Site of the murder of Shklov's Jews near the village of Putniki, October 1941. Photographer: Alexander Litin, 2008.
YVA, Photo Collection, 14615503
Putniki Related Communities
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Murder Story of Shklov Jews in Putniki
Murder Site
Putniki
Belorussia (USSR)
In August-September 1941 482 Jews of Shklov were shot in anti-tank trenches at the cemetery of the village of Putniki, several hundred meters southeast of Shklov, across the Dniepr River.
In September 1941 at the Putniki cemetery the Germans shot 96 Jews of all ages and both sexes who had been held at the "Iskra" kolkhoz near Shklov.
On October 3 or 4, several days after Yom Kippur, 1941, at the same place members of Einsatzkommando 8 shot 1,459 Jews from Shklov who had been held in the Ryzhkovichi ghetto. The Jews were first taken to the village of Maloye Zarechye, where they were robbed of their valuables. Then they were taken further southeast to the cemetery of Putniki, where they were machine-gunned to death.
Related Resources
Written Testimonies
Written Accounts
ChGK Soviet Reports
Alexandra Shumina, who was born in 1923 un Shklov and lived there during the war years, testified:
Interview by Ida Shenderovich and Alexander Litin in 2008
... On October 2, 1941 at 7 in the morning the village elder Konkov, together with policemen and a murder squad consisting of Germans and Finns, began to take Jews to be shot....
The International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem
Asya Tseytlina, the former inmate of the Shklov ghetto, testified:
... The Jews from Ryzhkovichi were taken by boat across the Dniepr to Zarechye. There there were forced to sit on the ground in the center of the village and had their valuables taken from them. My parents pushed me out of the line. When no one was paying attention my father's friend Osipenok took me by the hand and led me as far away as possible. I could not leave my parents just like that and ran after them ... not understanding what I was doing. The Germans and policemen surrounding the column of Jews took them toward Putniki village. I did not leave Zarechye and did not see the shooting, but I heard the shots....
Archive of the Initiative "The Lessons of the Holocaust", Mogilev
Natalya Tsiryulnikova, who lived in Putniki during the war years, testified:
Interview by Ida Shenderovich and Alexander Litin in 2008
... I was digging up potatoes and I saw a large group of people standing at the edge of the cemetry near a ditch. Then I looked up and they were gone. Only one man was standing there. I was very puzzled. People said [afterwards] that Jews had been killed at the edge of our cemetery and buried in the ditch....
The International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem
Putniki
Murder Site
Belorussia (USSR)
54.115;30.218
Videos
Photos
Alexandra Shumina was born in 1923 in Shklov and lived there during the war years
USC SHOAH FOUNDATION, 49152 copy YVA O.93 / 49152