The majority of the Jewish men of Łuniniec over the age of fourteen were murdered in early to mid-August 1941. First, they were told to report for work. At the selection point, skilled workers in high-demand occupations were separated from the rest and kept alive. The remaining men were taken from the town to the shooting site in the Moguł (Mochula) tract, 400 meters north of the hay storage house near the siding of the Łuniniec–Pińsk railway line. There, some of the victims were forced to dig seven pits. This done, the men were shot in the back of the head. Before the shooting, the Jews were forced to lie in the pits face down. The number of the victims of this shooting is estimated at 1,312.
Related Resources
Written Testimonies
ChGK Soviet Reports
From the testimony of Mikołay Sierżan, who was born in 1912 in Łuniniec and lived there during the war years:
Two weeks [sic] after the Germans had entered Łuniniec, on August 3, 1941, they ordered all the men to show up for work early in the morning. Not everyone was aware of this, as the announcement had not been widely spread in the town. The Gendarmerie rounded up all those who had failed to show up. They selected all the qualified men, and did not take them to the so-called ”work”. All those who had gone [to work] never returned. There were no men left. There were many rumors among the Jews, the Poles, and the Belarusians following the disappearance of the men. The locals said that all the Jews had been shot. Some Jewish women also said that their husbands, sons, and fathers had been shot, but most people believed that they had been taken to work. On the same day, my wife witnessed the torture and murder of a Jewish man named Bieżuński, who had not shown up at the assembly point with the rest of the men.
Later, we found out that the men who had been taken away were shot. One citizen, Aleksandra Kubała, who now lives in Łódź (address), was present at the liquidation of those Jews. She later showed the exact place to some Jewish women.