Memorial for the murdered Jews of Brody

Пам'ятник Жертвам Голокосту

In Brody, a small Ukrainian town once characterized by Jews, a memorial at the old Jewish cemetery commemorates the city's murdered Jews.

History

The small town of Brody, situated on the banks of the Styr river, was first mentioned in writing in 1084. Jews lived in the city since the end of the 16th century. In 1826, almost 90 percent of the population were Jewish, making Brody one of the most important Shtetl in Galicia. Prior to the First World War the city belonged to Austria-Hungary. Because of its proximity to the border, it was an important transit point for Jewish migrants who fled from the pogroms in the Russian Empire. After the Forst World War Brody belonged to Poland and had about 10,000 Jewish inhabitants. In September 1939, Eastern Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union as a result of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, including Brody.
The German Wehrmacht occupied Brody eight days after their attack on the Soviet Union on June 30, 1941 and a few days later, Einsatzkommando (sub-group of Einsatzgruppe) 5 of the Einsatzgruppe (mobile killing unit) C shot approximately 250 Jews at the Jewish cemetery. The victims were mainly members of the urban elite. On January 13, 1942 the Germans set up a ghetto in Brody with about 6,460 Jewish inhabitants. From September 19 to November 2, 1942, the Germans initially deported 2,500 Jews from the ghetto to the extermination camp in Bełżec. At the same time they murdered about 500 Jews in Brody. At the end of the year, the Germans and their accomplices rounded up some 2,000 Jews from the surrounding villages in the ghetto. In the winter between 1942 and 1943, many Jews died of hunger and a typhoid epidemic. In the spring of 1943, further »Aktionen« against the Jews in the ghetto followed. In May 1943 the Germans deported Jews to the Majdanek concentration camp once again. On July 19, 1943 the Germans liquidated the ghetto: about 3,500 Jews were deported to Majdanek and several hundred were murdered in the city. The Jewish community of Brody was destroyed.

Brody, about 1942/43, Entrance to the ghetto, public domain

Brody, 1942/43, Jews before their deportation, Yad Vashem

Victims

On July 12, 1941 Einsatzkommando (sub-group of Einsatzgruppe) 5 of the Einsatzgruppe (mobile killing unit) C under the command of SS-Obersturmführer (Lieutenant of the SS) Erwin Schulz shot about 250 Jews, mainly members of the upper class.
Approximately 500 Jews were murdered between September 19 and November 2, 1942. In the winter between 1942 and 1943 more than 1,000 Jews in the ghetto died of hunger and a typhoid epidemic. Between 1942 and 1943, thousands of Jews were deported to the concentration and extermination camps in Bełżec and Majdanek, where they were murdered.

Ukraine, the second-largest Republic in the European part of the former Soviet Union, was at the centre of the Second World War and the Holocaust. It is estimated that five to six million Ukrainians died during the war, including around 630,000 Jews. In mid-September 1939, following the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland in accordance with the Hitler-Stalin Pact – a secret German-Soviet agreement –, the south-east of Poland became part of the Soviet Ukraine. The oppression of the local population was now an everyday occurrence. In summer 1941, the German attack on the Soviet Union initially affected these very regions. Right from the start of the invasion the Jewish population was accused of supporting the Soviet powers and became the target of brutal attacks. These attacks were often the work of nationalist Ukrainians, who initially welcomed the advance of the Wehrmacht. German SS Einsatzgruppen and allied Rumanian units soon began to carry out mass shootings of Jews. The Babyn Yar ravine near Kiev, where German units and Ukrainian militia murdered over 33,700 Jews over two days in September 1941, has since become a global symbol of the genocide of Jews. The non-Jewish population was also a target for persecution. National Socialist racist ideology classed Ukrainians, as all »Slavs«, as »subhuman«. The occupiers looted the country, deported way over one million civilians to carry out forced labour and publicly executed hostages. By 1943 a partisan war against the Wehrmacht was raging along with the campaign of the nationalist »Ukrayinska Povstanska Armiya« (Ukrainian Rebel Army or UPA) against the Soviets and the Polish population in western Ukraine. The number of Poles to die in the process lies way over 100,000. From 1944 the Ukraine was again part of the Soviet Union and also encompassed former territories in eastern Poland. The UPA continued its campaign until the mid-1950s. The Soviet authorities deported around 300,000 Ukrainians to Siberia to counter the resistance. The Ukrainian culture of memory was aligned with the symbolic forms of remembrance found in the Soviet Union. Monumental sites of memory were constructed to celebrate the »victory« in the Great Patriotic War. It is only recently that victims have been remembered alongside the venerated heroes. In addition, a culture of memory centred on the campaign of the UPA has emerged in western Ukraine, with the UPA’s legacy being interpreted as a struggle for independence. Confrontation with anti-semitism and the collaboration with the German occupiers has only begun around 2000. With just a few exceptions, the mass shootings of Jews were ignored until the 1980s. It was not until 1991 that the government of independent Ukraine acknowledged Babyn Yar as a »symbol of Jewish martyrdom«. Long after gaining independence, Ukraine was still on the search for its national identity. The documentation of Soviet crimes – for example the state’s responsibility for the Great Famine (Holodomor) in 1922-23 that led to millions of deaths – has more significance in the establishment of a Ukrainian identity than learning about the Holocaust. Nevertheless, new memorial sites for the murdered Jews were established throughout the country, such as Drobitskiy Yar in Kharkiv or the Holocaust Museum in Odessa. On many mass grave sites new memorials were created, partially with German support. In Kiev, a new grand memorial site with global relevance was planned at Babyn Yar. These plans were put on hold with the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. What impact the current defensive war will have on Holocaust remembrance in the future remains to be seen.

Remembrance

The Red Army liberated Brody on July 17, 1944. Approximately 250 Jews returned to the city, where only about 90 survived the occupation. In the city, in addition to numerous buildings and street names, the Jewish cemetery and the former synagogue are reminiscent of the once flourishing Jewish life in Brody. The cemetery is located north of the city. At its edge the Holocaust memorial is located remembering the victims of the mass shootings from July 1941 to May 1943. The Ukrainian, English and Hebrew inscription reads: »In memory of the holy martyr Jews who were mercilessly killed by the Nazi murderers«.
The synagogue, built in the 1740s near the marketplace, was severely damaged during the Second World War. Its ruin is preserved today as a heritage building. Since the summer of 2017, a sign in English and Ukrainian informs about the history of the synagogue and the Jews in Brody. The information board is part of the international project »CHOICE- Cultural Heritage: Opportunity for Improving Civic Engagement«, which aims to inform about historical sites involving the civil society. Further information boards can be found at the gate to the Jewish cemetery and on various historical buildings, most of which belong to the Jewish history of the city. They were put up by the civil society organisation »Kraj«.
Brody is also known as the birthplace of the Austrian author Joseph Roth (1894-1939).

Brody, 2015, Holocaust memorial at the Jewish cemetery, Jewgennij Schnajder

Open

The memorial is accessible at all times.

Contact

http://myshtetl.org/lvovskaja/brody.html

Wulytsja Pidlisna 3
80601 Brody

Brody, 2015, »Jewish street« in Brody, Jewgennij Schnajder

Brody, 2017, Back of the dilapidated synagogue, Christian Herrmann

Brody, about 1900, Postcard depicting the Goldgasse, Biblioteka Narodowa Warszawa

Brody, 2017, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann

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