 |
| On September 11, 1942, Jews from the Stolin ghetto were led 2-3 km outside the city and murdered there. |
 |
| They went on the horse wagon, and the trip took the entire day, 60 km. |
My grandmother worked in Stolin as a doctor in early twenties. My entire family moved from Pinsk to Stolin, and my father's dog "Barabas" disappeared on the way. They went on the horse wagon, and the trip took the entire day, 60 km.
Before the war, the region of Stolin was part of Poland. About 5,000 Jews lived in Stolin in 1939. They were tailors, carpenters, shopkeepers, and clockmakers. There were several synagogues; one of them was wooden, another brick. The rabbis of Stolin (a Hasidic dynasty) were well-known among the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. There was also a cinema, a soda-water factory, and hotels.
Almost all Stolin Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. In a location on the outskirts of Stolin, known as Stasino (or Dolin or Zatisha), lie the remains of the Jewish population of Stolin murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Eight thousand Jews were shot to death by the German SS unit (Einsatzgruppen?), 3 km north of the city, at the edge of the forest, and a long walking distance from the center of the Stolin ghetto.
Witness
Soviet archives
The Germans and the policemen said that the Jews had to undress and lie in the grave, face down. After the shooting, they told me to take the clothes, put them in my cart, and bring them to the town. Deposition of Yakov R., a Belarusian requisitioned to shoot Jews in Stolin, to the Soviet Extraordinary commission; RG-22.002M.7081-90/34]
German archives
We came into the ghetto to bring a group of a hundred Jews. The policemen and the Germans took them to the airfield outside the city. Its construction was not completed. The airfield was located 2-3km from Stolin. Large mass graves were dug directly behind it.
Deposition of Petr S., a Belarusian policeman and a shooter during the liquidation of the ghetto in Stolin; B162-496
Stolin was occupied by the Germans from July 1941. In August 1941, many Jewish refugees – especially women and children - from the nearby town of David-Gorodok came to Stolin.A ghetto was created in May 1942, surrounded by a barbed-wire fence. About 7,000 Jews lived in this small and unhealthy area, along the Bank River. The liquidation of the ghetto was conducted on September 11, 1942, by a squadron of German cavalry, the local police, and the SD. The shooting took place near the airfield, in a large ditch. The belongings of the Jews were collected and then selected by local people under the control of the German authorities. I Remember Nothing More!
From the internet:
The Germans liquidated the Stolin ghetto on September 11, 1942. Just before the Aktion, the Gebietskommissar summoned the Judenrat. He had them arrested, and they were taken out and shot, becoming the first victims. Perhaps as a result, plans for resistance within the ghetto were not realized. On September 10, a detachment of the Security Police commanded by Rasp arrived from Pińsk. During the night, men of the 1st Squadron of Polizeireiterabteilung II and the Ukrainian police surrounded the ghetto. Then at 4:30 a.m., about 6,000 Jews were driven into the marketplace in front of the ghetto. Those unable to walk were shot in their beds. A doctor, a dentist, and about 10 artisans were released, as their work was still required. The Germans and their collaborators then marched the Jews in groups under close escort to a wooded area 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) northeast of town, where the SD men Petsch, Balbach, Dohmen, and Kotschi shot them in a large trench. The clothes of the Jews were collected in a pile to one side of the ditch.
 |
| The Germans and their collaborators then marched the Jews in groups under close escort to a wooded area 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) northeast of town, where the SD men Petsch, Balbach, Dohmen, and Kotschi shot them in a large trench. The clothes of the Jews were collected in a pile to one side of the ditch. |
