Zhuravno (Zhurawno, Zuravna) | Lviv

/ Zhuravno is located on the banks of the Dnister River © Markel Redondo - Yahad - In Unum The location of the former ghetto in Zhuravno © Markel Redondo - Yahad - In Unum Yahad’s investigator looks for witnesses © Markel Redondo - Yahad - In Unum Ivan S., born in 1932, recalled that the Jews were confined in a ghetto. They weren’t guarded. © Markel Redondo - Yahad - In Unum Vasyl M., born in 1929, remembered seeing the column of Jews, women and children among them, who were forced to graze like cattle © Markel Redondo - Yahad - In Unum Mykaylo I., born in 1923, described the Stryi ghetto as he used to go there with his friends to barter © Markel Redondo - Yahad - In Unum Yahad’s team during the interview © Markel Redondo - Yahad - In Unum Location of the execution site © Markel Redondo - Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Zhuravno

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Near the Dniestr river
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1941-1944
Number of victims:
160

Witness interview

Vasyl M., born in 1929, recalled: “Once, while we were grazing the cows near the river bank, we saw a column of Jews escorted by two men with batons, one in front and another behind. The column was followed by two Germans in carts. Then, after a German’s order, all the Jews had to kneel down and to graze. The column was going in the direction of Khodoriv.
YIU: Where there children and women in the column?
Vasyl: Yes, there were. Women even held babies" (Witness N°1829, interviewed in Zhuravno, on September 11, 2013).

Historical note

Zhuravno, established in 1436, is located on the banks of the Dnister and Svich Rivers, about 80km south of Lviv. Prior to the war, 1,300 Jews lived in the village.  The majority of Jews lived off of trade, although some of them worked as craftsmen and farmers. According to Vasyl M. (Witness n°1829), there was a Jewish cemetery and a synagogue, which do not exist anymore. The German forces occupied the territory in early July 1941.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Immediately following the Germans’ arrival, all the Jews were registered and marked. They were forced to pay a contribution and assigned to various forced labor, such as work in road construction, at a quarry or an alabaster factory. According to the different sources and Yahad-In Unum’s research results, the majority of Zhuravno’s Jews were deported to the Belzec camp directly or were initially deported to the Stryi ghetto and later to the Belzec camp. The waves of deportations took place from the beginning of September to November 1942.  About 160 Jewish specialists were purposefully left and confined to an open ghetto until 1943, when they were executed during two aktions, one in February 1943 and another one in June 1943. The execution site is situated on the outskirts of the village, near the Dnister riverbank.  The anti-Jewish aktions were carried out by German Gendarmerie and Ukrainian local police.

Jewishgen

Go to the Townpage on JewishGen Kehilalinks website

Other links

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