The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945

Pre-1939: Wysock, town, województwo poleskie, Poland; 1939–1941: Vysotsk, raion center, Rovno oblast’, Ukrainian SSR; 1941–1944: Wysozk, Rayon center, Gebiet Stolin, Generalkommissariat Wolhynien und Podolien; post-1991: Vysots’k, raion center, Rivne oblast’, Ukraine

Wysock is located 133 kilometers (83 miles) north of Równe. In 1921, there were 893 Jews residing in Wysock, comprising 30 percent of the total population.¹

A few days after the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the Soviet officials packed their things and left, assuring the Jews that they would soon be back. Only a few Jews, mainly youths and Communists, went with them. For several days there was no authority in the town, but no attacks on Jews took place during this uncertain period. Jews took the opportunity to burn Hebrew or Russian books to destroy anything that might link them to the Soviets in the eyes of the Germans. A small German patrol arrived in Wysock in early July 1941, to be greeted by the non-Jews with bread and salt. Most Jews remained in their houses out of fear.

Soon the German military administration appointed a local administration made up of non-Jews, including a police force recruited from local volunteers. All Jews were registered, and the new authorities issued a series of decrees concerning the Jews. Jewish property was confiscated, and Jews were not permitted to move from one place to another or to buy and sell things. Jews were forbidden to eat meat, use the sidewalks, or assemble in groups. Jews had to wear distinguishing armbands, and a Star of David was to be placed on all Jewish houses. The synagogue and the Bet Midrash were converted into grain storage barns, and Jews dared to pray only in secret.²

In the summer of 1941, a Jewish Council ( Judenrat) was established, which acted as an intermediary between the German authorities and the Jews. It also controlled a small Jewish police force that wore special armbands and assisted with the enforcement of German orders. Jews were subjected to forced labor; families had to devote half of their working time to public works. Work consisted of moving earth and rocks, while some craftsmen, such as blacksmiths and carpenters, worked directly for the German army in workshops. Jews had to surrender valuables and money to meet German demands for “contributions” and were also robbed and blackmailed by the local police.³

During August 1941, about 170 Jewish women and children arrived in Wysock from nearby Dawidgródek. They had been driven out of that town following the mass shooting of the men there by an SS cavalry unit. The Jews of Wysock took them into their houses and shared their food with them.⁴ From the end of August, authority in Wysock was transferred to a German civil administration. Wysock became a Rayon center within Gebiet Stolin. SA-Standartenführer Dziembowski was named the Gebietskommissar, and his deputy was a man named Stark.⁵ Under the civil administration, the armbands for Jews were exchanged for yellow patches to be worn on the chest and back.

At some time before the summer of 1942, about 150 Jews from the surrounding villages were moved into Wysock. As with the refugees from Dawidgródek, they were distributed among the houses of the local Jews, and a public kitchen was established to provide them some nourishment. The Germans established a ghetto in Wysock at the end of July 1942.⁶ A number of buildings in the center of the village were fenced in with barbed wire. More than 1,500 people were imprisoned in the ghetto. Isak Kaftan, a survivor of the Wysock ghetto, recalled that “living conditions were very difficult. We were forbidden to leave the ghetto. We were also not allowed to communicate with the villagers. Various diseases raged in the ghetto. The people suffered from hunger. There was a lack of water. The men capable of work were escorted out to work by the Germans and the local police.”⁷ The yizkor book records, however, that the ghetto was not closely guarded, and Jews were able to climb through the wire to trade possessions for food.⁸

At the end of August 1942, the Jews in Wysock received news of the destruction of the Jews in the neighboring town of Dąbrowica, which increased the level of fear in the ghetto. Soon afterwards the Germans ordered that Jews were no longer permitted to leave the ghetto, and the Jewish Police even applied pressure to ensure the return of some Jews who had [End Page 1501] hidden in the surrounding villages. On the eve of the Aktion, no Jews were requested for forced labor. During the night, police forces surrounded the ghetto, and anyone attempting to leave was shot.

The German police liquidated the Wysock ghetto on September 9, 1942. It is estimated that approximately 1,600 to 1,800 people were killed.⁹ The mass shooting was carried out under the supervision of the Security Police (Sipo) detachment from Pińsk, which arrived early in the morning in four or five trucks. First, the local police and Security Police forces surrounded the ghetto.¹⁰ The Jews were gathered together and then escorted on foot to the pits outside Wysock. They were escorted to the pits in three groups, each using a different route. The local name for the mass killing site was “Ljado.”¹¹

There were two pits, about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) outside the town, that had been dug shortly before the Aktion by local villagers, who were told that the pits would be used to store fuel. The pits were about 100 meters long and 10 meters wide (328 by 33 feet). The Jews knew of the excavation and suspected that the pits would not be used for the purpose alleged by the Germans.¹²

On arrival at the killing site, the Jews were told to lie down in the pits, where they were shot. The Gendarmerie and local police forces from Stolin, Wysock, and probably Dawidgródek participated in the Aktion. It took about two hours to complete the mass shooting. The perpetrators took no steps to ensure that all the victims were dead.¹³ The graves were filled in by local villagers.

In Wysock, a few Jews survived initially in hiding places. The Germans and their collaborators systematically searched the ghetto, shooting any Jews they found on the spot. As one of the columns was being escorted to the killing site, a group of about 100 Jews tried to escape towards the Horyn River. The Germans shot at them as they ran away. The police forces pursued them in boats, but a number successfully escaped into the nearby forest. Some were recaptured and taken to the pits to be shot.¹⁴ The corpses of those shot trying to escape were collected by local villagers and taken to the pits for burial.¹⁵

The remaining Jewish houses in Wysock were taken over by local non-Jews. Only a few of the Jews who escaped from the ghetto managed to survive until the Red Army drove the Germans from the area in 1944. Most fled to Poland at the end of the war and emigrated from there to Israel and other countries in the West.