Obj. ID: 53315 Holocaust Monument at the Dzerzhinsk-Stankovo (Dzyarzhynsk-Stańkava) Railway Killing Site, 1975
Memorial name:
No official name.
Who is Commemorated?
About 13,000 Jewish Holocaust victims from Dzerzhinsk (Dzyarzhynsk) and surroundings.
Description:
The monument, commemorating about 13,000 Jewish Holocaust victims from Dzerzhinsk (Dzyarzhynsk) and surroundings, is erected at their killing site/mass grave near the Dzerzhinsk-Stankovo (Dzyarzhynsk-Stańkava) railway.
The monument is shaped like a tombstone of irregular shape with a Russian inscription. Its territory is surrounded by a fence.
Inscription
In Russian:
Могила жертв
фашизма
Здесь а 1941 г.
немецкими карателями
расстреляно
и захоронено
до 13 тысяч человек
Translation: The grave of the victims / of fascism. / Here in 1941, / about 13,000 people were shot and buried by the German executioners.
Commissioned by
Probably, the victims' relatives.
Numerous murders took place at the Dzerzhinsk-Stankovo (Dzyarzhynsk-Stańkava) railway from the fall of 1941 until the spring of 1942. It is impossible to determine the exact number of Jews killed since, after the first group was shot, acid was poured over the bodies - both to destroy them and to create more room for the next group of victims. According to reports of the Extraordinary State Commission, the pits had enough room for [only] 10,541 bodies. However, local testimonies state that between 13,000 and 15,000 people from the area were murdered there [Yad Vashem: The Untold Stories].
The commemoration took place in 1975 when the present monument was erected at the Dzerzhinsk-Stankovo (Dzyarzhynsk-Stańkava) railway murder site [Yad Vashem: The Untold Stories]. Today it is the place of commemorative ceremonies.
"Murder Story of Dzerzhinsk Jews on the Dzerzhinsk-Stankovo Railway Line,"
Untold Stories - Murder Sites of Jews in Occupied Territories of the USSR (Yad Vashem project), https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/untold-stories/killing-site/14626365.