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Ida Shenderovich

JEWS IN CHAUSY

Jews have lived in Chausy since the 17th century. In 1941 the population of the town constituted about 5000 people, with 2000 of them – Jewish.

Old Jewish houses in Kozinka. Here was the ghetto.

Chausy was occupied by Nazis on July 15, 1941. According to stories, the punitive squad came to the town twice. Four communists and 51 Jews were shot.

Memorial on the grave where the victims
were later reburied (the Jewish cemetery).

Place of execution of 16 Jews in 1942
in the area of a former military town.

In August, 1941, the local Jews were forced to move to a ghetto. The ghetto was also intended for the Jews from the neighboring villages. They could take very few belongings with themselves, the basic things. All the Jews, including children from mixed families, had to attach yellow stars to their clothes. A few days later, on August 16, all the ghetto residents were taken to the bank of the River Pronia, 3 km away from the town. The column with the prisoners (624 people) was accompanied by 26 German soldiers and 15 local Nazi policemen. (The prisoners had been told they would be taken to another ghetto). They were taken to a ditch and shot with machineguns. After the execution the grave was guarded by the policemen, who could hear the moaning of the victims until late in the night. All the victims' belongings were taken by the policemen.

Abram Levin, who was about 13, and his sister survived after the execution. They managed, despite the wounds, to crawl out of the grave and cross the frontline.

On June 17, 1942, sixteen more Jews and partisans were executed.

In August, 1942, a second stage of executions took place. This time Nazis killed the children and adults from mixed families. Among them was 18-year-old Ira Gubnyh and her mother, who had come to visit from Leningrad.

In 1955 several former residents of Chausy, mainly residents of Leningrad, Abram Sommerov, Abram Molochnikov and others, moved the victims remnants to the Jewish cemetery of Chausy and erected a memorial.

Nina Ivanovna Gerasimova.

From the story of Nina Ivanovna Gerasimova, born in 1928

"I was born in Chausy. When Germans arrived, we were told to attach yellow stars of David to our clothes. Mother said she would not do it.

In autumn all the Jews were all taken to Kozinka. They were all executed on one day. The bodies were later moved to the Jewish cemetery, where a memorial was set up.

In summer 1942, my father, I and many other people, mainly from mixed families, were taken to Gestapo. I do not know who had given my father away (he did not look Jewish). My mother managed to get me out of there. Father, together with 16 other people, was shot on June 17, 1942.

(From the archive of Mogilev project "The lessons of the Holocaust")

Photos by Alexander Litin

Jewish settlements in Mogilev region

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