in Voznesensk, on November 26, 2019)

German archives

«The accused Finger, along with Teilkommando of Einzatskommando 10b, arrived from Ananiev [today Ananiv] to Voznesensk. In September 1941, there is no exact date, -the Teilkommando shot at least 200 Jews, including men, women and children in the pit at the outskirts of the village. Before being killed Jews were forced to strip naked. The execution was prepared and orchestrated by Finger under the order of the Eienzatskommando chief, Persterer. Finger also personally managed a part of the execution, while the rest of the execution was supervised by SS-Untersturmführer Wiesenberg.» [Report of the Voznesensk Prosecutor : BArch B162-993, p.13]

Historical note

Voznesensk is located 89km (55 miles) northwest of Mykolaiv. The first Jews who moved from the northwestern parts of Russian Empire settled in this town in the first half of the 19th century. In 1864 1,249 Jews lived in Voznesensk. By 1897 the Jewish community increased and numbered 5,116 Jews making up 24% of the total population. The majority of Jews lived off small scale trade. Some of them were specialists, such as artisans, doctors or musicians. A small percentage of Jews worked in the kolkhozes. The Jewish community suffered from several waves of pogroms conducted in 1918-1920.  As a result of the pogroms and relocation to bigger towns, the Jewish population slightly decreased. 

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Voznesensk was occupied by Germans in August 1941.  According to the German archives at least 200 Jews were shot in Voznesensk in September 1941. However, according to the local dwellers the shootings started not earlier than in spring 1942. According to the testimony n°YIU/2728 the local Jews, as well as those brought from the nearby villages were taken to the sand quarry, located near the hamlet of Natiahailivka, where they were shot dead.

After the execution of the local Jews, hundreds of Jews, most probably from Odesa, were brought by train and confined in the railway station premises. From there, they were taken to the same sand quarry and shot. The ditches were dug and filled in by the Soviet prisoners of war. Part of the Voznesensk Jews were first displaced to the nearby village of Kryvoruchka, from where they were taken to Bohdanivka. According to the testimony n°YIU/2729 it happened in June 1942. Allegedly, the executions lasted until the fall 1943. The last victims were Jews who for all this time were used for different Germans needs, among them there were Grisha, a musician and ensemble leader, and Ms Baklazhanova, a dentist.

For more information about the execution of Jews in Kryvoruchka please refer to the corresponding profile. 

Nearby villages

To support the work of Yahad-in Unum please consider making a donation

Do you have additional information regarding a village that you would like to share with Yahad ?

Please contact us at contact@yahadinunum.org
or by calling Yahad – In Unum at +33 (0) 1 53 20 13 17