Maly Trostinets

Village in Eastern Bellrussia located 7.5 miles east of Minsk; camp and site of mass murder of Jews. About 200,000 people were murdered in the Trostinets area. About 65,000 were killed in Maly Trostinets, including over 30,000 from the last major aktion in Minsk. Between July 28--31, 1942 and on October 21, 1943 the last Jews from Minsk were murdered and buried in Maly Trostinets and Bolshoi Trostinets. During 1942, Jews from Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia were brought by train to be killed in Maly Trostinets. Most of the victims were lined up in front of large pits and shot. Tractors then flattened the pits out. The prisoners in the camp were forced to sort through the victims' possessions and maintain the camp. They occasionally underwent selections (see also Selktion). This happened more frequently during 1943. In the fall of 1943 the Nazis began to destroy all evidence of mass murder by burning bodies. Soviet Prisoners of war were forced to rake through the ashes looking for gold. As the Soviet army approached in June 1944, the Germans killed most of the remaining prisoners. On June 30 the Germans completely destroyed the camp. When the Soviets arrived on July 3, they found a few Jews who had escaped.