Murder Story of Dawidgrodek Jews at the Chinowsk Farm

The first murder operation against the Jews of Dawidgródek was carried out either in July or on August 10, 1941. Early in the morning the Jewish men were collected from their homes on the pretext of being sent to work. Some testimonies relate that a number of Jews with special skills, including artisans, saddle-makers and doctors, were not taken to the murder site as their services were required by the Germans. Apparently these specialists were murdered later. The Jewish men were taken out of town to the hills near the Chinowsk Farm, in the vicinity of Olszany village, forced to undress, and then shot in three large pits. The shooting lasted for three days. Some of the victims were buried alive. The number of the Jewish men killed was estimated as 1,000 - 1,250. According to some testimonies, the second shooting operation was carried out on September 10 or 11, 1942, while other testimonies date the murder operation to July 1942. On that day 1,000 (according to some sources 1,600), women and children, inmates of the local ghetto, were taken to the same murder site where the Jewish men had been murdered. There the women and children were forced to undress and enter pits and, then, were shot to death there.