Szumsk - Commemoration of Jewish Victims

According to one testimony, shortly after the war, the murder site of the Szumsk Jews on the bank of the Viliya River had been trampled upon by domestic animals. As a result, there was an attempt to turn to the local authorities in order to have the murder site fenced off, but it is unknown whether a fence was, in fact, constructed or not. In 1991 a memorial was erected at the murder site of the Szumsk Jews. It has a wall with a bas-relief with figures of Holocaust victims -- Jewish men, women, and children who had perished in Szumsk. The memorial has a black marble monument, topped with a Star of David, below which there are inscriptions in Ukrainian and Hebrew languages. The Ukrainian inscription says: "Here in August 1942 2,432 Jewish civilians were shot to death by the Nazi Fascists. Let us bow our heads in thought, and not let this calamity happen again." The following, Hebrew inscription says: "Here are buried thousands of the people of Israel who were born in Szumsk, whose ancestors came to settle here at the beginning of the 19th century. This mass grave is a public appeal that the people of Israel return to their homeland in the Land of Israel. Many their [the victims'] souls be bound up in the bond of life of the State of Israel." By September 2017, while its Ukrainian inscription on the monument had remained unchanged, its Hebrew inscription had been slightly altered to say: "Here are buried 2,432 Jews, residents of Szumsk who were murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices in the month of Elul, 5702, [i.e.] August 1942. Their ancestors came to settle in Szumsk at the beginning of the 19th century. This mass grave calls the people of Israel to return to their homeland in the Land of Israel. May their [the victims'] souls be bound up in the bond of life." Apparently during the 1990s or 2000s, a black marble monument commemorating the Jewish victims of Szumsk and the nearby town of Krzemieniec was erected at the Holon cemetery in Israel. Its Hebrew inscription states: "In memory of the [Jewish] martyrs of Krzemieniec and Szumsk (Volhyn). Their memory will not be forgotten."