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Sarny - Commemoration of Jewish Victims

Sarny - Commemoration of Jewish Victims

Commemoration

Mass grave of the Jews of Sarny and its surroundings. A photo that was probably taken in the 1950s.

YVA, Photo Collection, 6658/1

In 1944, after the liberation of the area by the Red Army, some survivors from Sarny and its vicinity returned to the town, as did the local Jews who had spent the war in the Soviet interior. Upon their arrival, the first memorial service was held at the Tutowicze Forest murder site. Since it had been desecrated, the Jewish survivors dug trenches around the mass graves. They also tried to raise money for a monument at the murder site, but their efforts were in vain.

In 1945, three stone monuments were erected at the site, which was fenced off with barbed wire. According to one testimony, they bore the following inscription:

"Here lie 14,000 Jews of Sarny and its vicinity. May their souls be bound up in the bond of everlasting life."

Shortly afterward, these inscriptions were probably altered. The Hebrew inscription on one of the monuments, which was topped with a Star of David, read:

"August 28, 1942; the 15th of [the Hebrew month of] Elul, 5702. Here are buried the Jews of Sarny, Rokitno, Klesów, Bereżnica, and Dąbrowica, who were killed, slaughtered, and burned [alive] by Hitler and his henchmen."

Later, several monuments were erected at the site. One of them (which is still extant, as of 2018) is shaped like a Star of David, and it is accompanied by a nearby plaque, which bears the following Ukrainian-language inscription:

"To the victims of Fascism. [This is] the site of the mass shooting of the residents of the Sarny County." The inscription does not mention the Jewishness of these victims.

In 2002, two identical granite monuments were erected at the site. One of them stands next to the Star-of-David-shaped monument. The two bear inscriptions in Ukrainian and Hebrew. The Ukrainian inscription states:

"Here are buried our fathers, brothers, sisters, and relatives, who were brutally murdered by the German Fascists on August 27, 1942. May the memory of the victims live on forever."

The Hebrew inscription below, which is topped with a Star of David, reads:

"Here lie. In memory of the Jews of Sarny, Rokitno, Dąbrowica, and the vicinity who were tortured and murdered by the German Nazis and their accomplices, may their names be blotted out, on [the Hebrew month of] Elul 13-14, 5702; August 26-27, 1942. May their souls be bound up in the bond of everlasting life. [This monument was] erected in 2002."

As of 2009, a black marble memorial plaque could be seen on one of the buildings in the street where the Sarny Ghetto used to be located. It bears the following Ukrainian inscription:

"In 1942, this street was the site of the ghetto, whose inmates were shot dead on the western outskirts of the town of Sarny. May their memory live on forever."

Another monument to the murdered Jews of Sarny and its environs was erected at the Holon Cemetery in Israel.

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Meir Volkun testifies:

…The three pits that had swallowed all the Jews of Sarny and its vicinity were flattened during the [war]. Only the shoes, the shreds of clothing, and the lime that had been poured to absorb the blood [of the victims] remained as evidence of what had taken place at the site. This is what the pits looked like in the summer of 1944. A track leading into the forest passed through one of them, and the peasants would walk along it. At the first memorial service, which took place immediately after the liberation [of Sarny by the Red Army], survivors from all the over the area gathered there, some with weapons in their hands, and they swore to avenge the shed blood [of the Jewish victims]. They volunteered to enlist in the Red Army, and some of them – including Shalom Pinchuk from Rokitno – did not return. After the memorial service, we decided to dig a trench around the site, to prevent people from walking over the graves. The trench was narrow; over time, it was filled with sand. Winter came, and the survivors, most of whom were not natives of Sarny, became used to a normal life and forgot their moral obligations… to the martyrs. We collected money to erect a monument over the mass grave, but nothing was done, and the money vanished. From time to time, I would approach the mass graves, gun in hand, and shoot the dogs that were rooting inside the pit, finding the bodies and chewing on them, since they were covered by only a thin layer of soil. I began to spur the Jews of Sarny to action, telling them that they must not leave the mass grave in such a sorry state, since it was a disgrace to us. I also contacted the Sarny municipal authorities and demanded that they take action, since it was their duty. I claimed that the [non-Jewish] residents of the town had inherited the possessions and houses of the martyrs. The people from the municipality replied that it was impossible to procure the necessary materials during wartime, and that there were other, more urgent matters to attend to.…

