Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

Jews living in Pre-WW2 Mogilev

View of the Main St. in Mogilev

When a partisan organization in Mogilev was uncovered, it was noted that its leader, the former Soviet Russian Lieutanant Moktseev, had already managed to recruit 39 men as well as 15 women (mainly adolescents), to serve as spies and to transmit information.

 Among the 55 persons, there were, all told, 22 Jews who worked with fanatical zeal to further strengthen the organization. Moktseev received strong support from a vegetable dealer who put at his disposal his storeroom in which to carry out the work. The 55 persons were liquidated and, in addition, collective measures were carried out against the Jews.
 

Operations against Party functionaries, agents, saboteurs, and Jews.
 

In Mogilev, the female worker Nina Lisunova was arrested. She has an elementary school education (up to fourth grade) and worked in a silk factory in Mogilev. She was a deputy to the Soviet Supreme Council and had participated in eight meetings of the Soviet Council in Moscow.

On October 11, 1941, the Russian Feodor Karyago from Shkov and three more Russians were shot for Communist agitation. On the same day, the Russians Vasily Bertyev, Vladimir Berendovsky, and Andrei Siniakov were shot. They had attempted to build up an organization for Communist activities and had already acquired pistols.

On October 14, 1941, the Russians Micheal Sokishevky, Vasily Terisov, Maxim Rudakov, Georgi Charsevu, and Makar Amsalovich were shot. Under the Soviet regime, they had been active Party functionaries and had handed large numbers of people over to the NKVD, as well as assisting in the deportations.

On October 16,1941, the Russian girl Anna Garbusov was shot for particularly violent expressions of hostility against Germany while a member of the NKVD.

On the same day, the Jews Stanislaus Borsky and Tolia Akhonin were liquidated for being former NKVD agents. The Jews Simen Alexandrovich, Shuster Peiser, and Mikail Saki were shot for being in possession of explosive ammunition.
 

 On the same day the Jewess Kadin Orlov was executed for being found without a Jewish badge and for refusing to move into the ghetto. On October 18, 1941, the Jews Lova Wasman, Fama Birkman, Yakob Saravo, Abraham Baraniche, Solomon Katzman, and Ber Katzman, as well as the Jewess Fania Leikina were liquidated for refusing to wear the Jewish badge and for spreading inflammatory propaganda against Germany.

On October 20, 1941, the Jews Stanilov Naum and the Jewish couple Alter were liquidated. They had hidden themselves in Mogilev outside the ghetto.

On October 14, 1941, the Jew Isaak Piaskin was shot by the Vorkommando of Einsatzkommando 9. He had been a political functionary of the Red Army and was found on the road to Viasma is suspicious circumstances.

On October 17, 1941, the woman Maria Spirina was shot for sniping.

On October 21, 1941, the Jew Yoel Liubavin was shot after he was found not far from Viasma in a Russian bunker in possession of firearms.

Measures against criminals and looters.

The Jew Samuel Goffman was shot on October 17, 1941. He was convicted of having falsified his identity card in order to hide his Jewish origins. The Russian, Emil Stubin, was shot on the same day after having been convicted of repeated arson.

Six Russians were shot in Mogilev on October 20, 1941. They had been wandering about the town and lived by committing criminal acts, including extortion.

Twelve persons were shot on October 21, 1941. They were convicted of criminal theft. Two Jewesses who set fire to two houses in Bobruisk during the air attack on the night of October 13, 1941 were liquidated. A larger number of persons were shot in Bobruisk for looting and other criminal acts.
 

“Sonderaktion”

83 of the several hundred inmates from the forced labor camp in Mogilev were liquidated on October 15, 1941, for being racially inferior elements of an Asiatic strain. The responsibility for their retention in the Rear Army area could no longer be taken.

According to a report Infantry Regiment 691, the Jews of Asmony in every way possible supported the partisans still holding out in the immediate area. On October 9, 1941, during a mopping-up operation in that area 81 Jews were shot for breaking regulations of the German occupying forces. Russian uniforms were found in several Jewish dwellings.

As a result of numerous complaints about their provocative behavior in Gorki (northeast of Mogilev) as well as in the surrounding area, a total of 2,200 Jews of all ages were liquidated in mopping-up operations in eight localities.

They were, for the most part, Jews who had immigrated from the district of Minsk. Like the rest, they committed offences against the regulations of the German [occupation] forces. The operation was carried out in close cooperation with the Military Police.

In Mstislavl, about 80 km east of Mogilev, 900 Jews were liquidated for breaking regulations of the German forces, harboring partisans in transit, and providing them with food and clothing.