On a hillside overlooking the Ukrainian town of Varkovychi, a somber gray stone monument marks the site where the mass murder of the Jews of Warkowitz (current-day Varkovychi) and Ozeran (current-day Ozeryany) occurred on October 8, 1942. The monument is located at 50°28'22.0"N, 25°59'03.8"E.
Below a Star of David on the memorial, a plaque with raised letters in Ukrainian reads:
"To the villagers of Jewish nationality who died in 1942 at the hands of the [German] fascists. [From] A grateful public."
The grave marker was built during the Soviet era, sometime after 1984, by a local Ukrainian, Nikolai Koshnirenko. He volunteered to construct the monument at the site of the murders according to the blueprint and instructions sent to him by Mordechai Krupp and other survivors living in Israel. The following photograph and video show a group of Israelis of the first, second, and third generations from Warkowitz and Ozeran visiting the site in 1993. (“Warkowitz,” World Association of Wolynian Jews in Israel, https://wolyn.org.il)
In the above photograph, Nikolai Koshnirenko is standing, third man from the left. Reimbursed for expenses associated with the initial construction of the gravestone, Koshnirenko continued maintaining the site while declining additional payments from the Israeli group. In 1993, he helped Mordechai Krupp coordinate the visit of the Israeli contingent, accompanied the group, and with his wife, hosted a meal for all twenty-four people at his home in Varkovychi. (Tzipi Karelitz née Krupp email to Roy Gerber, February 25, 2023)
By 2012, the memorial at the mass grave on the hillside overlooking Varkovychi was refurbished, and a new engraved metal plaque with an illustration of a menorah was added.
The inscription on the new plaque, translated from Ukrainian, reads: "For the fellow villagers–Jews,who were shot by the fascist invaders in 1942. From inhabitants
of the villages Varkovichi [and] Ozeryany."
The view from the mass murder site of gently rolling hills, tranquil lakes, and vibrant yellow rapeseed fields starkly contrasts thoughts of the horrors that occurred on this land seventy-five years earlier. (Photos courtesy Elliot Burg)
In the early 1950s, Holocaust survivors from Warkowitz and Ozeran, along with the fortunate few who immigrated to Israel before the Holocaust, formed the Organization of Veterans of Warkowitz and Ozeran ( ארגון ותיקי וורקוביץ ועוזרן ). Often with no family members alive, survivors of the towns banded together to become surrogate families.
In 1981, this group erected a monument in the Holon Cemetery, just south of Tel Aviv. They dedicated their memorial to those who perished from Warkowitz and Ozeran. The following photograph, circa 1984, shows the founders. From left to right, Jacob Mossman, Meir Gelman, and Mordechai Krupp. (Tzipi Karelitz née Krupp, Tova Sela née Krupp, "A Love Story-Hanna and Mordechai Krupp," https://krupstory.blogspot.com)
The top section of the memorial has Warkowitz (ורקוביץ) engraved in Hebrew with Ozeran (אוזירן) right below. The inscription on the base reads:
"In Memory of the Martyrs of the communities of Warkowitz and Ozeran Volhyn Who Perished in the Shoah. Remembrance Day 27th of Tishrei"
The veterans of Warkowitz and Ozeran gathered every year to hold a memorial service to perpetuate the memory of their murdered loved ones. They held the service on the anniversary of the massacre of the Jews of Warkowitz and Ozeran—the 27th of Tishrei—four days after Simchat Torah in the Hebrew calendar.
For years Mordechai Krupp served as chair of the Organization of Veterans of Warkowitz and Ozeran with the responsibility of maintaining the memorials and managing the commemorations. His duties were eventually transferred to his daughter, Tzipi, and to Yair Appel, son of Ben Zion Appel.
The following undated photograph shows a memorial service at the Holon Cemetery. The Hebrew caption indicates that in attendance at the memorial were the first, second, and third generations from Warkowitz and Ozeran. (https://krupstory.blogspot.com)
As shown by an arrow superimposed on the following 1984 photograph, the right side of the memorial has a receptacle containing soil from the hillside where the Jews of Warkowitz and Ozeran were massacred. This space also holds a scroll containing information about the two villages, now forever linked together through tragedy.
An image of the Commemorative Scroll placed inside the memorial to the Jews of Warkowitz and Ozeran in the Holon Cemetery follows:
The commemorative scroll begins by describing the Organization of Veterans of Warkowitz and Ozeran. The members were undoubtedly cognizant of the relatively small sizes of Ozeran and Warkowitz and likely mindful that their locations might become lost to history, like so many towns and villages in the conflagration of World War II. For that reason, they carefully listed the exact locations of the two towns under the Polish system before World War II and the then-current (1984) Russian system after the War.
The scroll text goes on to describe details of the destruction of the Jewish communities of Warkowitz and Ozeran. Finally, the authors lament that the mass grave in Ukraine is bereft of a grave marker (at that time) and establish an official day of mourning for the two towns. The text ends with “May they rest in peace! The day of remembrance is set for the 27th of Tishrei.” (https://krupstory.blogspot.com)
The receptacle inside the Memorial in Holon Cemetery, Israel, not only contains soil from the hillside where the Jews of Warkowitz and Ozeran were massacred and the commemorative scroll—the founders of the Memorial also included lists of the victims from both towns. The following five images list those murdered in the Shoah from Ozeran only.
In 1965, the Organization of Veterans of Warkowitz and Ozeran moved their annual memorial service from the monument at the Holon Cemetery to the newly established Hall of Volhynia Jewry in Giv'atayim, Israel.
A memorial service for the martyrs of Warkowitz and Ozeran has been held in the Hall of Volhynia Jewry, Giv'atayim, Israel, every year since 1965 on the 27th of Tishrei. The 2009 memorial service, shown above, was under the direction of Yair Apel, son of Ben Zion Apel.
Also, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah)—a national holiday and day of remembrance in Israel held on the 27th day of Nisan (April or May)—a wreath-laying ceremony is held on behalf of the perished Volhynian communities. The following 2023 photograph shows the wreath in memory of the Warkowitz and Ozeran villages. Holding the wreath is Ben Zion Apel's granddaughter and Mordechai Krupp's great-granddaughter. (Photo courtesy Tzipi Karelitz)
Memorials in the United States to the Victims
The descendants of the original members of the Newark Ozeraner Society dedicated a memorial to the martyred Jewish communities of Ozeran and Varkovich on October 8, 2024. The memorial was sandblasted into an existing pillar at the gates of the Newark Ozeraner Society burial section in the New Mount Zion Cemetery, Lyndhurst, New Jersey, ensuring that future generations know the date, location, and fate that befell the Jewish communities of Ozeran and Varkovich.
