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Obj. ID: 56434
  Memorials
  Holocaust Monument in the Jewish Cemetery in Valozhyn (Volozhin), Belarus, 2000

© Vladimir Levin, Photographer: Levin, Vladimir, 2007

Memorial Name

Kehila Memorial

Who is Commemorated?

 Jews of Valozhyn (Volozhin) and of the surroundings, killed by the fascists in 1941-1943.

Description

The monument is situated in the Jewish cemetery of Valozhyn (Volozhin). It consists of two steles. The first, higher stele bears two non-identical inscriptions in Hebrew and Russian. The second, lower stele bears an English inscription.

Inscription

On the higher stele:

In Hebrew

זיכרון
לקדושי וולוזין והסביבה
לאלפי יקרינו הי"ד
שנרצחו ע'" הפשיסטים
בתחומי העיר
בשנים תש"א – תש"ג
שרידיהם טמונים כאן
בשישה קברי אחים
ת' נ' צ' ב' ה'   

Translation: In memory / of the martyrs of Volozhin and the surroundings / to thousands of our dear ones may God avenge their blood / that were killed by the fascists / during the years of 5701-5703 / Their remains are buried here / in six mass graves / May their souls be bound in the bundle of life.

In Russian

Память
тысячам евреям
Воложина
и окрестностей убитым
фашистами в пределах
города в 1941-3 г
Их останки погребены здесь,
в шести братских могилах
Вечный им покой

Translation: In memory / of thousands of Jews / of Volozhin / and the surroundings that were killed / by the fascists within the limits / of the town in 1941-3 / Their remains are buried there / in six mass graves / Eternal rest to them.

On the lower stele:

In English

Memory
to thousands of
Volozhin Jews
murdered by the fascists
inside town at 1941-3 years
The remnants are
buried here in six
brother graves
Peace to their souls

Commissioned by

The victims' relatives.

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

sub-set tree:  

Name/Title
Holocaust Monument in the Jewish Cemetery in Valozhyn (Volozhin) | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Date
2000
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
2004
Artist/ Maker
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Period Detail
Collection
Unknown |
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
1 image(s)    items per page

1 image(s)    items per page
Iconographical Subject
Unknown |
Material / Technique
Granite
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
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Material Cloth
Material Lining
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Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
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Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
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0
Ornamentation
Custom
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History/Provenance

Valozhyn (Volozhin) was occupied on June 25, 1941 [Al'tman p.179]. The three murder "Aktions" were carried out in Valozhyn (Volozhin): in August 1941, on November 4, 1941, and on May 10, 1942. The ghetto was liquidated on August 29, 1942 [Yad Vashem: The Untold Stories].

The present memorial overlooks the six mass graves where the murdered Jews were buried in 1941-1942, as well as the site of the third massacre, that of May 10, 1942. On that day a German Security Police company from Vileika, accompanied by a Latvian collaborationist squad and assisted by members of the German gendarmerie and of the local police, assembled about 1,000 Jews at a local smithy and demanded that they hand over all their money and other valuables. Then the perpetrators shot them. According to one version of the events, all the Jews were killed at the smithy; according to another version, the Nazis took some of them, in groups, to the cemetery and shot them there, while the rest were killed in a building. After the shooting, the perpetrators doused the bodies with gasoline and burned them, along with the building [Yad Vashem: The Untold Stories].

Originally, the iron plaques with inscriptions in three languages were affixed to the steles. In 2003 the monument was vandalized: the plaques were stolen. The monument was restored in 2004. The texts that had been on the stolen plaques were engraved on the steles [Yad Vashem: The Untold Stories].

Today the monument is a place of commemorative ceremonies.

There are other monuments in the city related to the Holocaust events:

In 1945, a monument was erected on present-day Gorkii Street, near the local hospital. It commemorates all the Jewish victims of Valozhyn (Volozhin) [Yad Vashem: The Untold Stories].  

In 1958 the monument called "Grieving Mother" was erected by the Soviet authorities at the site of the sports ground, the site of the second mass murder of Valozhyn (Volozhin) Jews, that of November 4, 1941.

In 1961 the monument was erected at the site of the German executions of prisoners, close to the former prison, on the hill at the left bank of the Volozhinka River, between Pushkina Street and Kastrychnitskaia (formerly Dubinskaia) Street [Yad Vashem: The Untold Stories]. 

In 1987 the monument was erected at 53 Pushkin Street, at the initiative of a family of survivors, to commemorate the local Jews, who were killed by the Germans and their accomplices in three mass murders [Yad Vashem: The Untold Stories]. 

Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources
Type
Documenter
Vladimir Levin | 2007
Author of description
Liza Schwartz | 2024
Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
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Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed: