In Memoriam

Remembering the Jews of Kholmech massacred in August 1941

Contributed by Bill Schechter and Albert Kaganovitch

The following names come from two lists: A memorial book published in Belarus in the 1990's called Memory and from the materials of the Soviet State Extraordinary Commission of 1944.  On the former list there are 53 individuals mentioned, some by name. On the latter, 37 individuals are mentioned, all by name. There is considerable, but not a perfect, overlap between the two lists. Each list contains references not found on the other.  If the two lists are cross-referenced and collated, the number of victims recorded might rise as high as 63.

One eyewitness interviewed in Kholmech during the summer of 2001 believed that this total represents, more or less, a complete accounting. Another eyewitness stated that at least two hundred Jews were shot. However, both eyewitnesses were only 10-to 12-years old at the time.

According to a document from the Extraordinary Soviet State Commission, received from Yad Vashem in March 2002, 20 males and 21 females were "massacred and killed" in Kholmech, and 52 men and 22 women were taken away for work in Germany. This is the first document seen so far that mentions or records people "taken away."

All names with "year-of-birth" next to them come from the "Commission" list; most of the bracketed information derives from the "Memory" list, as well as the names without dates. Where no bracketed information appears, the lists overlap perfectly.

 

How many were massacred in Kholmech?

Apart from the book Memory and the Report of the Soviet State Extraordinary Commission, Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial and research center, also maintains a "Central Database" of most of those killed in the Shoah. If "Kholmech" is entered into the database window, about 100 names appear listed on three pages. In some cases, digitized documents confirming the death of an individual can be accessed as well as some biographical information. Approximately, 20 of these names are listed as "evacuated" or "killed in military service." That leaves approximately 80 names of those who were "murdered." The list is hard to evaluate though, because there is redundancies and double-counting (in some cases due to the use of both the formal name and then the diminutive name of the same individual). Additionally, while the list tells us that a given victim was born in Kholmech, the database does not state he/she was murdered in Kholmech. Conversely, a few of the victims are listed as being born elsewhere. Were they murdered in those places or in Kholmech? The database is not clear on these points. It is safe to say that between 50 and 80 Jewish residents--including those identified only by a first name or unnamed entirely--were massacred in Kholmech in August 1941.

• The Yad Vashem database can be found here.
• The Memory book list can be found by clicking here.
  
• The list in Report of the Soviet State Extraordinary Commission is integrated into the "In Memoriam" chart above

New material on the Kholmech massacre in August 1941 and
the dedication of a monument in the town in 1997.

The information was provided in two letters and a photograph sent to
Dr. Leonid Smilovitsky and forwarded to me in 2005.

• For the two letters, click here
• The Memorial Dedication Ceremony, Kholmech, 1997