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

Pre-1941: Nikolaev, city and oblast’ center, Ukrainian SSR; 1941–1944: Nikolajew, capital, Gebiet and Generalkommissariat Nikolajew; post-1991: Mykolaiv, oblast’ center, Ukraine

Nikolaev is located about 400 kilometers (249 miles) south-southeast of Kiev. According to the 1939 population census, 25,280 Jews were living in Nikolaev (15.2 percent of the total). German armed forces occupied the city on August 17, 1941, about eight weeks after the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In these weeks, the majority of the Jews were able to evacuate to the east. One of those who escaped by rail recalled: “Every time there were bombings, the train stopped. We got out and took cover underneath it. Once the planes flew away, we got back in the train and it started moving again.”¹ Men of eligible age were drafted into the Red Army or enlisted voluntarily. More than 6,000 Jews remained in the city at the start of the occupation.²

From August 18 until October 1941, German Field Commandant’s Office no. 193 (Feldkommandantur 193) ran the affairs of the city. The commandant established a local administration in the city, and a Ukrainian auxiliary police force consisting of 195 men was recruited from among local residents.³

Starting in November 1941, a German civilian administration assumed authority in the region. Nikolaev became the administrative center of Generalkommissariat Nikolajew. National Socialist Motorist Corps (NSKK)-Obergruppenführer Oppermann was appointed as Generalkommissar. Oberbürgermeister Nickau was named the city mayor (Stadtkommissar). SS-Brigadeführer Tittmann became the SS- und Polizeistandortführer in Generalkommissariat Nikolajew. Nickau and Tittmann held these positions until September 1942. Major Witzleb, who was transferred from Aussig, was in charge of the Schutzpolizei in the city. He served under Unter-Leutnant [End Page 1627] Weiberg, who was Commander of the Order Police (KdO) for Generalkommissariat Nikolajew.⁴

Click for larger view
View full resolution

Residents of an AJDC-supported Jewish home for the aged pose in the dining hall in Nikolaev, ca. 1928–1929.

USHMM WS #29877, COURTESY OF AJDC

From August 18 until the end of September 1941, a detachment of Sonderkommando 11a was based in Nikolaev. Sonderkommando 11a, commanded by SS-Sturmbannführer Paul Zapp, was subordinated to Einsatzgruppe D under the command of SS-Oberführer Otto Ohlendorf. From mid-September to the end of October 1941, Einsatzkommando 12 was also active in Nikolaev. From September 8 until early November 1941, Ohlendorf’s headquarters staff (Gruppenstab) was deployed in the city.

Einsatzkommando 5, headed by SS-Untersturmführer Hans Sandner, was stationed in Nikolaev from early November 1941. In February 1942, an office of the Commander of the Security Police and SD (KdS) was created for the entire Generalkommissariat in Nikolaev; SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Leopold Spann was the commander until September 1943.

When Sonderkommando 11a arrived in the city, it began conducting searches for civilians, who were then taken by the Wehrmacht to collection points for prisoners of war. Around 4,000 people were seized. Among those arrested and then shot were 227 “suspicious Jews, political functionaries, and released prisoners.”⁵ Sonderkommando 11a also appointed a Judenrat, which had to register the entire Jewish population of Nikolaev. Forced labor groups were assembled from among the able-bodied Jews aged 16 to 60. They were assigned tasks according to the needs of various German units in the city.⁶

At the end of August or the beginning of September 1941, the Jews of the city were concentrated in a ghetto located on Pushkin Street. Order was kept inside the ghetto by an internal Jewish police force.⁷ The ghetto only existed for a little over two weeks. On September 14, 1941, the Jews received an order to assemble with their luggage at 10:00 a.m. on September 16 at the Jewish cemetery, for resettlement to another place in Ukraine. The Jews continued to report at the cemetery until September 18. On September 21, Sonderkommando 11a began the mass shooting of the Jewish population. The first people sent out to be shot were Jewish males older than 14. Women and children were subsequently subjected to the same fate. Over the course of three days, around 7,000 Jews were taken out and shot in ravines located between Voskresenskoe and Kalinovka, 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from Nikolaev. Attempts to escape were prevented by a ring of perimeter guards. When the shooting was over, the Germans detonated explosives in the ravine area, and the corpses were covered with earth. Local residents from the Voskresenskoe and Kalinovka villages were also assigned to fill in the graves. The best clothing worn by the Jews was taken in six cars to Nikolaev, and the less valuable clothing was distributed to the local inhabitants of the Voskresenskoe and Kalinovka villages. Local inhabitants also complained that blood from the Jewish corpses had contaminated the water supply. They said that “they didn’t want to drink Jewish blood.”⁸

Click for larger view
View full resolution

Defendant Otto Ohlendorf, commander of Einsatzgruppe D, pleads “not guilty” during his arraignment at the Einsatzgruppen Trial, September 15, 1947. Seated behind him wearing a bowtie is Gustav Nosske, whose Einsatzkommando 12, along with Sonderkommando 11a, participated in murder operations around Nikolaev.

USHMM WS #43043 COURTESY OF NARA

At the end of 1943 and the beginning of 1944, 50 prisoners were ordered to dig up the corpses and burn them. Members of the German civil administration recall that this resulted in a terrible stench throughout the city for days. After they had finished, the prisoners themselves were shot and killed and their bodies burned.⁹

There were very few survivors from among the several thousand Jews who were briefly interned within the Nikolaev ghetto.

In January 1946, a Soviet Military Tribunal in Nikolaev sentenced to death and promptly hanged Hans Sandner, Franz Witzleb, and Heinrich Schmale for crimes committed in occupied Soviet territory. A court in Munich sentenced Paul Zapp to life in prison on February 26, 1970.