Memorial Name
Могила братська жертв фашизму
Translation: Mass grave of the Victims of fascism
Who is Commemorated?
Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Volodymyr Volynskyi and the district
Description
This monument is located on a hill, about 300 meters north of the road between Ustyluh and Volodymyr. The mass graves are located another 300 meters north of the monument. The area around the Monument is covered with red bricks. According to Volodymyr Muzychenko, these bricks symbolize the earth covered with blood [Muzychenko, p. 210]. The monument itself is an ashy-colored polymer-based concrete obelisk 12 meters high. Stylized relief images of perished young people, old people, and children are carved on the monument. The image of a mother and child completes the composition. The monument bears inscriptions in Ukrainian and Yiddish. One part of the Ukrainian text very briefly speaks about the mass murders on the site without indicating the ethnicity of the Victims. A poetry in Ukrainian and Yiddish, carved on the monument, is written by Yiddish poet and writer Oleksandr Lizen. The names of the authors of the monument are carved at the bottom of the monument. In 2010, an information board was unveiled near the monument. In 2014, the board was replaced with a new one; memorial plaques featuring Hebrew and Ukrainian inscriptions, a Magen David and a candle surrounded by barbed wire were erected on the graves.
Inscriptions
On the monument
Ukrainian:
25 тисяч мирних радянських громадян
??? знищено тут у 1942—1943 р-х
фашистськими окупантами
Зупинимось, помовчимо хвилину.
Свято заприсягаємо, жагуче,
Що муки ваші не забудемо довіку,
Всім катам покара неминуча
Скульптор
Фліт П.
Архітектор
Рудницький А.
Текст Лізон А.
Translation: [We] will stop, [we] will be silent for a minute, [we] piously, passionately swear, that [we] will never forget your torments, inevitable punishment [must come] to all executioners. 25 thousand Soviet citizens were killed here in the years 1942—1943 / by the fascist occupiers. Sculptor Flit P., architect Rudnytskyi A., text Lizon A.
In Yiddish:
שטעלט זיך, מענטשן, אָפּ אף א מינוט און שווײַגט
און גיט א שוווּע, הייליקע, געטרײַ, און אײַזן-פעסט
אז קיינמאָל, קיינמאָל ניט פארגעסן וועט איר אונדזער פּײַן
און ניט דערלאזן וועט איר קיינמאָל ווידער
Translation: People, stop for a minute and be silent / and give an oath - holy, trustworthy, ironclad / [that you will] never, never forget our pain / and will never let it happen one more time
On the information board
Ukrainian
Меморіал жертвам Холокосту
Тут на відстані 200 м [=метрів] від монументу
знаходяться три братські могили, де поховано
25 000 євреїв м. Володимир-Волинського і
району, що були закатовані нацистськими
загарбниками та їхніми прислужниками в
1942-1943 роках.
Встановлено за сприяння Євроазіатського єврейського конгресу
Translation: Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust // Here, at a distance of 200 meters from the monument, there are three mass graves, where 25,000 Jews of the Volodymyr-Volynskyi city and the district, that were tortured by the nazi invaders and their servants in the years 1942-43. // Erected with the assistance of The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.
Hebrew:
במרחק 200 מטר מהאנדרטה נמצאים שלושה קברי אחים אשר בהם
נקברו 000 25 יהודים מלודמיר וסביבותיה אשר ע נו על ידי הנאצים
ומשרתיהם בשנים 1943 - 1942
Translation: Here, at a distance of 200 meters from the monument, there are three mass graves; 25,000 Jews from the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi and the vicinities, tortured by the Nazis and their servants in the years 1942-43, were buried in there.
The pictures on the information board are captioned in Ukrainian:
200 м [=метрів]
Охороняється державою
(Свідоцтво ? № 640)
Translation: 200 meters / Protected by the government / (Certificate ? no. 640)
The information board in its original version of 2010 had slightly different inscriptions:
Ukrainian:
Меморіал жертвам Холокосту
Тут на відстані 200 м [=метрів] від монументу
знаходяться три братські могили
де поховано 25 000 євреїв - мешканців
м. [=міста] Володимир-Волинський та району,
що були закатовані німецько-фашистськими
загарбниками і їх прислужниками у 1942-43 рр.
Встановлено за сприяння
Євроазіатського єврейського конгресу
Translation: Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust // Here, at a distance of 200 meters from the monument, there are three mass graves, where 25,000 Jews, residents of the Volodymyr-Volynskyi city and the district, that were tortured by the German nazi invaders and their servants in the years 1942-43. // Erected with the assistance of The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.
Hebrew:
הנה, במרחק של 200 מטרים הם האנדרטה
שלושה קברים, שבו קבורים 25,000 אנשים
העיר, המחוז, שהיו עינו בלוךמ'ר
הנאצים ובני משרצים בשנת 1942-43...
[The inscription is written with numerous mistakes and looks like a word-for-word translation from Ukrainian]
Translation: Here, at a distance of 200 meters from the monument, there are three mass graves; 25,000 Jews from the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi and the vicinities, tortured by the Nazis and their servants in the years 1942-43, were buried in there.
The pictures on the information board were captioned in Ukrainian:
200 м [=метрів]
Охороняється державою
Translation: 200 meters / Protected by the government
Most probably, the original board was replaced due to numerous mistakes in the Hebrew inscription.
Plaques on the graves (2014)
Ukrainian:
Братська могила жертв нацизму – євреїв
м. Володимира-Волинського і району,
закатованих нацистами та їх поплічниками
в 1942-1943 роках.
Охороняється державою.
Охоронний № ОН 640.
Translation: Mass grave of the Victims of Nazism – Jews of the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi and the district, tortured by the Nazis and their accomplices in 1942 – 1943. Protected by the state. Protected number OH 640.
Hebrew:
קבר אחים של קורבנות נאצים — יהודים
ממחוז ולדימיר-וולינסק (לודמר),
שעונו ונרצחו ע”י הנצים ותומכיהם
בשנות 1942-1943
ה’תש”ב — ה’תש”ג זכרם
הונצח ע”י מדינת אוקראינה
ז”ל
Translation: Mass grave of the Victims of the Nazis – Jews from the district of Volodymyr-Volynskyi (Liudmir), who were tortured and killed by the Nazis and their supporters in 1942 – 1943, 5702 – 5703. Their memory was commemorated by the state of Ukraine. Blessed memory.
Commissioned by
Unknown
Ludmirer, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons