Home
Object Alone

Obj. ID: 48046
Memorials
  Third Holocaust memorial at the kiling site in Horovakha (Gorovakha), Selishche village near Slutsk, Belarus, 2006

© Dr. Leonid Smilovitsky, Photographer: Smilovitsky, Leonid, 2018

Who is Commemorated?

Jews of Slutsk who were killed in this place

Description

This memorial is located within a square enclosure marked by a black metal fence.

The main body of the memorial is a cube covered in black stone panels that sits on a base made of brick and concrete. the top panel of the cube has a smaller rectangular stone sitting atop it that holds up a stone plaque with an inscription.

Inscriptions

In Russian:

Здесь с 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

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

3 image(s)

sub-set tree:  

Name/Title
Third Memorial at the murder place in Horovakha, Selishche village near Slutsk | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Date
2006
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Belarus | Minskaia vobl. | Slutsk (Слуцк) | Selisсhe
| Horovakha (Gorovakha) natural reserve
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Iconographical Subject
Unknown |
Textual Content
Languages of inscription
Shape / Form
Material / Technique
Granite.
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition
Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
Present Usage
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
Codicology
Scribes
Script
Number of Lines
Ruling
Pricking
Quires
Catchwords
Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
Temp: Architecture Axis
Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
Coin Series
Coin Ruler
Coin Year
Denomination
Signature
Colophon
Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance

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.

Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources

"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)
Type
Documenter
Leonid Smilovitsky | 2018
Author of description
Anna Berezin | 2023
Architectural Drawings
|
Computer Reconstruction
|
Section Head
|
Language Editor
|
Donor
|
Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed: