In Volgograd, Jewish community offers to commemorate Holocaust victims

In Volgograd, the place of execution of the Jews should be memorialized in memory of victims of the Holocaust. This is stated by the Volgograd Jewish community. Experts of the "Rosokhrankultura" (Federal Service for monitoring compliance with cultural heritage protection law) consider creation of the memorial complex in memory of all victims of fascism to be more appropriate.

Yael Ioffe: Nazis executed Jews separately from other prisoners

"In Volgograd, there is a place where in 1942-1943 mass executions of Jewish population were carried out," says Yael Ioffe, Chair of the Council of the Jewish Community Centre. "In the Central District, in its Zapolotnovskaya part, now the City Garden named after March 8, two firing pits were behind the building of the former Nazi commandant's office. One pit was intended for the Red Army prisoners, guerrillas, and the other one - for the Jews. The first pit is the monument of the federal significance "Mass grave of citizens of Stalingrad and soldiers of the 57th and the 64th Armies, who died in 1941-1943". The second pit is preserved only on the geodesic maps."

Chair of the Council of the Jewish Community Centre named a number of problems associated with commemoration of memory the Holocaust victims in Volgograd. Thus, there is a threat that a shopping and entertainment centre might be built on the burial place of the Stalingrad Jews.

The local Jewish community works on commemoration of memory of the Holocaust victims in Volgograd for a year. According to Yael Ioffe, this activity is hampered by bureaucratic obstacles.

Irina Poluektova: there was no Holocaust in Stalingrad

Irina Poluektova, Deputy Head of the Nizhne-Volzhskoe Territorial Department of the "Rosokhrankultura", reported that Stalingrad faced no Holocaust, since the city had not been fully occupied by the Nazis. Torture and executions carried out behind the commandant's office were not selective, that meant, the Nazis did not separated the Jews.

"I have studied many documents on the subject: acts of graves' opening, reports of reconnaissance men, testimony of witnesses," said Irina Poluektova. "The documents mention no selection on a national basis during executions."

According to the official, members of the Volgograd Jewish community failed to provide documentary evidences of the existence of the separate Jewish grave in the name the City Garden named after March 8.

"The whole park is one large grave of the Nazis' victims," Irina Poluektova has noted. "During the Battle of Stalingrad and after it, civilians were buried there. This place contains many burial pits. Searchers say that two thousand residents of Stalingrad were buried there. Thus, to separate the grave where Jewish residents of Stalingrad were buried is impossible."

Irina Poluektova believes that the park should be established as the park of memory of civilians killed by the Nazis.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in November 2009, in Volgograd, vandals desecrated the foundation stone of the monument in the City Garden named after March 8. The monument was built at the place where more than 600 Jewish civilians were executed during the Nazi's occupation of Stalingrad.

The foundation stone was desecrated by unidentified persons also in January 2008.