Murder Story of Slavuta Jews at the Water Tower in Slavuta

On the morning of June 25 or 26, 1942 Ukrainian auxiliary policemen drove the inmates of the ghetto, mainly women, children, and elderly people out of their homes and loaded them onto several trucks. Then, guarded by Ukrainian policemen and Gendarmerie men, the Jews were taken to the water tower in the Slavuta POW camp, where several pits had been prepared. Upon their arrival they were ordered to get off the trucks and to strip naked. Those who refused to undress were beaten and their clothes were ripped off. The victims were ordered to enter the pit in groups of three and to lie face down, and then were shot to death in the back of the head. Some children were buried alive. Yakov Kosovich, the head of the Slavuta Ukrainian auxiliary police, and a man from a German security police murder squad carried out the shooting, that lasted from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. After the shooting workers from the Slavuta porcelain factory were forced by the Ukrainian auxiliary police to cover the pits with earth. Dr. Worbs, the Gebebietkommissar of Shepetovka,(Slavuta was part of Shepetovka County) was in charge of this murder operation.