Obj. ID: 58627  Old Holocaust Memorial in Ashmiany (Oshmiany, Oszmiana), Belarus, 1967

"On June 25, 1941, Oszmiana was occupied by the Wehrmacht.

In early July 1941, probably on July 3-4, the SS rounded up and shot about 40 people, both Jews and non-Jews, who were accused of having collaborated with the Soviet authorities.

On July 26, 1941, a Teilkommando of Einsatzkommando 9 rounded up almost all male Jews aged between 17 and 65, and shot them in the Lugovshchina forest (near the hamlet of Barteli). According to the Einsatzgruppen report, 527 people were killed.

In early October 1941, a ghetto was established in Oszmiana. Paradoxically, the population of the Oszmiana Ghetto actually increased during its initial period – e.g., about 200 Jews from Lithuania, who regarded Oszmiana as a calmer place, settled here, and the Jewish council managed to "legalize" them. Jews from nearby towns – such as Żuprany, Baruny, Holszany, Michaliszki, Soly, and Świr – were resettled to Oszmiana by the Nazis in late 1941-early 1942. They were followed by 800 Jews from Wołożyn in May 1942, and by the Jews of Smorgonie, Krewo, and Holszany in the fall of 1942. The population of the Oszmiana Ghetto rose to about 4,000 people. At the same time, some of its inmates were sent to various labor camps in Lithuania.

On October 23, 1942, on the orders of the SiPo (the German Security Police), and with the participation of the Jewish police from Vilna, 406 elderly people were rounded up and shot near the village of Tolminovo, at the former Ogleiba estate, west of Oszmiana.

In late March-early April 1943, the Oszmiana Ghetto was liquidated. Its able-bodied inmates were moved to the Vilna Ghetto. The remainder, 713 people, were killed in Ponary, near Vilna" [Yad Vashem: Untold Stories].

The monument under discussion was erected in 1967, "in the Roista Forest, the site of the first murder action in the area of Oszmiana, which had been perpetrated in early or mid-July 1941" [Yad Vashem: Untold Stories]. In 2022, it was replaced by a new one.

There are several other monuments related to the Holocaust events in Ashmiany (Oshmiany, Oszmiana).  

In 1950, the monument was erected at the former Ogleiba farm.

In 1958, another monument was unveiled in Liugovshchina, the Barteli farm.