• Memorial to the murdered Jews of Rava-Ruska
Since 2015 a memorial near the former New Jewish Cemetery in Rava-Ruska commemorates the Jews who were shot by German units or murdered in the Bełżec extermination camp between 1941 and 1944.
Image: Rava-Ruska, undated., View of the town before the Second World War, public domain
Rava-Ruska, undated., View of the town before the Second World War, public domain

Image: Rava-Ruska, 2015, Memorial pavilion and information stele at the mass grave, Aleksandra Wroblewska
Rava-Ruska, 2015, Memorial pavilion and information stele at the mass grave, Aleksandra Wroblewska
Rava-Ruska, in close proximity to the Polish border, is part of the historic region of Galicia and belonged up to the First World War to Austria-Hungary and then, in the inter-war period, to Poland. Until the beginning of the Second World War, Jews comprised the majority of the population, the others being mainly Ukrainians and Poles.
After their attack on Poland the German Wehrmacht occupied the area on September 10, 1939 and immediately took first anti-Jewish measures. Two weeks later however, the Germans withdrew from the region in accordance with a German-Soviet agreement and the Soviets took control. Under the conditions of the Soviet regime many Jews lost their basis of existence.
In June 1941, shortly after the attack on the Soviet Union, the German Wehrmacht occupied Rava-Ruska again. At that time about 7,400 Jews lived there. Many of them died during the next winter due to the poor living conditions which were further exacerbated by the anti-Jewish regulations of the new occupying forces. Between middle of March and end of July 1942 the SS murdered at least 2,200 Jewish men, women and children from Rava-Ruska in the Bełżec extermination camp, which was only 22 kilometres away. In September 1942, the German occupiers established a ghetto in Rava-Ruska. From then on approximately 11,000 Jews had to live in confined quarters. The inhumane conditions led to hunger and disease. Between December 7 and 11 1942, SS and police liquidated the ghetto with the help of Ukrainian auxiliary police. Almost all Jews were murdered during this »Aktion«: The victims were either shot at pits near Rava-Ruska or deported to the Bełżec extermination camp and murdered with poison gas. Only a few hundred Jews who were selected for work were spared for the moment. In June of 1943 these last Jews of Rava-Ruska were shot in the forest of Borove.
Image: Rava-Ruska, undated., View of the town before the Second World War, public domain
Rava-Ruska, undated., View of the town before the Second World War, public domain

Image: Rava-Ruska, 2015, Memorial pavilion and information stele at the mass grave, Aleksandra Wroblewska
Rava-Ruska, 2015, Memorial pavilion and information stele at the mass grave, Aleksandra Wroblewska
During the liquidation of the ghetto of Rava-Ruska between December 7 and 11, 1942 SS and police deported 2,00 Jewish children, women and men to the Bełżec extermination camp. Thousands of others were transported on trucks to already dug-out pits in the nearby Sedlyska Forest and shot there. A further 2,000 were murdered in close proximity to the New Jewish Cemetery at the edge of town. About 1,000 Jewish men, women and children were shot in the ghetto itself and either buried in a mass grave near the New Jewish Cemetery or in another mass grave on the cemetery. In June 1943 the last Jews of Rava-Ruska were shot.
Image: Rava-Ruska, 1910s, Orthodox Jews leaving a synagogue, Yizkor book
Rava-Ruska, 1910s, Orthodox Jews leaving a synagogue, Yizkor book

Image: Rava-Ruska, 2015, Memorial plaque in the pavilion overlooking the mass grave, Aleksandra Wroblewska
Rava-Ruska, 2015, Memorial plaque in the pavilion overlooking the mass grave, Aleksandra Wroblewska
After the Second World War, Rava-Ruska belonged again to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Except for a single person, no Jews returned to the town after the war. Almost no traces are left of the Old Jewish Cemetery since the German occupiers forced the Jews in 1942 to destroy it and to crush the gravestones for road building. Only a few gravestones and a two meter high pole with a little Star of David remained of the New Jewish Cemetery which was largely destroyed in Soviet times.
As part of the international project »Protecting Memory« and with the support of the German foreign office the American Jewish Committe Berlin set up new memorials at the former New Jewish Cemetery and the site of the mass shootings. The opening took place in the early summer of 2015. The mass grave is surrounded by an 80cm high concrete enclosure. Additional protection is provided by a layer of pale stones covering the surface. Near the entrance area is a simple pavilion with a memorial stone. In close proximity a stele informs about the history of the Rava-Ruska Jews. A »Wall of Remembrance« has been built between the cemetery and the mass grave site using tombstones from the cemetery that had been left in a pile and overgrown with vegetation. This wall is erected at almost the same place where once the entrance to the cemetery was located.
Image: Rava-Ruska, 2015, The enclosed mass grave, Aleksandra Wroblewska
Rava-Ruska, 2015, The enclosed mass grave, Aleksandra Wroblewska

Image: Rava-Ruska, 2015, »Wall of Remembrance« on the former New Jewish Cemetery, Aleksandra Wroblewska
Rava-Ruska, 2015, »Wall of Remembrance« on the former New Jewish Cemetery, Aleksandra Wroblewska
Name
Pamjatnik ewrejam ubitih u Rawy-Ruskij
Address
22 Сiчня вяулиця
80316 Rawa-Ruska
Phone
+380 (044) 285-90-30
Fax
+380 (044) 285-90-30
Web
http://www.protecting-memory.org/de/memorial-sites/rawa-ruska/
E-Mail
uhcenter@holocaust.kiev.ua
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times