Bereznica - Commemoration of Jewish Victims

In 1945, shortly after the end of the war, three stone monuments were erected at the Tutowicze Forest murder site, which was fenced off with barbed wire. According to one testimony, they bore the following inscriptions: "Here lie 14,000 Jews from Sarny and its environs. May their souls be bound up in the bond of everlasting life." Shortly afterward, the writing was probably altered. The Hebrew inscription on one of the monuments, which was topped with a Star of David, now 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) has the shape of a Star of David. There is a nearby plaque with 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 the victims. A monument to the Jews of Bereżnica has been erected at the cemetery of the city of Holon, Israel. It bears the following Hebrew inscription: "The monument [has been erected] in memory of the holy community of Bereżnica and its vicinity (Volhyn), may God avenge their blood, who were annihilated by the Nazis and their accomplices. The remembrance day is Elul 14 [August 27, 1942]." In 2002, two identical granite monuments were erected at the murder site. One of them stands next to the Star-of-David monument. They bear inscriptions in Ukrainian and Hebrew. The Ukrainian one reads: "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."