Novograd Volynskiy - Commemoration of Jewish Victims

The Jewish victims from several locations in the Zhitomir District were reburied and memorialized at the Jewish cemetery of Novograd Volynskiy. This was done at the initiative of Abram Ivankovitser, then head of the local Jewish community, without obtaining permission from the local authorities. The first memorial, erected in 1949, was dedicated to the Jews from Rykhalskaya village. The Russian inscription on this memorial says: "Here there lie, may they rest in peace, the remains of those who perished at the hands of the Fascists in 1941, from Rakhalsk [sic] village, [the remains] of M. E. Pleshivaya [born in] 1880, E. M. Pleshivaya [born in] 1925, B. G. Segal B.G. - 1896, D. M. Elbert -- 1873, Z. D. Elbert -- 1898, M. Sh. Vinner -- 1914, M. M. Yusim -- 1920, Z. M. Yusim -- 1896, and M. Fyksman -- 1870." The second memorial commemorates victims from Baranovka County. Its Russian inscription says: "Here rest in peace the remains of [the following] people shot, by German Fascists and traitors to our Motherland, in Baranovka County in 1942: Tanya I. Valdman, S. S. Valdman. M. S. Valdman, F. S. Valdman, D. M. Vaslavskiy, and 4 other people." A third monument was erected in 1960, also at the initiative of Ivankovitser. In 1993 it was replaced by a new one, at the initiative of local authorities. The latter monument has a Star of David and a Russian inscription that says: "Here rest in peace 46 Soviet civilians who perished at the hands of the German occupiers during the years of the Great Patriotic War."

After the war one of the three bomb craters used as shooting pits in a field of the Machine Tractor Station was dug up. Later, in the 1970s, some workshops were built over the former pits. When, in the 1980s, a memorial was erected in the area, it was put up not at the exact location of the shooting pits but in their vicinity. In 1990 or, according to other sources, in 1991, following the initiative of local historian Alexander Provorotov, a new memorial was erected at the same location as the previous one. The Ukrainian inscription on this memorial says: "In this place in July–August 1941 about 800 Soviet peaceful civilians and POWs were shot by German murder squad." According to Provotorov, the remains of victims from the area still lie in the pits under the workshop buildings and under the fence that surrounds the area.

In 1973 a concrete obelisk was erected at the mass grave at the former site of the shooting range. In 1994 it was replaced by a memorial that is now under the care of the local housing and utilities authority. The memorial consists of a female figure, a mourning mother, with a candle and a sculpture of wings affixed to a plaque with a Ukrainian inscription that says:"In this place in September 1941 more than 3,200 peaceful residents of Novograd Volynskiy village were shot by the German-Fascist occupiers. May their [the victims'] memory last forever."

The murder site in the park next to the former Red Army Club was first marked in 1973 by a concrete obelisk. In 1995 or, according to some sources, in 1996 this was replaced by another memorial consisting of a female figure surrounded by children, leaning on something that resembles a Star of David. This monument memorial contains a Hebrew inscription that says: "[We] remember" and a following inscription in Ukrainian that says: "Here are buried peaceful residents of Novograd Volynskiy village who were shot by the Fascists in September 1941." Although small in number, the local Jewish community holds memorial at this location on May 9 (Victory Day) and on September 29 (Babi Yar Memorial Day).

The shooting site in the former garden of the Residential care facility, (today the buidling of the county Central Hospital), has two memorials -- one erected in 1975. A third memorial was erected at the site in 2005. The Ukrainian inscription says: "Here are buried 200 residents of Novograd Volynskiy who were shot to death by the German–Fascist invaders in July-August 1941."