Online Store Contact us About us
yad vashem logo

Murder Story of Mogilev Jews in Polykovichi (Gas Vans)

Murder Site
Polykovichi (Gas Vans)
Belorussia (USSR)
According to various testimonies, Jews of all ages and both sexes were murdered starting at the end of 1941 in the forest reserve of Bezvoditsa, at pits 6 kilometers north of Mogilev, near Polykovichi village. The killing was carried out partly by shooting squads and partly by the use of gas vans. Neither the exact dates nor exact numbers of victims are known. The perpetrators of the murders were members of the German Security Police and the local auxiliary police.
Related Resources
ChGK Soviet Reports from Mogilev
... 6 kilometers from the city of Mogilev, in the course of the occupation period, about 10,000 Soviet civilians, incuding children, were murdered. The murders were carried out by shooting and, also, by using special murder vans, near the anti-tank trenches in the local forest preserve of Bezvoditsa. As a rule, before every shooting the gendarmerie and police stripped the people who were about to die of their clothes and shoes and divided them among themselves. All this took place before the eyes of those doomed to die and of the people of the village since the killing was usually carried out in the daytime and in front of those who had to dig the graves and bury the bodies. Thus, they became eyewitnesses of the events described....
GARF, MOSCOW R-7021-88-43 copy YVA M.33 / JM/20012
Sidor Volkov, who was born in 1885, testified:
At the time of the German occupation I was living permanently in the village of Polykovichi. Therefore, I know about all the cases of the annihilation of Soviet civilians by Germans at the anti-tank trenches in the forest preserve of Bezvoditsa near Polykovichi village.... The killing of Jews began at the end of 1941 and ended in early 1942. During this time about 1,000 people were annihilated, both adults and children. As a rule, the Jews were shot at graves prepared in advance, at anti-tank trenches. They were brought by truck, usually in the daytime and, generally, the annihilation of the doomed ones was carried out only during the day so that the [local] people could see....
GARF, MOSCOW R-7021-88-43 copy YVA M.33 / JM/20012
Polykovichi (Gas Vans)
Murder Site
Belorussia (USSR)
53.584;30.218