Coordinates: 46.466°N 30.

733°E

1941 Odessa massacre

The Odessa massacre was the mass murder of the Jewish
1941 Odessa massacre
population of Odessa and surrounding towns in the Transnistria
Governorate during the autumn of 1941 and the winter of 1942
while it was under Romanian control. It was one of the worst
massacres in the Ukrainian territory.[1]

Depending on the accepted terms of reference and scope, the

Odessa massacre refers either to the events of October 22–24, 1941
in which some 25,000 to 34,000 Jews were shot or burned, or to
the murder of well over 100,000 Ukrainian Jews in the town and Column of Jewish civilians deported
the areas between the Dniester and Bug rivers, during the to Transnistria escorted by
Romanian and German occupation which took place following the Romanian soldiers
massacre. As of 2018, it was estimated that up to 30,000 people,
mostly Ukrainian Jews, were murdered in the actual massacre, Location Odessa
which occurred October 22–23, 1941.[2] The primary perpetrators Date 22–24 October 1941
were Romanian soldiers, Einsatzgruppe SS and local ethnic Attack type Mass murder,
Germans.[3][4] genocide
Deaths 34,000–100,000
Background Victims Mainly Jews but also
Roma, Ukrainians,
Before the war, Odessa had a large Jewish population of
approximately 200,000, or 30% of the city's total population. By prisoners of war
the time the Romanians had taken the city, between 80,000 and Perpetrators Kingdom of Romania
90,000 Jews remained, the rest having fled or been evacuated by Support:
the Soviets. As the massacres occurred, Jews from surrounding Nazi Germany
villages were interned in Odessa and Romanian
concentration camps set up in the surrounding areas.

On October 16, following a two-month siege of

Odessa, the Germans and Romanians captured the city.

Mass killings of hostages and

Jews on October 22–24

Destruction of the Romanian Map of the Holocaust in Ukraine. Odessa ghetto

commandant's office marked with gold-red star. Transnistria massacres
marked with red skulls.
On October 22, 1941, in the building of the NKVD on
the Marazlievskaya street where the Romanian military
commander's office and the headquarters of the Romanian 10th Infantry Division had settled to occupy the
city, a radio-controlled mine exploded. The mine had been planted there by the sappers of the Red Army
before the surrender of the city by Soviet troops. The building
collapsed, and under its rubble, 67 people were killed, including 16
officers, among whom was the military commander of the city,
Romanian General Ioan Glogojeanu. Responsibility for the
explosion was placed on the Jews and Communists.

The execution of hostages

In response to the explosion at the commandant's office, General Plaque on the wall of the Odessa-
Nicolae Tătăranu received a direct order from Marshal Ion Sortuvalna railway station,
Antonescu, ordering "immediate reprisals" be carried out on the commemorating the Holocaust
Jewish population.[5] The Romanian troops and the German
"Einsatzgruppe" arrived in Odessa on October 23 to kill from 5,000
to 10,000[6]: 1 51  hostages, many of whom were Jews.[7]

Across the Marazlievskaya street, occupiers broke into the apartments of Odessa citizens and shot or
hanged all residents found, without exception. They raided the streets and markets of the city and suburbs,
and people who knew nothing of the bombing were shot on sight against fences or the walls of houses.
Nearly 100 men were seized and shot at the Big Fountain, about two hundred people were executed in the
Slobodka neighborhood near the market, 251 residents were shot in Moldavanka, Near and Far Windmills
and in Aleksandrovsky Prospekt about 400 townspeople were executed. The columns of the captured
hostages were driven to the area of artillery warehouses on Lustdorf Road, where they were shot or burned
alive.[6]: 1 45 

After the war, more than 22,000 corpses were found in mass graves.[8]

The beginning of the Holocaust

On October 23, an order was issued threatening all Jews with death on the spot and ordering them to report
to the village of Dalnyk on October 24. In the afternoon of October 24, about 5,000 Jews were gathered
near the outpost of Dalnyk. The first 50 people were brought to the anti-tank ditch and shot by the
commander of the 10th machine-gun battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolae Deleanu.[9]

Military Command of the mountains. Odessa brings to the attention of the population of
Odessa and its surroundings that after the terrorist act committed against the Military
Command on October 22, on the day of October 23, 1941, were shot: for every German or
Romanian officer and civilian official 200 Bolsheviks, and for every German or Romanian
soldier 100 Bolsheviks. Taken hostage, which, if repeated such acts, will be shot together with
their families.

