Davyd-Haradok Ghetto (early 1942 - September 10, 1942) was a Jewish ghetto established during World War II in the town of Davyd-Haradok, located in the Stolin district of the Brest region. This ghetto served as a place of forced resettlement for Jews from Davyd-Haradok and nearby settlements during the Nazi occupation of Belarus.
Occupation of Davyd-Haradok and the creation of the ghetto.
In 1931, approximately 3,500 Jews lived in Davyd-Haradok, constituting about 30% of the total population. German troops captured Davyd-Haradok on July 7, 1941, and the occupation lasted until July 9, 1944.
The killings of Jews in Davyd-Haradok began even before the arrival of the Germans. The German occupiers were highly concerned about potential Jewish resistance and therefore targeted Jewish men aged 15 to 50, killing them either within the ghetto or before its establishment. On August 10, 1941, approximately 3,000 Jewish men from Davyd-Haradok were taken to the Khinnovsk farm and the village of Olshany and executed based on a false report that they were preparing an armed uprising. The SS Sonderkommando and local police carried out these executions. Family members of the victims, including women, children, and the elderly, were expelled from the town and their property looted. Many of these expelled Jews went to Stolin, where they were later killed.
In early 1942, the remaining Jews of Davyd-Haradok, including those who survived the earlier massacres and Jews from nearby villages, were forced into a ghetto on the right bank of the Senezhka (Sezhka) River. The ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire and strictly guarded by soldiers and local police. As of September 9, 1942, the ghetto held 1,263 people, with only 30 men among them.
Destruction of the ghetto.
On September 10, 1942, the ghetto was liquidated. The prisoners were led to the Khabishcha farm and then to the Khinnovsk farm, where they were executed at pre-dug pits. The victims were forced to undress, hand over their valuables, and were then shot. Approximately 1,100 Jews were killed on this day, though some sources cite 685 victims, including 205 women and 109 children. About 100 Jews managed to escape from the ghetto and the execution site, but many were later caught and killed. Some of the survivors later joined partisan units.
Memory.
In 1945, a commission discovered mass graves at the cemetery near the Khinnovsk farm, with pits measuring various dimensions. Incomplete lists of the victims have been published. In 1986, a standard obelisk was erected at the Khinnovsk tract, which was renovated and plastered in 1996. In 2005, a memorial plaque was installed on the library building in Davyd-Haradok, with inscriptions in Russian, English, and Hebrew, commemorating the Jewish community members who were exterminated during the Holocaust.
In 2010, a memorial designed by architect L. Levin was opened in the Khinnovsk tract. The complex consists of six hexagonal architectural elements with memorial plaques, a green lawn at the site of the mass graves, and a decorative fence with a menorah image. Seven white concrete candles bear inscriptions in Russian and Hebrew, honoring the memory of the 7,000 Jews from Davyd-Haradok and its surroundings who were killed during the Nazi occupation.