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Murder Story of Kostopol Jews at the Dinamo Stadium in Kostopol
Murder Site
Dinamo Stadium in Kostopol
Poland
On August 16, 1941, a squad of the Security Police and the SD from Równe arrived in Kostopol. With the assistance of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (headed by Colonel Ivan Likhodko), they rounded up 460 (or 480) Jewish men and 20 Jewish women from among the most affluent members of the Jewish community, using a list drawn up in advance. The head of the Judenrat, Dawid Dajan, was among the arrestees. These Jews – along with some Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, and Roma – were taken to the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police jail, where they spent the night. During their stay in the jail, they were severely beaten, tortured, and abused. On the next day, the arrestees were taken in groups behind the Dynamo Stadium near the town. Upon arriving at the shooting site, the victims were ordered to take off their clothes, and were then shot dead by a squad of the Security Police and the SD. The Ukrainian Auxiliary Police guarded the murder site throughout the shooting, which lasted from 10 AM until 5 PM. Afterward, the victims were buried at the site. However, their family members were told that their loved ones had been sent to work camps. These relatives were even deceived into sending them money, which the German authorities confiscated.
On October 1 (or November 10), 1941, some 1,500 members of the families of the Jewish men and women killed in the first murder operation behind the Dynamo Stadium were offered the "opportunity" to join their relatives at the alleged "work camps" (according to one testimony, these camps were supposed to be located near the city of Kraków). Once they had assembled, they were forced to bring their finest clothes, and were then escorted to the same murder site (according to some other sources, they were taken to the town's slaughterhouse). Upon arriving at the stadium, the victims were shot in groups of 10 by a squad of the Security Police and the SD, with the assistance of the local Ukrainian Auxiliary Police and the 1st Company of Police Battalion 320, which had arrived from Sarny. Their bodies were thrown into pits that had been dug in advance – a mere hundred meters from the pits where the Jewish intelligentsia had been shot back in August.
The District Commissar, SA-Standartenfuhrer Heinz Löhnert, was in charge of these two murder operations.
From the judicial proceedings against Heinz Löhnert and Rudolf Guenther; Ludwigsburg, 1967
February 18, 1970
From the summary report of the proceedings against Heinz Löhnert, former District Commissar of Kostopol, and his deputy Rudolf Guenther:
…The first large-scale mass shooting must have taken place in September 1941. On that occasion, some 500 Jewish teenagers and adult men must have been arrested, herded to a sports ground, and shot there. The Germans who carried out this murder operation, with the support of Ukrainian policemen, wore green uniforms. They had come from Równe….
Two months later, in November 1941, a second large-scale mass shooting must have taken place. To this end, a German unit must once again have come to Kostopol from Równe. Some 1,400 women and children must have been arrested on the pretext of being sent to a labor camp, and were shot at the sports ground….
ZENTRALE STELLE, LUDWIGSBURG B 162/7284 copy YVA TR.10 / 1625
From the judicial proceedings against Heinz Löhnert and Rudolf Guenther; Ludwigsburg, 1967
May 6, 1968
From the testimony of Anna P. (born 1902):
…The Germans occupied Kostopol on July 5, 1941. The first mass shooting of civilians took place on August 15, 1941. On that occasion, it was mostly men (about 500 persons in total) who were shot. The men were rounded up on the pretext of being sent to work. They were assembled in the town and taken behind the stadium, where they were shot and buried.
On September 27, 1941, the occupiers rounded up the women and children in the same manner. When they were gathered, they were informed that they would be evacuated to their husbands, who were allegedly at a workplace. A total of about 1,500 women and children, mostly Jewish, were assembled. They were taken behind the stadium and shot there.
ZENTRALE STELLE, LUDWIGSBURG B 162/7284 copy YVA TR.10 / 1625
From the judicial proceedings against Heinz Löhnert and Rudolf Guenther; Ludwigsburg, 1967
1967
Ludwigsburg,
From the indictment of Heinz Löhnert, the former District Commissar of Kostopol, and his deputy Rudolf Guenther (in absentia):
…In early July 1941, the Wehrmacht occupied the town of Kostopol. Immediately after the occupation, Jews were required to perform forced labor….
During this time period, individual Jewish persons were shot at the sports ground in Kostopol….
The testimony of Tsipora Ben-Ishai:
In September 1941, a unit of the [German] urban police came to Kostopol. In cooperation with the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, they arrested some 500 Jewish men, whom they either dragged out of their apartments or seized in the streets. The arrestees were taken to a sports ground and shot there….
The testimonies of Tsipora Ben-Ishai and Khana Marfeld:
In October or November 1941, a second murder operation was carried out in Kostopol. Once again, an urban police unit came over from Równe and arrested 1,400 women and children, who were likewise shot at the sports ground in Kostopol. Before the shooting, they were told that they would be sent to a labor camp, where they would be reunited with their husbands, who had been arrested in the first murder operation….
ZENTRALE STELLE, LUDWIGSBURG B 162/7284 copy YVA TR.10 / 1625
From the judicial proceedings against Wilhelm Guenther, former SS and Police Commander in Volhynia; Ludwigsburg, 1961-1967
May 22, 1967
Ludwigsburg
From the interim report of the investigation of the mass murders in Kostopol and Ludwipol:
…Kostopol
…In September/October 1941, Germans from Równe shot 470-500 Jewish men at the sports ground.
…In October/November 1941, 1,400-1,500 women and children were presumably shot at the sports ground – this time, too, by the troops from Równe….
ZENTRALE STELLE, LUDWIGSBURG B 162/11830 copy YVA TR.10 / 1624
Dinamo Stadium in Kostopol
Stadium
Murder Site
Poland
50.873;26.459