in detail
10,000 Jews lived in Borisov in 1939. As early as August 1941, a month after the Wehrmacht invaded, some 1,000 of Borisov's Jews were murdered. Those who survived this initial murder operation were made to move to a ghetto and to work as forced labourers. In September, the Leader of Task Force 8 of Einsatzgruppe (mobile killing squad) B, SS Captain Werner Schönemann, ordered the murder of all Jews living in the Minsk area. On 19 October 1941, some 100 soldiers and police officers were invited to a dinner in Borisov, where the liquidation of the ghetto was to be planned for the following day. From 20 to 22 October 1941 a Detachment of Special Detachment (Sonderkommando) 1b under the command of SS First Lieutenant Rudolf Grave carried out this order with the help of the Belorussian order service and the troops of the 339th Infantry Division. These units shot and killed some 8,000 people, including women and children. Later, the occupying forces set up a concentration camp in Borisov, probably for Belorussian civilians and Soviet prisoners of war, who were shot in 1944 when the Wehrmacht retreated.
In 1947 an obelisk was erected on the site of the 1941 shootings. It was renovated in 1980 thanks to donations from the Jewish Community. Today, memorial events are held there regularly.
In August 1941, one month after the German invasion of Borisov, the occupying forces murdered 1,000 Jews. The survivors were made to move to a ghetto and work as forced labourers. In October 1941, on an order from SS Captain Werner Schönemann, a Special Detachment, German infantrymen and Belorussian helpers murdered some 8,000 ghetto inhabitants. In 1947 an obelisk was erected on the site of the shootings. It was renovated in 1980 thanks to donations from the Jewish Community.
1939
10,000 Jews live in Borisov.
August 1941
Murder of 1,000 Jews.
September 1941
Order from SS Captain Werner Schönemann to murder all Jews in the Minsk area.
20 to 22 October 1941
Murder of some 8,000 Jews by a detachment of the Special Detachment 1b under the command of SS First Lieutenant Rudolf Grave, assisted by the Belorussian order service and the troops of the 339th Infantry Division.
1947
Erection of an obelisk for the victims of the murder operations.
1980
Renovation of the obelisk on the initiative of the Jewish Community.
Borisov, undated, the city after its destruction, Belorussian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War.
Borisov, August 2004, the obelisk commemorating the murdered Jews, Jewish Community Borisov.
Borisov, undated, community members gathered around the obelisk, Jewish Community Borisov.
Borisov, 6 December 1944, victims of a murder operation, RGAKFD.
