KNYAZHEVODTSY

Mosty District, Grodno Region
Status: never rebuilt · memorial complex

The Tragedy

July 23, 1943 – A punitive detachment (Müller's group) surrounded the village at dawn. Residents were forbidden to leave their houses. Women were herded into a large village house, men into a nearby barn. The fascists set each house on fire. Those who had hidden under stoves and on rooftops ran out of the flames – they were shot with rifles, and their bodies were thrown into the fire. The remaining residents were machine-gunned and thrown into a pre-dug pit. Small children were thrown into the pits alive and buried.

970
people killed
300
houses burned
120
survived

Knyazhevodtsy · then and now

Knyazhevodtsy before 1943
⚫ Knyazhevodtsy before the tragedy — a prosperous village
Knyazhevodtsy memorial today
🕊️ Present-day memorial — "Mourning Mother" monument

Voices of the survivors

“People were herded into a barn that stood on large stones. People started moving the stones. My mother and two other girls managed to crawl near a stone and hide in the tall rye.”
— Zinaida Zhuk, 11 years old at the time
“We were ordered to harness horses and go to Knyazhevodtsy. Nobody knew why. Only upon approaching did everything become clear. Tightly surrounded by fascists with machine guns, the village began to burn from all sides. We were told to load the looted goods onto carts and take them to the ferry crossing.”
— Nikolai Prońko, resident of neighboring village Zapolye

Additional Atrocity – June 1944

Before retreating in June 1944, the occupiers returned to Knyazhevodtsy to cover up their crime. They dug up the pits where the bodies lay, pulled out the corpses, stacked firewood, doused them with gasoline, and burned them.

This attempt to erase evidence of the massacre was part of the Nazi strategy to hide the scale of their atrocities.

Memory

A memorial complex to the victims of fascism was established on the site of the village. The monument "Mourning Mother" stands at the mass grave.

In 2005, a museum dedicated to the tragedy was opened at the Dubno Secondary School. A requiem rally is held annually on July 23 — the anniversary of the massacre.

Never rebuilt · eternal memory Museum at Dubno School
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