Photo Album

All of the pictures below were taken by Hal Bookbinder in August 2018.

Dubno (Дубно) Fortress

Ikva River in Dubno

Dombrowski manor

Entrance to the Dubno castle

Lubomirski Palace

Frog monument

Bridge leading to the Dubno Castle, showing my cousin, Boris Fradkin (ע״ה), whose mother survived the Nazi occupation as a faux Christian farm worker, and our guide Erna. - Hal Bookbinder

The moat around the Dubno Castle, which could be filled by diverting water from the Ikva River, which skirts Dubno.

There are well manicured grounds within the Dubno Castle area with colorful flowers.

Other attractions include statues, cannons, and fountains.

Below are several of the displays within the Dubno Castle Museum

16th Century Ostrovski Prince

One of the displays of coinage and paper money

Ancient pottery

Ancient burial

Ancient tools

Cannon & other weaponry

Handwritten book

Armor

Traditional Ukrainian dress

Dubno Street Scenes (August, 2018)

This pharmacy was once a two story building, with a book and stationary store on the first level. Alter Buchbinder, the owner, and his family were murdered during the German occupation.

At the end of the street on which the pharmacy is located, is the Polish Catholic Church. At the other end of the street (not seen here) is the Great Synagogue.

Across the street from the pharmacy is a serene park. On its far side is the town square, where people would gather to chat, play instruments, sing and play games.

This is the town square, with a statue in each corner representing the four seasons and a fountain in the middle. Musicians would perform on summer evenings.

One of the four statues in the Dubno town square. This one represents Summer.

This building was once Dubno's Masonic Temple. Masonry was suppressed by the Soviets and the building was confiscated.

Taras Bulba statue in the Dubno town square. Taras Bulba, a fictional Cossack leader is a hero across Ukraine.

Another view of the statue. Taras Bulba is a romanticized historical novella by the Russian author Nikolai Gogol

Alexandra Street, leading to the Great Synagogue, The Polish Catholic Church is at the other end of Alexandra Street.

The Great Synagogue of Dubno (2018), once the largest in all of Volhynia. It sits in the middle of what was the Jewish ghetto.

Hand drawing of ghetto from Dubno Yizkor Book

Two major killing areas outside of Dubno

While hundreds, or even thousands, of Jews succumbed to disease, starvation, or were murdered in the Dubno ghetto, there were two major killing sites located a few miles outside of Dubno. Jews were force-marched to this prepared killing sites, ordered in completely undress, and lay face down in the pits on top of the bodies already there. German soldiers sitting on the edge of the pit would then shoot the top layer of Jews and the process would repeat. The bodies would then be covered in lime and dirt. Some were buried alive and the ground would sway as they tried to climb out of the pit at night. Most who managed to climb out were hunted down and killed. If they sought refuge in a farmhouse, the farmer would likely turn them in as harboring Jews would mean death for his entire family. The childhood friend of a cousin who was sent to live with relatives in Palestine before the war, was one of those who feigned death and then climbed out of the pit. Naked, she went to a farmhouse of a Polish family with which she was acquainted. She was given food and clothing and sent on her way so as not to jeopardize the farmer's family. She survived the war in a partisan fighting group in the woods, eventually made it to Israel, and reunited with my cousin. She told my cousin, that she witnessed her parents and siblings at the pit. She reported, however, that one sibling, a nurse at the Jewish Hospital in Dubno was not there. My cousin spent many years trying to find this sister, to no avail. She learned that the staff of the Jewish Hospital were warned of the impending mass murder and fled into the woods. None was heard from again. Hal Bookbinder

Sign by air field killing area

"The territory of the pre-war air field was one of the places of mass extermination of the Jews of (the) Dubno ghetto. In June and October 1942, another division of the German Army Group South - Einsatsgruppe "C" shot 5,000 Jews - adults, children, and elderly people. In 1944, the State Extraordinary Commission on establishment and investigation of the crimes of the Nazi occupation discovered 5 large wells of 1,000 victims each at a depth of 4 meters. 15 rows of 6 layers of victims were found."

Sign and pathway to killing area

Mound covering area where 5,000 were murdered

Sign by Mount Shybena killing area

"In the ravines of the mount Shybena towards the village Klischykha, the German invaders shot the Jewish people of Dubno, Verba and Oshozhets districts. Executions took place on 27 and 30 July, 1941, 22 August 1941, 27 July 1942, and 24 October 1942. Three pits 4 meters in depth occupied an area of 900 square meters, where in 1944 the State Extraordinary Commission found the victims lying face down in 24 rows of 6 layers each. All the layers are coated with chloric lime. The number killed was 6,000 people."

Pathway to killing area

Field covering area where 6,000 were murdered

Sign by Church of the Holy Cross killing area

"From 1942 to 1942 near the church of the Holy Cross in a pre-war stadium German occupiers shot more that 3,500 people, among them Soviet POWs and civilians of Dubno and surrounding villages. In 1944, the State Extraordinary Commission of establishment and investigation of the crimes of the Nazi occupation studied 50 wells and in 15 of them 4x6 square meters or smaller, 60 people were found in each." - The Nazis murdered POWs, professionals, educated individuals and subversives, Jews & Slavs, alike.

The Lutsk Gate Prison

The Lutsk Gate Prison is located at the western edge of Dubno. Prior to the Nazi invasion, the Soviet KGB used it as a prison for subversives, including Jews. When the Nazis invaded, the KGB murdered over 500 of these prisoners before they pulled out of Dubno. The Nazis used the prison to humiliate and torture prominent Jews until they revealed where their wealth could be found, or until relatives paid large sums for their release. Numerous prisoners would never leave the Lutsk Gate Prison alive.

The Lutsk Gate Prison was used by the Poles prior to the invasion and partitioning of Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Along with criminals, individuals considered subversive were imprisoned there. A second cousin of my father was imprisoned as a Communist. His uncle, a first cousin of my grandfather, paid a large bribe for his release, which required that he leave Poland. He went to the USSR and survived the war. His uncle was murdered by Ukrainian irregulars at the outbreak of the Nazi invasion. Most of his other relatives were murdered by the Nazis by October, 1942. - Hal Bookbinder

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