— Commander of troops: Gendarmerie Lieutenant Colonel Mihail Niculescu

To speed up the process of destruction, the Jews were driven into four barracks, in which holes were made
for machine guns, and the floor was pre-filled with gasoline. People in two barracks were shot with
machine guns on the same day. At 17:00 the barracks were set on fire. The next day, the prisoners were
shot, placed in the remaining two barracks, and in one of the barracks grenades were thrown.[10]

Meanwhile, the Jews who were not selected for the first group, and who had already arrived in Dalnik,
were told that they were "forgiven". They were sent to various military headquarters and Gendarmerie
stations for "registration", where they were detained for different lengths of time. When they were released,
they discovered that their houses had been occupied and their property plundered.

During the first week of Romanian occupation of Odessa, the city lost about 10% of its inhabitants.[6][11]

Subsequent events
The registration carried out by the Romanian administration in late
1941 counted about 60,000 Jews in Odesa. This number included
persons having only one Jewish ancestor. Jews were required to
wear a special distinctive badge, a yellow hexagram (Magen David,
the Star of David, a symbol of Judaism) on a black background.[12]

On November 7, 1941, an order was issued, making it mandatory

for all male Jews from 18 to 50 years old to report to the city prison.
Aftermath of the Odesa Massacre:
I order: Jewish deportees killed outside
Brizula (now Podilsk).
Art. 1 All men of Jewish origin, aged 18 to 50 years,
are obliged within 48 hours from the date of
publication of this order to report to the city prison
(Bolshefontanskaya road), having with them the
essentials for existence. Their families are obliged to
deliver food to them in prison. Those who did not obey
this order and found after the expiration of the
indicated 48-hour period will be shot on the spot.

Art. 2 All residents of the city of Odessa and its

suburbs are required to notify the relevant police units
of every Jew of the above category who has not
complied with this order. Coverers, as well as persons
who know about this and do not report, are punishable
by death.

— Head of the Military Police: Hor. Odessa

Lieutenant Colonel M. Niculescu

From that day on, the entire Jewish population of the city was sent to concentration camps, organized by
Romanians in the countryside, primarily to the village of Bogdanovka (now in the Mykolayiv region).
Later, a ghetto was arranged in Odessa itself.[6]: 1 72 

The Romanian administration took measures to seize the property of future victims. In mid-November, a
new order was issued clarifying the authorities' demands for Jews. It said:[6]: 1 71 

... All persons of Jewish origin are obliged at the registration to the Military Command or
police officials to voluntarily declare all their precious objects, stones and metals. Those guilty
of violating this order will be punished with the death penalty

By the middle of December, about 55,000 Jews were gathered in Bogdanovka, though some of them were
not from Odessa. From December 20, 1941, until January 15, 1942, each of them was shot by a team of the
Einsatzgruppe SS, Romanian soldiers, Ukrainian police and local German colonists.[3][4]
A month later, a death march of 10,000 Jews was organized in three concentration camps in Golta.

In January 1942, about 35,000-40,000 of the Jews left in Odessa were evicted and sent to the ghetto that
had been created on January 10, 1942, in the poor area of Slobodka. The evicted endured terrible
conditions; with inadequate housing for all and severe crowding, many were forced out into the open winter
air, which led to mass mortality from hypothermia.[13][14][15]

From January 12 to February 20, 1942, the remaining 19,582 Jews were deported to Berezivka Raion of
Odessa Oblast. They were transported in unheated echelons, and many died on the road. In Berezivka,
groups were forced to walk to Domanevka, Bogdanovka, Golta and other concentration camps. Many died
of hunger and cold along the way. The guards, consisting of Romanian soldiers and German colonists,
organized mass executions of Jews during the journeys. In 18 months, almost all the prisoners of Golta
died.[13]

