The monument was erected in 2008, in the forested area of the village of Smolyarka, near the Brest-Minsk highway, at the site of the mass extermination of peaceful civilians.
In the autumn of 1942, – local residents recount, – 600 meters from the village of Smolyarka, urgent digging of pits began. Thus, in a short time, dozens of forcibly gathered laborers with shovels prepared four huge pits here. As soon as the work was completed, the pits began to be filled with the bodies of Soviet citizens.
Here is what a witness to all these atrocities, Iosif Kutnik, said about it: “In October 1942, the squad leader of our street, Stanislav Olifer, ran into my house and told me to be at the city center, on the highway, with a shovel by 5 p.m. When I arrived at the designated place, there were already about 15-20 people with shovels. Soon we were put into a truck covered with tarpaulin, and we drove towards Bronnaya Gora. I had already heard that executions were taking place at Bronnaya Gora, so the thought immediately came that we were being taken to dig new pits. But before we had even covered a third of the way, the truck slowed down, turned right, and headed towards Smolyarka. Suddenly the truck stopped, the Germans jumped out, and we were ordered to stay put. We sat there for about 30 minutes or more. Through the loosely attached tarpaulin on the truck’s sides, I saw the already prepared pits, next to which stood a covered truck. Naked people were getting out of the truck, some being pulled out by the Gestapo. Among them were men, women, and children of various ages. All of them, pushed by the butts of automatic rifles, were being driven through a living corridor of Gestapo men towards the pits. From there came short bursts of automatic gunfire and single shots. Occasionally, heart-wrenching screams and children’s cries broke through.
Among those doomed to death, I recognized three from Bereza. One was the head of the Bereza hospital named Fialkin, the second was the son of the shoemaker Pomeranets, and I forgot the surname of the third.
When all the doomed were shot, the Germans sprinkled the bodies with lime and lightly covered them with sand. Then we were ordered to get off the trucks and fill in the pit.
The next day, when we were brought back, there were two more huge graves, already full and also lightly covered with sand. It was clear that executions had taken place here at night as well…”
A few witnesses of those tragic events indicated the presumed site of the execution. Based on the work of a special battalion created by order of the district military commissariat, one burial was found in this tract, then three more large graves, and a decision was made to erect a monument here to the innocent victims of fascism. A stele made of black marble was installed with inscriptions in three languages – Belarusian, Hebrew, and English – commemorating about 3,000 peaceful residents buried here.
In the tract near the village of Smolyarka, the remaining Jews of the Bereza ghetto were executed, as well as people who arrived in Bereza after the liberation of Western Belarus by the Red Army in 1939, families of servicemen, party and Soviet activists, and all those suspected of underground work against the German-fascist invaders.
Sources:
https://www.savehistory.by/karta/bratskaya-mogila-zhertv-fashizma-smolyarka/
