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Murder Story of Golaya Pristan Jews at the Brick Factory near Golaya Pristan

Murder Site
Brick Factory near Golaya Pristan
Ukraine (USSR)
On October 12, 1941 a detachment of Sonderkommando 10b (of Einsatzgruppe D) that was stationed at Golaya Pristan, together with local auxiliary policemen, collected 150 Jews of all ages and both sexes at the county administration building. From there the Jews were taken, some on foot and some in carts, to the brick factory 3 kilometers north of Golaya Pristan. There the Jews were ordered to undress. Then they were taken in small groups to a grave that had been dug in advance and shot dead.
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Yakov Galchenko, who lived in Golaya Pristan during the war years, testified:
… During the occupation I worked as a janitor at the brick factory. In October [1941], I do not remember the exact date, it was early in the month but already cold. I was wearing a warm coat and was at the factory. At about 9 a. m. two trucks arrived at the factory and about 20 Germans wearing overcoats and armed with sub-machine guns or rifles got out. Together with them there arrived four young guys, inhabitants of Golaya Pristan, carrying shovels. At first I did not understand why they had come to the factory and turned to one of the young guys, who told me that the Germans had forced them to come there and they were going to bury the Jews who were about to be shot. I asked where those poor souls were, the ones who were going to be shot. He pointed to the road and I saw a terrible scene: about one hundred people - including women, old people, and children - many of them were carrying little children, nursing infants, and even older children, they were walking along the highway toward the murder site. The sick were transported by cart. All this terrible file of humans was headed toward a pit that had been prepared in advance. When this whole mass of human beings arrived at the factory, I saw that the Germans were about to start shooting these civilians. I could not stand this and quickly ran home. While I was going home, along the way I heard short machine-gun bursts and also single shots. After I had been home for 30 minutes, Vasili Denisovich Sletin, who was director of the brick factory, came to me. He asked me to go with him to the area of the brick factory. I returned there: everything was already over. Inhabitants of our town who had been mobilized by the Germans were burying the civilians who had been shot dead by the Germans. A total of 110 Jewish civilians had been shot by the Germans....
GARF, MOSCOW R-7021-77-409 copy YVA M.33 / JM/19992
Aleksandra Bezkrovnaya, who was born in Golaya Pristan and lived there during the war years, testified:
On Wednesday October 12, 1941 Germans burst into my apartment. There were also local policemen, Tit Mikhailovich Lukyanchenko and another one, whose name I do not know. Lukyanchenko pointed to my husband and said: "Jud Kinder, Jud." The German hit my eight-year old daughter on the shoulder and ordered everyone but me to get ready. My husband turned to the German, insisting that the children were not his, but the German hit him in the face with a whip and pointed to the door. My husband left; he was taken toward the county administration [building]. I remained in the house with the children. In about half an hour I saw a crowd of Jews walking along the road and I saw my husband among them. Seeing the Germans leading their father to be shot, the children started to cry. I rushed toward my husband but the Germans and police guards did not let me through. I decided not to stay behind and accompanied the entire procession of people going to their death up to the execution site itself, the brick factory. Approaching, [I saw] the Germans and policemen abusing and beating my husband, taking away his boots and clothes and bringing him almost naked to the grave, and, then, him being shot. this all took place before my own eyes: together with him, at the same spot ten people were shot, including two middle-aged women. The Germans were carrying out the shooting in short volleys. Afterwards, the Germans approached the pits and shot dead those who had not been killed immediately and [then] they continued to bring more groups of men, women, and children who, just like others, were also shot. I left but could still hear the shooting….
GARF, MOSCOW R-7021-77-409 copy YVA M.33 / JM/19992
State Security Lieutenant Kuznetsov, the Chief of Golaya Pristan County NKGB office, reported to State Security Colonel Krasheninnikov, the Chief of the Kherson District NKGB office:
…In Golaya Pristan village on October 12, 1941 Germans carried out a massacre of Jews. On a single day 150 people, including the elderly, women, and children of various ages, were shot on the territory of the brickworks. The witness Zadoroshenko, an inhabitant of the town of Golaya Pristan, testified on September 4, 1944: "All the Jews were driven along the main road. I saw German guards standing at the sides of the road. I was a cart driver. The ill Isak Yagur was lying in my cart and a boy of about six with crutches was sitting next to me. The whole column was proceeding in silence. Elderly people of about 70-80, women, and young girls and boys were all going on foot. Nursing infants were being carried while many children were held by the arm. When they turned toward the brickworks, it became clear to everyone that all these Soviet civilians were being taken to be shot; crying and moaning were heard from the crowd. The Germans selected a group of 10 people and took them toward the vineyards. Two minutes later shots were heard and the same Germans returned and, after selecting 10 more people, took them in the direction from which single shots were still being heard. The shots continued as more people were being shot"….
GARF, MOSCOW R-7021-77-409 copy YVA M.33 / JM/19992
The ChGK report from Golaya Pristan
... On this date the Commission examined the sites of atrocities committed by the German-Fascist occupiers. The examination discovered two graves. The first one is 3 kilometers north of the town of Golaya Pristan, 300 meters from the road, on the territory of the brick factory, in the steppe area, 50 meters south of the places where trees had been planted. During the excavation of the grave 150 largely decomposed bodies of men, women, and children were found…. From the testimonies of witnesses… who were living in the town of Golaya Pristan it was established that on October 12, 1941 a shooting of local Soviet civilians was carried out at the site where the bodies were discovered. The shooting was carried out by an SS detachment quartered in the town of Golaya Pristan and numbering 35 men….
GARF, MOSCOW R-7021-77-409 copy YVA M.33 / JM/19992
Brick Factory near Golaya Pristan
factory
Murder Site
Ukraine (USSR)
46.523;32.515
Murder site of the Golaya Pristan Jews
GARF, MOSCOW R-7021-77-409 copy YVA M.33 / JM/19992