The survivors of the Holocaust

Some Jews were sent to work in the villages, and about half of them survived the occupation. The situation
in the ghetto of Domanevka and other ghettos in Transnistria improved in 1943 after the Jews began to
receive assistance from Jewish organizations in Romania.[16] About 600 Odessa residents in these ghettos
lived to be released. Several hundred Jews who were hiding in Odessa itself also survived. Jews
participated in the struggle of the Odessa underground and constituted a significant part of the guerrilla
units, based in the Odessa catacombs.[3]

Trials and punishment of the main perpetrators

At the Bucharest People's Tribunal, set up in 1946 by the new Romanian government in conjunction with
the Allied Control Council, one of the charges brought against Marshal Ion Antonescu, the Governor of
Transnistria, Gheorghe Alexianu, and the commander of the Odessa garrison, General Nicolae Macici, was
"the organization of repressions against the civilian population of Odessa autumn of 1941". For these
crimes, they were sentenced to death. The first two were shot on July 1, 1946. Later, King Michael
commuted Macici's death sentence to life imprisonment. Macici died in prison in 1950.

In response to the appeal of the verdict filed by the son of Alexianu, on November 5, 2006, Bucharest
Court of Appeal confirmed the verdict of war criminals to death, dated May 17, 1946. In response to the
appeal filed by the Prosecutor General, on May 6, 2008, the case was re-examined and the judges of the
High Court of Cassation and Justice finally rejected the application for revision of the 1946 sentence.[17]

Commemoration

Memorial in Prokhorovsky Square

In the early 1990s in Odessa's Prokhorovsky Square, where the "road of death" to the extermination camps
for Odessa's Jews and Gypsies had begun on the outskirts of the city in 1941, a memorial commemorating
the victims of the Holocaust was created. A memorial sign was installed, along with the "Alley of the
Righteous Among the World", featuring trees planted in honor of each Odessa citizen who had harbored
and saved the Jews. The complex was completed in 2004 with the erection of a monument to the victims of
the Holocaust in Odessa by sculptor Zurab Tsereteli.[18][19]
 Memorial to the Monument by Zurab Alley of the Memorial sign
victims of the Tsereteli "Righteous Among
Holocaust the World".

Memorial sign

The Holocaust Museum in Odessa

The Museum of the Holocaust in Odessa was created in accordance with the decision of the Council of the
Odessa Regional Association of Jews, former prisoners of the ghetto and Nazi concentration camps. The
chairman of the association is Shvartsman Roman. The opening of the museum took place on June 22,
2009.[20]

Other

In January 2015, the authorities of the Italian town of Ceriano Laghetto, in the province of Monza-e-
Brianza in the Lombardy region, named a city square "Martyrs Square of Odessa" in memory of the victims
of the occupation regimes in Odessa: Jews killed October 22–24, 1941, as well as anti-Maidan activists,
rescuers and accidental victims who died on May 2, 2014, in the Odessa Trade Union House.[21][22]

On May 2, 2015, the first anniversary of the events in the House of Trade Unions, a commemorative
monument dedicated to the "Martyrs of Odessa" was opened at this square. The monument is a tongue of
flame with a silhouette of a dove, a symbol of the world, inside.[23]

The 2018 tragicomic Romanian film I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians deals with the
massacre and historical memory among modern Romanians.

See also
List of massacres in the Soviet Union
 List of massacres in Ukraine
History of the Jews in Odessa
Hostages Trial
Romania in World War II
The Holocaust in Romania

Literature
Dallin A. (1998). Big Book with Many Chapters and Two Co-authors (https://web.archive.org/
web/20070928004048/http://www.odessitclub.org/en/archives/dallin/dallin.html). Romanian
Historical Studies. Iasi-Oxford-Portland. p. 296. ISBN 9739839118. Archived from the
original (http://www.odessitclub.org/en/archives/dallin/dallin.html) on 28 September 2007.
Retrieved 14 May 2018.
Cherkasov A.A. (2006). Defense of Odessa. Pages of truth (https://web.archive.org/web/2007
0928004048/http://www.odessitclub.org/en/archives/dallin/dallin.html). Great literary and
artistic series "All Odessa" Issue 15. Odessa: Optimum. p. 296. ISBN 966-344-012-0.
Archived from the original (http://www.odessitclub.org/en/archives/dallin/dallin.html) on 28
September 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
Cherkasov A.A.. (2007). Occupation of Odessa. Year 1941. Essays. Great literary and artistic
series "All Odessa" Issue 15, Issue 18. Odessa: Optimum. p. 270. ISBN 978-966-344-144-3.
Jewish. communities. center "Migdal" (2006). History of the Holocaust in the Odessa region.
Collection of articles and documents. Great literary and artistic series "All Odessa" Issue 18.
Odessa: Optimum. pp. 372 + [136] with illustrations, 22 tables. ISBN 966-344-144-5.
Aleksandrovich I.A. (2014). The ways of death. Notes gettovtsa. Odessa: Art-Brand. Studio
"Negotsiant. pp. 240 with illustrations. ISBN 978-5-9901362-2-9.

