Spasskoye

The Burlatskiy County was part of the Ordzhonikidze District, which had lain outside the Pale of Settlement prior to the Russian Revolution; therefore, no Jews lived in this area before World War II. However, following the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, the Ordzhonikidze District came to house numerous civilian evacuees, including numerous Jews from Soviet Ukraine, Bessarabia (present-day Moldova), and Belarus. With the beginning of the summer offensive of the German army in late June 1942, the Wehrmacht launched its invasion of the North Caucasus. The German Army occupied Spasskoye on August 16, 1942. Following the occupation of the village, the German mobile killing squads ordered the local police forces to search for Jews both in Spasskoye itself and in the surrounding area. They arrested approximately 50 people, mostly Jewish evacuees and Communist Party members, and shot them at a local quarry, about two kilometers from Spasskoye. The Red Army liberated Spasskoye on January 15, 1943.