Gorkaya Balka

In 1939 the village of Gorkaya Balka, along with the rest of Vorontsovo – Aleksandrovskiy County, was part of the Ordzhonikidze Kray District, which before the Russian Revolution 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 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 Gorkaya Balka on August 21, 1942. At first, the Jews had to wear a black Star of David on a white armband. On September 19 of that year 48 Jews were shot to death in an anti-tank trench on the outskirts of the village. The Red Army liberated Gorkaya Balka on January 10, 1943.