References
1. Ugo Poletti. The Forgotten Holocaust: The Massacre of Odesa’s Jews (https://www.kyivpost.
com/then-and-now/the-forgotten-holocaust-the-massacre-of-odesas-jews.html) Kyiv Post.
Retrieved 18 December 2022
2. "The Odessa massacre: Remembering the 'Holocaust by bullets' " (https://www.dw.com/en/th
e-odessa-massacre-remembering-the-holocaust-by-bullets/a-45844546). Deutsche Welle.
22 October 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
3. Kotlyar, Yuri. "Bogdanov tragedy - Holocaust against the Jewish population" (http://www.kby.
kiev.ua/komitet/conference/Kotlyar_3.pdf) (PDF). KBY Kiev. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
4. "Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine (Vaad of Ukraine)" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20090527215733/http://www.vaadua.org/Hadasot/06-2008/Had01-0
6-2008.html). Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine. Archived
from the original (http://www.vaadua.org/Hadasot/06-2008/Had01-06-2008.html) on 27 May
2009. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
5. Simion, Adrian (2014). "Terra Sebus. Acta Musei Sabesiensis, 6, 2014, p. 529-549.
PROBLEMA HOLOCAUSTULUI REFLECTATĂ ÎN PAGINILE REVISTEI ROMÂNIA MARE
ÎN PERIOADA ANILOR 1990-2000" (https://www.cclbsebes.ro/docs/Sebus_6_2014/23_ASi
mion.pdf) (PDF). Journal of the Sabesian Museum. 6: 533. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
6. Cherkasov, Alexander Anatolievich (2007). Occupation of Odessa. Year 1941 (http://catalog.
odnb.odessa.ua/opac/index.php?url=/notices/index/IdNotice:103142/Source:default).
Odessa: Optimum. p. 264. ISBN 978-966-344-144-3. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
 7. "Shoah in Transnistria: tragedy of Odessa Jewry" (http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/ru/educatio
n/lesson_plans/odessa.asp). Yad Vashem. Holocaust Memorial Complex. Retrieved 13 May
2018.
8. Vishnevskaya, Irina. "Memory ... past ... occupation" (http://odesskiy.com/chisto-fakti-iz-zhizni
-i-istorii/pamjat-proshloe-okkupatsija.html). Odesskiy.com. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
9. Umrikhin, Alexander (3 February 2015). "Odessa: unbroken hero city" (http://www.tvc.ru/chan
nel/brand/id/2304/show/news/news_id/745). TV Center. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
10. Cohricht, Felix. "Odessa, October, 1941. Memory…" (http://odesskiy.com/chisto-fakti-iz-zhizni
-i-istorii/odessa-oktjabr-1941-god-pamjat.html). Odesskiy.com. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
11. "The Romanian Jewry: Historical Destiny, Tolerance, Integration, Marginalisation" (http://ww
w.jsri.ro/old/html%20version/index/no_3/ladislau_gyemant-articol.htm). JSRI. Retrieved
14 May 2018.
12. Borovoi, S. Ya.; Volsky, S.A.; Glyadkovskaya, A.I.; Gotlov-Gotlib, A.G.; Dobrolyubsky, K.P.;
Sosnovsky, I.A. (2011). Odessa. An outline of the history of the city-hero to the 150th
anniversary of the foundation. Essays. Odessa: Optimum. p. 322.
13. "Chronologie Geschichtein" (http://geschichteinchronologie.ch/geschichte-der-hiv-impfstofffo
rschung/). Geschichteinchronologie. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
14. "Memorable dates of Jewish history" (https://eleven.co.il/). Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia.
Retrieved 14 May 2018.
15. Hasin, Arkady. "January 10, 1942 Odessa, the Slobodka district" (http://odesskiy.com/chisto-f
akti-iz-zhizni-i-istorii/10-janvarja-1942g-odessa-rajon-slobodki.html). Purely Odessa site.
Retrieved 14 May 2018.
16. Rozen, Marcu. "The General Demographic Balance of the Jewish Population From the
Former Greater Romania and Transnistria" (https://archive.today/20120529202443/http://hol
ocaustremembrance.net/2Postings/2MarcuRozen-2book/024-Demography.html#selection-3
59.0-361.49). Archive Today. Archived from the original (http://holocaustremembrance.net/2P
ostings/2MarcuRozen-2book/024-Demography.html#selection-359.0-361.49) on 29 May
2012. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
17. "Instanta Suprema a respins reabilitarea maresalului Antonescu" (http://www.ziua.ro/news.p
hp?data=2008-05-06&id=6301). ZIUA. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
18. "Holocaust Memorial" (http://otdyhaem.com.ua/odesskaja/odessa/memorial-zhertv-holokost
a.html). Otdyhaem (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
19. "Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli" (https://eng.rah.ru/the_academy_today/the_members_of_t
he_academie/member.php?ID=51284&sphrase_id=126457). Russian Academy of Arts (in
English). Retrieved 21 February 2022.
20. "A museum of the Holocaust was opened in Odessa" (http://dumskaya.net/news/V_Odesse_
otkryt_muzej_Holokosta-001813/). Dumskaya. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
21. Tumanova, Anna (11 February 2015). "The Martyrs' Square of Odessa is and will be: an
interview with the mayor of the city of Ceriano Lagetto" (https://regnum.ru/news/polit/189405
8.html). Regnum. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
22. Suchkov, Eugene (19 January 2015). "In Italy appeared the Martyrs' Square of Odessa" (http
s://www.kp.ru/online/news/1950944/). Komsomolskaya true. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
23. "Un monumento ricorda i 'Martiri di Odessa' " (http://www.ceriano-laghetto.org/News_ed_Eve
nti/Notizia.asp?cod=2226). Сeriano Laghetto. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2018.

