The Untold Stories. The Murder Sites of the Jews in the Occupied Territories of the Former USSR

Back to home

Community:

Daugavpils

Murder Sites:

The Railroad Public Garden

Pogulyanka

Zolotaya Gorka

Commemoration:

Commemoration of Jewish Victims

Pogulyanka

Pogulyanka was a large mass killing site of Jews from the Latgale District, named after the nearby village. During the first days of July, Jews from Daugavpils were shot in the Pogulyanka Forest, seven kilometers from Daugavpils towards the village of Mezciems, 500–600 meters to the right of the road. Groups of people were shot for several days. The first group consisted mainly of the elderly and children. The second one comprised healthy young men as well as women, children and the elderly. Two or three days later, in the morning, some 150 Jewish girls, high school students, were shot.
On July 29, 1941, the first large-scale murder was carried out in Pogulyanka. A group of local gravediggers dug a ditch three meters wide, 2.5 meters deep and about 20-25 meters long. All the Jews aged 60 and over were then told that they were being transferred to another place of residence because the present ghetto was too highly populated. They were brought to Pogulyanka, and shot. According to some sources, on August 6, an additional 1,000 people were gathered together on the pretext of being sent to work, and shot in the same ditch.
On August 17, 2,000 more people were taken to Pogulyanka on the pretext of harvesting sugar beet, and shot.
Although at first the Jews were shot by the Germans, later on the murders were carried out by Latvian policemen under the supervision of Robert Bluzmanis – the prefect of the Daugavpils Latvian police.
On November 7-9, especially timed for the anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, the next in a series of large-scale murder operations was carried out, under the supervision of the ghetto commandant, a Latvian named Zaube.
The November shootings were mainly perpetrated by members of the Arajs Commando, sent from Riga. After this operation, some 950 people, mostly artisans and other working Jews, remained alive. In addition, in May 1942 some 500 Jews were shot in the area of Mezciems. It was the final large-scale murder operation against the Jews in Daugavpils and its surroundings. Those who remained alive were sent to the Kaiserwald camp on the outskirts of Riga, and later to the German concentration camp at Stutthof.
In March and April 1942, the Germans ordered the Pogulyanka shooting site to be surrounded with barbed wire, and signs were hung warning against entering the site. The graves themselves were covered with tarpaulin. Flames were seen at night, and dark smoke during the daytime. For two weeks, the bodies of the victims were cremated. Afterwards, all the local residents who had participated in the burning were shot.

Video

To view - click here

Rachel Schneider was born in 1927 in Daugavpils, and lived there during the war years.
(Interview in Russian)

Related Resources

Written Testimonies

German Reports

ChGK Soviet Reports