Vohlin Jews Commemorate Massacre

Hundreds of Jewish residents attended memorial events to commemorate 70 years since the Nazi Massacre of Jews in the city of Rovno in the Vohlin region (then in Poland, now in Ukraine).

The events took place Monday, November 14, corresponding to 17 Cheshvan, the Jewish anniversary date of the massacre, and others held last week, November 6.

The memorials concluded with a large ceremony at the Sosonki forest about 6 kilometers from the town. On November 6-7 1941, (16-17 Cheshvan), approximately 21,000 of the town’s Jews were brutally executed by a shooting squad in the Sosenki forest. The 5,000 remaining Jews were forced to live in a ghetto.

According to the YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, the ghetto was liquidated on July 13, 1942. A few Jews escaped and joined the partisans. Some of them later took part in the liberation of Rovno in February of 1944.

Rabbi Shneur Schneersohn, Chabad representative to the region and Chief Rabbi of Rovno, led the Kaddish in memory of the victims at the memorial services.

“The memory of those who perished here is sacred,” said Schneerson.

“And it is has been left to us to honor the memory of these Jews, who were killed for no other reason than that they were Jewish. We must perpetuate Jewish identity,” he said emphatically, so that the intent of the murderers is never realized.

Gersh Fraerman, chairman of the local Jewish community, shared some thoughts on the massacre and the community’s growth in recent years. Government officials and religious leaders also participated.

The first documented Jewish presence in Rovno, Ukraine, then a part of Poland, dates back to as early as 1571 when Prince Lubomirski invited Jews to settle in Rovno.

The famed Rabbi DovBer, the Maggid of Mezritch, lived in Rovno from 1760 to 1772.

Rovno made headlines in 1926, after an American Jewish girl was arrested in connection with the assassination of Hetman Oskilko, former leader of “pogrom bands”. The girl was arrested when she was caught taking pictures of the funeral. According to the JTA report at the time, “she was released as soon as it was established that she was an American citizen and that she took the photographs merely out of curiosity.”