Holocaust in Romaniv

The German army occupied Romaniv on July 10, 1941. Several Jewish families escaped to the Soviet interior. Only a few Jews who remained survived, primarily in nearby villages.

At the end of July 1941, the Germans established an open ghetto of two streets, which were guarded by the Ukrainian police. Jews could not leave the ghetto or buy products from the Ukrainians. There were food shortages and starvation. The first Aktion happened on August 25, 1941.

There were four murder sites. Germans, with Ukrainian collaborators, killed 550 Jewish men in two ditches in the forest. The next mass murder was at a public park in Romaniv, where 100 people were executed. On October 23, 1941, the ghetto was liquidated. Eight hundred fifty elderly people, women, and children were murdered in the forest near the town.

The Red Army liberated Dzerzhinsk (now Romaniv) on January 1, 1944.

Source: Yad Vashem Untold Stories: Dzerzhinsk (includes links to the four murder sites, with photos; and the list of murdered and survivors)

As an example of the tragedy that struck one Romaniv family, the Blecher family, every member who remained in Romaniv perished. It's likely the men were murdered first in the forest or the city park and the women and children were killed two months later when the ghetto was liquidated. Three generations perished, as did cousins, aunts, and uncles, not listed here. Those murdered include:

Sarah Valdman Blecher, age 65
Her children Shlomo age 37, Bozi, age 35 Srul age 33, and Malka age 28
Five grandchildren and two daughters-in-law

Her two older sons, Moshe Blecher, husband of Chana Rochel Gilman Blejer, and Elias Blejer, who had emigrated, survived. Both ended up in Argentina. Elias had immigrated to America, to New Jersey, before WWI, but joined his younger brother in Argentina some years later, after the war.

Gathering, Ramle Israel

The former Jewish residents of Romaniv and their descendants live all over the world, including in the U.S., Israel, Germany, and Ukraine. Every year in Israel, descendants gather to mark the anniversary of the massacre of the Jews of Romaniv on the 25th of August, 1941.

Read about the Romaniv survivors' children's meeting in Ramle, Israel

Monument at the Forest Murder Site near Romaniv

Monument commemorating the Dzerzhinsk Jews at the Forest murder site. A screenshot from the film "Report about the Day of Sorrow and Memory for the Victims of the War in the Town of Romanov, Zhitomir Region" 2008, Yad Vashem, The Visual Center V 4243

Credit: YVA, Photo Collection, 14615925

Jews commemorating the victims from Dzerzhinsk at the Clay Pit murder site. YVA, Photo Collection, 2939/2

Clay Pit Murder Site near Romaniv

After the war Jews from Dzerzhinsk and elsewhere whose relatives and friends were murdered near the town came almost every year on August 25 to commemorate the victims. In 1982 Jews erected a high-relief monument with the figure of a mother and a child at the clay pit murder site. The inscription said: “To the residents of Dzerzhinsk who were murdered at the hands of the German-fascist occupiers during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.” In the mid 1980s a trial of Nazi collaborators was held in Dzerzhinsk. Probably in the context of this trial, in 1986 the bodies of Jews were exhumed from two or three graves in the area of the public garden and were reburied at the clay pit murder site. The unmarked murder sites were vandalized on more than one occasion. Between 1997 and 2002 former Dzerzhinsk Jews and their relatives, along with the last Jewish family in Dzerzhinsk, that of Garri Feldman, erected monuments at the four known murder sites and fenced them all in. Some of these temporary monuments were later replaced by permanent ones. The monument at the forest murder site has the following inscription in Ukrainian: “We remember the five thousand civilians of the county, including four thousand Jews from Romanov-Dzerzhinsk, who were murdered by the German-fascist occupiers between 1941 and 1942. To the innocent murder victims from all of us [who remain] alive.” In Yiddish there are the additional words: “We remember.” On the monument at the Romanovka murder site is a Ukrainian inscription that reads: “Eternal memory to the 168 Jewish civilians from the Dzerzhinsk area who were murdered there on December 7, 1941 by the German-fascist occupiers.”

From https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/untold-stories/commemoration/14624957

Commemoration Ceremony

This ceremony was at the monument near the murder site of Jews who were murdered by the Germans in Dzerzhinsk (Romaniv), Ukraine during 1941-1942. Parts 1, 2, 3.

Credit: Yad VaShem

Mikhail Pokrovski testifies about the murders

Mikhail Pokrovski, born in Dzerzhinsk (Romanov) testifies about the murder operation that was carried out by the Germans at his town.

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