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Ghetto in Volochysk, Khmelnytskyi region, Ukraine

Volochysk is the center of the district of the same name in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine. According to the data of 1939, just over 700 Jews lived here, who constituted 15% of the population. The city was occupied in July 1941. There is no information about the organized evacuation and the number of Jews drafted into the Red Army.

The occupation authorities began with a policy of restrictive measures. Jews were required to wear distinctive signs on the chest and back in the form of a yellow star 7x8 centimeters. In addition, the invaders demanded that the Jewish population pay monthly contributions.

In late summer and early autumn 1941, the Nazis began to create a ghetto. A room for cattle on the territory of the Volochysk sugar factory was adapted for it. In addition to the Volochysk Jews, there were Jews who were brought from neighboring districts of the Khmelnitskyi region.

It is known that the ghetto was of a closed type, surrounded by barbed wire from three to five meters high. It was guarded by German soldiers, and for an unauthorized exit was supposed to be shot.

After being resettled in the ghetto, the Nazis plundered the property left by the Jews in their homes. According to the State Commission on the territory of the Volochysk region, the Nazis took away the property of prisoners in the amount of 87.5 million.

The residents of the ghetto were not given food or medical assistance. According to eyewitnesses, in order to solve the problem with food for the prisoners, the Nazis let them go to the city to "earn money." Some were able to help local residents with the housework in exchange for food.

In 1942, the ghetto prisoners were transferred to a concentration camp, where they worked on the railroad and highway construction. The camp lacked the conditions and medical services necessary for a normal life. As a result, outbreaks of infectious diseases were regularly observed, leading to high mortality rates.

The aktion of liquidating the Jewish population of Volochysk and other settlements of the region was carried out by the Nazis in August 1942 in the southeastern part of the village of Fridrikhovka on the territory of a brick factory.

In July 1944, the State Commission for Investigation of Atrocities carried out excavations of the burial sites. From its conclusion, it is known that the grave was 20 meters long, 17 meters wide and two meters deep. The victims were seated and reclining. Some were alive in the pit. Some of the victims were stunned with rifle butts, stabbed with melee weapons and thrown into the grave; some were shot in the temple or the back of the head.

In total, according to the State Commission, about 8 thousand people died. In 1947, local residents raised funds and erected a monument at the site of a mass grave.