Niny

In 1939 the village of Niny, along with the rest of Arkhangelskiy County, was part of the Ordzhonikidze Kray District, which before the Russian Revolution was outside the Pale of Settlement. Consequently, no Jews were living in this area before the Second World War. However, with the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, the Ordzhonikidze Kray District became a destination of civilian evacuation or flight, including of many Jews from Soviet Ukraine and Belorussia. With the "summer offensive" of the German forces at the end of June 1942, the Wehrmacht began its invasion of the Northern Caucasus. German forces occupied Niny at the end of August 1942. With the establishment of German administration there, the authorities called a meeting of the village's residents, where the former proclaimed German hegemony and a new order for the collective farms in Niny, along with their intention to liquidate the Jews and other "worthless lives," such as those of Communists and Gypsies. On the following day, near their headquarters, the Germans killed 61 Jews who had arrived in Niny seeking refuge. The Red Army liberated Niny on January 9, 1943.