the Brailov Ghetto

Brailov (Ukrainian: Brailiv) In the early twentieth century, Brailov had a Jewish population of about 3,700. In a pogrom conducted by Ukrainian soldiers on July 10, 1919, during the Russian Civil War (1918–1920), twenty-six Jewish townspeople were murdered and over 100 women were imprisoned. During the 1920s, the 2,400 Jews in Brailov accounted for the vast majority of the townlet’s population. Most were artisans and merchants, but in the 1930s, many went to work in a sugar factory. The townlet had a Jewish Ethnic Soviet and a Jewish government school that taught in Yiddish. The Germans occupied Brailov on July 17, 1941. Few Jewish townspeople left: only those conscripted into the Red Army. Fifteen Jews were murdered on the first day of the occupation. Anti-Jewish sanctions soon followed: the wearing of yellow Star-of-David badges on the front and back of clothing, an injunction against leaving the townlet, and prohibition of contact with the non-Jewish population. A short time later, the Jews of Brailov were ghettoized and ordered to pay ransoms in valuables and property. Jewish women were forbidden to give birth on pain of the execution of their entire families. Every day, on the orders of the chief of headquarters, Graff, some 1,000 ghetto inhabitants were led out for labor such as rock blasting and road repairs. Many were shot by the guards as they worked. A Judenrat was established under Iosif Kulik. In the early hours of February 13, 1942, some 1,500 ghetto inhabitants were rounded up in the marketplace in front of the Catholic church. Jewish homes were searched, and anyone who was found to be sick or in hiding was murdered on site. After a selection was conducted in the marketplace, 800 people―skilled craftspeople and their families―were sent back to the ghetto; the remaining 800 ghetto inhabitants were taken to the Jewish cemetery and murdered. During the operation, there were several instances of Jewish resistance. The chairman of the Judenrat declined the Germans’ offer to return to the townlet with his family, choosing instead to share his fellow Jews’ fate. The skilled workers remained in Brailov along with some 200 Jews in hiding. On March 23 and April 18, 1942, 300 and 180 Jews respectively were killed in two operations. The Brailov ghetto was liquidated on August 25, 1942. In the final operation, 503 people were killed, including 286 Jews from Brailov who had fled to the Zhmerinka* ghetto in the Romanian-controlled area and had been sent back by an SS unit.