Obj. ID: 32684
Memorials Holocaust Memorial at the Killing Site in Garadok (Gorodok) near Maladzechna (Molodechno), Belarus, 1998
Memorial name:
No official name.
Who is Commemorated?
900 Jews of Garadok (Gorodok) and the surroundings, killed on July 11, 1942.
Description
The monument, established at the killing site and mass grave of the Garadok (Gorodok) Jews, consists of two steles erected in different years. The first, lower stele dates back to 1998. It stands on a two-stepped base and bears a Hebrew inscription. The second, higher stele was erected in 2001. It stands on the two-stepped base and bears two non-identical inscriptions: in Hebrew and Russian. A menorah is depicted in its upper part.
The two steles are enclosed in a rectangle filled with large stones. The territory of the monument is paved and is surrounded by a fence. On the fence, there is a plaque added in the 2000s: its Belarusian inscription indicates that the present monument stands at the military burial site protected by law.
Inscription
On the lower stele (1998), in Hebrew:
הקמת המצבה אורגנה ע"'
פרומה שולמן ליפשיץ, גפנוביץ
לזכר הורי אלתר ופיגה הינדה,
אחי הענעך, ישראל וברכה,
בעלי יעקוב ליפשיץ ובנותיי שושנה'לה וחיה'לה,
אחותי חינה ברמן, ובניה שלום, שעיח וחיים
יהא זכרם ברוך!
כו' תמוז תשנ"ח
20.07.1998
Translation: This monument is organized by / Fruma Shulman Lifshitz, Hapanovich / in memory of the family members [names]/ May their memory be blessed! /Tamuz 26, 5758 / 20.07.1998.
On the higher stele (2001), in Hebrew:
מצבת זכרון
ל 900 קדושי עירתנו
גורודוק והסביבה ה'"ד
שנרצחו ונשרפו על ידי
הצוררים הנאצים
בכיו תמוז שנת התש"ב
11 ביולי 1942
תנצב"ה
Translation: The monument / to the 900 martyrs of our city / of Gorodok and the surroundings, may God avenge their blood / that were killed and burnt by / the Nazi enemy / on Tamuz 26, 5702 / July 11, 1942 / May their souls be bound in the bundle of life.
In Russian
Вечная память
900 евреям, зверски
убитым немецкими
палачами 11 июля 1942г.
в Городке
Translation: Eternal memory / to the 900 Jews, brutally / killed by the German / hangmen on July 11, 1942 / in Gorodok.
On the plaque added in the 2000s, in Belarusian:
Рзспублiка Беларусь
Воiнскае пахаванне
Прычыненне шкоды
караецца па
закону
6599
Translation: The Republic of Belarus / The military burial site / Infliction of harm / is punishable by law / 6599.
Commissioned by
The victims' relatives.
We are grateful to Natalia Koteleva for her help in locating this memorial.
sub-set tree: 
The German troops entered Garadok (Gorodok) in early July 1941 [Yad Vashem: Untold Stories].
The Garadok (Gorodok) Ghetto was established in March 1942, and it housed both the local Jews and the Jews from the surrounding small villages. On July 11 (or June 3, according to other accounts), 1942, the Nazis came to Garadok (Gorodok) to liquidate the ghetto. A German murder squad, reinforced by German and auxiliary policemen, surrounded the ghetto and assembled all the inmates, 1,100 people in total, in the town park. Here, the SD men carried out a selection. They separated 400 able-bodied Jews, loaded them onto trucks, and took them to the Krasne Ghetto as forced laborers. On the way there, some forty Jews jumped out of the trucks, and thirty-six of them managed to vanish into the forest. The rest of the Jews of Garadok (Gorodok) (about 700) were transported in trucks to the village of Semerniki, where they were burned alive in a barn [Yad Vashem: Untold Stories].
The monument was erected in 1998, 200-300 meters from the actual murder site of the Jews of Garadok (Gorodok) killed on July 11, 1942, near the Semerniki-Vydrychi road - on that day the town's ghetto was liquidated. In 2001, an additional monument was erected at the site [Yad Vashem: Untold Stories].
Today the present monument is a place of commemorative ceremonies.
There are other monuments in the town and its vicinity related to the Holocaust events.
In the 1960s a monument was probably erected at the site of the Garadok (Gorodok) Ghetto. In 2017, the "Alley of Memory" near the monument was laid, and a memorial plaque was affixed to the stele.
On June 22, 2015, a monument was erected at another site of the Garadok (Gorodok) Ghetto.