Krasnaya Zarya Kolkhoz

In 1939, the Krasnaya Zarya collective farm and the Stepnovsky County were part of the Ordzhonikidze District, which had lain outside the Pale of Settlement prior to the Russian Revolution. Thus, there were no Jews living in this area prior to World War II. However, in the wake of the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, the Ordzhonikidze District came to house a large number of civilian evacuees, including many Jews from Ukraine and Belarus. With the beginning of the German summer offensive in late June 1942, the Wehrmacht launched its invasion of the North Caucasus. The Wehrmacht occupied Krasnaya Zarya in August 1942. On October 10, 1942, the Germans and the local policemen began to arrest the Jews and force them to perform hard labor. Two days later, on October 12, the Germans killed thirty-five Jewish people at a pit near the collective farm. The Red Army liberated Krasnaya Zarya in early January 1943.