M.41.GAMog - Documentation from the State Archive of the Mogilev Region

M.41.GAMog - Documentation from the State Archive of the Mogilev Region
 
 History of the State Archive of the Mogilev Region
 
 The Archive was established on 05 July 1938, and its documentation is comprised of documentation that was found in the regional archives of Mogilev and Kalinin. In 1941, it included 1,316 original collections that contained 650,000 conservation units. During the war, some of the documents were evacuated but most were destroyed (1,200 original collections). The Archive resumed its activity in the city of Krichev in 1943, and in Mogilev in 1944. During the same time all of the documentation that had been evacuated was returned to the Archive.
 
 This sub-record group contains two collections: documentation of the Mogilev municipal administration and documentation of the Bobruysk district administration during 1941-1944.
 
 In the collection of the Mogilev municipal administration, there is much documentation regarding the municipal administration, including appeals to the administration by the public regarding various matters, correspondence between various organizations, and lists of residents.
 
 In the collection of the Bobruysk district administration, there are instructions by the district administration regarding the following subjects: the financing institutions of the city of Bobruysk, organization of the city's commerce, and road repair work. The collection also has correspondence by the Bobruysk district administration with the regional administration of Mogilev, including policemen's housing, the appointment of the regional administration workers, and social welfare. Included in the documentation is material regarding the budget of the regional administration and of various institutions in Bobruysk, and correspondence by the Bobruysk district administration with the city Kommandatur (headquarters) regarding the connections between the district administrations in the Mogilev region. In the collection there is also documentation of the Ordnungsdienst (Order Police) in Bobruysk regarding the war refugees, appeals by the Bobruysk municipal administration to the military government regarding the giving of confirmations and allotments to workers for forced labor done in 1941, requests by the Bobruysk municipal administration to Ortskommandant (local commander) regarding the giving of compensation to families who suffered due to partisans' activities, and requests by residents for the release of their family members from captivity.
 
 Before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, there were approximately 19,700 Jews residing in Mogilev, who comprised approximately one-fifth of the population. During the period of the Soviet rule, the city was one of the important centers in Belorussia. Many Jews worked as clerks in government institutions or as factory workers, but many of the Jews continued to work in various skilled professions. From the mid-1920s, there was a Jewish Department in the local Court of Law in Mogilev, which was conducted in Yiddish. Until 1938, there were also schools whose language of instruction was in Yiddish. After September 1939, hundreds of Jewish refugees from Poland arrived in Mogilev.
 
 The regions of Mogilev and Vitebsk, a large part of the Gomel region, the eastern districts of the Minsk region and part of Polesye belonged to the rear area under the control of the German Armies Center group. Thus, the Mogilev region belonged to the rear area of this group. The German occupation authorities established local administrations in the cities as an auxiliary force. Included in the M.41.GAMogO sub-record group is documentation of the Mogilev municipal administration and the Bobruysk district administration.
 
 During the early days of the German occupation of the Soviet Union, the Soviet administrative authority of Belorussia was transferred to Mogilev. On 13 July 1941, the German Army laid siege on Mogilev. Despite the siege around the city, which made it very difficult to escape from Mogilev, a small number of Jews from Mogilev succeeded in escaping eastward to the interior of the Soviet Union. Several of the Jewish men were drafted into the Red Army. The city of Mogilev was captured by the Germans during 24-25 July 1941. It is estimated that approximately 2,000 of the Jews of the city of Mogilev were killed during the battles that took place in Mogilev, with the participation of the civilian population. 
 
 The Germans established a Jewish committee in the city of Mogilev. One of the tasks of the Jewish committee was the registration of the Jewish population. In the census that was conducted during 08-28 August 1941, a total of 6,437 Jews were counted. The German authorities ordered the Jews to attach a Jewish star [badge] on the front and back of their clothing.
 
 The ghetto was established in the Podnikolye area in August 1941, apparently near the Jewish cemetery. The Jews from nearby villages and towns were also concentrated in the ghetto. On 07 September 1941, the Germans decided to reduce the area of the ghetto. By order of the commander of Einsatzgruppe 8, Otto Bradfisch, the Belorussian local civilian authorities gave the order to the Jews to move to the new ghetto on the other side of the Dubrovenka River on 25 September 1941. The Jewish committee was imposed with the responsibility for the implementation of the transfer. The Jews were permitted to transfer their belongings to the new ghetto. During the transfer the Germans murdered 113 Jews, on the pretext that the Jews had refused to move to the new ghetto.
 
 The new ghetto was surrounded by a fence, and the ghetto's inmates were forbidden to leave the ghetto area; but, despite this, the Jews were sent to forced labor or they received a permit from the city's authorities. The Jewish committee established a Jewish Order Police (Jewish Police) in the ghetto, and its men were equipped with clubs and charged with the task of maintaining order in the ghetto. There was severe overcrowding in the ghetto, and its residents did not receive an adequate supply of food. 
 
 During 02-03 October 1941, the Einsatzkommando 8 and German Police Battalion 322 men murdered 2,270 Jews from the Mogilev Ghetto near the village of Kazimirovka, close to the city, with help from the local police. During 17-19 October 1941, during another "Aktion", German Police Battalion 316 men murdered approximately 3,700 Jews near the village of Polykhovichi, with assistance from the local police. The Mogilev Ghetto was liquidated on 23 October 1941. Approximately 239 other Jews were murdered, and the last of the Jews, approximately 700 people, including skilled professionals among them, were transferred to a camp located on the area of a nearby factory. Some of the Jews were murdered in the camp and other Jews were apparently murdered in gas vans in December 1941. In addition, 79 Jewish inmates were murdered in the Mogilev prison and other Jews, who were discovered in hiding places in the city, were also murdered during the "Aktions". On 28 July 1944, the city of Mogilev was liberated by soldiers from the Belorussian Front No. 2 of the Red Army, in the context of "Operation Bagration".
 
 Bibliography:
 
 1. Могилев: Энцикл. справ./ Сов. Энцикл.; Редкол. И.П. Шамякин (гл.ред.) и др. Мн.: БелСЭ, 1990-472 с.
 
 2. "The Holocaust of the Jews of Mogilev", Yad Vashem Encyclopedia of the Ghettos, Yad Vashem International Institute for Holocaust Research,
 http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/he/research/ghettos_encyclopedia/ghetto_details.asp?cid=565