Obj. ID: 53463
Memorials Holocaust memorial in Kozak near Korets, Ukraine, 1994
Memorial Name
No official name
Who is Commemorated?
Jewish Holocaust Victims from Korets, who were murdered and buried here
Description
The monument is located on the mass graves in the forest near Kozak village. There are three mass graves and three steles on each of them. The first and second stele are identical – black headstones with Hebrew and Ukrainian inscriptions and stars of David at their round tops. The third stele is an irregular parallelepiped with a Magen David and a Hebrew inscription on its right side and a Menorah and a Ukrainian inscription on its left side. Lying granite slabs are located near the every headstone. The territory of the three mass graves is surrounded by a metal fence with an arched gate decorated by stars of David.
Inscriptions
Hebrew:
לזכר
יהודי העיירה קוריץ
שעונו ונרצחו ע”י
הגרמנים הנאצים
ועוזריהם ימ”ש
בשנים 1941-2
תש”ב תש”ג
זכרם לא ימוש
מקרבנו לנצח
ועד הקהילה
בישראל, ארה”ב וקנדה
Translation: To the memory of the Jews of Korets city who were tortured and killed by the German Nazis and their assistants, may their names be obliterated, in 1941–1942, 5702–5703. Their memory will never be lost from us forever. Committee (Vaad) of the community in Israel, USA and Canada
Ukrainian:
Вічна і світла памʼять понад чотирьом тисячам євреям
жителям м. Корець дітям, жінкам, старикам та
чоловікам по звірячому розстріляним, закопаним
живцем фашистами у 1942 році
Протягом понад 50 років не стихає біль і скорбота в
серцях членів обʼєднання вихідців з м. Корець в Канаді,
Ізраїлі, США, що прибули на братську могилу в с. Козак
для вшанування світлої памʼяті батьків, сестер та братів
9 серпня 1994 року.
Translation: Eternal and blessed memory to more than four thousand Jews, residents of the city of Korets. children, women, elderly, and men, savagely shot, buried alive by the fascists in 1942. For more than 50 years, the pain and grief have not subsided in the hearts of the members of the association of natives from Korets city in Canada, Israel, USA, who arrived to the mass grave in Kozak village to commemorate the blessed memory of the parents, sisters, and brothers on 9 August 1941.
Commissioned by
Natives of the city of Korets from Israel, Canada and USA
Oks.rv, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
2 image(s)
sub-set tree:
Mass grave 2: stele — 1.55×0.8 m, grave — 20.7×20.7 m;
Mass grave 3: stele 1.96×1.0 m, grave 20.65×20.45 m
On May 21, 1942, the Nazis killed approximately 2,500 Korets Jews in the forest near the Kozak village. During the liquidation of the Korets ghetto, the Nazis murdered about 1,500 more Jews there [Yad Vashem].
Shortly after the war, mass graves were devastated. During the next years, Survivors recited prayers on the site twice a year.
The natives of Korets from the USA, Canada, and Israel initiated the memorialization process on the mass graves and raised the funds. An interpreneur from Rivne, Illia Kupershmid, a local authority representative, Mariia Voiat, a local enterpreneur, Vasyl Humeniuk, the district executive committee supported the initiative [Rusyn].
A forest road from the village to the mass graves was made, Killing sites and mass graves were marked with three artificial hills, and the granite steles were erected. Menorot were installed near the steles. The hills were decorated by flowers and tiles and surrounded by a metal fence. The hills were connected by sand paths [Rusyn].
The unveiling ceremony took place in August 1994. About 40 people from abroad, local and regional authority representatives, local Jewish community members and Orthodox priest, the residents of surrounding villages took part in the event. Local schoolchildren read poems. At the end of the ceremony, memorial prayers were recited [Rusyn].
According to Yad Vashem, three identical monuments were erected on the mass graves in Kozak village in 1994. The second one commemorates mass killing in September 1942, and the third monument is dedicated to women and children, killed there.
"Execution of the Korets Jews in Kozak,"
The Map of Holocaust by Bullets, Yahad-In Unum, http://www.yahadinunum.orgwww.yahadmap.org/#village/kozak-kazak-rivne-ukraine.768.
"Korzec,"
Untold Stories - Murder Sites of Jews in Occupied Territories of the USSR (Yad Vashem project), https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/untold-stories/community/14622533.
"Mistse rozstrilu hromadian yevreiskoi natsionalnosti (Kozak),"
Wikipedia, https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Місце_розстрілу_громадян_єврейської_національності_(Козак).
Rusyn, Petro, "Tse sviate mistse, bo tut ostanky sviatych liudei...," Dialoh, 33, 1994, p. 2.