Almost immediately after the occupation of Dubăsari by the Germans and Romanians, a ghetto was created in the city on the territory of a tobacco factory. Not only local Jews were driven into it, but also from the surrounding settlements, Odessa, Tiraspol, Chisinau. According to eyewitnesses, at the beginning of August 1941, there were at least 8,000 people in the ghetto. Mass executions of Jews began already in early September. They were attended by a special team of Germans, Romanian gendarmes and local police. Before that, residents of nearby villages were driven to dig holes under the guise of potato storage. It was they who were supposed to become mass graves for the prisoners of the ghetto.

On the night of September 12, 1941, the Germans and their henchmen began the mass extermination of the Jews in the Dubăsari ghetto. Those doomed to death were gathered in the courtyard of a tobacco factory, locked in cellars, having previously taken away all valuables and jewelry. At the same time, this was done with particular cruelty: women's earrings were torn out along with their earlobes, gold crowns were torn out of their mouths with pincers, and they were knocked out with hammers. Rings were torn off the fingers along with the skin - if this did not work, the finger was cut off or chopped off.

Children were separated from mothers, husbands from wives. Further, in groups of 20-30 Jews were taken out to be shot. Before that, they were forced to undress and kneel at the edge of the trench.

The men were killed first, then the turn was for women and children. When the trenches were filled with bodies, they were covered with earth, and the belongings and shoes of the victims lying near them were taken away by the policemen. By noon on September 12, 2,500 ghetto prisoners had been shot. According to the testimony of local residents, having shot another batch of prisoners, the Germans drank and ate at nearby tables, while the policemen and Romanians-gendarmes at that time pushed the bodies of the victims who did not fall into the ditch. At the same time, before dropping, they were still pierced with a pitchfork in their stomachs to guarantee death.

The death conveyor worked for two weeks - the punishers did their dirty work without interruption. Every day, more and more victims from different cities and regions of Transnistria were delivered to the Dubăsari ghetto, and they were almost immediately escorted by gendarmes and policemen to the place of execution.

According to various estimates, from 12 to 28 September 1941, from 6,000 to 18,500 Jews were shot. It was not possible to establish the exact number, since the punishers did not make any lists and did not keep records of the victims.

The execution of the prisoners of the Jewish ghetto in Dubăsari is the most terrible act of the Holocaust on the territory of modern Moldova. At the site of the mass executions, a memorial was erected in memory of the victims of Nazism.