Murder Story of Yarmolintsy Jews at the Yarmolintsy Military Barracks

In late October 1942, on the orders of Gebietskommissar (regional commissar) Emil Mertes, the Jews from Yarmolintsy were taken from the ghetto to the military area near the Yarmolintsy railway station located 4 kilometers southwest of the town. They were put under guard there, without water or food, along with the Jews from neighboring towns, in a three-storey military barrack that was fenced off with barbed wire. According to several testimonies, some committed suicide. After three days the Germans, assisted by Ukrainian auxiliary police, began to take people out of the barracks to nearby pits that had been prepared by the Ukrainian policemen. According to one testimony, a group of Jews put up armed resistance for about three days, during which they killed some Ukrainian auxiliary policemen and Germans. After the resistance was suppressed the Germans and Ukrainian policemen took people in groups of 50 to the edge of the pit and forced them to take off their clothes and lie face down in the pit. The victims were shot to death by the Germans, who were standing on a plank placed over the pit. The shooting operation lasted 3 days. During the shooting some people managed to escape. Soviet prisoners of war were shot to death and buried at this site as well.