Further reading
Bibliography of the Soviet Union during World War II
 Bibliography of Ukrainian history § Holocaust

External links
Media related to The Holocaust in Romania at Wikimedia Commons
"Report on the role of Romania in the Holocaust" (http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/pre
sentations/programs/presentations/2005-03-10/pdf/english/chapter_05.pdf) (PDF).
www.ushmm.org. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20060409144308/http://www.ushm
m.org/research/center/presentations/programs/presentations/2005-03-10/pdf/english/chapter
_05.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 9 April 2006. Retrieved 30 July 2006. (PDF)
"The US Holocaust Museum on the Odessa Massacres" (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/inde
x.php?ModuleId=10005476&Type=normal+article). www.ushmm.org. Retrieved 30 July
2006.
Weinberg, Robert; John D. Klier; Shlomo Lambroza (1992). "The Pogrom of 1905 in Odessa:
A Case Study excerpts" (http://www.2odessa.com/wiki/index.php?title=The_Pogrom_of_190
5_in_Odessa:_A_Case_Study_excerpts). Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern
Russian History: 248–89.
"Nuovi nomi per vie, piazze, sale ed edifici comunali" (http://www.ceriano-laghetto.org/News
_ed_Eventi/Notizia.asp?cod=2176). www.ceriano-laghetto.org. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
E. Bloshtein. Features of the Holocaust in Odessa (http://news.rusrek.com/ru/eshhe/istoriya/4
5175-osobennosti-xolokosta-v-odesse)
Official site of the Museum of the Holocaust in Odessa (https://web.archive.org/web/2014121
8115524/http://holocaust.od.ua/)
"The US Holocaust Museum on the Odessa Massacres" (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/inde
x.php?ModuleId=10005476&Type=normal+article). www.ushmm.org. Archived (https://web.a
rchive.org/web/20120718230304/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005
476) from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2006.
Book-trailer literary and documentary novel The Ways of Death. Notes ghetovtsa »IA
Alexandrovich about the Holocaust in Odessa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eho5pHZ
eyuU/)

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