Before the war, tens of thousands of Jews lived in the Ukrainian city of Berdychiv. Almost all were murdered during the German occupation. At one of the murder sites, near the village of Khazhyn, a new memorial complex was inaugurated in 2019.
Khazhyn, 2016, Memorial from the year 1990 before the reconstruction of the site, Stiftung Denkmal, Anna Voitenko
Khazhyn, 2019, Information stele on the way to the memorial, Stiftung Denkmal, Anna Voitenko
Berdychiv (Ukrainian: Berdytschiw) was an important centre of Jewish life before the Second World War. The proportion of Jews in the total population was about 40 percent. The German Wehrmacht occupied Berdychiv on July 7, 1941. During the German occupation German units, with the help of local militias, murdered almost all Jews of Berdychiv and the surrounding area in a series of mass shootings.
One of the most important shooting sites was a wooded area near the village of Khazhyn, about six kilometres south of the centre of Berdychiv. Probably in the last days of August 1941, a special unit under the command of the Higher SS and Police Commander Russia-South Friedrich Jeckeln murdered about 1,300 younger Jewish men and women from the Berdichev ghetto at this site. German units repeatedly murdered Jews and Soviet prisoners of war at this site.
One of the most important shooting sites was a wooded area near the village of Khazhyn, about six kilometres south of the centre of Berdychiv. Probably in the last days of August 1941, a special unit under the command of the Higher SS and Police Commander Russia-South Friedrich Jeckeln murdered about 1,300 younger Jewish men and women from the Berdichev ghetto at this site. German units repeatedly murdered Jews and Soviet prisoners of war at this site.
Khazhyn, 2016, Memorial from the year 1990 before the reconstruction of the site, Stiftung Denkmal, Anna Voitenko
Khazhyn, 2019, Information stele on the way to the memorial, Stiftung Denkmal, Anna Voitenko
On September 5, 1941 Friedrich Jeckeln reported the murder of 1,303 Jews in Berdychiv to Berlin. With this he referred to the mass shooting near Khazhyn a few days before. Altogether at least 17,000 Jews were murdered in and around Berdychiv during the German occupation. The actual number of victims could have been much higher.
Khazhyn, 2018, Archaeological investigation of the mass grave, Stiftung Denkmal, Anna Voitenko
Khazhyn, 2019, Stones mark the outlines of the mass grave, Stiftung Denkmal, Anna Voitenko
Berdychiv was liberated by the Red Army on January 5, 1944. Immediately after the end of the fighting, a Soviet commission of inquiry investigated the mass grave near Khazhyn. The commission, whose statements on the number of victims are often disputed among historians, stated the number of those murdered at this site as 10,656.
For a long time, the Soviet authorities refused to allow the Jews of Berdychiv to erect memorials at the sites of the mass shootings. Accordingly, there was no memorial at the mass graves at Khazhyn. It was not until October 1990 a memorial stone was erected, but this did not indicate that the victims were mainly Jews. At the mass grave, which has the form of a small hill, desecrations of the grave occurred again and again.
As part of the »Protecting Memory« project, which is based at the Berlin office of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, non-invasive forensic investigations were carried out at the mass grave near Khazhyn in 2018. As a result, the mass grave could be precisely located. In a further step, a new memorial complex was built. The outlines of the mass grave were marked with stones and the area covered. A circular plateau was created on the hill. The monument from 1990 was supplemented by a new memorial stone and a stele, which informs about the fate of the Jews of Berdychiv in Ukrainian, English and Hebrew.
For a long time, the Soviet authorities refused to allow the Jews of Berdychiv to erect memorials at the sites of the mass shootings. Accordingly, there was no memorial at the mass graves at Khazhyn. It was not until October 1990 a memorial stone was erected, but this did not indicate that the victims were mainly Jews. At the mass grave, which has the form of a small hill, desecrations of the grave occurred again and again.
As part of the »Protecting Memory« project, which is based at the Berlin office of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, non-invasive forensic investigations were carried out at the mass grave near Khazhyn in 2018. As a result, the mass grave could be precisely located. In a further step, a new memorial complex was built. The outlines of the mass grave were marked with stones and the area covered. A circular plateau was created on the hill. The monument from 1990 was supplemented by a new memorial stone and a stele, which informs about the fate of the Jews of Berdychiv in Ukrainian, English and Hebrew.
Khazhyn, 2019, View of the site, Stiftung Denkmal, Anna Voitenko
Khazhyn, 2019, Memorial complex at the mass grave, Stiftung Denkmal, Anna Voitenko
- Name
- Меморіал євреям Бердичева й околиць, убитим біля Хажина
- Web
- https://www.erinnerungbewahren.de/berdytschiw-chashyn/
- info@erinnerung-bewahren.de
- Open
- The memorial is accessible at all times.