The Zonal State Archive in Rechitsa presents a document on the installation of a monument at the site of the execution of Jews in the agro-town of Kholmech

In Belarus, occupied during the Great Patriotic War, establishing the so-called «new order», the Nazis carried out a policy of mass extermination of Jews. The town of Kholmech in the Rechitsa district did not escape this fate. In August 1941, the German occupiers shot 57 Jewish civilians on a cliff near the Dnieper.

Years later, the Jewish community of Rechitsa approached the district leadership with an initiative to perpetuate the memory of the murdered Kholmech residents. As a result, by decision No.327 of the Rechitsa District Executive Committee of September 30, 1999 (F. 348. Op. 1. D. 863. L. 113), a monument was erected in the village (now an agro-town) of Kholmech at the site of the execution and burial of civilians, on which the epitaph is carved: «Bend your knees, young and old. Here lie ordinary Jews. Let no one disturb them from sleeping in eternal sleep. God forbid anyone else suffer like this. 57 ruined souls: 15 men, 18 women, 24 children».

1. ZGARech. F. 348. Op. 1. D. 863. L. 113

2. Monument to the executed Jewish residents of Kholmech