Stepnoye

Before the Russian Revolution the town of Stepnoye, along with the rest of Stepnovsky County, which was part of the Ordzhonikidze Kray District, was outside the Pale of Settlement. Consequently,no Jews lived 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 destinatio of civilian evacuation and flight, including of many Jews from Soviet Ukraine and Belorussia. With the summer offensive of the German military at the end of June 1942, the Germans started the invasion of the North Caucasus. The Wehrmacht occupied Stepnoye on August 21, 1942. There were two murder operations in the village. At first the Germans shot 250 Jews in the center of Stepnoye, Later, on September 19, 1942, the Germans collected approximately 480 Jews at the German headquarters, took away the possessions they had with them, and killed them in gas vans on the outskirts of the village. The Germans killed a total of about 730 Jews in the town. The Red Army liberated Stepnoye on January 5, 1943.