Grozovo

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, twenty-four Jews resided in Grozovo. In 1926, 704 Jews lived in the town, accounting for 68.7 percent of its total population. In 1923, the International kolkhoz was established in Grozovo, and at the beginning of 1924 an additional Jewish kolkhoz called Hirsh Lekkert was set up. In February 1929, a local Jewish soviet began to operate in the area. There was a Yiddish school in Grozovo. Grozovo was occupied by the Germans on June 26 or 27, 1941. The Jewish residents were taken to a ghetto at the former Soviet military camp in nearby Konyukhi. A few dozen experts were left in the town, together with their families. The Jews of Grozovo were killed in two murder operations in 1941 and 1942. The Red Army liberated Grozovo in July 1944. In September 1941, all the Jews in Grozovo and its vicinity were concentrated in a ghetto established by the Germans in a former Soviet military camp at nearby Konyukhi. Living conditions were poor, and food supplies inadequate. The ghetto was liquidated on December 18, 1941, when most of the Jews were driven to the forest and murdered.Seventy-four Jewish "experts" (shoemakers, carpenters, etc.) and their families remained in Grozovo, living in six houses. In July 1942 they were taken to a stone quarry about 500 meters from the town, where they were shot dead.