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Murder Story of Velizh Jews at the Velizh Brick Factory/ Fat-Boiling Site

Murder Site
Brick Factory/ Fat-Boiling Site
Russia (USSR)
Around September 9 (according to some sources in August), 1941 about 120 Jewish men age 18-35 were rounded up on the pretext of being sent to work and then were shot on the outskirts of town in the area of the brick factory. According to other sources the shooting took place 2 kilometers outside of town near a fat-boiling site. Some sources say [see video testimony] that the town was rife with rumors about what had happened to the men. The remaining Jewish population was not aware of the murder operation since the witnesses were afraid to share the information.
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Anna Zhukova, who was born in 1914 in Velizh and was an inmate of the ghetto there, testified:
March 24, 1958 In the month of August in 1941 the German authorities announced that all the men of Jewish origin had to show up at the kommendatura [the commandant's office]. …During that period several girls who were residents of the town used to work at the kommendatura ….From one of them, Lyuba Cherlova, who was later shot by the Germans, I learned that, after the males of Jewish origin age 16 - 45 were collected at the kommendatura, the policemen put them onto trucks and took them outside of town - on the pretext of sending them to work. After about 2 hours the policemen came back in empty trucks, with their clothes and shovels covered with blood. From Cherlova's words I learned that the Jewish males had been shot by policemen approximately 2 kilometers from the town, at the so-called fat-boiling site (Smolenskaya Street).
From the book Shevel Goland, ed., The Velizh Ghetto, Smolensk Province, November 1941 – January 1942, Moscow, 2012, pp. 31-32 (Russian).
Evdokiya Pastukhova, who was born in 1900 and lived in Velizh during the war years, testified:
January 15, 1959: I personally saw Jewish men being loaded onto trucks and taken away, supposedly to work. As it turned out, they were later taken out of town to the area of Demidovo [village] and were shot there near the fat-boiling site. Shepherds found the bodies of those Jews who had been shot. I do not remember exactly who it was, Germans or [local] policemen, who put the Jews onto the trucks. Then the Jews had been still living in their homes.
From the book Shevel Goland, ed., The Velizh Ghetto, Smolensk Province, November 1941 – January 1942 (Moscow, 2012), p. 71 (Russian).
Mariya Horosh, who was born in 1886 in Velizh and was an inmate of the ghetto there, testified:
On the left Samuil Horosh (the husband of Mariya Horosh) and his son Ruvim
July 13, 1959: I am aware of two cases of mass murder of Soviet civilians in Velizh. The first case took place in September 1941, when my husband was shot. This took place on September 9, 1941. My husband was summoned for work for three days. In addition to him, many others were taken as well -- on the pretext of being sent to work. All these people were put onto three trucks and taken outside of town. After some time I learned that they had been shot. I do not know who shot them or how this was done, but I have been to the shooting site. They were shot on the outskirts of Velizh, behind the brick factory.
From the book Shevel Goland, ed., The Velizh Ghetto, Smolensk Province, November 1941 – January 1942, Moscow, 2012, pp. 50-51 (Russian)
Brick Factory/ Fat-Boiling Site
בית חרושת ליצור לבנים
Fat Boiling Facility
Murder Site
Russia (USSR)
55.600;31.201
Boris Nikhamovskii born in 1931 in Velizh and lived there during the war years
USC SHOAH FOUNDATION, 13031 copy YVA O.93 / 13031
Raisa Shageeva was born in Velizh in 1924 and lived there during the war years
USC SHOAH FOUNDATION, 31838 copy YVA O.93 / 31838