Поиск по сайту

Alexander Litin, Ida Shenderovich

SAPEZHINKA, THE STORY OF THE PLACE

Sapezhinka is a village, located 2 km away from Bykhov. Before the war it was a Jewish village.

Sapezhinka. Here stood the synagogue (to the left).

The execution of the Jews from Sapezhinka took place in two stages. On August 28, 1941 Nazis executed 27 men. The remaining Jewish women, old people and children were made to live in wooden houses, which were guarded for about two weeks.

Sapezhinka today.

Victor Trofimovich Semionov.

From the story of Victor Trofimovich Semionov, born in 1943

I was born in Sapezhinka. From the stories of my parents I know that our village used to be a Jewish one.

The people were friendly with each other. There were mixed families as well.

After the local synagogue was closed, the Jews prayed in the house of my neighbor Nahman Brilon. Nahman was an educated religious old man. He had a lot of books on religion at home. Men assembled in his house, prayed and celebrated the Passover.

Every spring Nahman made matsot and gave some to us as well. He was considered to be a local rabbi.

Place where Sapezhinki men were executed on August 19, 1941.

On August 28, 1941, twenty-seven Jewish men from Sapezhinki were shot on the outskirts of the village.

On the same day all the Jewish women, old people and children, around 55-70 people, were assembled in a big house of Nahman Brilon and Gamshey Uzilevsky. Here they were kept for a week without water or food, raped, beaten and tortured. After that they were all taken to the ghetto in Bukhov and shot.

The list of the people executed in Sapezhinki consists of 71 people. According to the calculations of the local historian S. Dvoskin, 94 Jews from Sapezhinki were killed during the war in the occupation.

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

Anna Afanasievna Koganovskaya.

From the story of Anna Afanasievna Koganovskaya, born in 1930.

I was born in the village of Mashki and moved to Sapezhinka at the age of 9.

Memorial, set up in a place, where the Jews were kept
in the house before the execution.

Before the war Sapezhinka used to be a Jewish village. Only two houses were non-Jewish. When the war began, Germans entered all the houses and, if they did not see icons on the walls, they took the men away…

Next to us there lived an old Jewish fortune-teller Shmuila with daughter Riva. He was my father's friend. Shmuila predicted that since the war started on a Saturday, the Germans would lose, but they, the Jews, would be killed. Father told him to leave but he had nowhere to go to. Father hid Shmuila but someone gave him away and he was murdered.

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

In 2008 a memorial was set up in Sapezhinka in a place where the ghetto house was.

Photos taken by Ida Shenderovich and Alexander Litin

Jewish settlements in Mogilev region

Mogilev• Antonovka• Batsevichi• Belynichi• Belynkovichi• Bobruisk• Byhov• Chausy• Cherikov• Dashkovka• Dribin• Esmony• Glusk• Golovchin• Gorki• Gory• Grozdianka• Hotimsk• Kirovsk• Klichev• Konohovka• Kostukovichi• Krichev• Krucha• Krugloye• Lenino• Lubonichi• Martinovka• Moliatichi• Mstislavl• Naprasnovka• Osipovichi• Rodnia• Rudkovschina• Samotevichi• Sapezhinka• Selets• Shamovo• Shepelevichi• Shklov• Slavgorod• Staroselie• Sukhari• Svisloch• Vereschaki• Zaverezhie• Zhilichi•

Main

New publications

Contacts

Site map

Vitebsk region

Mogilev region

Minsk region