Forest in the Direction of Chotynicze Related Communities
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Murder Story of Hancewicze Jews in the Forest on the Way to Chotynicze
Murder Site
Forest in the Direction of Khotynichi
Poland
According to the Soviet sources the first murder operaton against the Jewsih men of Hancewicze was carried out on July 5, 1941, while the German documents claim it to happen on August 12, 1941. The Soviet reports say the Jewish men were collected on the pretext of being sent to work. The German documents report that all the Jews were collected and then the men were separated from the women and the children proir to be taken to the shooting. The men were taken to the forest seven, or, according to other testimonies, ten kilometers away from Hancewicze in the direction to Chotynicze village and shot there. Apparently the same event is mentioned in other Soviet testimonies that say the Jewish men's bodies were hidden in the forest in the Podlinka tract. Both versions state that the bodies of the victims were hidden in the forest after the shooting so that the rest of the population was not aware of the event. The reported number of these Jews killed ranges from 300 to 350.
Related Resources
German Reports / Romanian Reports
ChGK Soviet Reports
From the Judicial Proceedings against Karl Gesele, former operations officer of the SS Cavalry Brigade, Augsburg, 1965:
May 18, 1965
From the Testimony of B. Werner, former artillery officer of the 1st SS Cavalry Regiment Since the late July 1941 all our battery stayed in Hanzewicze. We stayed there for about two weeks. … From my friends I learned that the Jews of Hancewicze were collected in one street with their belongings. The women and the children were separated from the men. They were forced to leave their belongings and were taken away in columns. It was clear to us the Jews were going to be shot. The shooting started in the morning twilight and lasted until the midday. ...Probably the execution site where the men were shot, was located in another place, namely in the forest further away....
ZENTRALE STELLE, LUDWIGSBURG B 162/5526 (כרך 1); B 162/5527 (כרך 2); B 162/5528 (כרך 3); B 162/5529 (כרך 4) copy YVA TR.10 / 1160
Forest in the Direction of Khotynichi
forest
Murder Site
Poland
52.758;26.429