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Ghetto in Borisov, Belarus

According to the 1939 census, 10 thousand Jews lived in Borisov, who accounted for 20% of the local population. With the outbreak of hostilities, the Jewish population of the city was replenished by refugees from the western regions of the republic.

There was no organized evacuation by the authorities. It was not informed about the policy of the Nazis towards the Jews. In the first days of the war, German aircraft bombed the railway station. As a result, most of the Jews remained in Borisov by the time the German troops arrived.

The city was captured on July 2, 1941. In the first days of the occupation, the Nazis shot several local Jews. On July 25, 1941, the occupation administration began the resettlement of the Slavic population from the city outskirts. Four streets: Krasnoarmeyskaya, Pobedy, Svobody and Sovetskaya were fenced off. The Nazis created a closed ghetto with one guarded entrance. It was possible to get into the territory with special passes.

On July 27, 1941, the resettlement of Borisov Jews to the ghetto began. The Nazis took a day for resettlement, forbade the use of any transport and allowed to take only those things that the prisoners could carry with them.

About 8 thousand people gathered in the ghetto. The Nazis made Jews wear badges when leaving the ghetto. The Slavic population were forbidden any contact with the prisoners. The occupiers used the Jews for loading operations and cleaning up the territory. The workers received 150 grams of bread per day. The rest are three times smaller. The prisoners were forced to pay an indemnity of 300,000 rubles and hand over their warm clothes.

On October 12, 1941, the head of the order service received an order to prepare a liquidation aktion. The prisoners of war dug two ditches near the airfield outside the city.

The aktion was carried out by the "Russian Security Police" with the support of Lithuanian policemen called from nearby areas. On the night of October 20, 1941, the police surrounded the ghetto. The men were taken in cars to the place of execution. By morning they began to take out women and children. There was not enough transport, and some of the Jews were driven to the place of execution on foot.

According to German reports, by October 21, 1941, 7.2 thousand Jews of Borisov were killed. About 1.5 thousand prisoners of the local ghetto, the Nazis left alive as valuable specialists. They were shot in 1942. In 1943, on the eve of the retreat, the Nazis tried to destroy the remains of the dead.

In 1947, a monument was erected at the site of the execution of Borisov Jews.