Murder Story of Sumy Jews at Brick Factory No.4 in Sumy

On February 6, 1942, the Germans ordered the local Ukrainian Auxiliary Police to round up the Jews of Sumy. Simultaneously, the Germans announced, in Ukrainian and Russian, that the Jews were to assemble at a designated spot, on the pretext of evacuation to the east, where they would work for the Germans. Failure to show up was punishable by death. When the Jews were assembled, the Ukrainian policemen surrounded them. They forced the Jews to march to the quarry of brick factory no. 4. At the quarry, the Jews had to strip down to their underwear. They were then divided into groups of eight and ordered to lie face down on the floor of the pit. Then, German Einsatzgruppe members entered the pit and shot the Jews in the neck at close range with machine guns. The next eight Jews were then forced to lie down atop the bodies of their predecessors, and the massacre continued. By the time it was over, 350 Jews had been shot dead in this manner. After the murder operation, the Ukrainian auxiliary policemen who had guarded the murder site to prevent the Jews from escaping looted the victims' possessions and clothes.