Manivtsy Extermination Site and the Orlintsy Camp for Jews

Written by Dr. Martin C. Dean,
Applied Research Scholar, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Washington DC

These articles will be published in volume V of the Encyclopedia,
The USHMM Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945,
vol. V Extermination, Transit, and Forced Labor Camps for Jews,
vol. ed. Martin Dean, series ed., Geoffrey Megargee
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press
in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, forthcoming)

Manjewzy (aka Manivtsy) Extermination site and temporary camp

Pre-1941: Manivtsy, village, Krasilov raion, Kamenets-Podol’skii oblast’, Ukrainian SSR; 1941-1944: Manjewzy, Rayon Krassilow, Gebiet Antoniny, Generalkommissariat Wolhynien und Podolien, Reichskommissariat Ukraine; post-1991: Manivtsi, Krasyliv raion, Khmel’nyts’kyi oblast’, Ukraine

Manivtsi is located about 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Starokostyantyniv. In the summer of 1942, a temporary holding camp and extermination site for Jews was established in two stables close to a grain silo, about one kilometer (0.6 mile) to the northeast of Manjewzy. Starting in July 1942, the Jews of Gebiet Antoniny were collected in the camp near Manjewzy, including Jews from the Orlinzy labor camp and others from the ghettos in Bazaliia, Kul’chiny, and Krasilov. In total around six separate columns of Jews arrived in the camp, comprising more than 1,500 people.[1] Most Jews came on foot escorted by policemen on horseback, but the elderly and infirm were dragged along on carts by other Jews. On arrival, the Jews were accommodated in overcrowded conditions in the stables camp. The camp was not surrounded by a fence, but it was closely guarded by the local Ukrainian police.

About three or four days after the first Jews arrived, the Jews were transported in trucks to a nearby wood, where a group of them had been forced to dig a large pit earlier. At the killing site, members of the German Gendarmerie pushed the Jews into the pit, where an SD-man shot them with a pistol. Any Jews trying to escape were also shot. Also present at the killing site was the senior Gendarmerie officer in Gebiet Antoniny, Karl Otto Paul. Responsible for organizing the mass shootings at Manjewzy was the head of the Security Police outpost (Aussenstelle) in Starokonstantinov, SS-Hauptscharführer Karl Graf.

After the main shooting Aktions in July or August, local witnesses report that a few Jewish craftsmen remained in the camp. Then on around September 10-12, 1942, more than 200 additional Jewish craftsmen and their families were brought to the Manjewzy camp from the Krasilov ghetto. A few days later, the Germans shot all of these Jews on the site of the camp.[2]

Sources:
The Manjewzy camp and extermination site is mentioned in: Ilya Altman, ed., Kholokost na territorii SSSR: Entsiklopediia (Moscow: ROSSPE?N, 2009), p. 567.
Relevant documentation is located in the following archives: BA-L (B 162/7846-7847); DAKhO (R863-2-44, pp. 114-126); and GARF (7021-64-793).

Martin Dean

[1] Some witnesses estimate between 2,500 and 4,000 Jewish victims at Manjewzy, but there were probably not more than about 2,000 Jews in the three ghettos and the labor camp altogether in the summer of 1942, and some Jews managed to escape or died before the transfer to Manjewzy.
[2] BA-L, B 162/7846, pp. 212-215, 280-281, 287-299, 310-313,and 344-349.

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Archive Abbreviations
BA-L Bundesarchiv Aussenstelle Ludwigsburg (German Federal Archives External Branch Ludwigsburg)
DAKhO Derzhavnyi arkhiv Khmel’nyts’koi oblasti (State Archives of the Khmel’nyts’ky Oblast’), Ukraine
GARF Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv rossiiskoi federatsii (State Archives of the Russian Federation), Moscow

Orlinzy (ZALfJ)

Pre-1941: Orlintsy, village, Antoniny raion, Kamenets-Podol’skii oblast’, Ukrainian SSR; 1941-1944: Orlinzy, Rayon Antoniny, Gebiet Antoniny, Generalkommissariat Wolhynien und Podolien, Reichskommissariat Ukraine; post-1991: Orlintsy, Antoniny raion, Khmel’nyts’kyi oblast’, Ukraine

Orlintsy is located about 26 kilometers (16 miles) west-northwest of Starokostyantyniv. In September 1941, authority in the region was transferred to a German civil administration. Orlinzy became part of Rayon and Gebiet Antoniny, in Generalkommissariat Wolhynien und Podolien. Regierungsassessor Harald Schorer served as Gebietskommissar in Antoniny.

In the spring of 1942, a forced labor camp for Jews (ZALfJ) was established in Orlinzy. It was based in the stable of a kholkoz. Jews were brought there from the nearby ghettos in Kul’chiny, Bazaliia, and Krasilov in at least three successive groups, with most arriving in May 1942. In total around 300 Jews were assembled there. The stable was not surrounded by a fence, but it was constantly guarded by Ukrainian police and local inhabitants were forbidden to approach. Living conditions in the camp were poor and some Jews sneaked out to beg for food from the local villagers. The Jews there worked repairing roads and performing other tasks.[1]

At the end of May, the Germans began to transfer the Jewish craftsmen from Krasilov to Orlinzy. Of a group of 44 Jews escorted to Orlinzy, Ukrainian police on horseback shot eight who had fallen behind due to weakness. From the Orlintsy labor camp, selected Jews were forced daily to drag heavy stones in a cart behind them for several kilometers. Subsequently most Jews from the Orlinzy camp were escorted to Manjewzy to be killed. The Jewish survivor Moysey Katz managed to escape back into the Krasilov ghetto shortly after his transfer to Orlinzy at the end of May.[2]

Around July 1942, the Jews of the Gebiet were collected in the village of Manjewzy, including those from the Orlintsy camp. On arrival, the Jews were held overnight in a stable in Manjewzy, and on the following day, once the grave was ready, the Jews were transported in trucks to a nearby wood, where they were all shot.[3]

Sources:
Documentation regarding ZALfJ Orlinzy is located in the following archives: BA-L (B162/7846-7847); DAKhO (R863-2-44, pp. 114-126); and GARF (7021-64-793).

Martin Dean

[1] BA-L, B 162/7846 (ZStL, II 204 AR-Z 442/67, vol. I), pp. 232-235, statement of Matrene Antonjuk, March 20, 1973; GARF, 7021-64-793, p. 95.
[2] BA-L, B 162/7846, pp. 277-79, statement of Katz. See also Abschlussbericht, March 18, 1971, Verfügung, June 18, 1974.
[3] BA-L, B 162/7846, pp. 344-49, statement of Denis Paska (resident of Manivtsy), March 14, 1973; pp. 256-61, statement of Pyotr A. Doshchuk, January 19, 1973 (former local policeman in Gebiet Antoniny); pp. 287-99, statement of Vasily S. Lysink, February 1, 1973 (former local policeman from Antoniny).

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Archive Abbreviations
BA-L Bundesarchiv Aussenstelle Ludwigsburg (German Federal Archives External Branch Ludwigsburg)
DAKhO Derzhavnyi arkhiv Khmel’nyts’koi oblasti (State Archives of the Khmel’nyts’ky Oblast’), Ukraine
GARF Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv rossiiskoi federatsii (State Archives of the Russian Federation), Moscow
ZALfJ Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden (Forced Labor Camp for Jews)

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Krasilov/Holocaust_files/Holocaust_Manivtsy_Orlintsy_Accounts/Manivtsy_Orlintsy.htm