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Witness
Stanislav M.
Country
Ukraine
Birthdate and Birthplace
1913, Grimaïliv
Year of video recording
2009
InEvidence link (YahadMap)
Know moreGrymaïliv, UKRAINE
Grymayliv (now Hrymayliv) is a village southeast of the regional capital of Ternopil. In 1931, 1,494 of Grymayliv's 4,074 inhabitants were Jewish. The majority worked in flour mills, brickworks and distilleries.
Soviet archives mention a three-day pogrom against the Jewish population in early July 1941, when 450 Jews, men, women, children and the elderly were shot and then thrown into the pond.
Further Aktions followed in October 1941: shootings, deportations and the creation of a labor camp at Grymaïliv. Between July 5, 1941 and March 23, 1944, an estimated 2,530 Jews were executed.
Stanislav witnessed the first Aktion in early July 1941.
The execution site where many Jews were killed during the pogrom conducted in early July 1941. As a result of a three day pogrom 450 Jews were murdered. © Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad-In Unum
Stanislav M., born in 1913, near his house © Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad-In Unum
St. Mary's Church, a monument listed in the "National Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine" in Hrymailiv (formerly Grymailiv) - © Andrii bondarenko
A view of Hrymailiv (formerly Grymailiv) today - © Google
Glossary
Hutsuls
The Hutsuls inhabit the mountains of southwestern Ukraine, a part of the Carpathian Mountains that was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Questionnaire
Historical notes
Hrymayliv, founded in 1595, is located about 45 km south-east of Ternopil. The first written records about the Jewish community go back to early 18th century. By the mid-18th about 700 Jews lived in the town.
The majority of Jews lived off small scaled trade, mainly grains, mead, fish, and fabrics, and craft. Some were employed in flour milling, brick manufacturing and distilling. There was one big synagogue and nine small prayer houses. In the interwar period the union of craftsmen and merchants were created.
At that time different Zionist movements started to gain the surface, but they were all forbidden in 1939, once the town was taken over by Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In 1931, 1,494 Jews lived in Hrymailiv comprising 37% of the total population. On the eve of the war about 2,000 Jews lived in the town.
Group portrait of children and teachers at a Hebrew school in Grzymalow. Lea Somerstein is shown at lower right. Taken in 1924. © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Sheila Levitan
Chana Golda Weintraub Okon (woman in the middle) with her two daughters Basha (on the left) and Shaefa (on the right), murdered in Grymailov. Rose Okon (a child) was taken to America around 1920 © From personal archive of Susan B. Solomon
Sources / Archives
Soviet archives"Straight after a three-day pogrom against Jewish population, a camp was established in the village of Hrymailiv under the direction of Nerling (SS), a German in charge of agricultural matters. The Jews were gathered in this camp. They were given 260 grams of bread and hot soup per day and they were forced to work 18 hours per day. On their chest the Jews wore a square piece of yellow fabric with a number." [Deposition of Efroim, a Jewish survivor, born in 1912, to the Extraordinary Soviet commission, RG-22.002M.7021-75/94]
PICTURES GALLERY
YIU TEAM WITH STANISLAV M.
Stanilas M. with the Yahad-In Unum team near the execution site © Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad-In Unum
Abandoned building of a synagogue © Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad-In Unum
Stanislav M., born in 1913, in front of his house © Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad-In Unum
Stanislas M. and Yahad-In Unum’s team led by Patrice Bensimon during the interview © Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad-In Unum
Stanislas M. showing the place where Jews were hidden in his house © Nicolas Tkatchouk/Yahad-In Unum