Img. ID: 324049

Memorial name:

No official name.

Who is Commemorated?

447 victims of the Nazis, 433 of whom are Jews of Grozovo.

Description:

The monument at the killing site and the mass grave of the Jews of Grozovo stands near the old monument erected in 1966 (see here).

In the center of the paved and fenced area of the new monument, there is a stylized traditional European Jewish tombstone with a broken upper left corner and rough-hewn sides. Its black granite surface is riddled with six bullets (perhaps symbolizing the 6 million victims of the Holocaust). In the upper right corner, the Magen David is seen, while the rest part of the monument bears not identical epitaphs in Hebrew and Belarusian languages.

Behind the stylized Jewish tombstone - both to the right and left- are two small, rough-hewn objects resembling Jewish tombstones as well.

In the background, there are two (according to the number of firing pits) upright steles that bear the names of the innocent victims killed in the place of the monument. The list is incomplete.

From the right and left sides of the monument's area, there are two octagonal, coffin-like constructions symbolizing the two firing pits.

A metal fence surrounds the monument.

Inscriptions:

On the tombstone:

In Hebrew:

במקום של ההוצאה להורג היו מונחים
  ארבע מאות ושבעה [ארבע מאות ארבעים ושבע] אזרחים חפים מפשע
של גרוסוב.
מהם ארבע מאות שלושים ושלושה יהודים
בעיקר ילדים שנרצחו על ידי הנאצים עם הפלישה
לבלרוס באלף תשע מאות ארבעים ואחת על ידי הגרמנים.
למה?

Translation: At the site of execution rest / four hundred forty-seven / innocent citizens / of Grozovo. / Four hundred and thirty-three of them are Jews. / Mostly children who were killed by the Nazis with the invasion / of Belarus by the Germans in one thousand nine hundred forty-one. / Why?

In Belarusian:

На гэтым месцы
пахавана 447  бязвiнных
жыхароў мястэчка Грозава, з iх
433 яўрэi, большасць з якiх дзецi
i старыя, якiя былi закатаваны ў
снежнi 1941 года ў час
фашысцкай акупацыi
Беларусi.
Чаму?

Translation: At this site, 447 innocent residents of the shtetl of Grozovo are buried. 443 of them are Jews, most of whom are children and elderly, who were brutally torched to death in December 1941 during the fascist occupation of Belarus. Why?

On the steles: 

In Belarussian: List of victims. 

Commissioned by

American Jews [see here].