Memorial Golubaya Dacha description and photo - Russia - North-West: Pskov region (Topic)

Blue Cottage Memorial description and photo - Russia - North-West: Pskov region. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photos and a map showing the nearest significant objects.

Photo and description

The "Blue Dacha" site is located near the town of Nevel. Before the revolution, it was a dacha territory. Among other dachas was the house of the police chief, which was painted blue. This house was named Golubaya Dacha. The Nevelskoye ghetto was built in former dachas. It was replenished within a month. From all the surrounding villages, the Germans drove people here. There were about eight hundred Jews at the Golubaya Dacha.

The memorial is located in the Jewish cemetery, and the exposition tells about 2,000 Jews from Nevelsk who were shot here. Everyone, in accordance with tradition, can put a pebble on the graves of innocent children, women, old people.

Before the Great Patriotic War, people of different nationalities and religions peacefully coexisted in a small town: Poles and Belarusians, Russians and Jews, Germans and Lithuanians, Orthodox churches coexisted with churches, synagogues and churches stood side by side.

On July 15, 1941, Nevel was occupied and the shooting of civilians immediately began. By order of the German command, issued on August 7, 1941, the former burgomaster of the city of Vasiliev issues an order that obliges the entire Jewish population of the city of Nevel to move to the territory of the Blue Dacha park outside the city within three days. With the energetic participation of the police, women, children, old people, almost a thousand Jews in total, were driven into the countryside. According to eyewitnesses, people were driven with bundles, things, shouts. Old people and children were taken on carts. There were almost no young people in the crowd. The convoy was carried out by Germans and local policemen.

The destruction of people began on September 6, 1941. The shooting began at dawn. All were shot separately. The men accepted death while standing, not a single sound was made. At first, the adult men were forced to dig a ditch - a grave, after which they were shot. The children were taken from the mothers and shot before their eyes. Then the women were also killed. According to the stories of a German motorcyclist who was present at the execution: five women were taken to an anti-tank ditch, they were blindfolded and forced to strip naked. Older women were supposed to bare only the upper body. Then the SS men pushed them into the ditch and shot them from above. After one group of those who were shot, the next group ran into the ditch on those who had just been killed. Upon hearing the order to undress, the women began to shout because they knew that they would be shot.

Now in a grove near the Golubaya Dacha, there are two graves - a woman's and a man's. Many people were thrown into the moat alive. According to eyewitnesses, the ground in this place moved for several days. According to the information provided by the Extraordinary State Commission, in total, two thousand Jews were exterminated in the Nevelsky District.

The memorial includes a seven-branched menorah, which is more than two meters in height, forged by a blacksmith - artist LB Rzhevsky, memorable obelisks. Asphalt paths have been laid to the burial sites. Until now, work continues to perpetuate the memory of the ruined Jews - new names are inscribed on the monuments that were able to be restored. Eight hundred people were killed. The names of 458 executed prisoners are known. Every year people come and come here to honor the memory and bow to the innocent victims. Jews read Kaddish and, according to Jewish custom, bring pebbles to the graves. Russians lay flowers at the foot of the monuments.

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Topic: Memorial Golubaya Dacha description and photo - Russia - North-West: Pskov region.