Eight thousand Jews were shot to death by the German SS unit and buried in the Bor of Stolin.
With the help of our guide, we looked for that place. The local residents directed us to a place in the north of the city, at the edge of the forest and a long walking distance from the center of the ghetto. When we arrived at the site, our guide asked again two men who were picnicking nearby, and they confirmed the spot. In the place we were, no sign stands in the field, no place to say Kadish, no place to put a stone.
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As it turns out, we did not see the actual mass-grave site. After we returned home, a German website has appeared, describing Stolin. The website shows a memorial on the mass-grave in the vicinity of Stolin, in the forest of Stasino.
In Spring 2008, we received pictures of the mass grave site along with the following touching message:
We have just returned from Belarus where we were visiting children we have hosted through Chernobyl Children Lifeline. We were shown a memorial in the woods off the road from Stolin to Berezhnoye (on the way to David Gorodok). We were told that thousands of Jews were taken there and forced to dig a pit, then killed and buried shallowly in the pit. Locals say that when it rains heavily you can see the bodies under the ground, although that seemed unlikely to us. People obviously visited the site - there had been candles burned, and flowers left.
I enclose photos - your link to the German site did not work, so I don't know whether it is the same, but I thought you would like to know that people are remembering. We went and prayed, and stood in silence, and explained the atrocity to our children.
Best regards
Lesley Coton
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