grave site

In the meantime, from July 21 to 23, the SS had a large pit dug in the forest near Blagowshtchina, near the SS estate and concentration camp of Trostenez, south-east of the Minsk Ghetto.

The passengers were unloaded, taken to the edge of the pits, made to relinquish their valuables, and, after undressing, shot by Lithuanians under German SS supervision. They fell or were thrown into the pits.

However, the poor victims found no rest.

A year and a half after these barbarities, starting in the fall of 1943, the Germans had the mass graves opened, the corpses removed and burned on huge pyres—in order, presumably, to erase all evidence of the horrible crimes.

This operation, involving about 150 000 corpses, took close to two months—from October 27 to December 15, 1943.

The ashes were spread in the surrounding fields as fertilizer.