• Memorial to the murdered Jews of Domanivka
In Domanivka (Russian: Domanjowka) a memorial and a memorial plaque commemorate the 18,000 Jews who were murdered there between 1941 and 1944 in a Romanian camp or perished due to the catastrophic living conditions.
Image: Domanivka, 2012, Memorial stone at the mass gave, Stiftung Denkmal
Domanivka, 2012, Memorial stone at the mass gave, Stiftung Denkmal
Domanivka located near the Southern Bug was founded in the early 19th century. In 1897 903 of 1,145 inhabitants were Jews. There were several Jewish shops and a synagogue. In 1939 there was still a Jewish population of 369. The German Wehrmacht and the Romanian Army occupied Domanivka on August 5, 1941. At the end of the month the occupiers murdered 24 Jews. In September Domanivka became part of the Romanian occupied region of Transnistria with Odessa as its administrative centre. Soon thereafter the Romanian occupiers established a camp for Jews in Domanivka. The Jews were imprisoned in the community centre, the synagogue and two near-derelict barns. In November 1941 the first Jews from Bessarabia and the Odessa region were deported to the camp. Their number rose to 20,000 in total. Their living conditions were catastrophic and their fate was sealed: Already in December 1941 colonel Modest Isopescu had issued the order to murder all Jews in the camp. Until February 1942 Romanian units murdered all in all about 18,000 Jews and buried their corpses west of Domanivka. In spring they forced 60 Jews from the camp to excavate the already putrescent corpses again and to burn them in order to avoid an epidemic. This task took several weeks. In January 1942 several hundred Jews from the Odessa region and from Bessarabia were interned in the camp. In June once again hundreds of Jews from Odessa arrived. At that time 2,000 to 3,000 Jews were still alive in the camp. Some of them were drafted to conduct forced labour and received small food rations. Upon consultation with the Romanian constabulary the German Sonderkommando (special unit) R murdered another hundred Jews. By the end of 1942 about 1,000 Jews were still alive, mostly women. By the end of 1943 the Romanians deported the Domanivka Jews to Akhmetchetkha, another extermination camp in Transnistria where in all likelihood they were all murdered.
Image: Domanivka, 2012, Memorial stone at the mass gave, Stiftung Denkmal
Domanivka, 2012, Memorial stone at the mass gave, Stiftung Denkmal
According to some statements approximately 20,000 Jews perished in the Domanivka camp. About 18,000 were murdered by the occupiers during massacres between December 1941 and February 1942. The victims mainly came from Odessa and surroundings. Involved in the murder of the Jews were mainly the Romanian constabulary and the Romanian army. They were supported by Ukrainian militia and the Sonderkommando (special unit) R, which was mainly made up of ethnic Germans from the region. Because of the catastrophic living conditions in the camp thousands of inmates died of hunger, cold and diseases. Near the end of 1942 the Sonderkommando R shot another hundred Jews. In the months prior to the arrival of the Red Army the Romanian occupiers shot a further 250 Jews, among them 50 children. In early March 1944 a SS-unit coming from the east murdered several dozens of Ukrainian Jews from the camp. On the arrival of the Red Army on March 28, 1944 only about 500 Jews were still alive. Most of them had arrived in the camp shortly before.
Image: Domanivka, 2012, Memorial stone at the mass gave, Stiftung Denkmal
Domanivka, 2012, Memorial stone at the mass gave, Stiftung Denkmal

Image: Domanivka, undated, Inscription on a memorial plaque, public domain
Domanivka, undated, Inscription on a memorial plaque, public domain
Since Soviet times a memorial plaque in the centre of Domanivka commemorates the murdered Jews of the camp. The Russian inscription reads: »In this building in the village of Domanivka was during the times of the fascist occupation from 1941 to 1944 a concentration camp-ghetto. The Fascists murdered and shot 18,000 Jews«. Today the building houses a grocery store and the community centre. About 300 metres further south is the building of the former synagogue. It hasn't been used as a place of worship since the times of the Russian Revolution. In 1994 the historian Boris Gidalewith (1908–2003) from Odessa erected a memorial for the murdered Jews near their mass graves. At his initiative 23 memorials remembering the Jewish victims in the former region of Transnistria were erected. The memorial is located west of Domanivka behind a grove. According to the Ukrainian inscription 19,000 murdered Jews are buried at this site. Less then a kilometre away is another site of a mass shooting, now a sports field. Here Romanian occupiers and their accomplices murdered about 600 Jews in December 1941. Nearby is the Jewish cemetery where no burial took place since 1987. Today there is no Jewish community in this place which was once called a shtetl because of its overwhelming Jewish majority. In 1999 the family Gnatiuk was honoured with the title »Righteous among the Nations« by the Israeli memorial centre Yad Vashem. For two months they hid the family Starkmann in their basement. Mrs. Starkmann and her three children survived the war and moved to Odessa. In 2002 the documentary »Exodus«(Russian: Izchod) by Ewgenij Olenin was released. It addresses the suffering of the deported Jews and features interviews with contemporary witnesses, mainly intellectuals from Odessa.  
Image: Domanivka, 2012, Memorial stone at the mass gave, Stiftung Denkmal
Domanivka, 2012, Memorial stone at the mass gave, Stiftung Denkmal

Image: Domanivka, 2012, Municipal cemetery, Stiftung Denkmal
Domanivka, 2012, Municipal cemetery, Stiftung Denkmal
Name
Pamjat' ubityh ewrejiw Domaniwki
Phone
+38(048)722 60 97
Web
http://www.holocaust-odessa.org/
E-Mail
www.holocaust-museum@mail.ru
Open
The memorial is accessible at all times.