Site of the murder of the Jews of Petrovka and surrounding villages. Photographer: Mikhail Tyaglyy, 2010.
YVA, Photo Collection, 14615530
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Murder Story of Petrovka Jews at the Petrovka Old Cemetery
Murder Site
Petrovka Old Cemetery
Russia (USSR)
At the end of 1941 or the beginning of 1942 a Feldgendarmerie (German military police) detachment arrived in Petrovka and assembled all the Jews living in the village and in surrounding localities in an abandoned house on today's Zheleznodorozhnyi Lane in Kurman Kemelchi. There the Jews, mostly women and children, were robbed of their belongings and then taken on foot to the area of the old cemetery on the outskirts of Petrovka, where an anti-tank trench had been dug. The victims were made to stand at the edge of the trench and shot. Neither the number of the victims nor the exact identity of the perpetrators of this massacre is known.
Related Resources
Written Testimonies
Vasilii Falaleev, who was born in 1932 and lived in Petrovka during the war years, testified:
Interview by Mikhail Tyaglyy and Tatyana Velichko in 2010
- So, during one of your gatherings, you saw people shot, right?
- Yes.
- Please tell us what you saw.
- They brought a group of people.
- Who did?
- The Germans.
- Who was in the group? Women? Men?
- There were no men. There were women.
- Children?
- I saw only one child; I don’t know how old he was. She was holding him, and then the soldier took him from her, held his foot and smashed him. Three others had rifles.
- What happened then?
- They shot everybody.
- How did they do that? Did they put people in a line?
- Yes.
- Were they dressed?
- Yes, fully dressed.
- Did they have their belongings?
- No. Obviously, they took them away as they gathered people with their belongings.
- Who was shooting?
- The Germans. SS.
- Why are you sure it was SS?
- I think they had letters “SS” and an eagle.
- How many executed?
- I don’t remember.
- Who buried the bodies?
- The prisoners. ...
- Could you tell what time of the year it was? What was the weather like?
- It was the autumn.
- 1941.
- How did the executioners look?
- They were SS.
- Did they wear anything special?
- They had a big badge with an eagle.
- Did everybody have such a badge?
- I think so. It might’ve been a death squad.
- How many executioners? Ten, twenty?
- Around seven people.
- What weapons did they have?
- Sub-machine guns.
- Did they have machine guns?
- No.
- Did they only shoot people or kill in some other ways?
- They only shot.
- Did they have a car waiting?
- I don’t think so. They drove people by foot.
- Could you show us the place where they gathered people?
- Yes.
- How many people were shot the day you witnessed it, as you remember?
- More than ten people.
- Much more. They brought groups.
- Did they bury the bodies?
- Prisoners did that.
- How many prisoners?
- About fifteen.
YVA O.101 / 585
Petrovka Old Cemetery
cemetery
Murder Site
Russia (USSR)
45.31;34.18
Photos
Site of the murder of the Jews of Petrovka and surrounding villages. Photographer: Mikhail Tyaglyy, 2010.
YVA, Photo Collection, 14615530