Mineralnyye Vody

In 1939 98 Jews lived in Mineralnyye Vody, a health resort in the North Caucasus. At the beginning of the war Jews who fled from the western areas of the Soviet Union arrived in the town. Later evacuees from besieged Leningrad, including children, arrived also. Mineralnyye Vody was occupied by the Germans on August 6, 1942. Immediately Jews from the town were impressed into work on road construction, abused, and beaten. At the end of August 1942 Einsatzkommando 12D arrived. All the Jews were registered and a Jewish council was appointed. On September 1, 1942 the Jews of Mineralnyye Vody were taken to the area of a glass factory situated outside the town, where they were shot in anti-tank trenches. Estimates of the number of victims varies between 200 (according to German sources) and 500 (according to Soviet sources). In September 1942 the anti-tank trenches near the glass factory became the mass grave also for Jews from Kislovodsk, Pyatigorsk, Yessentuki, Zheleznovodsk, Georgievsk, and other locations near Mineralnyye Vody. The total number of Jews murdered in the area of the glass factory area is estimated as between about 6,500 and about 7,500. Mineralnyye Vody was liberated by the Red Army on January 11/12, 1943.