Then, with the assistance of Belarusian policemen, the Germans took all the Jews to the Kagalnyi Ditch, where local Belarusians had dug a pit. When the Jews arrived at the murder site, the Germans had about 30 strong Jewish males expand the pit and, when they had finished this job, they [the diggers] were shot. Then the rest of the Jews, first the men, then the women and children, were made to undress and were shot to death. Those Mstislavl Jews who were unable to walk by themselves were shot in their homes and their bodies were brought by cart to the same pit. Later Jews who were caught in the area of Mstislavl were also killed at the site.
During the following months of the occupation other people, including 35 Roma and some Russians and Belarusians, most of whom were accused of being Communists or of aiding the partisans, were also killed at the Kagalnyi Ditch murder site.