Shishkino

The village of Shishkino was part of the Ordzhonikidze Krai, which had lain outside the Pale of Settlement prior to the Russian Revolution. Therefore, no Jews lived in this village before World War II. However, in the wake of the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, the Ordzhonikidze Krai came to house a large number of civilian evacuees, including many Jews from Ukraine, Bessarabia (present-day Moldova), and Belarus. With the beginning of the German summer offensive in late June 1942, the Wehrmacht launched its invasion of the North Caucasus. The German forces and their death squads occupied Shishkino on August 16, 1942. After establishing control over the village, the Germans ordered the local police to comb the area for Jews. In late August 1942, local policemen shot a Jewish family and buried them at the Shirokaya Balka ravine. Later, in early September 1942, eleven Jews were shot at a limestone pit. The Red Army liberated Shishkino on January 15, 1943.