DRIBIN
Pre-1941: Dribin, town and raion center, Mogilev oblast’, Belorussian SSR; 1941–1944: Rear Area, Army Group Center (rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet Mitte); post-1991: Drybin, raen center, Mahiliou voblasts’, Republic of Belarus
Dribin is situated 64 kilometers (40 miles) to the northeast of Mogilev. According to the 1939 census, there were 563 Jews living in Dribin, comprising 17.9 percent of the total population. [End Page 1666]
German armed forces occupied the town on July 14, 1941, about three and a half weeks after the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22. In the interim period, part of the Jewish population was able to evacuate to the east. Men of eligible age were drafted into the Red Army.
During the entire German occupation until October 1, 1943, a German military administration (Ortskommandantur) exercised authority in the town. The Ortskommandantur set up a raion authority and a police force composed of local residents.
Shortly after the occupation began, the raion authority, on the orders of the Ortskommandantur, organized the registration and marking of the Jewish population. Jews ages 16 to 50 were also required to perform heavy physical labor.
On September 30, 1941, all the Jews of the town were settled into an open ghetto, which consisted of 11 houses. The ghetto in Dribin existed for only one week. On October 6, 1941, the Jews were assembled and instructed to wear their best clothes and bring their prized possessions. German forces of Einsatzkommando 8 then organized the destruction of the ghetto. Assisted by the local police, German forces escorted the Jews into a forest 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) south of the town, where they shot them all, around 400 in total. The Jews were also robbed of all their property by the perpetrators.1
SOURCES
The Dribin ghetto is mentioned in the following publications: Vladimir Adamushko et al., eds., Handbuch der Haftstätten für die Zivilbevölkerung auf dem besetzten Territorium von Belarus 1941–1944 (Minsk: State Committee for Archives and Documentary Collections of the Republic of Belarus, 2001), p. 138; and Marat Botvinnik, Pamiatniki genotsida evreev Belarusi (Minsk: Belaruskaia Navuka, 2000), pp. 291, 298.
Relevant documentation can be found in GARF (7021-88-37); NARB (861-1-9, pp. 152–153); and USHMM (RG-22.002M, reel 8; and RG-53.002M, reel 7).
NOTES
1. GARF, 7021-88-37, pp. 2 reverse and 10; and NARB, 861-1-9, pp. 152–153.
