In 1977, a monument was erected in Molchad dedicated to the "Soviet citizens who died at the hands of the fascists." In 2012, a new monument was installed with inscriptions in Belarusian, English, and Hebrew: "To the victims of fascism. Here in 1942, 3,600 Jews — local residents — were brutally tortured," placed at the site of the mass extermination of Jews from the village of Molchad and surrounding villages.
Before the war, 1,020 Jews lived in the village of Molchad. The village was occupied from June 1941 to July 1944. In July 1941, the Germans, implementing Hitler’s program of Jewish extermination, forced the Jews of Molchad and nearby villages into a ghetto.
Freyde Margolina Makranskaya recalled: “A bleak life somehow continued; we prepared for any misfortune that might happen. With a bribe, one could temporarily delay the end, but the time was used to prepare for self-defense. There were several old rifles hidden with Chaim Useliubski, and they also dug a hiding place to shelter in at the right moment. In another house, they built a large hiding place that was hard to find and waited to see what would happen next.”
In May 1942, the Jews were forced to dig a pit at the "Popovskie Hills," and to avoid unrest, the police explained that the pits were needed to place fuel tanks. But people understood the true meaning of what was happening and even found the strength to joke: “This will be my place, and this will be yours…” When the pits were ready, information about mass killings in Baranovichi and Horadishche reached Molchad, which deeply affected the people. It became clear that soon the same would happen in Molchad.
On the night of July 15, 1942, Nazis and policemen rounded up Jews in groups of 100–120 and led them to the pit, stripped them naked, and shot them.
The four-year-old daughter of Zosia Shmilovich was shot on the street because she could not keep up with the others. Iosif Sinyavsky, his wife, and two children were found in the attic and killed on the spot; the sick Chaim Mendelevich was shot right in bed. On July 15, 1942, the family of feldsher Bochko was shot, and his two daughters were raped and then killed.
Freyde Margolina Makranskaya recalled: “My parents managed to hide in their shelter for a while until a non-Jewish pig trader found them and handed them over to the police, who took them to the execution site. My sister Chasha, my husband David, and I remained in our hiding place with several other people. At night, we left the shelter, crossed a swamp, a railway, and fled into the forest. After the killings in Molchad, several Jews returned from the forests and believed the promises that nothing would happen to them, but of course, they were all caught and shot. My sister and I ran to the village of Mitskovichi and visited a non-Jewish acquaintance, Berezovsky, who allowed us to hide in his attic. We lived there for several weeks; a non-believer brought us food, and at night we even went to his home. There we heard about the tragedy that befell the Jews of the town, including our entire family: father, mother, brothers Yakov, Moshe, Mordechai, grandfather (Asher), my uncles and aunts, and their families.”
After this, the Germans announced that all remaining Jews were guaranteed life and work if they relocated to the ghetto. Literally ten days later, another “aktion” took place (this euphemism was used by the Nazis for their organized mass killings). From July 15 to 18, 1942, at the "Popovskie Hills" ravine, 3,665 people from Molchad and nearby settlements were shot — almost all were Jews, along with 50 Belarusians and 5 or 15 prisoners of war.
Many aspects of the Molchad Holocaust have been reconstructed from the memories of local residents. Y.Yu. Pugach recalls: “The resident of Savtsevichi, Nikifor Vasilyevich Semenyak, and his son Lev Nikiforovich Semenyak, who was 12 years old, hid Jews in the forest for two months. According to the report, they were captured and shot on September 17, 1942, and buried with the Jews in a common grave. But at night, the relatives of the deceased dug up the bodies and secretly reburied them in the Orthodox cemetery in Molchad.”
The organizers and executors of the killings were: the deputy Gebietskommissar of Baranovichi and the Baranovichi district, the SS troops commander (one and the same person) Kramff, SS lieutenant Mondzhek, and others. The punitive forces came to Molchad from other districts of the Baranovichi region as well.
Later that same year, during another mass extermination action in Molchad, more than 200 of the last ghetto prisoners working at the peat enterprise were killed and buried in the "Popovskie Hills" ravine.
Small groups of Molchad Jews hid in the surrounding forests; they were called “bunker people” or “family camp people.” Hanan Shmulovich recalled:
“We hid for about two months. From time to time, we went into the forest to look for Jews.”
In October 1942, the Hitlerites besieged the forest, but the defenders held off the superior enemy forces for three days. Other partisan detachments came to the aid of Zimmel’s partisans, and the enemy retreated. Many Jewish partisans from Molchad died in this battle.
On July 18, 2022, commemorative events were held dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the destruction of the Molchad ghetto. The Chief Rabbi of the religious association of progressive Judaism communities in the Republic of Belarus, Grigory Abramovich, noted: “Here, in Molchad, 3,600 Jews were exterminated, and in all of Belarus — 800,000. 80 years: is that a lot or a little? Whatever the case, this must not be forgotten. It must not happen again. So that no one ever comes to our land again with the purpose of destroying.”
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