Murder story of Shepetovka Jews in the Tsvetukha Forest

On July 27, 1941 the Jews of Shepetovka were ordered by the commandant of the town to appear the next day at the town's square near the local clinic. On July 28 the Jews who had been collected at the square were surrounded by Ukrainian auxiliary policemen and a selection was carried out. The artisans and craftsmen, along with their families, as well as some other Jews, were allowed to return to their homes. On the pretext of their being taken to work or being relocated a large group of young men and women (and apparently some teenagers) were loaded onto trucks and, under the guard of Ukrainian policemen and members of the 45th Reserve Police Battalion, were taken to a pine forest about 2 kilometers northwest of the town, near the village of Tsvetukha and the junction of roads leading to the towns of Novograd-Volynsk and Slavuta. On their arrival at pits (or anti-tank trenches), the Jews were made to get out of the trucks and strip naked. Then they were taken in groups of 4-6 to the edge of the pit. The victims were shot to death in the back of the head by members of the Order Police 45th battalion. According to testimony given in a German court in the 1970s, at least 70 Jews were killed in this murder operation. However, this figure appears to be much too low. On the evening of June 24, 1942 Ukrainian auxiliary policemen surrounded the ghetto (according to one source, the Jews were locked into the synagogue in the ghetto). The next day, in the morning, Ukrainian policemen drove the inmates of the ghetto onto the street. After being deprived of their valuables and other possessions, the Jews (mainly women, little children, and the elderly) were loaded in groups of 30 onto several trucks and taken to the same murder site. According to one testimony, some were taken on foot. Those who tried to escape were shot to death on the spot by the Ukrainian policemen who were guarding them. Upon their arrival at the forest, the Jews were made to strip naked and, in groups of 3-4, were taken to the edge of pits that had been prepared beforehand. The victims were forced to their knees with their faces towards the pit and shot to death with machine-guns at close or point-blank range by members of the SD and of the Gendarmerie, and some Ukrainian policemen. According to one eyewitness, nursing infants were killed before their mother's eyes. The murder lasted until evening. Graf, the head of the local security police and the SD, and Eduard Miller, head of Shepetovka's Ukrainian auxiliary police, were present at the site during the killing. After the murder operation Ukrainian auxiliary policemen covered the pits with earth and lime. The clothes of the victims were loaded onto trucks and taken away. Gebietskommissar (regional commissar) Dr. Worbs was in charge of this murder operation, during which at least several hundred Jews were shot to death. In early September 1942 the remaining Jews in the Shepetovka ghetto – craftsmen and other specialists, with their families, apparently along with several Jews who had been caught in hiding, as well as some Jews from the surrounding localities, were taken from the ghetto and shot to death, apparently at the same location. During this period and until the liberation of the region by the Red Army, local partisans and other civilians were murdered and buried at this site as well.