Shepelevichi

Jews were living in Shepelevichi since the 19th century. In 1897 138 Jews lived in the village, comprising 15 percent of the total population. In the 1920s and 1930s many Jews left Shepelevichi for big towns and cities. On the eve of the German occupation about 200 Jews lived in the village. With the beginning of the occupation of Shepelevichi in July 1941 all the Jews were registered and then concentrated on one street. The Jews were also ordered to sew yellow Stars of David onto their clothes. These steps were followed by serious maltreatment, abuse, and the killing of Jews. The Jews of Shepelevichi were shot by the Germans with the assistance of local policemen in two murder operations. During the second, that took place on November 15, 1941 (according to another source, at the end of the summer of 1941), most of the Jews were taken toward Khotomlyanskoye Lake. There, after a selection, most of the Jews of Shepelevichi were shot. Those left alive, mostly old women and children, were transfered to the ghetto of the town of Krugloye. Shepelevichi was liberated by the Red Army on June 27, 1944.