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Ghetto in Kherson, Ukraine

According to the 1939 census, 16.1 thousand Jews lived in Kherson. With the outbreak of World War II, the population was replenished by refugees. Data on the Jews of Kherson evacuated and drafted into the Red Army have not been preserved.

The city was occupied by the Nazis on August 19, 1941. Already on August 20, 1941, the Sonderkommando 11a of Einsatzgruppe D arrived in the city. On August 23, 1941, the invaders issued an order on the registration of the Jewish population. At the same time, a Judenrat was created, which was responsible for the registration. The occupiers obliged the Jewish population to wear distinctive signs.

The Nazis issued an order obliging the Jewish population of Kherson in the period from 24 to 27 August 1941 to hand over the money and valuables available through the Judenrat. On August 29, 1941, the invaders shot more than 100 Jews who were members of the Communist Party and worked in the Soviet government, accusing them of sabotage. On September 6, 1941, another 100 Jews were shot.

On September 7, 1941, an order was issued on the resettlement of Jews to the ghetto, created in the area of ​​Forshtadskaya, Girskogo, Mozolevskogo and Mayakovskogo streets. The Nazis created a closed ghetto, guarded by the police. The ghetto area was surrounded by barbed wire and a fence. According to various sources, there were from 5 to 8 thousand Jews in the Kherson ghetto.

According to eyewitnesses' recollections, the occupants promised the Jews that they would be able to live in peace in the ghetto and open shops. In practice, it turned out that in the ghetto, Jews were forced to live 10 people per room. Economic activity was limited. Every day, the Nazis sent about 1,000 Jews from the ghetto to forced labor.

On September 15, 1941, the first liquidation aktion took place. More than 400 Jews were killed on charges of sabotage.

On September 24-25, 1941, the occupants informed the ghetto prisoners of their resettlement to Palestine. Jews from the ghetto were transferred to the city prison. From there they were taken in lots by cars to the area of ​​the village of Zelenovka, where they were shot. Children under 12 were poisoned and thrown into an anti-tank ditch.

In the winter of 1942, about 400 people who remained after the liquidation of the ghetto, mostly members of mixed families, were shot.