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Holocaust in Malyn, Ukraine

Malyn is a settlement in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. In 1939, Jews made up 32% of the population here. There were 3.6 thousand of them. The city was occupied a month after the start of the Nazi invasion on July 22, 1941.

According to eyewitnesses, immediately after entering the settlement, a group of 10-12 German soldiers in green uniforms and with armbands with a swastika on their hands approached the building of the Jewish school and took people out of there, who were hiding in the basement. Among them were selected Jews and Communists. The selected group was shot right behind the school building. The bodies were buried in drainage ditches.

Also, according to eyewitnesses, some time after the beginning of the occupation, about 129 Jews were resettled from their homes to the territory of a furniture factory, where they were kept in the yard for several days, and then the adults were shot, and the children were buried alive. The exact date of the execution is unknown. According to eyewitness testimony, there were about 30 women with children among the victims. There is a possibility that the victims of the execution were buried in Shcherbov Yar. The Soviet Information Bureau reported this execution on November 28, 1941.

At the end of August 1941, another aktion of extermination took place. The Nazis gathered local Jews into small columns and drove them across the city to be shot. A truck with the children was driving behind the columns. The place of execution was the area of ​​the city bath. The researchers suggest that the Jews were informed that they would be resettled because they took valuables and clothing with them. The remains of those who were shot during the August aktion after the war were reburied at the Malyn Jewish cemetery.

In early September 1941, another major extermination aktion took place. Sonderkommando 4a, who arrived in Malyn, escorted it. According to Soviet sources, the aktion took place in the area of ​​Shcherbov Yar. After the war, five mass graves were discovered there.

According to eyewitnesses, the Jews were given shovels and forced to dig holes. Then they were forced to undress and were shot. The executioners distributed the best clothes and valuables among themselves.

According to Soviet official figures, 1,113,000 people were killed in Malyn.

In 1948, Malyn Jews erected the first memorial with Hebrew inscriptions at the site of the murders in Shcherbov Yar. In the late 1960s - early 1970s, the remains of the victims and the monument to the authorities were moved to the Jewish cemetery. In 2008, through the joint efforts of Malyn Jews, local businessmen and foreign sponsors, funds were raised for a new memorial in Shcherbov Yar.