Obj. ID: 48045
Memorials Second Holocaust memorial at the kiling site in Horovakha (Gorovakha), Selishche village near Slutsk, Belarus, 1998
Who is Commemorated?
Jews of Slutsk who were killed at this place on October 27-28, 1941
Description
The memorial consists of a base of black granite panels, which support a rectangular block, which in turn holds up a rectangular stele of the same stone.
The stele bears an inscription, as well as the image of two branches.
Inscriptions
In Russian:
Здесь в 1941-1942 годах
были расстреляны
свыше 8000 евреев
жертв фашистского
геноцида
Память потомков
Translation: Here in 1941-1942 about 8,000 Jews – victims of the Fascist genocide were shot to death. Memory of descendants
Commissioned by
Jewish community of Slutsk
This photograph was copied by Leonid Smilovistsky during his visit to Slutsk. The photograph was made by Raisa Tychina in 1998.
The backside of the photograph has an inscription in Russian: "This is a new memorial that we erected at the site, where Jews, the first victims of genocide, were murdered. Inscription: "Here shot and buried alive more than 8 thousand Jews, victims of genocide." The memorial was erected in 1998 and funded by Jewish community members and the Association of Jewish Organisations and Communities."
sub-set tree: 
Building/site does not exist
| Horovakha (Gorovakha) natural reserve
In 1939 7,392 Jews resided in the town, comprising 33.7 percent of the total population.
The Germans occupied Slutsk on June 27, 1941. On October 27-28, 1941 the first major mass murder of Slutsk Jews took place. At the end of 1941-beginning of 1942 two ghettos were established: the "field ghetto" (on the northern outskirts of Slutsk) where Jews unable to work were imprisoned, and the "town ghetto" for working Jews (situated in the old Jewish quarter of the town, Shkolishche), closer to the town center. The "field ghetto" was gradually liquidated in the spring of 1942. On February 8, 1943, the Germans liquidated the "town ghetto."
The mass murder in the Horovakha (Gorovakha) ravine near the village of Selishche (approximately 10 kilometers west of Slutsk) took place on October 27-28, 1941. On October 27, 1941, units of the 11th Reserve Police Battalion surrounded the Slutsk ghetto. German and Lithuanian Battalion members drove the Jews to the market square. At the market square, the Jews underwent a selection, during which several specialists were set apart. The rest of the Jews were ordered to hand over all the valuables in their possession and were then taken to pits in the Horovakha (Gorovakha) ravine and shot there. Some of the Jews were locked overnight into barracks and shot the next day. Figures for the total number of victims of this massacre vary from 3,400 (according to German sources) to 8,000 (according to Soviet sources). [Untold Stories]
The first memorial in Horovakha (Gorovakha), where the mass murder took place on October 27-28, 1941, was erected in 1951 [Smilovitsky] or 1956 [Untold Stories]. Gradually the memorial was dilapidating; in 1998 the second memorial was rebuilt in its place. The second memorial was destroyed in 2006; a third memorial was erected on its base.
Next to the memorial to the Jewish victims, there is a memorial to two non-Jewish local residents who were shot in 1942.
"Slutsk,"
Untold Stories - Murder Sites of Jews in Occupied Territories of the USSR (Yad Vashem project), https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/untold-stories/community/14621542-Slutsk.
Smilovitsky, Leonid. "Po sledam evreiskikh kladbishch Belarusi. Slutsk," Masterskaia, April 25, 2019 [In Russian]., https://club.berkovich-zametki.com/?p=46806 (accessed February 28, 2023)