• Memorial to the murdered Jews of Rivne
In a pine grove named Sosenki on the eastern outskirts of Rivne a memorial remembers since 1992 the approximately 17,500 Jews who were murdered there in November 1941.
Image: Rivne, undated, Historical view, public domain
Rivne, undated, Historical view, public domain

Image: Rivne, undated, Memorial near Sosenki, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
Rivne, undated, Memorial near Sosenki, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
The city of Rivne (Polish: Równe, Russian: Rovno) belonged to the Polish region of Volhynia during the interwar period and was occupied in September 1939 by the Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Before the start of the war almost half of the population was Jewish. In the very days after their attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 the German Wehrmacht marched into Rivne. The new occupiers implemented anti-Jewish measures and deployed a domestic auxiliary police force which actively took part in the persecution of the more than 20,000 Jews who resided in the town. The following days German units together with the local auxiliary police perpetrated first »Aktionen« against Jewish inhabitants. During the summer of 1941 only they murdered up to 4,000 Jews, predominantly men. On November 6, 1941 the Germans ordered all Jews who didn't have an Arbeitsschein (labour card) to gather at Kostelnaya square. In the following two days units of the Einsatzkommando 5 (mobile killing units) supported by Ukrainian auxiliary police and the Wehrmacht shot the approximately 17,500 Jews and buried their corpses in pits. In December 1941 the Germans forced the remaining Jews to move to a ghetto on the outskirts of Rivne. Until its liquidation many Jews were murdered on different occasions.
On July 13, 1942 the German occupiers liquidated the ghetto. They were aided by local auxiliary police. The inhabitants of the ghetto were sent in freight train carriages to a grove near the town of Kostopil about 35 km away where they were shot and buried. During the liquidation of the ghetto a number of Jews managed to escape. At the end of the month Reichskommissar (Reich Commissioner) Erich Koch (1896-1986) declared the city to be »judenfrei« – free of Jews.
Image: Rivne, undated, Historical view, public domain
Rivne, undated, Historical view, public domain

Image: Rivne, undated, Memorial near Sosenki, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
Rivne, undated, Memorial near Sosenki, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
In the first two months of occupation German units murdered up to 4,000 Jews, aided by their local helpers. During the »Groß-Aktion« on November 6 and 7, 1941 they murdered according to data later given by the official Soviet commission of inquiry 17,500 Jews. This equates to 80 percent of the Jewish population of Rivne. The German Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) themselves gave the number of 15,000. The German occupiers murdered most of the remaining 5,000 Jewish inhabitants in the woods near Kostopil on July, 1942.
Image: Rivne, undated, Synagogue, public domain
Rivne, undated, Synagogue, public domain

Image: Rivne, undated, Old memorial plaque from Soviet times, Yad Vashem
Rivne, undated, Old memorial plaque from Soviet times, Yad Vashem
Rivne was liberated by the Red Army on February 5, 1944. All in all only few Jews from Rivne survived the war. Most of the Jews who lived in Rivne after the war immigrated to Western Europe or Israel. In 1967 a memorial stone was erected in Sosenki. In 1968 a memorial in honour of the »Victims of Fascism« was erected near the former ghetto.
Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union the Jewish community could attempt to enclose the burial grounds and to establish a memorial site. It was opened in 1992. The memorial site integrates the mass grave and a memorial in form of an obelisk with an inscription in Yiddish, Hebrew and Ukrainian, commemorating the 17,500 murdered Jews. Round the memorial numerous gravestones are arranged, bearing the names of various victims. A tunnel with stylised footprints leads up to a white menorah. Various paths and lanterns guide the visitors.
Another memorial plaque is located near the town of Kostopil. It remembers the approximately 5,000 inhabitants of the Rivne ghetto who were murdered at the site.
Image: Rivne, undated, Menorah, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
Rivne, undated, Menorah, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy

Image: Kostopil, undated, Memorial stone, jewishgen.org
Kostopil, undated, Memorial stone, jewishgen.org
Image: Rivne, undated, Memorial site, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
Rivne, undated, Memorial site, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
Image: Rivne, undated, Stairs, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
Rivne, undated, Stairs, Obyedinennaya evreyskaya obchtchina ukrainy
Image: Rivne, 2017, Menorah at the memorial site, Christian Herrmann
Rivne, 2017, Menorah at the memorial site, Christian Herrmann
Image: Rivne, 2017, Detailed view of the memorial site, Christian Herrmann
Rivne, 2017, Detailed view of the memorial site, Christian Herrmann
Name
Memorialnyj Kompleks »Sosenki«
Address
Vulitsa Kyivskaya 110
33000 Riwne
Web
http://ujew.com.ua/object/memorial-nyj-kompleks-sosenki-
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times.