Obj. ID: 9392
Memorials Holocaust Memorial II at the Killing Site in Orsha, Belarus, 1968
Memorial name:
No official name.
Who/What is Commemorated?
Jewish adults of Orsha, killed on November 26-27, 1941.
Description
The monument is erected at the killing site and mass grave, near the old Jewish cemetery. It is shaped like a stele with additional lower protruding parts from each side of the slab. The monument stands on a three-stepped base which, as well as the stele, bears a Russian ethnically neutral inscription. The stele's territory also includes another memorial in the form of a massive boulder bearing a plaque with a Belarusian ethnically neutral inscription. The year of its erection is unknown.
Inscription
On the stele, in Russian
Здесь
похоронены
советские
граждане
погибшие
от рук
немецко-
фашистских
захватчиков
26-27.IX-1941 г.
Translation: Here / are buried / Soviet / citizens / who died / at the hands / of the German- / fascist / invaders / on November 26-27, 1941.
On the stele's base, in Russian
Вечная светлая память
безвинно погибшим
от рук наших врагов
Никогда о вас не забуду
мои родные
От сына дорогой матери
дорогому брату
дорогим сестрам
и племянникам
Translation: Eternal bright memory / to the innocently murdered / at the hands of our victims / I will never forget you / my beloved / From son to dear mother / dear brother / dear sisters / and nephews.
On the boulder's plaque, in Belarusian
На гэтым
месцы
пахаваны
ахвяры ВОВ
1941-1944
Translation: In this / place / the victims of GPW [Great Patriotic War] / 1941-1944.
Commissioned by
Victims' relatives.
sub-set tree: 
The fascists entered Orsha on July 16, 1941 [Al'tman, 698]. When the occupation regime in the town had been firmly established, there was a flurry of anti-Jewish decrees. In September 1941, the Germans created a ghetto [jewishgen.org]. The Jews of Orsha were killed in several Aktions [Al'tman, 698-700].
The first monument to the Jewish victims from Orsha was erected presumably in the 1950s near the Jewish cemetery, at the killing site and mass grave of 2,900 Jewish children. In 2014, it was replaced by a new one. These children were killed on November 26-27, 1941, during the liquidation of the ghetto. Their parents were killed 150 meters from that place [izvezda.by]. On their mass grave, the two monuments under discussion were set. Today they are the place of commemorative ceremonies.
"Holocaust in Belorussia," jewishgen.org, https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/belarus/bel178.html (accessed March 24, 2025)
Il'ya, Al'tman (ed.), Kholokost na territorii SSSR (Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2011), pp.698-700.
Marat, Botvinnik, Pam'atniki Genotsida Evreev Belarusi (Minsk: Belaruskaia navuka, 2000), pp.176-177.
"Pam'atnyi znak evreiskim d'et'am iz Orshanskogo getto," izvezda.by, https://izvezda.by/ru/monuments-ru/getElement/6077/ (accessed March 20, 2025)