Solomenskoye

In 1939 the village of Solomenskoye, along with the rest of Stepnovsky County, was part of the Ordzhonikidze Kray Distric,, which before the Russian Revolution was outside the Pale of Settlement. Consequently, only 11 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 destination 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 their invasion of the North Caucasus. The Wehrmacht occupied Solomenskoye at the beginning of August 1942. Three murder operations were carried in the village. First the Germans shot some Jews in Solomenskoye between the 27 and 29th of August and on September 2, 1942. Subsequently, they killed some Jews between the 15th and 20th of December of the same year. Altogether, the Germans and the Russian collaborators killed about 40 Jews in the village. The Red Army liberated Solomenskoye in January 1943.