• Dubossary Holocaust Memorial
A monument in the small Moldovan town of Dubossary, which has since the beginning of the 1990s been part of the breakaway region of Transnistria, honours the approximately 4,000 Jews from Dubossary and surrounding areas who were murdered by SS Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) in 1941.
Image: Dubossary, September 14, 1941, Mass shooting carried out by Einsatzkommand 12 of Einsatzgruppe D, Imperial War Museum
Dubossary, September 14, 1941, Mass shooting carried out by Einsatzkommand 12 of Einsatzgruppe D, Imperial War Museum

Image: Dubossary, 2005, Memorial to the Jews murdered in Dubossary, Stiftung Denkmal
Dubossary, 2005, Memorial to the Jews murdered in Dubossary, Stiftung Denkmal
The small town of Dubossary lies beyond the river Dniester, in direct vicinity of the region of Bessarabia – a region which Romania had to cede to the Soviet Union in 1940 and which today to a large part makes up the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Jews first settled in Dubossary in the 18th century; in 1939, there were about 2,200 Jews living here. After the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, German and Romanian troops occupied the city. In the summer of 1941, they were followed by SS Einsatzkommando 12b (mobile killing squad) under the command of Max Drexel. The Jews from Dubossary and vicinity had to move into a ghetto guarded by Romanian units. At the beginning of September 1941, Drexel ordered the leader of the Jewish community, Alexander Dyemenchuk to have pits dug outside the town, supposedly for the purpose of storing supplies for the winter. A week later, the command of the Einsatzgruppe issued an order for Jews to prepare for their resettlement to the area of the city of Tiraspol on September 12, 1941. In the early morning of that day, members of the mobile killing squad, Romanian constabulary and other helpers forcibly gathered about 2,500 Jews on the premises of a tobacco factory close to the prepared pits. The members of the mobile killing squad first brought the men to the pits, after having forced them to first hand over all of their valuables. The Jews had to line up on the edge of the pit, where they were shot from behind. The mobile killing squad then shot the women and the children. In total, Einsatzkommando 12b killed up to 2,500 Jews during this first operation. Two days later, the SS men shot about 1,500 Jews from the nearby towns of Okna and Kotovsk at the same pit. Shortly before moving further east, the mobile killing squad searched the area once more, killing a further 500 Jews.
Image: Dubossary, September 14, 1941, Mass shooting carried out by Einsatzkommand 12 of Einsatzgruppe D, Imperial War Museum
Dubossary, September 14, 1941, Mass shooting carried out by Einsatzkommand 12 of Einsatzgruppe D, Imperial War Museum

Image: Dubossary, 2005, Memorial to the Jews murdered in Dubossary, Stiftung Denkmal
Dubossary, 2005, Memorial to the Jews murdered in Dubossary, Stiftung Denkmal
About 4,000 Jews died in the shootings carried out by Einsatzkommando 12b (mobile killing squad) in September 1941. Over half of them came from Dubossary, several hundred came from nearby villages. Some of them had sought refuge in Dubossary. About 1,500 Jews came from the towns of Okna and Kotovsk. About 500 Jews from the wider region of Dubossary were murdered at the end of September 1941.
Image: Dubossary, 2005, Memorial plaque, Stiftung Denkmal
Dubossary, 2005, Memorial plaque, Stiftung Denkmal

Image: Dubossary, 2005, A woman points to the name of a relative on a memorial plaque, Stiftung Denkmal
Dubossary, 2005, A woman points to the name of a relative on a memorial plaque, Stiftung Denkmal
After the war, most probably in 1949, a grave areal was set up on the site of the shootings. Low walls frame several mass graves in which victims of the shootings were buried. In the years that followed, several elements were added to the memorial complex, which is officially dedicated to »victims of fascism«. In the 1980s, a group of sculptures was unveiled. It depicts a Soviet soldier bending over two children. Several memorial plaques have been affixed to niches in the perimeter wall. Around 1990, the complex was restored by architect Semyon Mikhailovich Shoikhet and sculptor Naum Moiseevič Epelbaum.
Image: Dubossary, 2005, View of the sculpture group overlooking the grave areal, Stiftung Denkmal
Dubossary, 2005, View of the sculpture group overlooking the grave areal, Stiftung Denkmal

Image: Dubossary, 2005, Sculpture group set up in the 1980s, Stiftung Denkmal
Dubossary, 2005, Sculpture group set up in the 1980s, Stiftung Denkmal
Name
Memorial schertwam faschisma 1941g.
Address
ul. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
4501 Dubăsari
Web
http://www.dubossary.ru/page.php?163