• Memorial to the murdered Jews of Mykolaiv
In Mykolaiv (Russian: Nikolajew) a memorial commemorates the murdered Jews of Mykolaiv and surroundings. Another memorial is located near the village of Voskresenskoye dedicated to the more than 5,000 Jews who were shot there by the Germans in September 1941.
Image: Mykolaiv, undated, Old city view, public domain
Mykolaiv, undated, Old city view, public domain

Image: Mykolaiv, 2016, New memorial, Nikolajevskoye obchtchestvo yevreyskoy kultury
Mykolaiv, 2016, New memorial, Nikolajevskoye obchtchestvo yevreyskoy kultury
Mykolaiv, located on the delta of the Southern Bug on the Black Sea was founded in 1788. Jews settled there from its earliest days. In 1820 the Jewish community consecrated its first synagogue. In the late 19th century about 20,000 of the 92,000 inhabitants were Jews. In the years before the First World War, there were several anti-Jewish excesses in the city. In the 1920s Jewish cultural life flourished, but at the same time, religious life came to a halt under Soviet rule.
The German Wehrmacht occupied the city on August 17, 1941. The majority of Jews managed to flee beforehand but approximately 6,000 Jews remained in the city. The German military administration formed a Ukrainian uniformed police unite. By the end of the month the Sonderkommando (special unit) 11a led by SS-Sturmbannführer (Major of the SS) Paul Zapp shot 227 civilians, among them Jews, political prisoners and criminals. Soon after a ghetto was established for the Jews, but it was liquidated already two weeks later. On September 12, 1941 the Sonderkommando 11a aided by the Einsatzkommando (Sub-group of Einsatzgruppe) 12 forced all Jews to gather at the Jewish cemetery. On September 18, 1941 the Germans transported all male Jews on trucks to a nearby ravine and shot them. On the following two days they murdered the women and children at the same site. After the mass shootings they blew up the tops of the ravine to cover the corpses. From the end of 1943 to early 1944 the Germans forced fifty POWs to exhume the corpses and to burn them. Afterwards they too were shot and burned.
In April 1942 the Germans set up the POW camp Stalag 364 where also many Jews were held captive. The Germans murdered the inmates near the end of 1943.
Image: Mykolaiv, undated, Old city view, public domain
Mykolaiv, undated, Old city view, public domain

Image: Mykolaiv, 2016, New memorial, Nikolajevskoye obchtchestvo yevreyskoy kultury
Mykolaiv, 2016, New memorial, Nikolajevskoye obchtchestvo yevreyskoy kultury
From September 18 to September 23, 1941 the Sonderkommando (special unit) 11a and the Einsatzkommando (Sub-group of Einsatzgruppe) 12 shot several thousand Jews in a ravine between the villages of Kalinovka and Voskresenskoye. The event report released by the Einsatzgruppe (mobile killing unit) D on September 26, 1941 states the number of 5,000 murdered. On the memorial the number of victims is stated to be 8,000. More Jews and civilians have been buried next to Stalag 364. The exact number of people murdered there is not known. According to Soviet authorities the Germans murdered about 30,000 civilians and POWs there .
Image: Voskresenskoye, undated, Memorial, Nikolajevskoye obchtchestvo yevreyskoy kultury
Voskresenskoye, undated, Memorial, Nikolajevskoye obchtchestvo yevreyskoy kultury

Image: Mykolaiv, undated, Memorial Stalag 364, Taras Kremin
Mykolaiv, undated, Memorial Stalag 364, Taras Kremin
Mykolaiv was liberated by the Red Army on March 28, 1944. After the war many surviving Jews from the surrounding areas moved to the city. In 1959 they accounted for seven percent of the population.
In the 1960s the city administration erected a memorial near the Jewish cemetery. The Jewish identity of the victims was not referred to. In 2008 a memorial was erected near the village of Voskresenskoye. Engraved are a Star of David and a menorah. The Russian inscription remembers the 8,000 Jews who are said to have been murdered there. In 2011 the Jewish community erected a memorial remembering the murdered Jews of Mykolaiv. The Ukrainian inscription is dedicated to the 10,000 Jews murdered during the time of occupation. The memorial is located besides the former Jewish cemetery, where in September 1941 all Jews had to assemble prior to their murder.
In the district of Temvod the gate of Stalag 364 has survived. In front of it a memorial plaque gives the number of 30,000 perished civilians and POWs. The Stalag was used by the SOviet authorities as a POW camp from 1944 to 1949.
After Ukraine became independent in 1991 many Jews from Mykolaiv emigrated, most of them to Israel. In 2001 the number of Jews in Mykolaiv amounted to as few as 3,200. The Jewish community still maintains three synagogues. The oldest which had already been built in 1820 is no longer in use. The Jewish community opened several Jewish educational institutions and actively cares for the preservation of historic relics.
Image: Mykolaiv, undated, Mikveh, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obshtchina ukrainy ujew.com.ua
Mykolaiv, undated, Mikveh, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obshtchina ukrainy ujew.com.ua

Image: Mykolaiv, undated, Gate of Stalag 364, territoryterror.org
Mykolaiv, undated, Gate of Stalag 364, territoryterror.org
Name
Pamjat' ubityh ewrejiw Mykolajiwa
Address
Chersons'ke Hvy
54000 Mykolajiw
Phone
+38(0) 512 470 395
Web
jewish.mk.ua
E-Mail
noekjcc2017@gmail.com
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times.