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Murder story of Bykhov Jews in the Gankov Ditch
Murder Site
Gankov Ditch
Belorussia (USSR)
In September 1941, the SS shot 252 Jews – according to some accounts, only Jewish men (corresponding with the general Nazi policy in the area at that time), according to others, women and children as well. The murder operation was carried out half way between the former hospital and the town of Bykhov, southeast of the town, at a place called Gankov Rov (Gankov Ditch). This operation lasted several days.
Related Resources
ChGK Soviet Reports
Zakhar Timashchenko testified during examination by the Bykhov chapter of the NKVD:
... In September 1941, following an order by Bykhov’s German commandant, every day they loaded people onto trucks – whole families, including old people and little ones – and shot them at the Gankov Ditch one kilometer from the town. On one day alone, they shot 252 people at the Gankov Ditch, old people and little ones among them. Before the shooting, the German-Fascist rogues forced those brought to the killing site to dig their own graves, then to undress, after which they shot them ....
GARF, MOSCOW R-7021-88-35 copy YVA M.33 / JM/20012
Gankov Ditch
Murder Site
Belorussia (USSR)
53.521;30.246