Murder Story of Dobrovelichkovka Jews in Maryevka

On December 23 (or 25, according to a different source), 1941 the local police force raided the Jewish houses and took the residents to a collection point in the center of the village, in a building that had been used to store vegetables. From there the victims were driven by covered trucks to Maryevka village, one kilometer from Dobrovelichkovka. Upon the Jews' arrival at the site, their outer clothes were taken away.The Jews were then shot in a ravine. The shooting was carried out by an SS murder squad, as well as by local collaborators of German and Ukrainian origin. On December 22, 1941 eight Jewish children who lived in an orphanage in Dobrovelichkovka were taken and driven to Maryevka village in a covered truck. Some sources say that the orphanage staff helped send the children to the shooting site. The children were taken to Maryevka village and shot there, apparently together with the rest of the Jewish population. The number of the Jews shot was said to be 207. A Jewish man who survived the murder operation fled to Maryevka village in search of shelter. He was turned in to the gendarmerie by local residents and later shot behind a school building.