Yosef Kariv, ed., Book of Remembrance of the Community of Sarny, Jerusalem, 1961, pp. 370-371 (in Hebrew).

Yitzhak Geller, who was born in 1899 and lived in Sarny during the war years, testifies:

[After the liberation of Sarny by the Red Army,] the remaining Jews, who had managed to survive this hell, slowly began to assemble [in Sarny]. They were joined by [Jewish] refugees returning from the Soviet [interior]. My first task upon arriving in Sarny was to take care of these four pits, in which the martyrs of Sarny and its vicinity were buried. The pits were not fenced off, and the soil over them had been scattered and flattened beyond recognition, [so that no one could tell] who was buried there. A cart track passed over [the graves]; pigs and other domestic animals were grazing there and stepping over them. I was one of those who suggested the idea of digging deep ditches around the graves and fencing them off with barbed wire, to prevent [people and animals] from passing through them. I recruited several Jewish survivors from Sarny, Rokitno, and Dąbrowica (in Bereznica, there was no living soul left). Equipped with shovels, we set to our sacred task, and carried it out perfectly: We dug deep trenches around the pits and piled a large mound of earth above them.…

Yosef Kariv, ed., Book of Remembrance of the Community of Sarny, Jerusalem, 1961, pp. 284-285 (in Hebrew).

Yosef Wolf, who was born in 1913 and lived in Sarny during the war years, testifies:

...Meanwhile [in 1944], some other Jews arrived from Russia [i.e., from the Soviet interior] and from the forests. During our meetings, we talked a lot about taking care of the mass graves of the martyrs. We began to raise money for this purpose, but the project was abandoned. Some of the survivors began to leave the town and immigrate to Poland. It was already 1945, after the end of World War II. I realized that we had to act immediately, or else we would all be scattered, and the work would remain undone. First of all, we needed to obtain a permission to dismantle the tombstones. We then had to find a way to remove these tombstones, which weighed approximately 70-80 tons. Our only hope of lifting them was by obtaining a construction crane from the [Red] Army unit stationed in the town. At the time, the [Red] Army troops in Sarny were under the command of a Russian colonel [named] Klokov. While on duty, I entered his house and asked him to lend us 3 freight trucks and about 20 soldiers, who would help [us] move the tombstones…. It happened one day, probably in the [Hebrew] month of Av [i.e., July-August], 1945. A handful of Jews from Sarny gathered at the plot of land that had been designated as the assembly point. At 8 AM, I went to the [Red Army] headquarters with a suitable certificate of approval. An hour later, I was given the trucks and 20 soldiers to help. The Jews of Sarny had been waiting impatiently for my arrival, and they set to work without delay.… As I have already indicated, Meir Volkun… helped me. He was very active in taking care of the mass grave. I relieved him of his work duties and gave him a team of horses and a wagon. We brought cement from [the town of] Zdołbunów, and a professional then built three stone monuments, carving the following inscription upon them: "Here lie 14,000 Jews of Sarny and its vicinity. May their souls be bound up in the bond of everlasting life." Afterward, we erected a fence of iron poles and barbed wire around the monuments. In the [Hebrew] month of Elul [August-September], the work was complete. With a clean conscience, I decided to leave the town.

Yosef Kariv, ed., Book of Remembrance of the Community of Sarny, Jerusalem, 1961, pp. 372-373 (in Hebrew).

Sarny

Sarny District

Wolyn Region

Poland (today Sarny

Ukraine)

51.337;26.603

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