Wooden sign at the murder site of the Jews of Lachwa
YVA, Photo Collection, 3488/47
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Murder Story of Łachwa Jews at the Łachwa Fish Farm
Murder Site
Lachwa
Poland
In mid-August 1942, news of the murder of the Jews from neighboring Mikaszewiecze and Lenin reached the ghetto. On August 27, 1942, pits were dug in the area of the Perunowo Farm, 1.5 kilometers from the ghetto, 50 meters west of the Lachwa-Perunowo Farm Road, and 40 meters south of the Łachwa -Mikasziewicze railway tracks. Reports of this activity reached the ghetto on September 2. That day, Germans and local police surrounded the ghetto.
On the morning of September 3, 1942, five trucks loaded with armed Germans and Ukrainian policemen arrived at the gates of the ghetto (they had come from Kożhangródek, where they had already killed 850 Jews). The armed men included: a platoon of Company 4 of Reserve Police Battalion 69 (Reserve-Polizeibataillon 69); platoon 3 of Company 2 of Police Battalion 306 (Polizeibataillon 306); a cavalry unit; men of the Pinsk branch of the SD; and Belarussian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian policemen.
During the murder operation in Łachwa, the revolt began. Many Jews trying to escape were killed by German fire; the ghetto itself burned to the ground. Six Germans and eight policemen were also killed. The Germans rounded up whoever was left and brought them to pits that had been prepared near the Fish Farm. When they arrived, the Germans chose ten people, and ordered them to undress and descend into the southern part of the pit, using a ladder they had brought specifically for this purpose. There they ordered them to lie down in one direction, and then shot them. The second group was ordered to lie in the opposite direction. The killing operation continued for a number of hours. Afterwards, local civilians came with carts laden with the bodies of those Jews who had been shot in the streets of the ghetto and its surroundings during the outbreak. This continued for a number of days; all the bodies of those found were thrown into the northern part of the murder site, which the Germans had not yet covered with earth.
On the same day, after the ghetto revolt had been suppressed, the Germans murdered all those who remained alive, and buried their bodies. Some of the escapees found later by non-Jews were murdered and buried in the same place (according to one testimony, the bodies of the escapees are found there, but hundreds of others who did not participate in the revolt were shot and buried elsewhere). German sources indicate that at least 500 elderly people and women were killed there; according to the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission data, 1,946 Jews were murdered, including 698 women and 724 children.
Related Resources
Written Accounts
German Reports / Romanian Reports
ChGK Soviet Reports
Testimony of Kopel Kolpanitsky:
The uprising began in the southern part of the ghetto, with the Jews torching the houses. In the northern section, three focal points of fire were visible. Apparently, when the Jews saw the fire in the southern part, they set the northern part of the town aflame. Not waiting to be taken by surprise in the northern section, the Germans gathered the Jews from there into one large group and led them to the pit.
The Jews walked in silence, in total surrender. Parents carried their infants and small children in their arms. Scores of Germans, Ukrainians and Lithuanians supervised the procession, beating the Jews with rifles or fists. When they passed over the bridges, many of the Jews threw their valuables into the river and continued on their way. They were stopped not far from the pit. The Germans counted ten people, took them onto the hill near the pit and ordered them to undress. The clothes were put into a pile. Women and girls whom the murderers found appealing were dragged into the bushes and raped. Screams filled the air. The Germans and their accomplices acted like wild beasts, and the German commanders encouraged them to satisfy their lust.
The naked Jews were taken down into the pit from the northern end on steps brought especially for that purpose. Inside the pit, on the southern side, they were ordered to lie with their heads in one direction, and German in the pit shot them. The second group was forced to lie in the pit with their heads in opposite direction. The group waiting its turn stood by the pit and watched. Some 800 Jews from the northern part of the ghetto were killed in this way.
This abominable process took several hours. After that, wagons driven by a local people appeared at the site. They were filled with the bodies of Jews killed fleeing the uprising, collected from the streets and gardens. The bodies were tied with rope so they would not slip off the wagons. Gathering the bodies took a number of days. Most of the area of the pit was later covered with dirt, with an opening left in the northern part, should other Jewish bodies be found and brought for disposal.
Kolpanitzky, Kopel. Sentenced to life : the story of a survivor of the Lahwah ghetto . London : Vallentine Mitchell, 2007, pp. 280-281.
Lachwa
fish farm
Murder Site
Poland
52.216;27.099
Videos
Photos
Ivan Zababukha (Interview in Russian)
Yad Vashem Archive 4042205
Kopel Kolpanitzky (Interview in Hebrew)
Yad Vashem Visual Center 5083195