THE HOLOCAUST AND ITS INVESTIGATION IN THE MEDZHYBIZH DISTRICT OF THE KAMIANETS-PODILSKYI REGION

Abstract

The article, based on the existing archival source base and the works of researchers, examines the places of ghettos and executions, establishes the periodization of the extermination of Jews, the conditions of their detention in the ghetto, the methods and scales of the Holocaust, names its organizers and participants, and also considers the process of establishing and investigating crimes of the Nazis in Medzhybizh district of Kamianets-Podilskyi region (now Khmelnytskyi district, Khmelnytskyi region). The study details the course of the Holocaust during the Nazi occupation in the Medzhybizh district of the Kamianets-Podilskyi region. The rapid offensive of the Nazis in the German-Soviet war (1941-1945) after June 22, 1941, led to the occupation of Medzhybizh on July 7. To destroy the Jewish population, a ghetto was formed immediately after the occupation. The Nazis chose the following periods to massacre the peaceful Jewish population: July 1941 (formation of the ghetto), August 21-October 31, 1942, November 1942, and January 1943 (execution of Jews). The center of Medzhybizh was chosen as the place for the temporary detention of Jews: the area of the market square and the adjacent residential quarter. Almost all Jewish residents of the town and district were driven to the ghetto. The ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire and high fences, and the local police were ordered to guard it. At first, Jews were allowed to leave the ghetto for a short time to visit the bazaar and buy food. Over time, there was a strict ban on going beyond the fence of the ghetto, the perimeter of which was controlled by a police unit. Anyone who brought food to the fence faced severe punishment - up to execution. At different times, the ghetto housed from several hundred Jews to several thousand. A feature of the Medzhybihz ghetto, in the built-up part, was the presence of extensive basements under the houses, where a certain number of Jews managed to hide. The article also defines the time, place, and methods of the Medzhybizh ghetto Holocaust. The place of executions turned out to be a tract known locally as "Popove Pole" (2 km northwest of Medzhybizh, near the road to the village of Rusanivtsi). We managed to determine the methods of extermination of the Jewish population based on the documents of the Kamianets-Podilskyi regional and Medzhybizh district commissions for the establishment and investigation of Nazi crimes, which began work in April 1944. The process of investigating the Nazi crimes of the Holocaust was followed, during which the organizers and participants of the crimes were identified. To find out the details of the crimes, the memories of both the direct participants, the policemen, and the victims who managed to escape are involved.